5 Tips to Make Your eCommerce Startup Shine

Here are five tips that can make any eCommerce startup shine.

Running an online-based startup has many advantages - lower costs, higher visibility and traffic, and location-independent management among other things. Yet like any business venture, eCommerce entrepreneurs also have roadblocks to traverse, such as providing enough support for customers and fielding irate clients. Read on further as we discuss five tips that can make any eCommerce startup shine.

Don't Force the Launch

This past few years has seen a shift in business startups and entrepreneurial mindsets wherein people are just launching one company after another. While it can certainly showcase your hunger and drive to make it as a CEO of your own company, trying to launch your rocket without a solid launchpad can spell disaster. Before making any big official reveals, lay some groundwork by hiring the right team, optimizing search engine results, marketing your content, networking, and making sure you have the capital runway to stay afloat for the next several months.

Pick the Right Domain Name

The right domain name can affect your brand's visibility and make it easier for your target audience to remember your business. As a general rule of thumb, make it easy to type. Google, Amazon, Tesla, eBay - these are all household names in their respective industries and all of them share a common trait - they have simple yet catchy names. Avoid special characters, like hyphens, and numbers since these characters can make your domain name confusing to type on browsers.

Select the Right Payment Processing Solution

Picking out the type of payment gateway is essential to starting any type of business, especially an eCommerce one since you are restricted from transacting in cash with your customers. There are a handful of established payment gateway providers out there, such as PayPal and Stripe. Not only is the type of payment gateway important in that it is your main method of generating profits, but it also affects your brand's image and how customers perceive it. If you opt for cheap but shady payment gateways, this can deter your customers from buying your product or service since they may either not trust your payment processing or does not have a compatible card or account to pay through that gateway.

Search Engine Optimize

This is the bread and butter of any dotcom entrepreneur. As the eCommerce landscape experiences rapid growth, more and more startups will be attempting to capture a piece of the virtual pie. This can make for a very saturated and cutthroat space. To give your brand the visibility it needs to survive and thrive, you'll need to optimize content to reach the first SERPs of web browsers, such as Chrome and IE. Hire an SEO professional to tailor optimize content that has the ability to attract new leads consistently.

Be Active on Social Media

If you look at Facebook, Instagram, and other prominent social networking platforms, there's as much businesses using the platform to advertise their brand as there are account holders that are using it for personal reasons. This is because there are millions of people using at least one social media platform on a daily basis. Capturing even a fraction of this demographic can lead to a profitable quarter for your eCommerce site.

Succeeding in your online-based business venture requires time and effort in planning out every detail and executing flawlessly. Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses, eCommerce sites are more flexible, agile, and transparent. Use these attributes to your advantage and as a blueprint when drawing your business plans in the short-term and long-term time frame.