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E-Commerce: Beyond Programming

It finally came: the day your e-commerce site launched...and nothing. Many people that I've dealt with are under false assumption that the launch of their e-commerce site will instantly bring sales. Wrong!

That's when your work starts. Well actually, if your work started here, you're already somewhat behind. Selling online doesn't have to be necessarily done through your site.

While the developer is getting your site ready,

  • get your business license and secure your name (I hope this was your first step)
  • open up a business bank account
  • link that bank account with PayPal or another online payment processor
  • setup a phone number
  • post products on Amazon, eBay, Craigslist, etc
  • open up a blog
  • open a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
With PayPal, you can even include buy-now links in your blog or Facebook page. 

Once it's operational, promote, promote, and promote. Capture any leads and follow up with them. Make sure that you and your staff mark every sale as extremely important. Updates should go out almost instantly. Let them know you're working on it diligently. Try to get that product out yesterday (emphasis on urgency). 

If you continue to work on your business and want to expand it, with proper advertisement and customer service, you're looking at 5-7 years to make it decently successful; that is if you've researched the products that you want to sell and made sure that they'll sell online.

There are of course many other factors that you should do prior and during your e-commerce venture; one simple but crucial example: finding and developing relationships with your vendors. 

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