How to Start and Maintain a Successful Online Store

When looking for an e-commerce solution, here are some of the most important things you should keep in mind, according to experts in online business:

• Easy-to-use interface
• Simple checkout procedures
• Mobile ready features
• Multiple options
• Reasonable price
• Integration with social media
• Options for pictures and video

These are some of the most important attributes of an online shopping solution. You want to make it easy to navigate and use for your visitors, first of all. People are in a hurry (usually on mobile devices), and want the shopping experience to be as simple and pain free as possible. Once they are ready to check out, this process should be easily accessible and should naturally follow the browsing and shopping experience. If you have a good shopping cart, this should not be an issue, so choose your e-commerce solution carefully based on this. The solution should offer multiple options for you, as the store owner, as well as options from the shopper end, such as the ability for them to choose the quantity, multiple colors, and shipping solutions.

Finally, it should be easily integrated with social media, so that people will be able to share it easily with their friends and business associates. And the solution should be reasonably priced for the features offered.

Hi, it's Deb again, talking to you today about online e-commerce solutions for business. One of the first and most important things you have to do before starting your online store is to choose your e-commerce solution. There are many e-commerce solutions out there today which promise to be the best place to put your merchandise, products, or services, so how do you know which one is best?

My gut response is "the one with the most traffic." Obviously you want a site which is popular, a domain which is known for driving the largest amounts of traffic, and one that people know by name. This increases the likelihood that people will find your site. Remember that each domain or shopping cart solution has its own traffic. They are a website domain, just like Hubpages is, and if people go to the main site, they may find your site simple because it's on their server. However, the focus when developing your very own e-commerce solution should be not only to find a server with the best overall traffic, but one which has the necessary components you need to make the solution work for you.

Shopify.com is one example of an excellent e-commerce solution for businesses which seems to have it all together. They claim to have lots of internal traffic, that millions of visitors use them daily, and that merchants are happy with this all-in-one solution for their online stores.

As an extra incentive, they even have famous public figures, such as ABC "Shark Tank's" Daymond John and Mark Cuban as two of their spokesmen on the site, and they have both publicly recommended the site as the best e-commerce solution. Since both of these men are not only public figures, but also successful millionaire and billionaires, this recommendation goes a long way toward increasing the credibility of this site as a valid, all-in-one solution for an online store or business.

In order to get the maximum benefit from your online store or e-commerce solution, you need to build it into your brand effectively, so that it becomes a part of your company's presence on the web.

Many e-commerce solutions, such as Volusion.com, Shopify.com, and Bigcommerce.com, three of the most trusted names in online e-commerce on the web today, offer ways to build your brand within your online store solution with them. Included in this is the ability to customized your site to match your company's logo and other identifying characteristics, the ability to customize other features of your site, and even the incorporation of high resolution images and video in some cases.

I am not suggesting that you have to use one of the above mentioned platforms in order to be successful. And none of the e-commerce solutions mentioned have paid me or are compensating me in any way by mentioning them. But I am trying to find the best possible solutions for your online store or business and these three are listed as the top 3 e-commerce solutions by an e-commerce solutions site.

To the right, we have set up a poll where you can vote on your opinion regarding setting up an online store, what you think are the most important aspects of an online store solution, in terms of top quality attributes. What do you think is the most important to you? Ease of use? Mobile readiness? Increased conversion? Let us know what you think by casting your vote to the right.

Below, I have located some top-notch video tutorials from You Tube which will walk you through how to set up an online store with the top three major e-commerce websites:

Shopify, Volusion, and BigCommerce

I hope this will help you with these three popular platforms if you plan to set up an online store with one of these guys. These are all very good solutions for setting up your own online store, adding items to sell, and checking sales and visitor analytics.

If you listen to all of the video, you will be more likely to learn what you need to set up your own store with one of these platforms. In addition, you will be more knowledgeable about which solution is best for your particular business and idea, based on the services they offer.

I hope this helps you in setting up your own online store. I may feature some other e-commerce solutions in future posts. So stay tuned to my videos and articles in the near future on Hub Pages, my main blog, and my main websites.

Well, there you have it! Some free info for you to use regarding three of the very best online store solutions. We didn't talk about auction type sites in this article, but I do plan to address this in future blogs if this is a topic you would like to know more about. I will also feature other online ecommerce sites in the future and teach you how to maximize profits from the different platforms.

ABOUT ME:

I am a successful online seller, blogger, songwriter, and app creator, though I do other things too. I am the owner of Small Town Global, Inc., a global technology company which is in the making, which I plan to formally launch in early 2015. I write for numerous companies and websites and help them increase traffic and sales, and I have some celebrity clients. I write regularly for the ABC "Shark Tank" podcasting blog, and have had some of my articles appear in such publications as Forbes Magazine and several other online publications. You can read more about me by looking at my profile here:

http://thestudiobydeb.hubpages.com

Thanks for stopping by another of my blogs and please share and tell others.

© 2014 Deborah L. Killion

Deb Killion is a well-known blogger and media content producer. All of her work including blog entries and posts are protected by copyright law. None of her work may be copied or reproduced in whole or in part without express written permission.