Do you have a product idea for online store development? Are you hoping to start an e-commerce brand but don’t know where to begin with your online store development? Look no further. In this article, we will outline the nine steps to launch your e-commerce brand from scratch and set you up for success in online store development.
If you don’t have the cash to create your own physical product, you should start with affiliate marketing as part of your online store development. It will help you learn how the online store development process works without a big initial investment. Of course, you won’t become successful overnight with affiliate marketing, but it will give you all the skills you need to launch your e-commerce brand when you have the cash.
When performing product research for your online store development, you are looking for keywords related to your product that show steady and growing search volume. Ideally, you want to research a product you believe in and would want to use in your daily life for your online store development. You will use two tools in this idea validation phase: Google Trends and Semrush.
Additionally, both Shopify and Etsy have posted their e-commerce predictions for 2023 if you need more ideas on where to begin with your online store development.
Google Trends is a great place to find the interest in specific keywords related to online store development over a period of time. You can even see what areas of the United States search for a keyword the most for online store development. Start by typing in your product and keywords related to your product to measure the interest. Next, type in the names of your competitors for online store development to see how their search volume has changed over time.
After researching keywords on Google Trends for your online store development, it is time to move on to a more powerful tool. Semrush allows you to analyze the traffic of your competitors for online store development, their promotion strategies, and what keywords they are ranking for. Do not use Semrush until you have identified your product, keywords, and competitors for your online store development.
After settling on a product for your online store development, you will register your business as an LLC in your home state. Don’t waste your money by paying someone else to register your business because this is a super simple process that does not take very long for your online store development.
In most states, you simply visit the Secretary of State or Comptroller website and begin your registration for your online store development. It usually takes about a week to be approved. If you live in Texas, we wrote a step-by-step article on how to create an LLC in Texas for your online store development.
In the future, you will want to elect to have your LLC taxed as an S-corporation as your income grows for your online store development.
Below we are including a list of resources to help get your manufacturing search started for your online store development.
As you begin your search, create a list of all the manufacturers you find that can make your product for your online store development.
Next, find out the cost to produce your product from each manufacturer and their minimum order quantity for your online store development. This will help you whittle down your list to a small handful for your online store development. From your shortened list, you will order a sample from each manufacturer for your online store development. Try to pick the manufacturer with the highest quality and is most receptive to your revision requests for your online store development.
Now that you have found a manufacturer for your online store development, it is time to work on your branding. Too many people jump right to this step, but there is no point in wasting your time on branding if you can’t find a suitable manufacturer to make your product at a reasonable price for your online store development.
In this step, you will create your logos, visual identity, taglines, and messaging that will be used on your website and in your advertisements for your online store development.
With your branding established, you can start creating your website for your online store development. We recommend using Shopify because it is the largest platform specifically built for e-commerce and online store development. Shopify is easy to use, but the experience can be made even better by using a drag-and-drop page builder called Shogun.
Insert everything you created on the previous step into your home, product, and about us pages for your online store development. Those are the only three pages you will need in the beginning for your online store development.
Important note: Ensure all of your policy documents in the footer of your website are updated and accurate for your online store development. Shopify will penalize you if these are missing or incorrect.
For your online store development, shop around and look for a manufacturer that is both responsive and affordable. Your packaging is not as important as the actual product, but it will be a customer’s first impression of your brand. Therefore, it needs to look attractive and high-quality for your online store development.
Third-party logistics are important because you don’t want pallets on pallets of the product showing up at your doorstep and taking up all of the space in your house for your online store development. You also don’t want to have to ship each item yourself for your online store development.
Remember not to get married to your provider. Often, e-commerce brands will switch providers as they scale for their online store development.
Your last step is to run some ads for a pre-sale for your online store development. You want to do a pre-sale to gauge interest before you purchase more than the minimum order quantity from your manufacturer for your online store development.
The sweet spot for a pre-sale is three weeks before you fulfill orders for your online store development.
If you need guidance on where you should be placing ads, we wrote an article that shows you where to find your target demographic for your online store development.
Don’t get trapped in analysis paralysis on step 1 of your online store development. You will have to be decisive and take action. Just know that you won’t be locked into any of your decisions during this process for your online store development. You can always switch manufacturers, revamp your website, and update your products. The most important thing you can do is to start today for your online store development. Your brand won’t build itself.
At HiroCFO, we specialize in helping e-commerce brands grow their businesses while permanently lowering their taxes. If you need help growing your brand during your online store development journey, click the button below to view our ecommerce bookkeeping services.
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