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Four steps to online success

By / Pablo Pastega / In Best practice /

European online retail sales are set to increase at 11% a year until 2017 (according to Forrester Research). With no end in sight to the growth of e-commerce, more people than ever will launch online businesses, says Pablo Pastega. Here, he tells why and how to reach your online goal – in four easy stages.

1. Take the leap

Selling online can increase your sales and your margins. However, you’ll have to learn to manage your time in the e-commerce sector. No more 9 to 5, buying and selling online success is a 24/7 project. Organising your time, structuring your day and keeping on top of the ‘To Do’ list is essential if you are willing to optimise online channels.

2. Make tough choices

There are two ways to manage e-commerce:

Using online marketplaces
Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay or Rakuten handle logistics for you and promote your shop on their platform. This can save you time and increase the traffic to your store.
Building your own ‘e-shop’
Means you manage all areas of the online business yourself. It is not as complicated as it may seem, software like Prestashop makes it cheap to set up your business, manage your sales and promote an online store.

3. Find funding, find freedom

The e-commerce world moves fast and, in order to keep up, you need the capital to execute snap decisions. Securing funding for your business ensures that you have the freedom to make the right choice for your online company.

On the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo you can start a campaign for your online business and activate your community for financial support. An alternative is Spotcap, which connects to your online merchant accounts in order to assess your real life financial performance.

4. Choose the right path to online success and growth

Depending on the product you sell, the resources you have and the virtual location of your store, you should implement a marketing plan that contains multiple channels, such as:

Social networking and ‘free’ PR
Get yourself an account on Facebook or Twitter, and contact online media or specialised bloggers to promote your business.
Optimise your ranking
Put the research into finding the right keywords, get familiar with SEO platforms and review your plan regularly. Instead of optimising your ranking yourself you can also ‘buy’ keywords. For this kind of Search Engine Optimisation you get charged every time someone clicks on your ad and visits your shop.
Affiliate marketing
Platforms like TradeDoubler or Zanox enable you to advertise your product on related websites. Commission is usually calculated per sale.

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Author: Pablo Pastega

Spotcap | www.the-gma.com

Business guru Pablo Pastega is managing director for business online credit platform Spotcap in Spain.

Four steps to online success

1. Take the leap

2. Make tough choices

3. Find funding, find freedom