Opening an online store is not as easy as you may believe. You now have access to platforms like Shopify and can easily use ecommerce options that are open source. It does not cost much to start an online business that sells something through a store but you need to be patient so that you can actually make a really good decision at the end of the day. It is easier to create something great if you manage to avoid the really common mistakes that are mentioned below.
Choosing The Highly Competitive Niche
How many stores sell t-shirts online? There are basically thousands and you will be faced with a huge competition. When the niche is too competitive, it will be very tough to actually be successful. Many believe that since others made it, they will be able to also make it. Well, the truth is that too many people out there think like that and we are faced with the huge possibility of ending up losing money with such an online store. You will have huge problems ranking in search engines and you will not have many customers since the competitors will constantly be able to undercut the prices you offer.
Lack Of Marketing And SEO Optimization
If you do not have a marketing plan, you are bound to fail. At the same time, you will find it as being incredibly difficult in the event that you do not optimize your pages for search engines. Many believe that all they really need to do is open some sort of site and eventually the quality offered will be enough to get them going. While quality is obviously a huge part of the decision made, it will not guarantee any results.
In order to make money with your online store, you need to get traffic to the site. This is possible through marketing or search engine optimization. We actually recommend that you consider both options since they are obviously necessary for new online stores.
Choosing Bad Vendors
You are opening an online store so it makes sense to look for online vendors but that is quite a huge mistake. If you look at wholesale deals you find online, you will notice that many of them are actually just middlemen. They try to take advantage of you and there are also so many scams that you can become a victim of.
The truth is that the legit distributors do not focus much on online advertising. They basically focus on the real business and do not want to be faced with hundreds of enquires about what they offer. The new store owners look for their vendors online as they think this brings in the lowest prices. If you think that, you would end up with a huge problem.
Lack Of Conversion Monetization
In order to make money with your online store you have to make sales. That is only possible when you optimize your site’s pages for conversions. Consider the following:
- You need to have a site that loads fast
- Your pages should include call to actions
- Your site needs to be credible
It is so easy to screw up website design even if the shopping cart works perfectly. Never believe that in order to convert you need to have a working shopping cart. That is just part of the equation.
