It’s no secret that the events of this year have thrown a wrench in almost everyone's 2020 business plans. Customers aren’t shopping in stores as much as they used to, and much of the focus has turned to businesses and ecommerce sites which boast delivery or curbside pickup options. Now is the time to start thinking about how to cash in on this market by offering your goods and services on an online platform - and it’s actually not as hard as it sounds. If you’ve got a website, you’re already halfway there! Read on for some top tips to get your online business up and running ahead of the 2020 selling season.
Optimize Your Website for Online Sales
The first step is often the biggest. If you don’t already have a website to market your business, you should start here. A Facebook page is a great start, but a website is a much more comprehensive tool to market to your customers. There are many “Do-It-Yourself” website creators, with WordPress (www.wordpress.com) and Wix (www.wix.com) being the top options. If this already seems over your head, it may be time to invest in a local website company that can create a site just for your business. Take to Google and find a reputable company in your area with good reviews. Don’t hesitate to find several different companies and compare quotes. Be sure to ask if they have experience in your industry and see if they can provide some sample sites they have made in the past.
If you already have a website, you can now optimize the site for ecommerce. Talk with your web developer about adding an online store, or look into an ecommerce solution, like Shopify (www.shopify.com) that will create a seamless shopping experience that you can integrate into your existing website. If you’re using a WordPress or Wix site, there will be a plugin option to make this process easier. Keep in mind that there may be a fee to use some ecommerce platforms. Once you have your ecommerce site integrated with your website, the rest is a breeze!
Choose Your Products and Build Your Online Store
You may have countless products that you sell on your farm or in your brick and mortar store, but you won’t necessarily put all of these products into your online store. You should think about your profit margin on each product, and if it makes sense to include these in your online store. Maybe you have an item that is hard to package or expensive to ship - you might not want to include this in the list of available products, or make sure that this item is for pickup only. You should choose the products that make sense for your business. Also think about if you can reasonably offer shipping or curbside pickup options to your customers. Your customers will want to know how they are going to receive the product.
Once you have chosen the products you want to sell online, make sure that each product has at least one great photo, a description, and a price. These are the main points that a customer will be looking at when they are searching online. You should consider adding multiple photos, from different angles, so that customers can really see what they’re buying. There’s nothing worse than buying something online and then receiving a totally different product from what you thought you were ordering. A product description should be at least 50-100 words. The more description you can give, the better. Another advantage to adding a longer description is that you can add “keywords”, which are words that people search for in Google or other search engines. The more “keywords” you have on your website, the easier it is for relevant customers to find your business. Of course the price of each item is up to you, but make sure you also note whether a shipping or a curbside pickup fee will apply. Full transparency is best when selling online.
Add a Shop on Facebook and Instagram
If you’re familiar with Facebook and Instagram, you may have noticed that there are shopping options already integrated into these social media platforms. To set up these shops, you must first be the owner of the page, or a page admin. Then, go to Facebook Commerce Manager (www.facebook.com/commerce_manager) and follow the on screen prompts from there. You will add products, images, descriptions, and prices in a similar way as you did with your website shop. Once you review your products, your shop will be available to the public and ready to use within 24 hours.
The benefit of adding a shop on Facebook and Instagram is that you can update your entire list of followers each time you add a product or put an item on sale. Social media is the number one tool used by customers when trying to decide where and who to buy from. Customers will often visit social media pages before they visit a business website to verify the business legitimacy and brand image.
Promote Your Online Store
Now that you’ve got your online stores set up on your website and on Facebook and Instagram, let your customers know! Your current customers will be the first to check out your new online platform, so be sure to send out an email to your contact list, or post occasionally on social media about your store, new products available, and sales. Product sales are a great way to promote certain products, and draw attention to your online store.
If you’ve followed these steps, congratulations! You now have an online store that you can use to add additional revenue streams to your business. It may take some time to get your store setup the way you would like, but rest assured that this is important work, and your customers will greatly appreciate being able to purchase your products and services in new and innovative ways.
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