For many new store owners, the idea of starting an online business is an exciting experience and potentially rewarding in terms of finances. With all the excitement of starting a new online store, many store owners make some common mistakes by taking some crucial things for granted or do not consider taking some important actions carefully.
It is quite understandable that why these mistakes are made by new owners. Store owners are so much focused on getting off the ground with their new online stores that many times some important things are overlooked that can impact the business down the road.
If we try to take a closer look at these mistakes that new store owners make, there is a common pattern or trend that is being followed all the time repeatedly. Today we are going to discuss these common mistakes.
Not optimizing the store site for SEO but still expecting No.1 rank on search engines
This is probably one of the most common mistakes in an online business world. Not focusing on search engine optimization (SEO) but still expecting a magic to happen that will put the store site on No.1 position on all search engines like Google, Bing & Yahoo.
Search engines are the most common medium by which businesses present their products or services to their target customers. The rank of your store site is entirely based on how well you as a business owner optimize your site for various search engines. If you do not know how to accomplish this, it is quite important to get some professional help (or advise) because you could be throwing away large volume of free traffic.
Interesting Tip - If you are a new store owner, you should certainly read one of the articles that we posted about SEO myths: Top 5 modern SEO myths in e-commerce world
Not making any marketing strategies
If you are starting a new online business, you should keep one thing in your mind as a business owner; people are not aware of what you do and what products/services you provide unless you tell them (in other words you market your business
You should have a good marketing strategy in order run a successful e-commerce business so that your online store is getting the proper exposure to showcase your product(s) to the target audience. As a business owner, your marketing strategy should include: focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), advertising your product(s) on major platforms and communication with your customers to provide better service and receive feedback.
It is important to understand that, even if you have found the perfect niche or product, if no one is able to find your store site, it can put your online business in jeopardy. You cannot have a profitable business unless you have a marketing plan in place.
Interesting Tip - Here you can find one of our articles that talks about how to start a business and having a good business plan: How to start an online business: a startup guide
Not having a user-friendly website for interaction with the customers
What is a user-friendly website? Many will say that a user-friendly website is full of features, great design and layout etc. Yes, all these things are important to make a website user-friendly. Even if you are doing all these things correctly, it does you no good if your website lacks the features (or ways) by which your customers can interact with you. Here are some deal breakers that stop customers from making a purchase:
- Having no “Contact us” page on the website – If customers see no forms or related things on your store site by which they can contact you, they will be reluctant to place an order. Due to lacks of contact forms, a number one concern of customers is; what if there is a problem with the order? How can they get in touch with you for? As a store owner, it is your responsibility to allow customers to easily get in touch with you.
- Not listing any address or phone number on the website – Many times customers are curious to know about your business before placing an order like: where are you located, where are the products/items are being shipped from or if you have any physical location/office. Listing a phone number or address gives credibility to your business (store site).
Interesting Tip - Here is one of our articles that talk about importance of site features that allows you to communicate with your customers and get their feedback: Best ways to get feedback from your customer
Avoiding these mistakes will not guarantee success to your business but it certainly keeps you away from things that can impact your business down the road and you don’t end of thinking, why I didn’t pay attention to this small thing before when I started the business?
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Author: Lavish Kumar
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