ecommerce |

How to Sell Physical Products Online (3 Easy Methods)

Selling products online can be intimidating, but it’s clear that ecommerce is the place to be. While the concept of online sales is simple, deciding where to begin can be challenging.

There are many different ways to start selling a physical product online. For example, selling through a marketplace such as Amazon is a quick way to reach a vast pool of customers. Alternatively, you could create your own website or utilize social media to avoid restrictive rules and commission fees.

This article will explore the primary methods for selling a physical product online, including marketplaces, social media, and creating your own website. Let’s dive in!

Why You Should Consider Selling Physical Products Online

Selling online has many advantages. Less overhead and lower startup costs mean you can start selling sooner with minimal upfront investment.

The internet may seem saturated with every type of storefront, but the market is still growing fast. As a matter of fact, eCommerce is expected to grow more than 16% in 2023, with more than a trillion dollars being exchanged online.

With a good product and the right strategy, you can earn your piece of the pie. Furthermore, selling online business has never been easier.

With tools like WordPress, email marketing software, and social media, you can start your own online business and increase sales in no time!

Compared to renting or buying a physical store, selling online also has lower risks. You don't need to worry about hiring employees or limiting sales to local customers.

With an internet connection and a few days of work, you can start selling to anyone in the world!

How to Sell a Physical Product Online (3 Methods)

When it comes to selling products online, there are a few different ways to get started. We'll start by looking at using a marketplace.

1. Sell Through a Marketplace

Selling through a marketplace, like Amazon, can be easy. You simply need to sign up, list your products and prices, and you'll gain exposure to multiple consumers:

You can sell a physical product online through Amazon.

Many companies sell through marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, and even eBay, making them viable options with the right business model.

Using a marketplace can also be a great way to generate revenue and gain customers while building your own website or online presence elsewhere.

Using an established marketplace means you won't need to build a website or attract your own customers. Plus, you can usually choose from supported shipping options, and you won't need to accept payments directly.

However, these platforms also take a cut of your profits. On Amazon, you can expect to pay up to 15% commission.

While this amount may not sound like a lot, average gross profits are generally less than 50%. Therefore, a 15% loss can be considerable.

2. Make Your Own Website

Making your own website is an excellent way to sell physical products online. Your site can be a base to market your products, establish your brand, and build a pool of recurring customers.

When you build your website with WordPress, you'll have complete control over your website's layout and design. Not to mention, you'll be using the most popular content management system (CMS) to showcase your products:

Nalgene WordPress physical product store example — nalgene uses WordPress to sell physical products

Furthermore, having a website enables you to attract customers organically. You can use content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to enhance your online visibility and increase sales.

Keep in mind that you'll have associated costs with running a website, such as hosting, premium plugins, and development. Furthermore, you'll be responsible for keeping your site secure and running smoothly.

You'll also need a few things to get started with a website. You'll need to list your products through an online store and set up shipping. Additionally, you'll need a way to securely collect payments.

Fortunately, with our Buy Now Plus plugin, you can create buy now buttons and collect payments through Stripe:

Our plugin is completely free and easy to use. You can collect one-time and recurring card payments, protected by Stripe's security measures. Overall, you can design the website you want and sell your products hassle-free.

3. Social Media and Email Marketing

Alternatively, you can sell your physical products online through social media and email marketing. These strategies can expose you to wider audiences and help you engage with your customers.

There are various ways to approach this strategy:

Creating a social media “store” can fall into a gray area on some platforms. Yet other sites have embraced it, such as Instagram and Facebook Shops:

Using a website, email marketing, and social media together can be a highly successful approach to selling online. However, you can also use buy now buttons to sell directly through social media platforms.

Buy Now Plus lets you create and embed buy now buttons just about anywhere. Our free alternative to Shopify links gives you the power to turn any social media post or email into a sales opportunity!

Conclusion

There is a lot to consider when getting started with ecommerce. Focusing on the right online platform to sell your physical products can significantly affect your overall success.

To recap, here are 3 easy ways to start selling online:

Use an online marketplace such as Amazon.
Create your own website.
Use social media and email marketing.

Do you have any questions about selling physical products online? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

How to Grow and Scale Your Brand (5 Tips)

Starting a business is difficult, and scaling a brand into something bigger is another challenge in itself. Many entrepreneurs don't realize that a company must be both flexible and sustainable in order to grow securely.

Fortunately, setting up your brand's processes and operations can be a relatively straightforward process. When you establish a solid foundation and streamline your workflows, you can increase your chances of navigating growth more easily.

In this post, we'll discuss why smart scaling is critical for any business that wants to last in the long run. Then, we'll look at 5 key tips you can implement to start growing your brand safely. Let's get started!

Why Scaling Your Brand Is So Important

In business, scaling is the idea of setting up your processes to foster and support steady (or rapid) expansion. If it's not done well, growing companies can get stuck with more customers than they can handle.

Alternatively, they may not be able to maintain a certain level of quality throughout the sales funnel due to the strain of growth. This can ruin a reputation and sink a business as well. Typically, this happens because inexperienced entrepreneurs focus on growth tactics before they've established their foundation.

To put it simply, many would-be-successful businesses have failed due to issues with scaling. In fact, about 19% of businesses fail within their first year and a whopping 50% fail within 5 years. Moreover, expanding too fast is often cited as one of the top reasons that companies go bust.

Therefore, if you want to protect your business from a similar fate, you'd be wise to think about scaling. That way, you can avoid this issue and grow seamlessly.

5 Key Tips for Growing and Scaling Your Brand

Now let's talk about how you can set up your business for growth and scalability.

1. Have a Clear Vision and Mission

Having a clear vision and mission is essential for your brand's image and identity. Your mission is your brand's purpose. It's what you are doing for customers and the world right now. A vision is the ultimate, long-term dream for your business, and it's linked to your brand values.

Nike has a meaningful vision and mission statement. It's short and simple, but it effectively describes what the company is doing for the world:

A memorable vision and mission statement give your business direction. Customers and employees alike can refer to it for guidance around the purpose of your organization.

Coming up with your own vision and mission can take a long time, but that's okay. You'll want it to be something that means a lot to you. It should resonate with all the founding members of your organization.

To land on a mission, you might want to start by identifying your biggest selling point. Consider what sets you apart from your competitors. Then, expand on that with your values and goals.

Once you've come up with the winning statement, share it everywhere for customers, the public, and employees to see.

2. Optimize Your Workflows with Templates and Style Guides

Templates are pre-designed documents that can speed up the content creation process. They can eliminate the need for most formatting and designing, allowing you to simply fill in the blanks.

Essentially, templates can save you a ton of time. If you're looking for a beginner-friendly tool to help you create templates for your brand, Canva is a popular option:

This platform has thousands of templates for a range of different tasks and channels, including presentations, graphics, and even social media posts.

Creating company style guides can also increase your productivity and efficiency. This type of document can also help maintain consistency across your brand.

Ideally, a style guide should be as detailed as possible, but it should also allow for some flexibility and innovation. When creating a style guide, you might want to begin with logo designs, a color palette, typography, and image requirements. You can gradually build in more details as time goes on.

3. Streamline Your Social Media Content

Social media content is one of the best ways to reach a wide range of potential customers efficiently and affordably. When you use social media, you can increase brand awareness and educate potential customers about your products and services.

Additionally, including powerful calls to action in your social media posts can boost your conversion rates. In a nutshell, if you want to scale your brand, you'll likely need to be on a range of social media channels.

If you use WordPress, you can use Nelio to get a head start on social media. Nelio Content specifically enables you to automate and schedule your social media posts on a variety of channels.

4. Build an Online Community

If you look at any large company, there's almost always a thriving online community associated with it. Spotify, for example, has been very successful in building an impressive group of followers.

Spotify has achieved this through its online forums, shareable playlists, and its Stars Program:

One benefit of an online community is that it can minimize work for you. For instance, minor customer support issues can be discussed among community members in an online support forum. Furthermore, healthy communities tend to help spread the news about your brand for free.

To begin building a community, the first step is to create the platform itself. You'll need to decide between a more exclusive membership community and an open group. Then, you'll want to promote your new community to customers and any other potential members.

5. Design a Flexible Checkout Process

Creating a flexible checkout process is another excellent way to ensure that your business survives any rapid growth spurts. That's because a lengthy or confusing checkout process can clog up your sales pipeline.

Simplifying your checkout can prevent this. Furthermore, allowing customers to pay how they want and when they want will likely lead to more conversions.

With our tool, Buy Now Plus, you can make buy now buttons for an easy checkout experience:

Buy Now Plus allows you to securely accept credit card payments virtually anywhere. You don't even need a website to set it up.

Also, you can fully customize your buy now buttons and checkout. This means you can tailor it to your market and create a positive user experience for your customers.

Conclusion

Growing and scaling a brand can be a complicated task if you haven't set up clear workflows and strong documentation. Establishing a foundation is crucial if you want to enable your business to grow smoothly with your customer base.

To recap, here are 5 key tips for growing and scaling your brand:

Have a clear vision and mission.
Optimize your workflows with templates and style guides.
Streamline your social media content.
Build an online community.
Design a flexible checkout process with Buy Now Plus.

Do you have any questions about growing and scaling your brand? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

The 5 Best Online Business Ideas for 2023

When starting an online business, there are no limits to what you can do. While you might already know that you can make a living by working online, it's hard to know where to begin.

Fortunately, there are plenty of online business ideas with plenty of potential for success. Knowing your options can narrow down your choices and help you make the right decision. That way, you'll be able to launch a business that works for you and improve your chance of success.

In this post, we'll discuss why you may want to start an online company. Then, we'll cover 5 of the best online business ideas this year. Let's get to work!

Why You Might Want to Launch an Online Business

If you're looking to start an online business, there are many avenues you can take. In the internet age, more companies are either entirely online or have a presence on the web.

Plus, the future of ecommerce is looking bright. Over 2.1 billion people made an online purchase in 2022, and online sales are expected to grow to over $7.4 trillion by 2025. If you sell online, you can turn a significant profit.

Additionally, getting a WordPress ecommerce site up and running is relatively easy. This is especially true when you use beginner-friendly tools to streamline your workflow and sell your products.

With our Buy Now Plus plugin, you can create “buy now” buttons in no time and provide a quick and easy checkout experience for your customers.

Our plugin enables you to sell from your website or social media accounts, making it a versatile option for anyone starting an online business.

Plus, our payment processor is built on top of the secure Stripe platform to protect your payments and customer data.

The 5 Best Online Business Ideas for 2023

Now that you know it's possible to start an online company, it's time to look at some of the top choices. Here are 5 of the best online business ideas to consider for 2023!

1. Create and Sell Online Courses

You can create and sell online courses if you're an expert in a particular area or industry. An online class can consist of anything, from science and engineering to foreign languages and cooking:

This can be a profitable business model because you can make all the learning resources yourself. Then, you can use a membership plugin such as MemberPress to upload and paywall your educational content:

MemberPress is a paywall, membership, and learning management system (LMS) plugin that helps you build online courses easily with a drag-and-drop interface. Furthermore, you can add online quizzes and enable learners to track their progress.

2. Open an Ecommerce Store

If you have a product you want to sell, consider opening up an ecommerce store. This business model lets you reach customers worldwide, with no limit to the merchandise you can sell online:

You'll just need to factor in the costs of purchasing products and setting up your online store. Reaching customers can also be affordable, particularly if you opt for search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.

Additionally, you could use a platform such as Zulily. This site can showcase your products to interested customers and boost your sales:

However, if you opt to sell from your own website, we recommend creating a high-converting sale s page. You'll also need robust security measures to keep your ecommerce customers safe.

3. Become a Graphic Designer

If you've always dreamed of working professionally as an artist, consider becoming a graphic designer. This career path enables you to create physical and online graphics for your clients:

Working as a graphic designer can be highly lucrative. You'll also have the flexibility to work from home and choose client projects that align with your creativity.

If you don't have any credentials, consider taking an online graphic design course through platforms such as Udemy:

This platform offers hundreds of design course options to help you hone your skills. Then, you can start making graphic designs using Adobe Creative Cloud:

Adobe allows you to create materials using video, design, photo, and user experience (UX) apps. You can quickly put together professional designs and sell your services from your website.

4. Try Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has become a popular way to make money online. In this setup, you promote a third-party company's products with branded links. Whenever readers buy items through your links, you'll earn a commission:

According to BloggingX, affiliate marketing is currently worth $12 billion. Plus, you can make money quickly if you have a dedicated audience on your site or social media platforms.

To get started, you'll first need to choose a platform, such as Instagram or Facebook. Then, choose a niche and search for affiliate programs within it that you'd like to join.

Next, it's just a matter of creating content and including your affiliate links. However, we recommend only promoting high-quality products that align with your audience's interests.

You might also consider writing honest reviews and including affiliate disclosures to build trust with your readers.

5. Teach English Online

Finally, English as a second language (ESL) is a growing industry. There are an estimated 1.5 billion English language learners globally, and much of that market is online.

Teaching ESL is a great online business idea if you have an educational background or a strong command of the English language. ESL companies such as Open English connect you with learners worldwide:

Some companies require an ESL certification or a teaching degree. Alternatively, other lower-paying jobs just need you to be a native speaker.

If you don't want to work for a company, you could market your services directly through your site. You can sell lessons using Buy Now Plus and organize classes through a video conferencing platform like Skype.

Conclusion

Choosing an online business idea can be overwhelming. However, by doing a little research and selecting a field that aligns with your skills, you can set yourself up for success.

To recap, here are 5 of the best online business ideas in 2023:

Create and sell an online course using MemberPress.
Open an online store and sell products using Buy Now Plus.
Make money by becoming a graphic designer.
Sell third-party products through affiliate marketing.
Teach English to learners worldwide.

Do you have any questions about the best business ideas for 2023? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

4 Best Ecommerce Podcasts to Listen to in 2022

When you're starting an ecommerce business, it can be difficult to develop effective online marketing tactics. You may want to seek out expert advice, but that often comes with an expensive price tag.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ecommerce podcasts out there that are free and can serve as a valuable resource. These programs are hosted by industry experts who offer actionable advice on how to start your small business.

In this post, we'll discuss why ecommerce business podcasts are worth listening to. Then we'll suggest 4 shows that may help you improve your online store. Let's get started!

Why You Might Want to Listen to Ecommerce Podcasts

Over the past ten years, the popularity of podcasts has been steadily rising. These audio shows tend to be personal, portable, and engaging. Therefore, listening to them is now one of the easiest ways to learn about new topics.

Programs in the online business niche usually cover a wide variety of subjects, from online marketing to networking. Additionally, ecommerce podcasts tend to come in one of the following formats:

Interview: A recurring podcast host brings in different industry experts to ask them questions about their niche.
Conversational: Two or more hosts have an organic discussion about a specific topic that is related to business.
Educational: This may include one or more hosts who provide offer structured content that can be useful to the listener.

No matter the style, you'll likely benefit from tuning in to these programs. From discovering new industry trends to getting practical advice on how to grow your business, they are often gold mines of useful information.

What's more, there are currently lots of ecommerce podcasts available for you to stream. Regardless of your business' niche or your experience level, you're likely to find one that meets your needs.

4 Ecommerce Podcasts Every Business Owner Should Listen To

Now, let's cover 4 quality podcasts that cater specifically to online business owners such as yourself.

1. Honest Ecommerce

If you've received bad business advice, the Honest Ecommerce podcast might be for you. It aims to reveal truths about the ecommerce industry through its honest interviews between Chase Clymer and successful business leaders:

Honest Ecommerce covers just about every topic, from creating long-term business plans to writing better emails. By listening to this podcast, you can gain actionable advice for running an online store, avoiding common mistakes, and reaching your sales goals.

Where to start: Are You a Store Owner or a Brand Owner?:

In this episode, Clymer interviews Josh Firestone, who founded the clothing brand Bearbottom. They discuss Firestone's progression from being a party DJ to launching his own startup.

For beginner store owners who might be discouraged with their progress, they offer advice on staying passionate and patient.

Where to listen: You can find Honest Ecommerce on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher.

2. Built to Scale

On the Built to Scale podcast, hosts Darius Kunca and Justin Gecevicius explain how they went from broke university students to founders of AdKings Agency:

Together, Kunca and Gecevicius have helped to scale many eight and nine-figure companies. Any business owner or ad specialist can benefit from their experience in developing successful marketing strategies.

By listening to Built to Scale, you can gain valuable insights on how to grow and scale a business. This program specializes in providing straightforward marketing methods and growth hacks that you can implement in your online store.

Where to start: Learn From Our Failures: Plan But Don't Overplan & How Simplification Is the Key:

In this episode, the hosts give an example of a time when they overplanned a certain area of their business. They own up to this mistake and explain how you can plan more effectively.

Where to listen: Built to Scale is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

3. My Wife Quit Her Job

In My Wife Quit Her Job, host Steve Chou shares how he grew his online store to replace his wife's salary:

This podcast offers a series of interviews with successful entrepreneurs. My Wife Quit Her Job offers tips on how to achieve your financial goals, improve your sales, and leverage strategic marketing.

If you're a beginner business owner, this podcast may be for you. In many episodes, ecommerce experts talk about their failures and how they overcame them to reach their goals.

Where to start: Social Media Strategy For New Ecommerce Store Owners With Alex Rossman:

In this episode, Chou brings Alex Rossman onto the podcast to share his social media marketing tips. Rossman is the founder of Rossman Media, so he gives credible advice on how to improve your website's sales and organic traffic.

Where to listen: You can find My Wife Quit Her Job on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher.

4. eCommerceFuel

eCommerceFuel is one of the most popular business podcasts. The host, Andrew Youderian, created this program to build a community for ecommerce store owners:

By listening to eCommerceFuel, you can discover predictions about the ecommerce industry and learn from reports on major brands. You can also broaden your knowledge about business development and management from deep dives.

eCommerceFuel can be ideal for more experienced business owners. Although it has certain episodes dedicated to starting a store, most of its content focuses on more advanced techniques, such as outsourcing or sophisticated marketing.

Additionally, Youderian designed an ecommerce forum for vetted store owners who need helpful advice from their peers. There, you can build relationships, get quick replies to your business questions, or search the archives to access past discussions.

Where to start: How Beardbrand Left Amazon and Grew 58%:

In this episode, Youderian talks with Eric Bandholz about the big changes he made to Beardbrand in 2018. Although they discuss specific content strategies and practical business moves, the entire episode feels like a casual conversation.

Where to listen: eCommerceFuel is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Conclusion

There's a steep learning curve for anyone trying to grow an online business, but tuning in to the top ecommerce podcasts can help. By listening to these free programs, you can gain valuable knowledge that may help you boost your bottom line.

To review, here are 4 of our favorite ecommerce podcasts you should consider listening to:

Honest Ecommerce. This show advertises itself as a platform for sincere business advice. You can tune in to its interviews with business owners to gain realistic insights into your field.
Built to Scale. On this podcast, the hosts chronicle their journey from being broke to founding an ecommerce growth agency. You can learn marketing tips and hacks for scaling your online business.
My Wife Quit Her Job. This program is for those who are looking to grow their businesses as a substitute for salaried pay. The host offers advice on how to set and achieve your financial goals.
eCommerceFuel. This podcast offers a community for more experienced entrepreneurs. By listening to its weekly episodes, you can learn how to form better business relationships.

What's your favorite ecommerce podcast? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

3 Warning Signs that Your Business is Failing

There are almost always warning signs that your business is failing. Online stores generally don't collapse from one day to the next. If you've been selling online for a while and your business is doing well, there'll likely be plenty of warning if things aren't going well.

Knowing what those warning signs are will enable you to take action before it's too late. As such, you can respond before your business is losing money or you barely have any customers left. You likely won't get to that point if you act decisively.

In this article, we'll discuss three warning signs that your business is failing. We'll talk about how to tackle each of these situations and their potential causes. Let's get to it!

1. Sales Keep Falling Month After Month

Almost anyone that runs an online store will tell you that sales vary depending on the time of the year. Most stores do the bulk of their sales during the Christmas holiday season. In turn, this increased revenue can make up for slower months throughout the year.

A single month with low sales can be just a blip on your radar. However, if you notice that sales keep dipping over time, you're probably looking at a much larger problem.

Some potential causes for sales numbers dropping can include:

Focusing on seasonal products. If your store focuses on seasonal products, it stands to reason they'll only sell well during that specific season. Outside of those weeks or months, you're probably looking at low sales across the board.
Your prices aren't in line with the competition. In some cases, prices can fall across an entire niche due to new, cheaper products entering the market. If you plan on having a higher price point, you need to justify it with higher product quality.
Your product quality is dropping. If your store's products leave consumers unhappy, bad reviews and a lack of return customers will quickly start to affect your sales numbers.
There's a problem with your online store. In many cases, low sales can stem from problems with your store, such as long loading times or an overall poor customer experience.

Significant dips in sales can be scary. However, if you pay attention to your store's metrics, you can easily spot when the downward trends begin. Then, you can use that information to figure out the problem (and turn it around).

If your store's sale numbers suddenly fall to zero, that usually points toward a technical issue with whatever ecommerce solution you're using. Having an ecommerce solution that enables you to set up simple, customizable checkout pages (such as Buy Now Plus) can prevent technical failures from happening:

Using an ecommerce solution that you can quickly troubleshoot is essential to running a successful online store. That way, if you encounter technical issues, you'll be able to fix them quickly and not miss out on potential sales.

2. Bad Reviews Are Piling Up

Bad reviews can be catastrophic for an online store. A slew of negative feedback can be enough for sales to take a significant downturn, even if the comments themselves are inaccurate:

Multiple bad reviews can be warning signs that your business is failing.

Getting bad reviews is unavoidable if you run an online store for a long time. However, if you're treating customers correctly and offering outstanding products, negative feedback shouldn't outweigh positive comments.

If you run an ecommerce store, you'll need to track two different sets of reviews. Those are:

On-site product reviews: These are the reviews that customers leave for specific products and services. Negative feedback should tell you which service areas your consumers find lacking.
Reviews on third-party websites: Tracking these reviews can be hard unless your company profile is on platforms such as Google My Business or the Yelp website. However, regularly searching for your business' name should enable you to find out what customers are saying about you around the web.

Paying attention to negative feedback is essential because you can be confident that many potential customers will be reading it. A staggering 91% of consumers actively look for reviews before making a purchase. If they see a lot of negative comments, they may choose not to use your business.

If your reviews include ratings, we recommend that you start paying close attention if those numbers fall below 4.5/5 or the equivalent on a ten-point scale. It's essential that you look for repeating complaints in reviews so you can identify pain points with your services and solve them.

3. You Have No Repeat Customers

For many businesses, repeat customers are the ones that keep the ship afloat. Once you convince a consumer to make that first purchase, the chances that they'll make another one are as high as 60 to 70%. Moreover, retaining existing customers costs significantly less than attracting new ones and marketing to them.

If you've been running an online store for a while and you lack repeat business, that doesn't bode well for the future. In most cases, it means one of a few things:

You're not selling products or services that lend themselves to repeat purchases.
Customers are not satisfied with the quality that you offer.
Your customer service experience is lacking and users don't feel heard.
The purchasing or shipping experience is not user friendly.

Paying attention to customer testimonials and reviews should enable you to spot all of these issues well before your company goes bankrupt. Not having repeat business might not mean that your store will go under. Still, in a best-case scenario, it severely limits your growth potential.

Conclusion

There are almost always warning signs that a company might go under. Many store owners only pay attention to profits. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, you might miss obvious warning signs that your business is failing.

Some of the most common warning signs for a failing online business include:

Sales keep falling month after month.
Bad reviews are piling up.
You have no repeat customers.

Do you have any questions about turning a failing business around? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook,Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

What You Need to Know Before Starting an Online Business

In a world currently driven by eCommerce, now is an excellent time for starting an online business. Learn what you need to know before getting started!

With the world increasingly becoming a digital-first environment, now is an excellent time to consider starting an online business. However, doing so is no easy task, and it's essential to make sure that you're adequately prepared.

Fortunately, doing a solid amount of research and planning can help ensure that your company succeeds. While errors and mistakes are inevitable, you can reduce your missteps and challenges by taking a strategic and careful approach.

In this post, we'll start by discussing the benefits of starting an online business. Then we'll cover five key tips to consider before you get started. Let's jump in!

The Benefits of Starting an Online Business

There are many benefits to starting an online business that can make it a rewarding and lucrative professional path.

Firstly, customers increasingly turn to the internet to find the products and services they need. You can purchase virtually anything you need online, from groceries and clothing to consulting and professional services:

Another benefit of an online business is reaching a global audience. You aren't limited to the geographical location of your establishment, nor do you have to deal with costs such as office space rental.

Furthermore, starting an online business can be pretty inexpensive once you have your product or service. You only need to account for a domain name, hosting, and web design and development costs. With the right small business tools, these aspects become easier to manage.

This isn't to say that starting an online business is easy. Certain disadvantages can come with it, such as a crowded online space that makes standing out from competitors difficult. Moreover, you'll need to understand digital marketing trends and techniques.

Fortunately, there are ways to prepare yourself to overcome such obstacles with relative ease. Proper research before launching your business can help increase the likelihood of success.

What You Need to Know Before Starting an Online Business (5 Key Tips)

Now that we've covered the benefits of starting an online business, it's time to dig into what you should know before you do. Here are five tips you can use to make it a productive and profitable endeavor!

1. Take the Time to Create a Detailed Business Plan

With any business, it's crucial to dedicate time to market research and developing a sound business plan. Doing so will help you identify concrete goals and determine how to measure your performance and progress as you grow.

There are a variety of elements that your business plan should cover, including:

Your target audience and customer personas
An executive summary and mission statement
A market analysis
Financial planning and a budget

You can make the process easier by using a business plan template:

The more comprehensive and detailed your business plan, the easier it will be to get your company off the ground. Ideally, we recommend starting with a two to five-year plan.

2. Start With a Service Before Moving Onto Products

It usually makes sense for most online businesses to start by selling services, then eventually moving to products. Services tend to require less investment and development.

Once you get your footing, you'll be in a more stable position to expand and scale your business to incorporate products. This approach can also make it easier for you to find and nurture customer relationships to learn about your target buyers and their most important needs.

3. Invest in Website Design and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When running an online business, your website is of utmost importance. It influences how customers perceive your brand. Your site also affects your engagement and conversion rates.

Therefore, a large portion of your focus should be on developing a high-quality website optimized for users and search engines. It's also a good idea to select a premium WordPress theme to showcase your products and services in a professional, reliable light.

There are plenty of free options available in the WordPress theme directory. You can also use marketplace sites such as Envato:

However, even the most beautifully designed website won't help drive sales if customers cannot find it. This is why it's also essential to invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

It's important to make sure your content is correctly optimized for Google best practices and ranking signals. You can do this is by installing a plugin such All In One SEO (AIOSEO):

You can also use PageSpeed Insights to analyze your site and identify opportunities for improvement. Knowing which tools to use can go a long way in optimizing your website.

4. Focus on Optimizing the Customer Experience

You can't have a successful business without satisfied customers. Therefore, it's crucial to provide a positive User Experience (UX).

This process can include creating a seamless checkout process with plenty of payment gateway options. We also recommend minimizing the number of steps needed for customers to complete their purchases.

One of the best ways to do this is with buy now buttons:

You can easily add one of these elements to your site using our Buy Now Plus plugin:

You can quickly design and create your own buy now buttons to use across various channels. Then your visitors can check out immediately, helping to increase revenue.

5. Social and Email Marketing Are Key

Social media and email marketing are powerful, cost-effective solutions for generating brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, and reaching your target audience. It's wise to develop a marketing strategy that incorporates both platforms.

We recommend figuring out which platforms your target audience uses most and focusing your campaigns there.

For example, Facebook Advertisements can be highly effective and affordable:

You can even sell directly from social media, whether you have a website or not. Regardless of your strategy, it's crucial to create a strong social media presence that is consistent with your branding.

Social media and email can also be incredibly effective for engaging your customers through targeted messaging. You might consider starting an email newsletter to help promote your brand, expand your reach, and drive traffic to your site.

An easy way to do this is to use a tool such as ActiveCampaign:

This email and digital marketing platform can help you create and grow your subscriber list. You can also use it to collect leads, track email marketing analytics, and design custom customer experiences across every channel.

Conclusion

In this digital era, now is the perfect time to consider starting an online business. However, knowing where and how to begin can be difficult. Fortunately, all it takes is a little research and planning.

As we discussed in this post, here are five tips to consider before starting an online business:

Spend time creating a detailed business plan.
Start by offering services before moving onto products.
Invest in your website design and SEO.
Focus on optimizing the customer experience and checkout process.
Social media and email marketing are key.

Do you have any questions about starting an online business? Let us know in the comments section below!

5 Things to Stop Doing Now if You Want to Succeed

Running a business is rarely easy. With so much to handle, it can be hard to build a comprehensive strategy. The pressure to make all the correct moves can be overwhelming.

Fortunately, it's not always about getting it right. Sometimes, knowing what you're doing wrong can be the key to success. By understanding where you can boost your performance, you can take your business to the next level.

In this article, we'll walk you through five things that hinder success. We'll also give you a few tips on how you can improve. Let's go!

1. Ignoring the Competition

Let's be honest: no matter how small your niche is, there will always be someone else you need to measure up to. You can't ignore how your competition is doing – no matter how confident you are in your product.

If you discount other companies, you could be losing out on a lot of valuable information. For example, let's say they run a wildly successful campaign. By taking note of what they did right, you can improve your business's performance too.

You can consider Williams Sonoma as an example of this. Since Thanksgiving is a food-centric holiday, many cooking sites are competing for shoppers' attention. However, while most of them just advertise sales, Williams Sonoma improves on that model with cooking tips as well:

An example of a Williams Sonoma ad that improves on the competition.

However, try to remember that this goes both ways. Other companies are probably watching your performance to improve on their own. By paying close attention to what others are doing, you can tune in to the most successful strategies for your niche.

2. Straying Away From Your Brand Identity

Your brand identity is a mix of many things: the tone of your ads, your logo, and even your font choice. Consistent presentation of these elements is crucial to a buyer's ability to recognize your company. Thus, while going in a new direction may be tempting, it can also harm your business.

This is largely because it may confuse your customers. For example, let's say your social media's tone of voice is playful while your blog is serious. This could be off-putting to new visitors, especially if they're already invested in the buyer's journey.

We're not saying that rebranding is a bad move. However, if you're shifting gears without a clear and intentional plan, you could risk losing potential buyers.

We recommend that you put together a style guide for your content. This may include guidance on what type of language you should use or topics you typically cover. That way, you can reference it before publishing anything and ensure that you're staying on track.

3. Focusing All Your Energy on One Channel

With so many ways to communicate in our modern world, it can be hard to keep up with all of them. Your own website, different social media pages, and traditional advertising can be a lot to handle. As such, it's not unusual to feel like you need to focus on a single channel.

Unfortunately, this isn't usually the best plan. Different platforms have different audiences. Thus, putting all of your efforts into one channel could mean you're missing out on opportunities to make more sales.

One way to combat this is with a content calendar. You don't necessarily need to update every account every day – as long as you're spreading your marketing across many channels, you're opening up new ways to reach new customers.

By the same token, you may also want to consider giving your users an easy way to purchase your products across different channels. If you're looking for a tool to help you do so, we recommend our own Buy Now Plus service:

With Buy Now Plus, you can add buy now buttons almost anywhere – and you don't even need a website to do it. By providing visitors with a secure checkout regardless of how they find you, you can capture more conversions than ever before.

4. Resisting Investments Into Your Business

If you're like most business owners, chances are, you have a budget. This can be especially tight if you're still a relatively small company. However, as the old saying goes, sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

We're not saying that being mindful of your money is a bad thing. Nevertheless, doing so isn't just about saving cash – it's also about knowing where to spend it.

That's why we recommend you invest in resources that can support your business. If your shipping times are struggling, for example, you might want to think about hiring someone to help you out. By the same token, upgrading to a faster web host could dramatically improve the user experience.

If you're not sure which tools are right for you, we recommend that you take full advantage of free trials. That way, you can see how well a certain resource can support your business before you commit to it.

Finally, like most things in business, there's always a chance of failure. You may invest in a tool that doesn't work out for you – and that's okay! Just try to understand why it wasn't a good fit and keep that information in mind for your next investment.

5. Ignoring Your Analytics

Your company's success doesn't have to be a guessing game. Nowadays, analytics are available nearly everywhere, ranging from your social media profiles to your website. If you're ignoring this information, you could also be ignoring a clear path to improvement.

Even if you feel like you understand your performance, getting confirmation never hurts. Additionally, if you find out you're not doing as well as you thought, you can catch the issue early before it really starts affecting your sales.

An easy way to get started with this essential data is through Google Analytics:

Google Analytics can provide you with a broad overview of your audience. You can also zone in on more specific metrics such as demographics, meaning you'll be able to get very specific with your targeted marketing.

If you're not interested in analytics, we highly recommend that you stay in touch with your customers. Ask for feedback and reviews whenever you can. That way, you can stay informed about how your brand is performing.

Conclusion

Success is rarely a straight path. However, that doesn't mean that you can't avoid a few wrong turns along the way. By understanding which actions can harm your performance, you can help your business succeed.

In this article, we covered five things that hinder success:

Ignoring how your competition is performing.
Having an inconsistent or muddled brand identity.
Focusing your efforts on a single channel and ignoring the others.
Being too wary of potentially rewarding investments.
Ignoring the crucial data that analytics can provide.

Do you have any questions about the issues covered in this post? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

How to Create a Perfect Sales Page (5 Key Tips)

A sales page operates as a one-page ad for your product or service. When someone visits this part of your website, they’re already thinking about buying from you – they just need a little push.

Your sales page must emphasize the benefits of your product, answer any misgivings the potential customer might have, and (above all) make it easier for them to commit. Fortunately, this isn’t hard to achieve with a few proven techniques.

In this post, we’ll go through five critical tips for building the perfect sales page. You’ll learn how to create a sales page, how to improve it, and how to get people to take the next step. Let’s get started!

Why It’s Vital to Fine-Tune Your Sales Page

Think about the last time you visited a sales page. It may have been for a piece of software, new technology, clothing, or even furniture. Did you decide to buy the product? Why or why not?

A sales page is important because it is the very end of a sales funnel. All of your marketing efforts are often focused on bringing leads to this key page. Once there, you’ll need to encourage them to take that final step and make a purchase.

While a sales page may often look simple, there’s an art to building one that’s effective. The sales page for the HTC Vive (pictured above) doesn’t just describe the product. It also creates a value proposition (“gifts worth over $100”), makes it easier to buy (“Pre-order”), and addresses potential misgivings (“Get details”).

How to Create a Perfect Sales Page (5 Key Tips)

When optimizing your sales page, it might help to think about it like an ad you’d see in a magazine. It has to be compelling enough to encourage people to read it, and it needs to give them all the information they require to make an educated decision.

Let’s take a look at some tips for doing just that!

1. Punch Up Your Headlines

On the web, most people scan each page in an “F” shape. They read headlines, loosely scan the body, and then look at the conclusion. This behavior has many ramifications, including that it’s a mistake to write your headlines solely for search engine optimization purposes.

Instead, headlines should be written first and foremost for human visitors. They need to be simple, interesting, provocative, and useful. Your goal is to deliver immediate value to the customer, describing what they stand to gain from purchasing the product or service on offer.

For example, this sales page has an obvious value proposition – you can make dinner faster:

An example of a strong headline on a sales page.

You can use tools such as CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to improve your headlines, making them more evocative, emotional, and transparent.

2. Deliver a Clear Call To Action

A call to action (CTA) tells a customer what to do next. On a given landing page, your primary CTA could be:

“Call us for more information!”
“Start a live chat!”
“Sign up for our email newsletter!”
“Buy Now!”

A CTA increases conversion rates because it lets the customer know what the “next step” is. Any time a customer is uncertain, you risk losing the sale. They may get distracted, or they might just not know where to go or what to do.

If you look at the following landing page, you’ll see that the CTA (“Watch Demo”) is as straightforward and visible as possible:

On a sales page, your CTA is generally a “buy now” button. This element provides a simple, clear, and effective way to increase conversions.

3. When Possible, Personalize

80% of customers prefer websites that deliver personalized experiences – those that are tailored to each customer. By creating an experience that is more likely to be relevant, you can increase sales.

Some companies personalize their sales pages by tailoring them to each customer’s location. Other websites use tracking cookies to detect the user’s prior behavior (such as products they liked) so they can promote relevant items. The more information you have about a user, the more customized your page can be.

A personalized experience can be as simple as geographically targeting the user’s location, or as complex as tracking their prior purchases. If a user is already logged in to an account, they can also be addressed directly (“Welcome back Kim!”) to make your website feel less impersonal.

4. Add Reviews and Testimonials

Why should a customer trust you? They may have never heard of you or your product before. Fortunately, reviews and testimonials can build trust with a company in a way that other marketing techniques often cannot. When readers relate to a reviewer and their problems, it primes them to see your business as a solution.

For example, this slideshow of testimonials highlights how the product can improve a company’s operations:

An example of testimonials on a sales page.

Rather than just describing how their product can help, this business lets you see the perspective of their existing (happy) customers.

Therefore, it’s smart to consider adding some of your company’s best testimonials to your sales page. As potential customers dig further into information about your product, they’ll see that it has helped customers just like them.

5. Make Sure Your Page Works on Mobile Devices

Mobile sales make up about 73% of all sales today. Still, many companies build their websites on desktop computers or laptops. It’s easy to forget that a sales page doesn’t just need to function on a mobile device – it has to look just as good on small screens as on large ones.

One way to do this is to be deliberate about your “above the fold” content. This is the text, images, and other elements that appear immediately on a user’s screen before they scroll down the page. This content should make your primary value proposition clear, and should be short and simple so it’s immediately viewable to visitors on mobile devices.

It’s also important to test your landing page on all the platforms you can, including on mobile devices. A “responsive” or “mobile-friendly” design will tailor itself automatically to whatever platform is being used, rather than requiring multiple versions of the website for each platform.

Conclusion

Your sales page is an incredibly important stop on the buyer’s journey. It’s the best place to increase conversions, so you need to make sure it’s well designed, clear, and compelling.

You can improve your sales page by following these tips:

Make your value proposition clear through better headlines.
Deliver a clear CTA to encourage the customer to buy.
Personalize your page to increase relevance and engagement.
Add testimonials to build trust and legitimacy.
Ensure that your page works properly across all platforms.

As a customer, what makes you stop at a sales page? What does it take to get you to convert? Comment below and tell us about your favorite tricks of the trade!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

How to Accept Donations Online (Everything Nonprofits Need to Know)

Many people prefer to complete tasks online. From scheduling appointments to paying electric bills, if users can't do it virtually, they might not do it at all. This same mentality can hold true when it comes to making donations.

Fortunately, enabling your nonprofit to accept donations from your website is a simple process. In fact, once you're online, you may find it's easier and more effective than using mailers or in-person events.

In this post, we'll explore why you should consider accepting online donations. Then we'll show you how to receive contributions using Buy Now Plus. Let's get started!

Why You May Want to Accept Online Donations

These days, many people prefer online donations and don't always have cash or checks at hand. If you're not able to accept online contributions, you're making it difficult, if not impossible, for these people to support your organization.

Enabling online donations can also help you to reach a wider audience. Rather than relying on more traditional methods, you can share your website across social media and email campaigns.

You'll also make it easier for your followers to share your information with their own networks:

Austin Pets Alive has several donation buttons on its website.

Finally, handling donations online can cut down on your paper usage. You can reduce or eliminate your reliance on paper mailers, saving you money on postage costs.

Accepting online contributions is also a significant first step for transitioning to paperless bookkeeping. As such, this method can be advantageous for environmentally conscious businesses.

How to Accept Donations Online (In 3 Easy Steps)

Now that we've covered the benefits of accepting online donations, let's look at starting the process with Buy Now Plus.

1. Sign Up for Buy Now Plus

When you sign up for Buy Now Plus, you'll be asked to connect your Stripe account. This step provides you and your donors with a secure payment gateway.

If you don't have a Stripe account, you'll be able to create one during the Buy Now Plus setup process:

If you already have a Stripe account but would like to create a new one for donations, you can also handle that at this time.

Buy Now Plus enables you to add more than one Stripe account, which could come in handy for organizing your accounting.

2. Design Your Donate Button

Now that you have your Buy Now Plus account ready, it's time to create your first donation button. Start by logging in to your account and navigating to the Buttons page. Then, click on the Add New button.

Here you can add the basic information about your button. This is also where you'll choose which Stripe account to use with it:

How to create a new button in Buy Now Plus

You may want to set the price to Variable using the dropdown menu. This setting enables your donors to choose how much they'd like to give.

Alternatively, you might create a few buttons with preset amounts to encourage donations:

Changing the price option from fixed to variable.

Under the Advanced tab, you can change the text on your button. You can also set a URL that will direct users to a new page once they complete their donations:

How to change the text on a donation button.

Once you're satisfied with your button, click on the Create button to save it.

3. Share Your Button Everywhere

Finally, you can start sharing your button with your network. Buy Now Plus makes it easy to embed your button anywhere you can add a link.

You may want to start by adding the button in a few places across your website. You might include one in your main navigation menu as well as above the fold on your homepage.

It's also a smart idea to create a landing page dedicated to accepting donations.

You can still share your donation button even if you don't have a website. If you're active on social media, that's a great place to start. You can also include a donation button in your email campaigns.

Regardless of where you'd like to place your button, the process is pretty similar. Simply click on the Share button to the right of your donation button. You'll see a pop up with a link and an embed code:

You can also use the social buttons to go directly to the platforms you'd like to share on.

Conclusion

Accepting donations online can be a smart move for any nonprofit. Your donors will likely appreciate the convenience, and it may even save your organization some time and money. Best of all, it's easy to get set up using Buy Now Plus.

Let's recap the three steps to accepting online donations:

Sign up for Buy Now Plus.
Design your donate button.
Share your button everywhere.

Do you have questions about receiving contributions online? Ask us in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

How to Keep Your Ecommerce Customers Safe (4 Tips)

If you own an ecommerce business, chances are the threat of a data breach is never too far from your mind. This is no surprise, considering how serious the consequences can be when information falls into the wrong hands.

While the possibility of exposing user information is a scary one, you're certainly not powerless to keep your customers safe.

You can significantly lessen the chances of a data breach by processing payments securely and following other safety best practices.

In this post, we'll look at why protecting personal information is so important for ecommerce businesses. Then, we'll share four tips for keeping your customers safe. Let's go!

Why Protecting Customer Information is Crucial

Perhaps now more than ever, data privacy has become a central concern for anyone who spends time online. Unfortunately, this wariness is in response to a rising number of data breaches, which has been trending upwards since 2005.

Ecommerce sites may be especially attractive to bad actors as they're likely to store payment details as well as personal information.

Stolen data is not only a concern for the owners of the information, but it can also have serious consequences for your business.

The financial impact can be especially devastating, as the cost to recover can be pretty high. In 2020, the global average cost per data breach was $3.86 million.

In addition to taking a financial hit, you could lose the trust of your existing customers, who may take their business elsewhere. These customers may also warn their networks against doing business with you, resulting in further losses.

How to Keep Your Ecommerce Customers Safe (4 Tips)

Now that we've discussed the seriousness of a data breach, let's look at a few tips you can use to keep your business and customers safe.

1. Process Payments With Buy Now Plus

Since payment information is especially sensitive, you may want to make protecting it your first priority.

Using a tool like Buy Now Plus will not only make the buying process easier for your customers, but it will also provide additional security as it's built on top of Stripe:

Buy Now Plus uses Stripe to keep payments secure.

Stripe is a very secure payment solution. All transactions processed through it are Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protected to keep data safe while it's being transmitted. Moreover, credit card numbers are encrypted and kept secure in Stripe's data center.

Getting started with Buy Now Plus is quick and easy, even if you don't have a Stripe account yet. To get started, click on the Connect to Stripe button on the Buy Now Plus login page.

Then, you'll be prompted to enter the email associated with your Stripe account. If you don't have one, any email will do:

On the next screen, you'll create a password for your Stripe account. You'll then need to secure your account using a mobile number. Enter the code that you'll receive via text to continue.

At this point, you can either connect to an existing Stripe account or create a new account to use with Buy Now Plus:

Connecting a Stripe account to Buy Now Plus.

Next, you'll need to enter some details about your business, as well as some personal information.

When you're ready, you can connect your new Stripe account to Buy Now Plus.

2. Control Access With Strong Passwords

Chances are you protect sensitive information with passwords, so you'll want to be sure they're up to the task. Your best strategy for this is to follow some simple password best practices:

Never use the same password for more than one account.
Ensure that passwords are both long and complex.
Change passwords regularly.
Avoid sharing passwords.
Never write passwords down.

You might also consider implementing Multi-Factor Authorization (MFA). MFA adds an additional security challenge after an individual has entered this password.

This challenge could be answering a security question, entering a pin, or using a one time password (OTP) provided via text or email.

If you'd like to add this functionality to your WordPress site, you can use a plugin called WP 2FA:

The WP 2FA plugin which adds two factor authorization.

This free plugin is easy to set up and supports several OTP-generating apps. You can also configure it to force users to set up MFA immediately or give them a grace period.

3. Collect Only the Information You Need

Simply put, hackers can't steal information that you don't have. For this reason, it's best that you only collect the information needed to provide an efficient service. Remember that you can always ask for additional details later.

Aside from security concerns, asking for too much data up front can contribute to a poor customer experience. The last thing you want is to be losing customers during your signup or checkout process.

If you've already collected information you don't need, you might want to delete it now.

You'll not only keep your customers safer, but this can also help you comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Take the time to carefully consider what information you truly need. You may want to develop guidelines for the collection, storage, and eventual deletion of customer data.

Firm policies are beneficial if you work with a small team to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

4. Keep Your Software Up to Date

Outdated websites and software make desirable targets for hackers. Once word gets out about a vulnerability, it will likely be exploited quickly.

To keep your website safe, it's important to be vigilant about any updates developers release for the software and tools you use.

You'll want to be especially aware of any emergency patches which are often issued in response to a potential threat.

You can be even more proactive about this by regularly checking your software vendors' websites for any updates you may have missed. Ensuring that all of the plugins on your site are updated on a regular basis can help keep your site safe.

Conclusion

As the owner of an ecommerce business, you have an obligation to your customers to keep their private information secure. Fortunately, there are ways to protect both your customers and your company.

Let's recap the four tips we shared for protecting user data:

Process secure payments with Buy Now Plus.
Control access with strong passwords.
Collect only the information you need.
Keep your software up to date.

Do you still have questions about keeping your customers safe? Let us know in the comments section below!

If you liked this post, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.