Online stores continue to grow in popularity thanks to the convenience they provide in our everyday lives. With just a few minutes of searching and mouse clicks, you can purchase nearly anything. What’s interesting is that ecommerce is not just reserved for big companies either. Amazon is obviously a well-recognized name but there are many smaller online stores operating successfully. If you would like to start selling products online, 2019 is a great time.
Launching an ecommerce business used to be a complex process, but today quite the opposite is true. Provided that you are willing to put in effort, it is possible to launch a successful online store. In this post, we’ll show you how you can start your very own ecommerce business.
Specifically, we’ll be covering the following:
Finding products to sell Competition research and analysis Naming your store Development of the store website Marketing Finding Products to SellThis is the starting point of any successful store. Researching what products and items to sell is a time-consuming process, and it should be. You simply cannot go on a ‘hunch’ that a product will sell well. If you have an idea in mind, simply go to Google and search for that product. Check what sort of competitors you will face in the category and then decide accordingly.
Free Tools to Research Product IdeasSelling niche products can be a good idea provided there are a reasonable amount of people looking for them. You can do some research regarding this using free tools such as Google Trends and Keywords Everywhere.
Google Trends will show you user interest in a particular search term (in this case your product) over a period of time. Check to see if user interest peeks at a specific time and then drops off – this could be sign of a very seasonal product.
Keywords Everywhere is a free tool which will show you the volume of a searches for a particular term (in this case your product). Generally, you should go after products that have a search volume of at least 1000.
Dropshipping Products
Dropshipping is another business model that you can consider. It takes out 90% of the complexity involved in running an ecommerce operation. Dropshipping services such as Oberlo allow you to import items from an extensive product library into your store.
These items will be stored at the supplier’s warehouse and they will be responsible for order fulfillment. Which means that once a customer places an order for that product on your website, it gets routed automatically to the supplier along with the customer details. The supplier is then going to package and ship the product according to customer order details. It really is that simple.
Our recommendation is the Oberlo dropshipping service, which integrates with Shopify, the best ecommerce platform out there.
Competition Research and AnalysisNow that you have chosen products to sell on your store, it’s time to look at other players in the niche. This should be done so you can plan your marketing and advertising budget accordingly. Stronger competitors mean you will need to allocate a larger marketing and ad budget.
Fortunately, the research part of this process is quite easy. Simply do a Google search for your product and the dominant competitors will usually show up at the top of the search results. You can go the competitor’s website and reverse-engineer their techniques on customer acquisition.
Some other insights to consider:
Target audience: What kind of people are your competitors selling to? You can get a good idea of customer profiles by going to a competitor’s social media profile and checking their followers’ profiles. You will largely be marketing to the same people so it’s a good idea to see what their likes and dislikes are.
Differentiation: What sort of value-added services are your competitors providing? Is it a no-questions-asked refund policy? Or perhaps free shipping? This knowledge will be a great addition to your business strategy, as you can follow your competitors or actually provide better value-add to attract customers.
Naming Your StoreThis may not seem like an obvious step in the creation of an online store, but it is important. The name of your store will be used for years to come so you have to give it deep consideration. Try choosing a name that is both unique and easy-to-remember. The name should be simple enough that it will make for an easy-to-remember website URL as well.
These are small details but they make a big difference in making your brand stand out from the competition. A word of warning: do not go for brand names based on SEO metrics alone. You do not want to give your site a generic and bland name. This makes your brand appear unoriginal and even inauthentic.
Creating Your StoreThe development of an online store used to be a tedious process when the only good options on the market were either Magento or WooCommerce. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. Hosted ecommerce platforms such as Shopify and Selz make it easy for anyone to create a professional online store with all the features they’ll ever need.
We’ll single out Shopify as the best ecommerce platform as it is affordable, easy to use and has excellent customer service. It is also supported by a large library of plugins so your store’s features can continue to grow as per your business’s technical requirements.
Marketing
Marketing is the final and most important step in making sure you have a successful online store. As far as ecommerce goes, there are a few different ways to market your products. You can go for paid traffic through ads (Google AdWords and Facebook Ads) or you can go for organic traffic through SEO. Paid traffic can be gained overnight, while organic traffic is more of a long-term strategy.
Also consider reaching out to influencers and even micro-influencers to promote your products. Instagram is a great place to advertise, and there are lots of accounts with thousands of followers but cheap advertising rates.
Final ThoughtsWe hope that this guide serves as a great starting point for your online stores. There will always be some unforeseen variables that add a little more the overall process. But most of the time, the points highlighted above will be the main ones to consider.
Our advice to anyone thinking about starting an online store is to just do it. Without testing it for yourself, you’ll never know if you really can do it. It is definitely an exciting and profitable business to consider.
Related Topics Best Web Hosting Best WordPress Hosting How to Build a Shopify Store Best eCommerce Software Online Stores in NigeriaThe post How to Launch an Ecommerce Business in 2019 appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
Each year, cyber-attacks and data hacks cost small and medium-sized businesses over $2 million a year. While most of these attacks are perpetrated by outside sources, there are instances when the employees a business employs will be responsible for a data breach. This is why monitoring and restricting the access your team has to certain sensitive information is important.
For most business owners, coming up with comprehensive access management policies is a bit overwhelming. It is hard to tell what information team members, vendors and third-parties will need to do their jobs.
If you are struggling with the development of these policies, take a look at the tips below.
Start By Limiting the Number of Administrators on Your NetworkThe biggest mistake most business owners make when it comes to access management is giving too many people administrator privileges. Having too many network administrators can lead to disaster in the future. Before granting a team member administrator level access to the network, you need to consider a few important things.
A person with administrator-level access to your network should be properly trained on how to secure and store sensitive data. Making sure the administrators on your network have separate accounts they use for daily tasks is also a good idea.
By having these separate accounts, administrators can avoid leaving windows open that may contain highly sensitive information. Taking the time to truly assess whether or not a person really needs administrator level access to your network is vital.
Document All Activity on Your NetworkAccountability is one of the key ingredients of a successful access management strategy. In order to hold your team accountable for data security mistakes, you will need to thoroughly document all activity on your network. Having information about password and audit policies, changes in network topology and details on backup procedures is essential.
With this information, you can assess whether or not your team is making an effort to properly protect sensitive data. If you notice problems with how your employees are handling data, you need to call attention to them immediately. Letting these issues slip through the cracks will only lead to bigger problems in the future.
Iron-Clad Password Rules are ImportantThe passwords your employees use to access information on your network will need to be changed on a regular basis. Having rules in place about how often passwords need to be changed is very important. Failing to advise your team on the importance of iron-clad passwords can come back to haunt you in the future.
When setting these rules, be sure to set a minimum password length. You may also want to require special characters and upper and lowercase letters in these passwords.
The higher the complexity of the passwords used on your network, the harder it will be for hackers to figure them out. The time and energy you invest in developing a password policy will pay off due to the increased security it can provide your network.
Source- Pexels
Backing Up the Information on Your Network
Properly preparing for ransomware attacks or a network crash is also something you need to take seriously. All of the work you do to prepare an adequate access management strategy will be in vain is a cloud-based backup is not put in place. The last thing you want to do is lose all of the sensitive and valuable information on your network due to a lack of preparation.
The best way to get advice on establishing a backup plan or developing an access management policy is by consulting with IT professionals. These professionals will have no problem helping you protect the sensitive information on your network.
Related Topics Internet security risks in Internet cafes Electronic payment: PIN security basics Best Web Hosting Mobile Browsing Internet Security Basics How to BlogThe post Getting Started with Access Control Policies appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
Automobiles are a key part of life to many people all over the world, they get us to and from work, school, sports and more. Everyday millions of cars hit the road, and over time their parts can become weak or over used.
Therefore, it is important to help preserve our automobiles by helping to extend the lifespan of essential car parts. Maintenance is a necessary factor for extending the life of any vehicle.
If basic oil changes and battery replacement are not being performed, you could end up severely damaging more than expected, resulting in more trips to the shop.
While it is tempting to avoid replacing certain key parts in order to save money, records have shown that spending a little more money to keep your car in good shape could result in saving you from having to another car altogether.
Common car parts, such as alternator and brake rotors should be replaced after a certain amount of miles. Other car parts like the battery and exterior lights should be changed after a certain amount of time. It’s important that weak parts are changed because they can cause good parts to work harder.
That can eventually lead to decreasing the integrity of a vehicle. There are some great tips that can help extend the lifespan, such as using LED lights, turning off lights when vehicle is off and more.
Other tips such as limiting short rides and keeping the battery tightly fastened can help preserve the battery. Regular maintenance of parts can also help tremendously. The brakes and windshield wiper blades should be cleaned regularly.
The timing belt should be regularly inspected and replaces. Finally, the tires should be regularly rotated to insure they maintain their integrity. This infographic is a great resource to refer to help maintain your car’s condition by extending the lifetime of key parts.
The post How to Extend the Lifespan Of Key Car Parts (Infographic) appeared first on Nigeria Technology Guide.
