The other day, I was talking to a friend who's about to start his own online store. He is surprisingly sure that a website template and an ecommerce plug-in are enough to get him started. The truth is, the whole process is a bit more demanding than that. That’s why today I made a list of resources entrepreneurs should find quite handy. I know I did.
1. Ecommerce Getting Started Guide is an article in PDF format dealing with those first steps to setting up your business: select a domain, accept online payments, promote your business. Hard to skip these steps. Agree?
2. I would dig deeper with The Mega Guide to Maximizing eCommerce Sales, Revenues and Performance on all Fronts. This is just a blog post, but a detailed one, covering mobile ecommerce, SEO, tips on increasing sales, and more.
3. Add these 50 Ways to Make Your First Sale to your reading list too. It should help with making that first sale. This review of Shopify should come in handy while preparing for that ‘first sale'.
4. When it comes to marketing and SEO (for beginners!), I would definitely read The Beginners Guide to SEO. Detailed and well written. Compulsory.
5. For actionable steps to be taken in order to grow my sales, I would read 17 SEO Best Practices That Could Double Your E-Commerce Sales again.
6. When it comes to conversion rate improvement, this one should come in handy: 21 tweaks to increase your Ecommerce conversion rate. Increasing your conversion rate by 5% would impact your bottom line over a 12-month period.'nuff said.
7. And, yes, web design has come a long way in improving ecommerce conversions. For some of the latest design ideas, browse Top Design Tips for Improving Ecommerce Conversions.
8. In the analytics department, I would go back and read this short book covering the basics of Google Analytics: An Introduction to Google Analytics for Ecommerce
9. Knowing more about what metrics to track is a great next step. And Top Five Google Analytics Metrics to Watch When Launching an Ecommerce Website is a good start.
10. Mobile Commerce: 25 Essential Tips it’s useful for the simple reason that there are more obstacles in mobile commerce than in traditional ecommerce, and user experience should be a priority.
More resources to follow soon.
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