So you want to know how to sell online? You want to learn how to sell online, right? A lot of time and behind-the-scenes work goes into the process, and I’m here to walk you through it step-by-step, from choosing the right ecommerce website builder to promoting your products. You’ll need to put in a lot of work and time to sell online. I will guide you step-by-step through the process.
Whether you’ve already got products ready to sell and don’t know where to start, or you’re not even sure what to sell or where to sell online, this guide is for you. This guide is for anyone who wants to know how to sell online.
Set Your Business Goals
Before you can start selling online, you need to set your business goals. Having a plan in place will prevent you from making impulse or rash decisions that could end up impacting your business. Think about your long-term vision and aims when it comes to selling:
- What are you trying to achieve with your business? Determine your site’s purpose and goals, whether you’re looking to sell a certain number of products each month, focus on building an engaged customer base, or generate brand awareness.
- Do you have a niche? If you’re looking to sell to a particular crowd (e.g. pet supplies to pet owners), recognize where your business sits within your niche to help your website stand out.
- Who are you selling to? Figure out your target audience and understand their buying habits to shape your business, products, and marketing strategy.
- What are your competitors doing? Market research can help you identify product or service gaps. Learn from your competitors about what they are doing well and what is missing.
I recommend having all these questions answered before you get started, but it’s important to be open to adapting as your business grows and evolves. You know your business and products better than anyone else, and you’ll understand your customers more once you get a few sales under your belt.
Build Your Inventory
You need to have something to sell, so the next step is to build your inventory. You can sell a variety of products, including physical items, digital items, online courses, and services. Whether or not you’ve got products in mind, you must understand the demand and what already exists in the market.
Your product should provide a solution or benefit a customer’s life in some way. It’s an added bonus if it is superior or cheaper than your competitors’ products! If you’re struggling for ideas, you can find trending products to sell by using platforms like Google Trends or user-powered forums like Reddit.
Product Pricing
After sorting out your products, set your business margin. Take note of your production costs if you’re creating the products yourself or purchasing them elsewhere—outsourcing work and delivery fees all add up! You’ll subtract this production cost from the price you’re charging customers, and that’s your margin.
When setting product prices, consider your margin and check competitor pricing for similar products. A high-profit margin means the production costs are much lower than what you’re selling your products for. However, you don’t want to scare away customers with extreme prices! Find a middle ground that works for both your business and customer base.
Product Descriptions
Product descriptions are also important. These are critical for search engines to help scan product pages and show relevant results to shoppers. They also help customers understand how the product can benefit them and why they should buy it.
What to include:
- Benefits and features of every product, so that customers can get all the information they need while hearing about how it could positively impact their lives.
- Customer-led copy, meaning you write for them and speak to their needs and pain points.
- Social proof from other customers to build brand trust—you can easily add testimonials and reviews through your website builder.
- Your brand’s tone of voice should be present in your product descriptions for consistency.
What to avoid:
- Repetition of text and copied text, especially when selling products from a wholesaler or manufacturer.
- Cliches and sales language can be perceived as robotic or fake by customers.
- Changing your tone or writing style when describing products—customers will be confused if you write one product description in a serious tone and another in a casual or silly style.
- Don’t mislead customers by selling products that don’t match their product descriptions.
Create an Online Store
While you can sell on marketplaces and social media platforms, a website builder is the best way to sell online. Your website can be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week—building an online store gives you greater flexibility and more opportunities to sell products to customers.
The perk of selling online with a website builder is that the platform will come with important sales features and support, such as abandoned cart recovery, mobile optimization, marketing tools, and security. You can also personalize your site to suit your brand, rather than having a generic storefront created for you when using marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon.
Top Ecommerce Website Builders
| Builder | Overall Rating | Starting Price | Free Plan or Trial | Number of Templates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | 4.8 | $29 | 3-day free trial, then 1 month for $1 | 200+ |
| Wix | 4.8 | $26.10 with code “TAKE10” | Free Plan | 900+ |
| Squarespace | 4.7 | $23 | 14-day free trial | 150+ |
| GoDaddy | 4.2 | $20.99 | Free Plan | 100+ |
Setting up an online store is straightforward, but make sure the customer journey is smooth from start to finish. Optimize your content and personalize the experience to suit your customers’ needs.
