By Zack Devin
Thousands of Australians are enjoying the many benefits that come with being your own boss and setting up an e-commerce business in the most popular way to escape direct employment. It might sound like quite a challenge to design and build your own shopping cart website, but the trick is to outsource everything, particularly the web design and management.
Web Developer
The web developer offers all the services that you will need, including the following:
- Web Design & Build
- Domain Name Registration
- Web Hosting
- Cyber-Security
- Site Management
Using a single provider, your e-commerce platform is under 24-hour supervision by IT experts and they will upload new product images and information whenever necessary. If you really do want to know how to start an online business in Australia, think digital marketing.
Digital Marketing
If you were thinking it’s just a question of building your site and that’s it, think again, as without digital marketing, potential buyers will not be aware of your existence, and with most online consumers using Google when looking for products, you will need ongoing SEO services. It might take a few weeks, but once your website is prominent in Google searches, your site traffic will increase considerably, which should result in more sales, and let’s not forget social media, the most powerful digital marketing toll of all!
Your Products
There are a few criteria that your products must meet; firstly, the product must be in high demand and make sure that you don’t enter a sector that is dying. There must be a future for whatever products you choose, and you will have to be very price-competitive, and resist the temptation to market cheap goods and very low prices, as this type of business has no long-term future. You want your customers to be very happy with their purchases, and before very long, you will be known as an e-store that is reliable and sells the best quality goods at reasonable prices.
Logistics
You could start using your garage at home, where you keep all your products and packaging and have the courier collect when you have orders, but once your digital marketing kicks in, you would be spending all of your time picking and packing orders. The best way to handle order processing is to outsource the entire operation to a third-party logistics provider (3PL), then you deliver your products and packaging to their warehouse and email all orders to them.
Never forget that digital marketing is the key to success and if you invest in SEO services, you won’t regret it.
