For your business to succeed, you’ll need to build your online reputation like it’s your most valued asset. Achieving positive word of mouth requires you to respect customers’ money and time, and allows for very few mistakes. Dealing with a constant flow of questions, feedback and criticism isn’t for everyone. Among other things, giving good […]
Early on you’ll start to encounter occasional problem customers. Your fair and courteous treatment of difficult situations will help establish your online reputation and could have a big impact on your job satisfaction and peace of mind. Real ‘Problem Customers’ Are Rare In nearly all cases, customers who seem combative, irrational, or even dishonest are […]
Even though our online store publishes a toll-free number on every page of our website, we still find that most people prefer to communicate by email before and after a sale. Email definitely has advantages, but we’ve found that it can present so many potential problems that you need to use special care with your messages […]
As your business grows, you could find there’s too much work to handle while keeping your day job. And, if you sell physical goods, you might run out of room to store and prepare those items at home. At this stage, your choices can come down to enlisting family members or hiring employees and perhaps […]
If you sell physical products online (as opposed to electronic downloads), the choice of shipping options presented to your customers and the way that shipping fees are calculated will both be determined by your shopping cart. Very basic shopping carts (like PayPal Standard) usually calculate shipping fees based on weights that you configure and order quantities, in […]
For your business to succeed, you’ll need to build your online reputation like it’s your most valued asset. Achieving positive word of mouth requires you to respect customers’ money and time, and allows for very few mistakes. Dealing with a constant flow of questions, feedback and criticism isn’t for everyone. Among other things, giving good […]
Keys to Starting an Online Business
If you’re thinking about starting an online business, here are some fundamental ideas to help you stay focused and grow. 1. Learn by Helping Others An easy way to learn about online marketing is to help a friend, family member, or organization set up a website to promote their product or service. As explained in […]
Part 1: Find Your Product Idea Contrary to what you might think, it’s usually not difficult to come up with a great product idea for your new company. Start by keeping notes about the products and services you’ve encountered in everyday life that really stink. Are you frustrated because your car mechanic ripped you off? […]
Choosing the right company name, in the form of a web address (or root domain, as it’s often called) is essential for your online business. Your choice of web address should determine the legal company name that you register with your government, and not the other way around. Just as important as choosing the right […]
If you’re going to own a web store, you’ll need a web address (often called a “root domain“) that will appear online in visitors’ search results, or when they type the name into their browser address bar. As discussed in my article about getting the right company name, your choice of web address is critical […]
Website Basics When starting your first online store, it’s usually best to start simple and keep your costs low. It makes little sense to hire an expensive web designer – or to sign up for an eCommerce service with high monthly costs – until you’ve proven that you can sell your first products and keep […]
As discussed in the article about making your website visible, there are important reasons to buy online advertising from Google* and others. The benefits of online advertising can include jump-starting traffic to your website, and keeping you focused on the key terms you’ll need to emphasize on your web pages and in your ads so that […]
It can be a challenge to start an online business while you keep your day job. At times the process could feel like a juggling act; you’ll need a lot of energy and determination. The general rules for starting a company while you keep your day job might seem like common sense, but some of […]
Once you start to sell online and prove your product idea, you can help your business grow by following some simple advice from a really smart CEO at a company where I once worked. This CEO is unusual because he shares so much information about running a company with his workers. It’s no coincidence that so many […]
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