Among the many conveniences that the internet has brought the laypeople, the most notable is that people can go online, order their stuff, and wait for their items to arrive at their doorstep instead of going to a brick-and-mortar store—because of this, running an e-commerce website has become one of the most profitable types of retail business today.
At a glance, starting and operating an e-commerce website seems easy. However, assuming that you already own one or are planning to create one, you may already understand that you’re still none the wiser, and having this kind of business isn’t a walk in the park.
Currently, you may be contemplating between getting someone to teach you or trying the holistic approach of teaching yourself through e-commerce guides. If you’re hesitating to consider the latter option, you may want to continue reading to know how e-commerce guides can elevate your online business strategy.
Learn the basics of running an online business
First and foremost, eCommerce guides will teach you a core part of the business: dropshipping. It’s expected that dropshipping and online retail profits will continue to grow. In 2020 alone, the industry has hit a record value of USD$26.074 trillion. In guides, you’ll learn how to run and manage efficient and profitable drop shipping operations. (1)
These guides will teach you how to do the following:
- Choose the essential pages you need for your e-commerce site
- Configure your e-commerce software, customize your website
- Establish your online brand
- Analyze your popular products
- Improve your marketing
Know what digital marketing is about
Sadly, many online business owners fail when it comes to digital marketing. However, it doesn’t mean that they’re completely clueless. They know that they need to utilize paid ads, the market in social media, and perform search engine optimization (SEO). Unfortunately, beyond those processes, they’re utterly perplexed or ignorant.
Thankfully, online e-commerce guides can enlighten any business owner on what digital marketing entails. These guides can teach them how to create high-return campaigns, as well as impart detailed knowledge on these things below:
- Goal setting
- Creating customer profiles
- Competitor research
- Understanding the buyer’s journey
- Marketing plan execution
Fully utilize the power of social media
While social media marketing is under digital marketing, it’s a category. Unlike advertising on other digital channels or markets, a business can sustain itself through social media marketing alone. However, it may require a lot of resources and expertise.
With guides, you can operate your social media marketing operations with reduced cost and finesse. Also, they can teach you how to:
- Get started with your social media accounts
- Utilize the free tools that come with the platforms
- Use paid advertising services
- Run organic and paid campaigns
- Optimize content
Familiarize yourself with e-mail marketing
Like social media marketing, e-mail marketing is different from other marketing channels. If you want to utilize this digital market, you need to be highly familiar with how it works, especially since there are a lot of legal landmines that you must avoid at all costs.
Note that a single mass e-mail burst can quickly get you sued if you fail to understand the laws established to protect consumers. To have an idea on this specific topic, you may want to start reading about the CAN-SPAM Act––a law that lays out the most important do’s, and dont’s when it comes to e-mail marketing. (2)
Relying on e-commerce guides can let you know about how to:
- Legally grow your e-mail list
- Swiftly find the ideal e-mail service or software for your campaign
- Craft the perfect e-mail marketing strategy
- Execute your e-mail drive flawlessly
Properly learn how to set up your website
The most crucial topic that guides cover is how to set up your e-commerce website. Indeed, you can set up an e-commerce shop nowadays in a few clicks and taps on your keyboard, thanks to content management systems (CMSs) and prebuilt e-commerce platforms on the web. However, installing and configuring your e-commerce isn’t enough if you wish to succeed on the web.
A tiny little note: CMSs and e-commerce platforms are different. While a CMS can be used as an e-commerce backbone, you’ll need to rely on external plugins or an experienced web developer to do so extensively. With an e-commerce platform, you won’t need to worry about those things. (3)
With an e-commerce guide, you’ll learn how to do the following:
- Create an e-commerce business plan
- Choose the best platform or e-commerce software for your business
- Know the top e-commerce trends
- Configure your store to become a high-converting one
- Market your business and products by utilizing all available tools at your shop’s disposal
Understand how to customize your shop
Once you’re done setting up your products and mastering how to operate your e-commerce site, the next step is to customize your shop. You may think that you can wing designing and customizing your shop. But, unfortunately, you should know that doing those requires careful consideration and familiarity with various design philosophies and practices.
Guides can assist you in:
- Applying specific aspects of your business to improve your shop’s design
- Find the suitable theme that can attract and convert leads
- Customize the theme you chose, enhancing your shop’s efficiency
- Test your e-commerce site for bugs and errors
Conclusion
Those are just a few things you can learn from e-commerce guides, which can help elevate your shop’s profitability and online business strategy’s efficacy. Know that this list isn’t all that inclusive, as there are many other things these guides can teach you. While it’s great you’re researching how they can help you exactly, why not try reading or getting one right away for you to know everything first hand.
How eCommerce Guides Elevate Your Business Strategy
References
- “A Marketer’s Lens On CES 2020”, Source: https://www.mediacom.com/static/documents/A-Marketers-Lens-on-CES-2020.pdf
- “CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide For Business,” Source: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
- “What Is The Difference Between An Ecommerce Platform And CMS?”, Source: https://cofes.com/what-is-difference-between-ecommerce-platform-and-cms/.
