Many entrepreneurs have tried their hand at selling products online, yet the majority fall by the wayside, largely due to the lack of direction in their digital marketing strategies. It isn’t simply a question of building a website, uploading images and text and opening your store; to be successful you need to have certain things in place.

• Products – Get this wrong and it will be a costly experience, which is why you need to do some serious market research top ensure that there is an adequate demand for what you are selling. You need to be realistic and reasonably confident that you can compete on the open market and quality should always be a priority, especially if you are looking to build a brand.
• Digital Marketing – There are literally millions of websites, each with its own specific address (domain name) and you need to understand that the average consumer will not even be aware of your existence and it is only with search engine optimisation from a leading UK agency such as www.moveaheadmedia.co.uk/services/seo/ that you will get the exposure. The goal is to make your website very prominent within specific Google searches and the SEO expert has numerous strategies to achieve the objective, which would result in a surge of web traffic and this would mean more sales.
• Web Design – Your shopping cart website is very much your digital shop window and it should be professionally designed and managed by the web developer. Magento is perhaps the best platform to use and you can set up several payment gateways; major credit cards, PayPal and direct bank transfer and even Bitcoin, which is the currency of the future. If you have a great business idea and you would like to protect it, click here.
• Logistics – If you are planning a low-key launch and asking friends to Facebook share your e-commerce, you can probably package and dispatch the products yourself, but if you engage the services of an SEO agency, then you should outsource your logistics to a third-party logistics (3PL), who has the resources to pick, pack and deliver promptly. Your 3PL partner uses the products and packaging that you deliver to their warehouse and all you need to do is forward the orders as they come in and they will handle everything.
• Improving the UX – UX is an acronym for the user experience, something that is critical if you want to a high flier and your goal should always be to look for ways to improve the UX. Faster page loading, professional images and product description with engaging articles, are all aspects of a successful website, so you should be looking at the UX your customers have when they visit your platform. Here is some government information about digital marketing, which is a recommended read. Asking customers for feedback is a great way to find out more about the UX, which helps you to make improvements.
• Service Businesses Run Digitally – One of the great frontiers of digital business is facilitating the entire customer experience with a digital component.  This is true for many services such as home improvement, home aid, and even for a house cleaner service.  Companies that rely on great service, both in field appointments and via a main office can find a slew of digital tools to help with the process.  Online booking forms, digital phone companies with switchable extensions, appointment management software, customer self-booking management platforms, CRMs, and many pieces of software for graphics, web design, and any other task required to run a business can be bought, rented, or even hired out to specialists.

Like any other business, an e-commerce platform needs to be well designed and maintained and with a good web hosting provider, critical aspects like cyber-security will be in place and you can focus on driving traffic to your e-commerce platform.