It’s 2020—a GREAT time to build an eCommerce business.
It’s so clear!
Ecommerce is the future—especially now that social distancing is the new norm—thanks to the global pandemic.
Recent data from Adobe showed that US eCommerce sales experienced a whopping 49 percent increase in April this year.
And this increase is likely to linger because most consumers work from home.
Fortunately, there are more opportunities for newcomers in the eCommerce sector.
But in reality, it’s NOT as easy as it sounds.
MarketingSignals.com carried out a survey which revealed that 90 percent of new eCommerce companies fail within the first 120 days.
To make matters worse, big players like Amazon, eBay, etc. ALREADY have a larger share of the market.
So, it looks like a dead end.
There goes a fantastic reason to give up on your eCommerce business quest!
But, it shouldn’t be like that.
We have the secret ingredient that the REMAINING 10 percent use to thrive beyond the first 120 days and eventually scale.
Are you ready to know the key ingredient?
If you answered YES, Keep reading.
What Is The Key Ingredient 90 Percent of eCommerce Businesses Are Missing?
Marketing is ONE thing that matters most when it comes to getting your first sale. And eventually, drive more traffic to your eCommerce business.
Of course, the way you market your eCommerce business determines how much money you’ll make.
If you get the marketing right, every other thing will follow. But if you neglect or get it wrong, you may spend long years without making a single sale.
Hence, I’ll show you how to go about it the right way with the following steps.
How to Drive Massive Sales for Your eCommerce Business (The 6 Steps to Take)
Step #1 – Choose Your Marketing Strategy
Do you want to build an eCommerce business that drives in a ton of sales? Then, you need to consider your marketing strategy first.
This step should come before you build a website, create a logo, or even find new customers. It’s the ONE step that determines the success or failure of your eCommerce business in the long run.
Don’t be scared!
Creating a marketing strategy isn’t hard. You ONLY need to put much thought into it before you start your eCommerce business.
And I’ll be helping you—by listing the top three marketing strategies that the most successful online store owners use.
- Platform Marketing
Platform marketing is a great strategy—especially if you’re new to eCommerce.
The best part is:
You can leverage the traffic of major eCommerce platforms like eBay, Amazon, or Etsy, without creating your store.
Success is possible with any of these BIG three.
However, I recommend that you pick Amazon as your first choice.
Why?
Amazon has a larger audience, amongst the three, which gives you an edge. Plus, it has almost every product niche. So, you’re most likely to find yours.
But if you’re into hand-crafted products, Etsy will be your best bet. Their audience specifically looks for craft-based products.
eBay will come in handy if your business revolves around reselling products.
In any case, you need to treat any platform you eventually pick as your marketing channel.
How do you do that?
- Create your store on the selected platform and list all your products.
- Optimize your newly created store.
- Optimizing your store involves the following:
- Try your best to get a ton of 5-star reviews on your products.
- Target all your product pages to the most searched terms within the platform to rank on the first page
If you work on both factors, you’ll increase your chances of getting more views, which EQUALS more sales for your business.
- SEO
This marketing strategy is relatively easy.
The strategy requires finding keywords for your products. Then, getting your website to rank on Google’s first page with the selected keywords.
From the example in the image, we can see 6pm.com, amazon.com, and nordstromrack.com, ranking very high organically for the search term “Purses.”
What does that mean?
When people search for the term “Purses,” Google leads them directly to the site—where they can make a purchase.
You can make a lot of money from your eCommerce business if you can get this strategy to work for you.
It even gets easier if you use WordPress to build your eCommerce store.
How?
WordPress allows you to enjoy the benefits of maximizing your WordPress SEO — to draw more traffic to your website. But everything depends on how you handle it.
That’s not all.
Traffic from SEO is one of the best quality traffic you can get. SEO traffic usually converts between 10 to 15 percent.
In addition to that, SEO traffic will be very dependable—which translates to more income over time.
So, profitability, dependability, and high-volume are the perfect recipe for success in eCommerce.
But there’s a tiny snag about SEO.
It could take a lot of effort and time to rank in search engines. Most times, it may take you about 3 – 6 months before you get stable organic SEO rankings. It may even take some years for you to rank—especially if you’re in a very competitive niche.
If you’re not ranking on Google’s first page, your traffic volume will be low—which equals little or no sales. That’s why you need to handle the SEO strategy with caution—because it could be tricky.
There are three key things to focus on if you’re going to use the SEO strategy:
- Build engaging and useful content for the product pages you intend to rank. In this case, you need to know how to start a blog because it’s the platform for publishing your content.
- Optimize your product pages for specific product keywords.
One more thing:
Content and links are the two most important factors that matter when you’re playing the SEO card. So, pay more attention to them.
- Paid Marketing
Paid marketing is another key strategy that can drive sales for your business.
Some eCommerce businesses use this strategy ALONE, and they do exceptionally well with it.
It includes Sponsored Ads or posts on Facebook, Instagram, and paid Google search results—using Google Ads.
Like traditional marketing, it involves buying ad placements.
The big question is:
Is paid marketing an excellent strategy for your business?
The answer is yes (but with a clause)!
The clause:
Your product must be something that you can sell in a mall.
Why?
Most people on Instagram or Facebook are usually in a relaxed mode—scrolling through their feeds to leave quick messages and laugh at a few videos or pictures.
In essence, they are having fun.
And it’s similar to how people shop in malls.
Malls know this for a fact, so they do everything to optimize their browsing experience.
That’s why products that sell in the malls would likely do well with Facebook or Instagram paid ads.
Example of such products are:
- Price-friendly products: people will quickly skip through your ad if the product you’re offering is pricey
- Eye-catching and Highly-visual products: fashion-based products always do well here
- Consumer products: it’s easy to click a sponsored ad that markets regular everyday products
- Easy to Understand: Life is ALREADY complicated—So your offer must be understood within 3 seconds, or you risk losing prospects
Does your intended product meet the above criteria? If you answered yes, then you can use the paid marketing strategy.
It’s a different ball game when it comes to Google Ads.
How?
With Google Ads, you have to bid for keywords within Google and place your ad in front of users who are already searching for your product.
This technique works well as long as the keyword you’re using has enough search volume, and the Ad bids aren’t TOO competitive.
But like the SEO strategy, it has its downside. You’d have to invest a ton of cash before you begin to see your ROI. And that’s one luxury many of us can’t afford—spending thousands of dollars at the start of our business.
On average, it takes about 3 – 6 months before you begin to see returns. So, I’ll advise that you avoid this strategy if you’re on a budget—especially if you’re a startup.
Step #2 – Select the Perfect Product Niche for Your Ecommerce Business
Finding the most suitable product niche should be the next thing to do—after sorting your marketing strategy.
So, you have to take your time to do extensive research.
Avoid jumping into hobby niches.
Why?
It’s a common trap for selecting a niche that may not support a thriving business. If the demand for the niche is low, you may fail from the beginning.
Nonetheless, there are few things to consider when taking this step:
- Stay Away From Any Product Niche That’s Too Unique
In a quest to carve out a new niche, you may end up with an unusual product.
Don’t get me wrong; it’s a good thing.
But it could be tricky.
For instance, you can decide to start selling “wacky and weird runway apparel.”
Yes, they may look unique. But not everyone would buy clothes they can’t wear out.
Succeeding in such a product niche could be difficult.
Instead, find a niche with few competitors dominating it—one that has low-quality SEO results with few or no companies putting Ad dollars behind it.
- Sell Products With Moderate Prices
If you want users to click your Ad more often, ensure you sell products they can afford. I’m not saying you should sell products with low margins that can barely sustain your business.
The point is to avoid selling expensive products like cars—for instance, which requires a lot of skill and work.
So, here’s what I recommend:
Find products that sell between $50 to $100. It’s low enough for consumers to purchase. And high enough to scale your business.
The image above shows a product with a moderate price—having over 50,000 purchase reviews.
- There Should Be High Demand for Your Product
It’s hard to know the demand for any product niche by merely researching your market channel.
But for SEO, Google Ad has a keyword planner that lets you know how many times a specific search term gets queries on Google.
A general rule of practice is:
Your product keyword must have more than 1,000 searches per month to qualify as a viable option to build a business.
Moreover, I suggest you choose a niche with zero experience that has a HIGH demand.
It’s much better than going for a passion-based niche that has zero demand.
Step #3 – Confirm Your Product Ideas and Target Market
With a good marketing strategy in place and the right product niche, you’re on the right path.
The next thing is to validate your product ideas and target market.
Knowing who you’re selling your product to—is very crucial.
But before you jump into that, you need to know how the consumers perceive you.
So, you can ask questions like:
- What does your business represent?
- Who are your targeted customers?
By answering these questions, you’d be matching your business persona with the products you sell and your customers’ expectations.
Step #4 – Get a Suitable Name for Your Brand
Getting the right name is very crucial for your business identity.
But it could be tricky.
It’s even more frustrating when you come up with a fantastic name and discover someone else has taken it. Or worse still, you notice the best names have trademarks.
It may seem like you’re hitting a dead end, and the best solution is to cut corners.
But is that the way forward?
NO!
Cutting corners would cut it. It’s ALWAYS better to keep looking until you get something that works.
There are a few factors to check when finding the perfect name:
- Easy to Spell
You need to ensure that your website name is SUPER easy to spell because it helps your branding.
A general rule of thumb is for the name to pass the “Bar test.”
Can you call the name in a noisy bar without repeating yourself?
If your answer is yes, it means your name is easy to spell. This feature would later come in handy for your word-of-mouth marketing.
- Keep the Name as Short as Possible
Keeping your business name short makes it pretty easy to remember. Ideally, you should aim for one to three words.
- The Name Should Be Relevant to Your Category
It would be entirely out of line to choose a name that doesn’t blend with your product category.
Why?
It creates a lot of confusion for potential customers.
So, your name should relate to your brand.
4. Get a Dot Com Domain for Your Store
There’s a good reason why big eCommerce companies have “.com” at the end of their domain name. The “.com” demonstrates three things: trust, authority, and longevity.
Also, if your name is available on weird domains like, “. pizza,” “. online”—get another one.
5. Double-Check for Trademark Conflicts
Avoid names that are trademarked—when choosing a name.
You can do a quick check with any corporate law firm or by checking the trademark database (US).
Once you get a great name that checks everything on this list, go for a suitable domain registrar.
What if you decide to buy the domain from someone else?
Simple!
You can transfer your name to the domain registrar you plan to use for the long term.
You can also use a business name generator like oberlo.com if you’re still finding it hard to get something good.
Step #5 – Build Your Online Store
This part is one of the most fundamental steps to take when you’re just starting.
So, you need to get it right from the beginning.
Luckily, I’ve listed a step-by-step guide that will make the process easy.
- Choose the Perfect Website Builder for Your Online Store
Before choosing a website builder, check if it’s ideal for your business.
It should meet other requirements like reliability, cost-effectiveness, etc.
For instance, WordPress is a great option —if you plan to build a small store.
Why?
It’s easy to use, and it comes with a ton of awesome plugins.
- Opt for the Best Plan
Signing up for the right plan is the next thing to do—once you’ve picked the website builder to use.
Also, you need to check if the plan you’re using comes with all the features you require.
- Pick a Suitable eCommerce Template
You can beautify your online store with the perfect eCommerce template or theme.
But before making your choice, it’s crucial to answer these three questions:
- What are the KEY features of your store?
- How do you want potential customers to navigate through it?
- And How do you want your homepage to look?
ThemeREx has some of the best eCommerce templates for your store if you’re looking for a template with a ton of powerful features.
- Customize Your Template
Once you’ve selected a template that meets your needs, the next thing is to customize it. The customizations you make—all boils down to your preference.
You can customize things like:
- Embedding Social Media
- Images
- Text size and font
- Color Scheme
- Features
- Positioning the products
- Start Adding Your Products
Now, you’ve gotten your stylish online store. It’s time to add the products.
The essential things you need to add a product includes:
- Category
- Name
- Price
- File (for downloadable products)
- Weight (for physical products)
Also…
It’s important to note that different eCommerce website builders have different limits like:
- The number of product variants (the combination of two options, like a black pant in different sizes)
- The number of options for each product (the same product in different colors or sizes)
- The number of products you can upload
You have to ensure that the website builder’s limit matches your needs.
After adding your products, you need to write winning product descriptions.
A good product description should be void of long sentences, complicated jargon, and clichés.
Also, consider SEO when you’re writing your product description. It helps your product pages rank high.
And the more you rank higher, the more traffic you get—which means more sales.
- Set up Your Payment Methods
One way to convert your web visitors into buyers is by using a reliable payment gateway.
Interestingly, most eCommerce website builders come with payment gateways that enhance your payment process.
Hence, it’s ideal ONLY to use website builders that integrate reputable payment processors like Stripe & PayPal.
Now, we know all that. The next question is:
How can you accept payments on your store?
Simple! You can accept payments in three major ways:
- Simplified card payment processing: With this method, your users won’t need to leave your site to complete a purchase. Thus, it’s best to use a service that integrates a checkout page for your store—if you pick this option.
- Merchant account and payment gateway: This option involves you partnering with a bank. They help you accept payments and channel the money to your business bank account.
- Payment getaway packages: It involves using software that connects your store’s shopping cart to the card processing network.
So what is the best payment method?
The answer depends on two things:
- The type of customers buying your goods
- And the number of sales you make
In the end, the best payment method is quite relative.
But, you have to sort your store’s needs before picking a payment method.
- Sort the Product Shipping
The aspect of product shipping and delivery is crucial—if you want to have return customers.
Thus, you’ve to pay a lot of attention to this factor.
There are different shipping options available. It all depends on the eCommerce website builder you choose.
To ship products, you need two things: an origin address and package type.
An origin address is ideal if you ship products from an address that’s not your office. With this option, you can decide the way your products get delivered to your customers.
What if a customer wants their goods delivered faster?
That’s not a big deal!
All you need to do is to partner with reliable courier services like FedEx, DHL, USPS, or Canada Post. They can help deliver your consumer products safely in good time.
For instance, Shopify makes life easier by partnering with reliable couriers.
Plus, it gives you access to real-time shipping rates and shipping discounts.
- Test and Publish Your Online Store
You’re almost there.
This last step is crucial because it’s the final icing on the cake when it comes to satisfying your customers’ needs.
So, here are the essential things to check when testing and previewing your store.
- How responsive is your online store?
- Is it compatible with all browsers?
- How functional are the store features?
Once you confirm the settings of your store, you can hit the publish button.
Step #6 – Create Your Marketing Machine
Your online store is up and running. What do you do next?
Build a marketing machine.
Yeah! Of course.
You need a system that can help to grow your business around the clock without stress.
And that’s what a marketing machine will do for you!
In other words, rather than trying to accomplish every task on your own, you can create marketing tactics that automate every process in your business.
For example, if you want to provide your customers with extra information on their orders, you can simply implement a (free) shipment tracking solution such as My Package Tracking. You don’t have to provide all of the information manually.
How does this work?
Delegate! Delegate!! Delegate!!!
The thing here is to focus on your marketing channel while creating a marketing flywheel that keeps growing your store—without your effort.
The Bottom Line
Congrats! You got to the end of this piece. Now, you know how to build an eCommerce business that will bring massive sales in 2020.
So, if you follow every step listed in this post, you’ll automatically join the league of the successful 10 percent eCommerce business owners.
But you need to take action with what you’ve learned.
P.S:
Let me know your thoughts.
Do you have other steps you’d love to share? Which of the steps caught your fancy the most?
