Running a small business or an online store is no easy task, especially when you're doing it alone. Not all of us have the privilege or resources to hire outside help, and if we want our store to be a success, we need to have all the tools needed to ensure that everything runs smoothly lest we lose sales, not to mention our sanity. If you are starting an online store alone, here are some practical tips to stay organized.
Choose The Best Platforms
If you already know what products or goods you're going to sell, then you need to find the best platforms to use based on the following:
• Your Target Audience
Research which platforms your target demographic usually spends the majority of their time in. For example, studies show that Zoomers (those born in 1997 and later) spend more time on TikTok and Snapchat than millennials (those born from 1981 to 1996). Meanwhile, older generations are more likely to be found on WhatsApp and Facebook.
• Platforms With A Reputation For Reliability And Trustworthiness
This one is pretty self-explanatory: Some online store platforms are more trustworthy than others because not everyone takes precautions to protect customers and sellers from scams. Whatever e-commerce platform you choose, make sure it comes with glowing reviews from sellers and customers. They should also have a reputation for having secure systems to keep your customers' data and information intact.
• Which Platforms Need To Work Hand-In-Hand To Help You Achieve Your Goals
For example, WooCommerce returns and exchanges don't necessarily have all the tools and features needed to give the customer and the seller a seamless transaction, which is why a third-party logistics service might be necessary. These solutions will help you manage your returns and exchanges, coordinate details like return shipping to your store or warehouse, and they will also be able to keep your customers updated every step of the process.
Draft A Daily Maintenance Checklist And Stick To It
Running a small business can feel like having to multitask 24/7, and Here are some tips for ensuring that your website or accounts are well-maintained, even while doing it alone:
• If you are running this online store as a side hustle, take time out of your day to sit down and check every single platform, social media account, and page from your website to ensure that the content is constantly updated. More often than not, platforms and web hosts offer automatic updates regarding the number of your stock and other important details, so make sure to turn on those features as well.
• When it comes to your website, make sure that everything is running smoothly and visible across all types of devices and browsers.
• Constantly perform backups for everything. Your website files need to be backed up somewhere, and you can't always rely on your web host provider to constantly do it for you. Make sure you always have a copy of your website saved on a drive somewhere or even your own computer and that you perform regular back- ups.
• Regularly check your links to ensure that everything is still working and not leading to potentially harmful pages, especially if you have links directly to external websites.
Keep Learning About Social Media Marketing
If you're starting a business, you may not have the funds needed to employ the help of social media marketing experts. The good news is that the world is at your fingertips, and you can learn how to do it yourself, at least for now. Here are some strategies to market your solo e-commerce business on social media as good as you can with what you have:
• Stay on top of trends, but don't just follow the crowd. The best entrepreneurs are ahead of the curve and can foresee the next big thing based on what's trendy now.
• Learn the basics. You do not need to be the best at graphic design or copywriting, but you should at least be able to do every element of content creation even without mastering them. Luckily there are plenty of free tools and resources for solopreneur e-commerce store owners.
• Attend free seminars and look up free video tutorials and articles on the internet to gain an insight into the best free platforms and software you can use to come up with e-commerce shop marketing content.
• Plan your online store shopper social media content at least two months in advance. Running a business—no matter how small—is more like a marathon than a sprint. This is truer when you are doing it solo. Take a deep breath, study, put everything in its rightful place, and you might have a fighting chance of growing your ecommerce store so that you can hire some help one day.
