Common Mistakes People Make When Starting an Ecommerce Business

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Common Mistakes People Make When Starting an
Ecommerce Business
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• Starting your own ecommerce business/website
  can be a hectic and lengthy process one that
  many new business owners underestimate.
  Underestimation of the process forces business
  owners to make costly mistakes. These mistakes
  can ruin your website and/or business before its
  even started. However, knowing what these
  mistakes are and how to avoid them can help you
  create a seamless, remarkably successful
  ecommerce site. Below are four of these common
  mistakes and how to protect your business from
  them.

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Creating an Ecommerce Business Without a Business
Plan

• Long gone are the days of lengthy, detailed
  business plans. Todays businesses dont need
  plans that address every possible issue that
  might arise, they only need plans that address
  certain areas.

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• Creating a business plan that addresses these
  key areas will be the foundation of your new
  venture. These key areas include
• Knowing what problem your business is trying to
  solve
• Deciding whether the website will be
  competitive based on its position or value
• Knowing your product and market

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• Making sure your business has a unique
  online presence that sets you apart from your
  competitors
• Securing your target market
• Identifying your key competitors
• Understanding the weaknesses and strengths
  of your key competitors and how you can
  capitalize on them

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Underestimating How Much Work an Ecommerce
Website Requires

• Running an ecommerce website is about more
  than shipping products to customers. Of course,
  youll have to do plenty of marketing, create and
  maintain social media profiles, employ a service
  to build a winning website for your business, use
  the most effective web platform and software,
  create a pricing model and so much more.

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• However, to alleviate the stress of having
  all these jobs and to make your business as
  successful as possible, outsource these duties to
  reliable providers. For example, employ a web
  design company like SOS Media Corp to build your
  website.

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• It may be tempting to use a standard
  ecommerce website builder, but web designers have
  the skills, the tools and the resources to make
  sure your site is user-friendly, well-maintained
  and optimised for the web. For new business
  owners, choosing to develop your own website can
  be a costly mistake. However, services like SOS
  Media Corp offer packages that cover many jobs at
  once.

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• For example
• A professional website builder will monitor
  your web traffic via Google Analytics
• Ensure Search Engine Optimisation
• Track your marketing efforts
• Optimise your site for mobile devices
• Provide the best Content Management System
  (CMS) platform
• Setup your domain name and hosting

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Improperly Displaying Your Products

• Properly displaying your products on your
  website means putting yourself in your customers
  shoes. This means creating a virtual storefront
  thats simple, aesthetically-pleasing and
  responsive. Web designers make this easy for you
  by creating easy to navigate product pages with
  attractive designs as photos, top-quality
  generated product descriptions, seamless carts
  and checkout and inventory tracking. All of this
  will enhance your customers experience, making
  their purchases simple and ensuring their return.

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Neglecting Your Marketing Strategy

• An ecommerce business cant be successful
  without a proper marketing plan and strategies.
  Good marketing strategies are the key to
  generating web traffic, acquiring new customers,
  retaining customers and growing your brand and/or
  business.

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• The best marketing plans especially include
  ongoing SEO, an analytics system, social media
  marketing and promotional marketing. But,
  marketing plans should include a diverse set of
  ongoing strategies to build brand awareness and
  ensure your ecommerce site is popular, reputable
  and successful.