All-in-one platforms (think Shopify) have made it all too easy for anyone and their grandmother to set up shop quickly. Hear me out. There is a big difference between setting up an online store and launching a successful e-commerce business. To be successful, you’ll need to research and develop a competitive product and create a professional website with fast shipping and helpful customer service—all while building a memorable brand. How to Start I don’t want to discourage you with an extensive task list; that’s not what this is about. We’re here to help you succeed.
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You’ll find nine steps to start your e-commerce business on the right foot. 1. Research the viability of your vision Before you start building anything, you’ll want to research company data the viability of your vision. Do search query trends support that this product or store is something people want? What will your market position be, and can it be profitable? Search query trends: Is this something people want? You can get an idea of the level of interest using Google Trends and a good keyword research tool. Google Trends is an online search tool that maps the popularity of broad queries in Google Search across various regions and languages over time.
How to Start example
Therefore, Say I’m interested in starting a children’s gift shop. Google Trends shows that searches for kids’ board games have declined for a few years—especially around the Mailing Lead holiday season. Based on this, wooden toys may be a better product niche than board games. A keyword research tool is also helpful in the research phase. Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, for example, lets you see more details like related search queries and competitive metrics. Continuing with the wooden toy shop example, Keywords Explorer tells me that a related search query, “wooden stacking toys,” has, on average, 500 monthly searches. And the trend line is increasing.