How to Do Online Sales Business

How to Do Online Sales Business – With the boom of the internet, so many people today are doing online business at home. If you are one of them and want to know why there is this growing interest in the internet, then you need to realize that you can turn your interests and skills (whatever they may be) into a profitable online business — which means extra income for you!

Now I’ll tell you the honest truth about how to start an online business as this article is about how to start an online business.

Table of Contents

Decide on your niche

This basically means what you’re going to sell and who you’re selling it to. Some first-time entrepreneurs don’t put a great deal of thought into their niche.

Your niche impacts a lot of things, including:

Your sales figures
How much effort you’ll have to put into customer support
Whether or not you’ll have repeat customers

This is why it’s important to take some time to think of a niche that is strategic. Need help deciding? Check out these 10 foolproof strategies for choosing an e-commerce niche.

Your niche is broken into parts: price, audience, market opportunity.

First, let’s talk about pricing.

At the most basic level, we all understand this concept:

if you sell cheaper items, more people are likely to purchase, but your Average Order Value (AOV) will be smaller.

If you sell more expensive items, less people are likely to purchase, but your AOV will be larger.

Okay, so where do I draw the line? Is there a minimum price to keep in mind?

While there’s no hard and fast rule, try to price your items at $100 or above.

Here’s the rationale behind it:

After accounting for operations, warehousing, and marketing costs, most ecommerce store owners end up with a 20-30% profit margin.

Let’s say you’re earning 20% on all the products you sell.

If you’re selling a $20 item, you’re only making $4 on that sale, where if you’re selling a $100 item, you’re making $20.

Think of it this way:

The amount of time and energy you spend on processing and fulfilling your order is the same regardless of whether you’re selling $20 items or $100 items.

You might as well get more bang for your buck (or in this case, buck for your time), right?

On top of that, there’s also brand loyalty, popularity, and longevity to consider.

Let’s start with brand loyalty.

In a nutshell, you want to avoid niches which are already dominated by household names.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say your headphones die on you and you need to purchase a new pair.

You’ll either pull out your phone and go to Sony’s website (or Bose, Beats, or Sennheiser’s) or you’ll drop by one of their stores (if you’re the sort who’s particular about test-driving products before buying).ALSO READ: How To Start A Business Online For Free

Write copy that sells.

There’s a proven sales copy formula that takes visitors through the selling process from the moment they arrive to the moment they make a purchase:

Arouse interest with a compelling headline.
Describe the problem your product solves.
Establish your credibility as a solver of this problem.
Add testimonials from people who have used your product.
Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
Make an offer.
Make a strong guarantee.
Create urgency.
Ask for the sale.

Throughout your copy, you need to focus on how your product or service is uniquely able to solve people’s problems or make their lives better. Think like a customer and ask “What’s in it for me?”

Brainstorm a business name and register your domain name.

Your business name isn’t as make-it-or-break-it as the niche you choose, but it’s still super important.

But, if you’re not careful, it could put a halt to starting your online store!

People obsess over picking a name – I know I have. My advice is to give yourself a hard deadline of 1-2 weeks to choose the name if you’re really stuck. Otherwise you’ll spend months trying to figure it out and never pull the trigger on starting.

Now, onto some do’s and don’ts to help you pick a name:

DO choose a name that’s easy to pronounce.

Spelling is hard, people! So make the name SOUND like it’s spelled, and make it easy to pronounce. Otherwise people might go to the wrong URL.

DO choose a name with some significance.

If it’s related to the niche you’re in, it makes it easier for people to “get” your business. If there’s a deeper, more personal meaning to it, it’ll make a great backstory for media pitching.

DO be as original as possible.

An entrepreneur based in Kentucky, Victor Moseley, opened a lingerie shop called “Victor’s Secret”. Victoria’s Secret promptly filed a lawsuit against them.

DO choose a name with an available .com domain.

While .cos and other domain endings are becoming more popular, people will still instinctively type in .com. You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to find you!

DON’T choose a name that’s too long.

Your business name should be 1-3 words, MAX! I would strongly advise sticking to one or two words. Again, the easier a name is to pronounce and type, the more people will remember it.

DON’T choose a business name that’s a combination of words and numbers.

This is a no brainer, but I had to add it. That is, unless you’re trying to look dodgy and unprofessional.

DON’T choose a name that references a specific product or product line.

You might be tempted to do this if you’re planning on focus your efforts on selling just one (awesome!) and highly innovative product. But what happens when you decide to branch out in the future? You’ll be stuck to that one product.

If you need some more help coming up with a name, check out Shopify’s Business Name Generator!

Design and build your website.

Once you’ve got your market and product, and you’ve nailed down your selling process, now you’re ready for your small-business web design. Remember to keep it simple. You have fewer than five seconds to grab someone’s attention — otherwise, they’re gone, never to be seen again. Some important tips to keep in mind:

Choose one or two plain fonts on a white background.
Make your navigation clear and simple, and the same on every page.
Only use graphics, audio or video if they enhance your message.
Include an opt-in offer so you can collect e-mail addresses.
Make it easy to buy — no more than two clicks between potential customer and checkout.
Your website is your online storefront, so make it customer-friendly.

Use search engines to drive targeted buyers to your site.

Pay-per-click advertising is the easiest way to get traffic to a brand-new site. It has two advantages over waiting for the traffic to come to you organically. First, PPC ads show up on the search pages immediately, and second, PPC ads allow you to test different keywords, as well as headlines, prices and selling approaches. Not only do you get immediate traffic, but you can also use PPC ads to discover your best, highest-converting keywords. Then you can distribute the keywords throughout your site in your copy and code, which will help your rankings in the organic search results.

Establish an expert reputation for yourself.

People use the internet to find information. Provide that information for free to other sites, and you’ll see more traffic and better search engine rankings. The secret is to always include a link to your site with each tidbit of information.

Give away free, expert content. Create articles, videos or any other content that people will find useful. Distribute that content through online article directories or social media sites.
Include “send to a friend” links on valuable content on your website.
Become an active expert in industry forums and social networking sites where your target market hangs out.

You’ll reach new readers. But even better, every site that posts your content will link back to yours. Search engines love links from relevant sites and will reward you in the rankings.

Choose products to sell.

You’ve chosen a niche. You have a business name and URL. Now…

How do you figure out what the heck to sell?

Easy – by looking at social proof.

Head over to Amazon’s best-seller list, and check out the most well-received items under your niche.

Do the same with eBay’s best-seller list.

And AliExpress’s best-seller list.

Keep a document or spreadsheet of all your ideas. Some things to keep in mind…

Avoid name brand goods (we talked about this already)
Look for a selling price of $50-$100 for good margins
Try to find things with low shipping costs
Choose something you know a bit about (and, preferably, care about)
Find things you can innovate on (look at the reviews to see what people DON’T like about a product, then make one that’s better)

Once you choose the specific items you want to sell, it’s time to look for your suppliers.

There are plenty of suppliers on both AliExpress and Alibaba, but here’s the difference:

You can buy products without adhering to MOQs on AliExpress:

But if you’re on Alibaba, most of their items come with an MOQ:

If international suppliers aren’t your thing, SaleHoo has a Supplier Directory that lists high-quality suppliers (and it’s fairly cheap for a membership).

Their Market Research Lab is also pretty useful for finding hot products:

This tool allows you to compare different products and evaluate them based on sales trends, competition ratings (ie whether there are a ton of other stores selling the same product), and more.

When looking for a supplier, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Communicate, communicate, communicate. The more you talk with them, the better you’ll get a feel. And don’t be afraid to hop on the phone.
Avoid suppliers with excessive or weird fees.
Make sure you ask them questions early and often. Their customer support is your customer support, especially if you’re dropshipping.

To learn more about finding the right supplier, check out this guide.

Moving on…

Conclusion

There are many ways to do it. People have already made a lot of money online, but you’re new to this. There’s a lot of pressures too. What if you fail? I know how that feels first hand! A lot of people have been there before and have learned some things from those who have failed before. You don’t have to be one of those people, so you should learn from someone who has been successful…

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