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Is it possible to make $1000 within a month of starting an Ecommerce business? There are numerous success stories of people who have hit the jackpot by selling online. You can do the same.

Ecommerce has been a big game-changer for sellers. The growth of ecommerce has been phenomenal. From sales of $3.53 trillion in 2019, it is predicted to hit $6.54 trillion by 2022.

While traditionally, starting a business meant big investments and no guarantee of returns. Today, the concept of dropshipping has changed this scenario completely.

Anyone willing to start their dropship store on an ecommerce platform can do so with minimum investment.

However, there are still some challenges like marketing your store. If you think that orders will start pouring in by you being online, you’ve got another think coming!

If you don’t market your product well, it is similar to a good product gathering dust on the shelf of a big store.

“No matter which ecommerce platform you use and how popular it is with online shoppers, you gotta put in the work for people to buy from you.”

Many ecommerce businesses have drowned in the sea of ecommerce for failing to adhere to certain best practices. You don’t hear much of these businesses that have tanked, we only hear of the big success stories.

Yes, it’s true that thousands of people have started their entrepreneurial journeys with ecommerce and have gone on to become millionaires. It’s equally true that a similar number of people have tasted nothing but despair.

So what’s the difference between ecommerce success and failure?

Read on to know 9 proven strategies to make at least a $1000 dollars in your first month of starting an ecommerce store.

Search Engine Optimization cannot be ignored.

The importance of ranking on Google’s first page is understood the most by those who rank on the second page. They are as good as invisible.

If you want traffic on your store and visibility for your products, then your site needs to rank on the first page of Google.

SEO, i.e. search engine optimization is what will get you good rankings on search engines.

Paid advertising does that too, but the effects of SEO are long-lasting, it works for you even when your budgets have run out. And it’s cheaper than paid ads.

SEO brings organic traffic to your website. By organic traffic, we mean unpaid traffic coming through search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

With proper implementation, SEO results will work wonders for your business. Your website ranks well for your targeted keywords, which increases hits on your website, which in turn increases the percentage of sales conversions.

This is an inexpensive way to attract customers. It is a slow process, but it will bring long-lasting benefits to your business.

Get on Google Shopping

“Google Shopping ads have a higher CTR than Amazon’s Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand ads”.

Google Shopping is a service offered by Google that enables customers to compare product prices for the same product from different vendors. It works on a comparison shopping model and brings in more customers as they can find the best price for what they want to buy.

Google Shopping is a paid service where merchants have to pay a fee to get their products listed. The cost of Google Shopping is quite flexible. There is no minimum daily budget, and the cost per click can be as low as $0.01.

To start selling with Google Shopping, you first need to set up your account with Google AdWords which is a very simple process.

To start selling with Google Shopping, you first need to set up your account with Google AdWords, which you can easily do with your Google id.

You then need to set up a Google Merchant Center account with relevant information about your business and verify your website.

Upload your feed with a list of products you sell and their specifications.

Mention the color, brand, price, availability, and other relevant points in your description.

Link your Merchant Center and AdWords accounts.

You are ready to create campaigns and leave the rest to Google. They match search queries with your feed, site, and bid to show users relevant products.

Sell everywhere

“As per statistics from LSAINSIDER, between 2015 and 2018, Amazon overtook Google as a search engine for products!”

That’s the power marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have.

Here’s an article on why you should sell on marketplaces too.

Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media marketing tools can help you increase your customer base exponentially. Sell on these platforms and see your conversion figures skyrocket!

Marketplaces can hypothetically be considered as malls where several sellers sell their products. The inventory, logistics, pricing, product description, and images are managed by the seller.

The amount of money you can earn by selling on Amazon is directly correlated to the uniqueness of your products. Choose products with high margins or look for selling high-ticket items like IT products.

Amazon is the market leader for sellers, if you do not have a presence on Amazon, you are losing out on a huge customer base.

But, you should not rely on Amazon entirely to generate revenue for you. It is important to have an ecommerce store as well, as selling only on Amazon has certain drawbacks.

Let’s talk about Instagram. 83% of people say Instagram helps them discover new products and services. 81% say the platform helps them research products and services, and 80% say it helps them decide whether to make a purchase.

Don’t use Instagram only as a branding activity, use it to sell as well!

The growing platform has over 1 billion global users and according to Hootsuite 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business on the platform, and 70% of users are more likely to purchase via mobile.

Retarget!

Retargeting is a marketing strategy that targets customers who visit your site but leave without converting. It is a constant reminder to them that they left something amazing behind.

A popular strategy to convert visitors who did not buy is to offer deals on the products they searched for. Discounts on products they already were interested in increases the chances of them converting.

Retargeting is applicable to existing customers too. You know their needs and likes, highlight similar items, remind them of abandoned carts and offer discounts on the products they frequently buy.

Retargeting works on cookies with JavaScript coding. This technology enables you to follow the customers everywhere on the internet with your ads. The customers know your products and are familiar with your brand as they have visited your website.

For example, say you have a website that sells headphones, and a customer visited your site, browsed through some products but did not buy and left your online store.

Now, your retargeting ads follow this customer on the web with product listings of the same headphone they viewed but with discounted prices or free shipping offers.

One-click on this ad, and it’s a closed sale!

This process, done repeatedly, will lead to better conversions. So, along with other ad campaigns, pay attention to crafting ads that retarget your customers.

Enticing and well-timed pop-ups do the trick

Yeah, we know many marketeers are against using pop-ups because they think users find them annoying and ruin the users’ experience, BUT the truth is they work.

• The top 10% highest-performing pop-ups averaged a 9.28% conversion rate. And, by conversion rate, we mean someone who saw a pop-up and took action.
• Only 3 out of 100 people ever have pop-ups with conversion rates over 11%.
• The average conversion rate for all pop-ups is 3.09%.

(source – sumo.com)

The differentiator between an annoying pop-up and one that converts is the implementation.

By implementation, we mean the design, content, color and timing. Use time-triggered pop-ups and offer something of value and see an increase in your leads or conversions.

Automate as many processes as you can

“Automate processes to focus on high priority tasks.”

There is an umpteen number of software applications to automate various administrative processes, accounting, catalog management, inventory management, social media etc. 

Instapage predicts 80% of advertising will be automated by 2022. According to “Accounting Today“, the global market of accounting software is expected to grow to a value of $11.8 billion by 2026. 

The use of artificial intelligence in accounting software gives it an extra edge. AI brings in competitive advantages as it highlights redundant areas, and increases efficiency. 

Automation allows you to use your time strategically for planning, implementation and marketing. 

One of the biggest pain points for an ecommerce business is catalog management.

Uploading products on the ecommerce platform, clicking or sourcing product images, writing product descriptions, updating products, prices etc. is an ongoing, time-consuming and cumbersome task.

VARStreet’s ecommerce platform comes with a ready catalog aggregation, rich content complete with high-quality images, product description and daily updates of price and inventory from 40 + IT and office supplies distributors.

This takes catalog management completely off your hands, leaving you ample time to market your ecommerce store and your products. Our integration with distributors’ product feeds automates the order processing, where a confirmed order on your store creates a PO for the distributor who then dropships the order. What do you need to do? Zilch!

We also integrate with all major accounting, ERP and CRM software besides having an in-built CRM with our ecommerce store.

Outsource what you cannot automate

Do not try to take on everything, you’re running a business and will need to delegate. While hiring people may not always be possible, outsourcing is.

Find freelancers who will handle the social media for you, create graphics for social media, click product pictures or write content.

Initially, you may want to handle all these processes yourself, but once orders start coming in, or you want to scale and widen your product portfolio, managing everything will be difficult.

If you do not have the skill and knowledge you will make costly mistakes. Hence, outsource processes you are not knowledgable about to professionals and let them manage parts of your ecommerce business for you.

A great ecommerce software will take you places

The ecommerce platform you choose is a big decision that will affect the eventual success or failure of your ecommerce business.

Your website is your online store, a good design and user interface is the first experience a customer has of your business.

Next is the ease of navigation, how easily and quickly users can find products they’re looking for, add to cart, and a swift checkout process.

It is also important that the ecommerce platform you choose is scalable. Select a platform looking at a roadmap of an increase in traffic, purchases, and billing in the future.

The platform should allow you to expand your product range without forking out exorbitant charges.

VARStreet comes with a ready catalog of 5 million SKUs! You can choose to sell 10, 100 or a million products out of our vast catalog at the same price!

Use quality images on your site

Images tell stories. The statement holds in all walks of life. In an ecommerce business, good quality images create customer’s interest and build trust towards your brand.

An image is all that a customer ‘sees’ of the product online. In the absence of the ‘touch and feel’ that a physical store gives, good quality images of products from different angles is important.

Shoddy images will dissuade customers from clicking on the product, let alone buying it.

Images are important for your social media posts and marketing as well. Create unique content with your product images to get popular on social media. People like sharing interesting pictures, leverage on that.

Final Thoughts

As James Cash Penney founder of JC Penney once said, “Growth is never by mere chance, it is a result of forces working together”.

Forces like time, energy and money, when used with proper planning and execution, can work wonders for your ecommerce business.

If your product is good and you market it well, there is no stopping you from reaching your first $1000 and going beyond.

Keep the strategies we’ve outlined above as guidelines to get you on the road to earning a $1000 in the first month of your ecommerce journey.

The post 9 Proven strategies to make at least $1000 in your first month of Ecommerce appeared first on VAR Sales Management Blog: News, Tips & Many More By VARStreet.