With businesses booming the internet, it is natural that you might have the desire to start yours too. Maybe there are some cute cupcakes that you can sell, or you love designing custom T-shirts and can turn them into an eCommerce. Whatever it is, starting an eCommerce will bring you a lot of side income and is never a bad idea. 

But how to start a successful online store? If you are a complete beginner to it, to which aspects should you pay attention? And in general, where to start? 

Well, if you feel a little confused with all of these questions, we’ve got you covered. We will show you how to open an online store step by step. So without further adieu, let’s jump into our guide: 

How to open an online store: step by step guide

•  Find your niche 

One of the most important questions for any shop owner is: who is our niche? So if you have a general desire to open an eCommerce but have not decided for whom you are doing it, this is your starting point. Let’s take an example. 

For instance, you want to sell iPhone cases. Now, that’s a great idea, and it certainly will have a lot of buyers. However, if you put different phone cases into one place, you will eventually fade off in the competition. 

It is way better to focus only on one type of phone cover. You can choose to do only artsy cases, and your niche target will get narrowed down to art-lovers only. This way, your competition narrows down too. You can go even further and tell that you’re selling only renaissance covers, and you’ll get amazed at how many loyal customers you’ll get. 

So sometimes to remove certain things is a better option. For eCommerces, it is better to have only a few types of products than to mix all sorts of things. 

• Choose a brand and domain name.

Once you know your niche and the products you will be selling on your online store, you should choose your brand name. Most people would go with an easy way: they would put their name or surname as the shop name. Of course, it works too, but if you want to go the extra mile, you might consider being a little more creative. 

It is generally a good idea to connect your brand name with your shop. Logically, you should not name your shop a healthy avocado if you are selling clothes. Try to connect your shop and your brand name, and at the same time make something catchy out of it. 

Depending on what you are selling, you might also want to make your name a little fun. Play around with puns and see what will come out. Whatever you choose, when you set up an online store, make sure you name your domain the same way. You certainly do not want to cause any confusion to your clients. 

• Choose the platform 

Let’s switch to more technical parts. Once you have the idea of your online shop, it is time to make it live. For that, first of all, you should understand which platform you want to use to create your online shop. There are a lot of options out there, but the most popular ones are Shopify and WooCommerce.

You can choose some of the themes and start creating your shop right away. Shopify and WooCommerce are pretty simple. However, you should be committed to spending some time to figure those platforms out. 

If you think you don’t have enough energy or time for it, the best solution is to hire a freelancer and set up an online store for you. You can also ask them to create a customized theme or plugin, depending on your needs.

The freelancer will help you to get rid of the hassle of building your own online store, keeping it secure, and figuring out the technical stuff. All you’ll have to do is to create quality content. 

• Spread it to the world! 

Finally, the last step of creating an online shop is making it available to the public. It is a different thing to build an online shop and a different thing to market it correctly. Marketing is the key to success. Start your campaign way before you launch your shop. Make your potential customers aware of the “coming soon” eCommerce. 

You can do so by promoting your store on social media. Create Instagram and Facebook pages and make everyone ready for the future store. Once you get your followers familiar with your brand name, it will be easier to convert them later. 

Once you launch your shop, promote it in any manner possible. You can start your shop blog where you talk about topics related to your products. For instance, if you are selling skin-care products, you can have a beauty routine blog. SEO-optimize your content and try to get as many visitors to your website as possible. 

Don’t forget to constantly share your blog posts on your social media to get even more exposure. In other words, try all possible ways to get the news out there that your unique eCommerce is live! 

And even if you get your loyal customers, don’t get too excited. You always have to keep your campaigns active if you want to grow your business even further.