So you want to start selling online?
The ability to sell products and services online has never been more important. Whether you are an internet business or are extending your ‘bricks and mortar’ business to the net, enabling your customers to shop when it’s convenient for them will be key to your overall strategy.
To help you get your internet business up and running, Sage Pay and hosting partner daily.co.uk have put together a top 6 list of how to start selling online.
Get a domain name
You'll need to start with a domain name. Your domain should be relevant to your business, memorable, and easy to spell. Keep it snappy and make sure it won't be confused with anyone else's domain - you don't want to lose potential customers to another site! Start thinking along those lines and then check whether your ideas are available at a specialist company like Daily.co.uk.
Top tip: It's good to get a few variations of your domain, but try to make sure you register the .com and .co.uk versions in particular. They're what your customers are used to and will search for first.
Think about your website – how do you want to build it?
Are you confident with code or looking for something that will build your online shop for you?If you're happy with html or want to use a web developer, you'll need a web hosting account to store your site. These hosting packages from Daily.co.uk come with easy activation of shop software OS Commerce.
Alternatively, choose an integrated off-the-shelf ecommerce platform. These are accounts which include both web hosting to get you online and software to build your web shop, manage customers, and keep on top of your back-office admin. You don't need to know how to code a website, but you can still build a flexible shop and make the most of powerful admin tools.
http://www.daily.co.uk/products/online-shopping
Start thinking about how you want people to pay you – online: credit card, debit card, paypal, via telephone or mail order?
You’ll need a Merchant Bank account to deposit your online income, you can get this from an acquiring bank (most of the UK and Ireland banks have this facility)
You’ll need to find a good payment services provider (PSP), such as Sage Pay, that takes care of fraud screening, card compliance (PCI DSS), payment authorisation and settlement of funds into your merchant account.
Top tip: Remember, you’ll want to be able to reconcile your transactions and do refunds quickly and easily, so choose your PSP carefully.
Let Sage Pay take care of your merchant account
Design your shop
While your merchant account is being set up, it’s a good idea to work on your shop design, navigation around the site and usability. You’ll want to make it easy for a customer to buy from you, so think about the experience they’ll have on your site.
Prevent online fraud
Make sure you’re PCI DSS compliant and that you take online fraud seriously. As an online merchant you have a responsibility to your customers to make sure that their card details are not compromised in any way. There are some simple, but effective measures for becoming PCI DSScompliant and preventing fraud and Sage Pay can help you with both at no extra cost.
Get into marketing
Optimise your website for search engines (SEO) - think clear, accessible design and incorporate the search terms your customers will use into your website copy.
You might want to consider advertising: look into Pay Per Click (PCC) and Google AdWords or banner advertising on appropriate websites. It doesn't have to be a huge investment, just make sure you target your money effectively and keep measuring the results.
Join relevant forums and blogs to get your name out there as an expert in your field. Trust is everything in online trading, so the better your reputation the better people will feel about buying from you.