Setting up an online store is an easy, the hard task is generating revenue. Running an online store is challenging because of the fierce competition you have to face to make a profit. The e-commerce industry will be worth a massive $4.5 trillion by 2021. Businesses realize its enormous potential as a source of revenue; hence, they are rushing to set up online stores.
Having in place a revenue generation strategy is a critical component to your success. For anyone looking forward to generating a sustainable revenue needs to figure out how their business will generate income. How much money can one make from their online shop?
It is difficult to know the exact amount, but there is virtually no limit, and it depends on the various strategies you employ. The best answer here is there is no limit on the revenue your business can earn. The right strategies vary slightly with each industry. However, some have proven to be useful for all niches.
31 Best Ways To Make Money Online With Your Store
The best way to start making money from your online store is to increase sales. Here are a few ideas to help you incase sales and conversions.
1. Process Automation
Automating your processes is an excellent way to make your online store more lucrative. It makes your procedures faster and easier. It is a worth it investment, although it consumes a significant amount of your resources. It pays off in the long run.
You can automate your marketing, order fulfillment, and accounting. This automation can improve your efficiency and profit margin. It is a one-time thing, and it will free you to concentrate on other areas that need your attention. We like to use Marketo for our automation.
2. Subscriber Communities
As your online business continues to grow, your fan base will increase. Your services are likely to build your reputation and earn your company some loyal supporters. They will want to hear from you and be a significant source of revenue or your business either directly or indirectly.
They will spend more than first-time clients, and they will be a positive referral source for you. This will help you get more sales and make money.
You can keep them happy by creating a community for these loyal fans. A community enables you to interact with them in an exclusive and restricted surrounding. This segregation makes them feel important; hence, it makes them happy. You can also keep them up to date with your activities and entice them to make purchases.
3. Pick The Right Products to Sell
Businesses must choose the right product to be successful. These goods are those that have a high turnover rate and are profitable. You must conduct a comprehensive analysis of the market to know what to sell. For example, Shopify assists users to decide which products to sell in their online stores.
You can visit their blog to get valuable insights into choosing the right product.
4. Mobile Optimized Sites (mobile-friendly)
According to a Hooklogic study, 60% of the customers sample admit to researching on goods or services via mobile phones before deciding to purchase them or not. Additionally, 46% of them buy from online businesses using their handheld gadgets. Therefore, an e-commerce business must optimize its shop for mobile.
You can optimize your online store for mobile by having sensitive content and icons that adjust to fit the small screens of phones. This modification is crucial in ensuring this section of buyers purchase from you.
5. Leverage Search Engine Rankings For Free Traffic
Search engine rankings are critical for your e-commerce business. Higher placement means more people see your shop and can visit it. SEO has the highest return on investment among marketing channels, your online store must put conscious effort into your performance in search.
You can optimize your online shop for business in many ways. Improve your loading speed and use quality multimedia content to climb up the ladder. Additionally, make your site ideal for mobile, use high performing keywords, and leverage local search to perform well.
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6. Social Media
Social media penetration stands at 45% (The Global State of Digital in 2019 Report). This percentage represents 3.484 billion people. These findings show the massive potential the networks have for online businesses.
Many stores can integrate with your social networks to increase your visibility. It's important to integrate social media accounts so you can make more money.
You can add the icons of the leading platforms on your site to help people share your business or check you out on the programs. Additionally, you can set up pages in the social sites for connecting and communicating with your customers.
7. Intuitive Templates For Your Store
Aesthetics play a crucial role in your e-commerce success. The way people view and interact with your store influences their perception of your business. You must create a memorable first impression if you want to convert your prospects into buying customers. The right template can help capture your visitors' attention and make the rest of their purchase process seamless.
Many stores offer dozens of templates to their users. You can pick from a variety of themes, each having its unique features, benefits, and price.
8. Amazon Integration
As of the end of last year, Amazon was receiving about 206 million unique visitors in the U.S. alone. Your business must link with your Amazon shop to leverage its traffic. Many sites allow you to link your account with your Amazon platform.
This connection helps your store become more visible as traffic streams into it from Amazon. Additionally, it helps you manage your inventory better. You can synchronize your stock to know what you have. Create listings on your shops and generate reports.
9. Reinvest Your Profits
As your business grows and you sell more merchandise, your profit margin will increase. More clients mean that you will need to increase your inventory and expand your capacity to accommodate them. Plowing back part of your proceeds can be an excellent way to sustain the new level of your business.
You can reinvest the proceeds in expanding your inventory, building a website that supports more visitors, and expediting your services to serve the high number of clients satisfactorily.
10. Simple Customer Journey
The journey your customers take to complete a purchase is critical for your e-commerce success. Connecting and mapping their interactions is vital for improving the end-to-end experience. If your clients are happy about your services, they will develop a sense of loyalty towards your online shop.
You can improve the look and layout of your landing pages and smoothen the process of placing an order. Additionally, ensure that it is easy for your clients to make payments. Integrate payment processing software such as PayPal to your store and accept cards.
5 Ways To Make More Money Online With Value
11. Promotions And Offers
Flash sales and one-time offers are an excellent way to entice people to purchase from you. They not only make it worthwhile for your clients to buy but also encourage them to buy today. This persuasion is vita, especially with the modern purchasers who can take up to a month before purchasing any of your products.
You can offer discounts such as a 15% price deductions or three items for the amount people pay for two products. Ensure your promotions are visible. Use a timer to keep track of the time remaining before the charges revert to the normal ones.
I found that adding discounts to my own store not only helped me make money from my store, it helped build trust. peoplel trust you if you offer then value. By giving them a discount it's adding value to them.
12. Quality Content
You must have quality content to convert customers. Many online shops are after the same customers. You must capture their attention instantly and get them to buy lest you lose their business to your competitors.
Quality content consists of one that satisfies the pillars of exceptional posts. It must be exciting, informative, and educative.
Additionally, you should share multimedia posts. Videos and images break the monotony of texts and can improve your conversion.
13. Value Propositions
The digital space is hyper-competitive for businesses. Not only are you offering similar products as your competitors, but you are also competing with other niches for the scarce resources of customers. You must differentiate yourself if you want the prospects to choose you.
You can distinguish your brand or products from that of your rivals by highlighting what makes you unique. This differentiation often convinces customers, and it might be what you need to get their business. Be creative. If you do not find what separates you from similar companies, your visitors will not either.
14. Use Analytics
Analytics provide insights that are crucial for any campaign. They indicate whether your strategies are working or not. You can learn where improvements are necessary and where your efforts are paying off. Analytics can indicate the level of success of an online store.
It can show you e-commerce metrics such as your revenue, conversion rate, and transactions. These data is significant in helping you improve your efforts.
Related: How West Shepherd Made $230,000 Revenue Per Month
15. Strategy
Many e-commerce shops fail because their owners start them without any concrete strategy. The online business environment is highly competitive. You must have a comprehensive plan if you want to be successful in this space. Your e-commerce strategy should outline your goals and indicate a comprehensive plan of how you are going to meet these objectives.
Your strategy should be flexible, and you should come up one it after analyzing the digital stores space.
6 Creative Ways To Make Money & Increase Sales
16. Online Reviews
You barely get a chance to meet your first-time customers. They rely on the comments from previous clients to decide whether they should buy from you or not. 90% of online shoppers read your reviews before buying from you. You need people to be saying positive things about you, lest you will not turn your prospects into a revenue stream for your business.
You can ensure people are saying good things about you by ensuring they have a memorable experience while visiting your online store. Ensure their customer journey is smooth and be available to help them in case they encounter difficulties.
You can even add product reviews to your store via Loox and that will help.
17. Practice Inventory Management
Inventory management is critical for an online business. As people are adding items to their carts and eventually purchasing the products, you must be ready to remove them from your stock once they buy them. This update ensures that subsequent customers will not make orders that you cannot fulfill.
Inventory management also informs you the moment you reach the reorder level. There are many tools that you can use for your inventory management. These include nChannel, Seller Cloud, and Channel Advisor. Leverage them to manage your stock and make your customers happy.
18. Target your Customers Well
Retaining your old customers is often not enough. Businesses must acquire new clients to continue to meet their objectives. They spend significantly in trying to get first-time buyers. Therefore, careful consideration is necessary to ensure that they are getting value for money.
You can target your customers well by capturing their information and personalizing your campaigns for each one. It might consume slightly more resources, but it is more effective than generalizing your campaign.
19. Reveal Hidden Costs
How will you feel if after checking out the price of a product plus shipping, you find out that you have to pay extra? Maybe the additional cost is for registration to make a purchase or buy another product before getting the one you want. These practices do not board down well with your prospects. They often contribute to the abandoning their purchase.
Be straightforward in your business by revealing the price it will take before a customer can own and possess a good early enough. This disclosure helps them make informed choices. Additionally, avoid unnecessary charges that drive up the total cost of ownership of your products.
You are leaving money on the table if you keep hiding cost. People spend more money and you make more money if you don't have any surprises.
20. Multichannel Marketing
You need to put your goods in as many marketing channels as possible. Your presence in multiple locations helps you reach out to many people. Mix platforms such as Shopify, Amazon, and eBay to improve your visibility. Your sales will increase as you come into contact with more people.
21. Choose Your Platform Carefully
Businesses must put adequate thought into the platform they will use for their e-commerce. Not only should it support their operations now but also in the future as they grow. Conduct thorough research into the existing e-commerce sites. Look at their features, benefits, and demerits before picking the right one for you.
You can also look at what past clients are saying about them and check out their trial version before paying for any plan.
The popular platforms are Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. These sites offer an excellent avenue for meeting your business objectives and thriving in competitive online space. These platforms will help you make money online with your very own ecommerce store.
Earn More Money To Live Your Dreams
If you have dreams of building an online store and going past six figure, it is very important to consider the above 21 strategies. In a highly competitive business environment many online stores risk falling behind competitors and closure. Only those shops that find creative ways to generate a sustainable stream of revenue stay afloat and meet their objectives get a chance to reap its benefits.
Your business must adapt proven means to make money from their online stores. These 21 ways continue to bring success to your online store.s. Try them today, and you will start reaping from the lucrative e-commerce space.