Trading is not a new concept, but the means that are being used for the same are quite new. In the past, the businesses were limited to a particular area, but as people now are able to trade online, the scope of every type of businesses has gone unlimited. Thanks to the cheap and accessible internet as well as the smartphones which have helped in promoting the field of eCommerce.

eCommerce or the online method of trading is booming rapidly, and the reason behind this rapid rise is the convenience it provides to the buyers. Also for the sellers, it has become easier to reach more customers, at a global level. In the old brick and mortar business model, the approach was more local, except for the large scale businesses. But now, even the small scale businesses have got the opportunity to sell their products and services across the world and establish themselves as a brand.

So, is it really that easy to launch an eCommerce website and run a business?

Every business has its own requirements and rules that one need to follow in order to build and run it successfully. For an eCommerce business, too, you need to follow a proper guideline, such that you achieve your expected results and establish your online business as a brand.

Research and Prepare: The foremost thing to do is to find out the niche for your online storefront. You must get the idea of what products you want to sell, and also the sources from where you can get them. To get an idea of what should be the niche of your online store, you must follow the latest trends and the level of the competition in the market. You can go through other eCommerce websites and look for the best sellers of those websites. Or you can simply go for your own interest and passion.

The next step is to evaluate the competition. By evaluating the competition, it becomes a bit easier to draw an outline of the business plan.

Finding the Right Development Partner for Your eCommerce Website: There are a few effective methods through which you can reach the right development team for developing your eCommerce website. You can:

There are a few effective methods through which you can reach the right development team for developing your eCommerce website. You can:

• ask your friends or relatives for suggestions of good eCommerce website development companies,
• choose a team from a freelance platform,
• look for a good company on the internet based on the client reviews and skills,
• from social media platforms, like LinkedIn and Facebook.

You can pick any of the given options for hiring the development team and contact them with your queries. After interviewing them about their skills, expertise and the cost of the project, you can decide on who will be the best development partner for your eCommerce project.

The Basic Requirements to Launch an eCommerce Website: The next step is to choose a name for your business and secure a domain for it. Finding a name that people can remember easily, and also, represent your business effectively, is a bit tricky job. Also, the selected name should be available as the domain name and the name for all the social media platforms that you intend to use for the promotion of your website so that there will be no confusion, and your business stands out as a brand.

Further, you would need to set up an integrated payment processor, to process all the future transactions on your website. Also, you need to raise a decent financial backup for your online business and arrange a safer way of stocking up and the shipping of the products to be sold on the website.

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Online Store: There are thousands of eCommerce websites out there that are built on different platforms and are earning good profits. At this point, you also need to decide on a feasible choice for building your website according to your need, and the budget you are willing to invest in your website. Try to keep a flexible budget such that you do not have to compromise on the quality and the security of the website. Since building an eCommerce website has become quite normal today, developers have also come with many options of platforms (cheap to expensive) for building an eCommerce website. To develop your eCommerce website here is a small list of the best options, you can choose from:

• Magento
• BigCommerce
• Shopify
• Joomla
• WordPress With WooCommerce

Developing the website: After you have decided on which platform you want to use to develop your eCommerce website, you are ready for the development of the website. The development team that you have hired will be responsible for all the development process. You just need to decide the design of the website on the basis of your requirements. At this phase, you must explain your requirements properly, so that there will be no confusion, and you receive the product you expected for.

After the website is ready, you need to list the products on the website with well-optimized HD images as well as SEO-friendly descriptions, such that the website gets good ranking in the searches.

Website Launch and Selling the Product: You must launch the website as soon as it is ready. Even if there are a few pending tasks, waiting to fix them is not an option as proper marketing of the website will only be effective after it goes live. Though you can do the pre-launch marketing of the website, marketing after the launch will get you the real organic traffic. You can fix the issues alongside while promoting your business online.

Marketing: Marketing for any business, whether it is online or offline, is a never-ending process, and it is that essential step that will help you to reach your potential customers. In the case of an online business, to stay ahead in the competition, you need to work on the SEO of the website and boosting its ranking in the searches.

To reach out to more people and get good traffic on your website, you can go for content marketing, social media marketing or hire influencers. With content marketing, you get organic traffic for the long run, but social media marketing and influencer marketing can do wonders for an eCommerce website. Social media marketing is cheaper but also the most powerful medium for advertising your website. You can promote your website through your official social media handles, like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, at a minimal cost, while hiring influencers to promote your business is also a great way to reach more and more people.

Launching an eCommerce website is the very beginning of your online business, and the most crucial part too. If the beginning is good, you will be able to focus on the other aspects of your business, and it will be your consistency, that will decide the future of your business.