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Building a lucrative online store

Posted 04/March/2013 by neubreed

Planning to build a website for your business? Many people invest a lot of money to  create websites for their businesses yet  most of the time they do not even use them  for anything productive other than bragging rights. A website has the potential to make or break any business and the better it is, the better it is for your business. So how do we ensure return on investment?

Most web-based businesses are built as an online store where visitors can browse through the products and make their purchases, like a one-stop-shopping experience. Clever marketing and promotions will be needed to set your store apart in the burgeoning online marketplace. In addition to this, the success of your online store  will  depend on your developer. When building your online store, your web developer will need to consider and advise on: domain names, hosting, shop security and processes. When looking for a good web development company, Sydney has some of the best

The first thing you need to consider is your domain name. Regularly a business  finds that their brand has already been taken by another domain owner. In this scenario it is important to come up with a variationof the brand name or other intellectual property to use as the URL – something that is easy for customers to associate with your business. Your website address is a major element of your branding and marketing efforts so it is important for it to be memorable.

Your online store has to be able to have all the elements of efficient web hosting. For starters, it should be able to provide a secure transaction. It should also have up-time reliability as well as an easy to use shopping cart. Your online store will also need  a merchant account to enable your site to process electronic payments, credit card transactions, wire transfers, and other online payment methods. 

Your online store can take advantage of a number of proven marketing techniques that will differentiate your product or service and uplift your campaigns online. An example of this would be setting up dedicated email boxes for your major or new products and maintain and create targeted mailings lists for your loyal customers or for a specific demography. 

Promotional codes are effective for monitoring the success of your online marketing efforts. Audit the content of your site to ensure that the words you are using in your advertising copy will rank high in search engine results. You should also make a lot of “noise” about your store’s opening or re-opening as the case may be, through banner advertisements in high-traffic sites and email marketing efforts.

These simple techniques are only just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creating a successful online store. However if you start to realise the potential of your website rather than treating it as just an online calling card, you can be sure to get your return on investment.