Online businesses are a great way expand existing shops, try new products or supplement income. There's no better time than now to start an online business.

This guide will help you get started. Click on a link to jump to a particular section.

1. Define your audience

It is worth taking the time to understand the steps involved in finding the right audience. This will make your business more efficient and help you find your niche for future marketing.

Start with something that you are passionate about, even if you don't have a product in mind. Do you have a passion for small business owners? Are you passionate about working with children? Do you love cars?

After you have chosen your audience, identify their problems and needs. Are they looking for clothes that are more comfortable? Do they want to find a way to reduce stress? Are they seeking ways to find people with similar interests?

These are some ways to get to know your audience.

Spend your time where people spend it -- industry forums, social networks, and subreddits.
Surveys can help you learn more about them.
Interviews in person

You can help them better if you have a better understanding of their motivations.

2. Select your products

Next, decide exactly what you want to market.

Handcrafted items: These are items that you create yourself. They include jewelry, paper goods and wooden decorations. If you are a skilled craftsperson, have full control of production and want lower startup costs, this is the right option. It can be difficult to capitalize on your success if you make every product.
Manufactured Products: These items are either made in-house or by third parties and are sold, stored, and shipped by the manufacturer. Examples include dinnerware, shoes or makeup, as well as electronics or automobile parts. This option is great if you don't have the ability to produce a product or want to scale. However, it comes with higher startup costs as you will need to purchase inventory upfront.
Digital products These items are items delivered online without a physical form, such as eBooks, music and membership programs. Digital products can be scaled and have minimal startup costs as well as low ongoing production costs.
Dropshipping products These are items that have been manufactured, stored and shipped by a third-party . Examples include phone cases, stickers and t-shirts. This option not only eliminates the need to store inventory and ship products but also gives you a lot more control.
Services: These are tasks that are done for clients without any physical component. Coaching, consulting, graphic design and event planning are some examples. These services can be performed online or in person.

Remember that you don't have only to choose from these five options. Some of the most successful online shops break the mold. Kawaii curates cute Japanese items and packages them in themed boxes, rather than handcrafting or manufacturing their own products.

Photo © https://www.kawaiibox.com/

You might also combine different types of products. Dropship posters and original paintings could be produced and sold. Or, like One Stop Map, sell digital products (vector maps) alongside services (custom map design). There are no limits to what you can do!

Learn more:

3. Start your own business

Once you have decided on a product it is time to start your business.

All legal steps should be taken

There are different legal requirements depending on the location of your business, but here are some steps to take:

Select your business structure and register it. All aspects of your business operations, including taxes and legal responsibility, will be affected.
Get your tax IDs to understand the tax framework. Typically, how you pay taxes will be affected by the structure you choose.
Obtain all necessary licenses. CBD

This guide by the Small Business Association walks you through all the details if your business is in the United States.

Opening a bank account for your business

Although it may seem simple to open a bank account and then move on to your personal business accounts, there are many good reasons to do so.

Professionalism. Professionalism. Business partners and clients may write checks to your company.
Protection. Protect your personal assets and business liabilities by seperating accounts
Simplicity. Accounting and taxes are made more complicated by combining accounts.
Extra benefits. You can set up a separate business account to get a credit card, create a credit history, and apply for loans or lines of credit.

Pay attention to minimum account balances, interest rates, transaction charges, and transaction fees when choosing a bank account. Talk to other owners of businesses to find out what they love about their bank.

Establish accounting

To save time and avoid hassle later, make sure you set up your books correctly from the beginning. Learn the basics of small-business accounting and hire an accountant to manage your finances as you grow your business.

How much you will charge for products

Decide your pricing strategy before building your website. What price do you charge for products? How would you like to structure your payments? These are some options:

One-time payments You will be charged for the products in full at time of purchase.
Subscriptions. Charge on a monthly basis or annually to generate recurring revenue
Payment plans. Customers can pay their purchase over time.

Learn more about how to set up your online business.

4. Construct a store

Now it is time to create your website.

Your website foundation is the first step.

Buy a domain name and web hosting

The first step in buying a domain is to purchase a URL. This URL will be what customers use to access your website. Choose something that is representative of your business, easy to remember, and avoid using numbers or difficult-to-spell terms. This guide will help you to understand other important considerations.

Your host is the place where your website lives. It stores all files on your website and makes them available to anyone who visits it. Your website's speed and security can be affected by your host. A great place to start is the WordPress.com eCommerce Hosting plan. This includes everything you need to create an online store. You can also view our complete list of recommended web hosting solutions for more options and pricing information.

Install WordPress

WordPress is a free platform for building websites. It was designed to be easy to use by people with all levels of technical knowledge. It also includes , a highly visual editor which allows you to create pages without any programming knowledge and is fully customizable.

Add plugins to make your website do whatever you want. It powers 37% of all the web's websites because of its flexibility and ease-of-use.

Many hosting companies offer WordPress installation in one click. Others, such as WordPress.com come pre-installed with WordPress. View the complete instructions to install WordPress on all major hosting companies.

Install WooCommerce

WooCommerce, an eCommerce platform specifically designed for WordPress, gives you all the tools to sell online. You can add products, collect payment, set up shipping and create customer accounts. You can extend it with hundreds of extensions that will allow you to expand the functionality of your store. It can also scale with your business as it grows. It's completely free to use.

WooCommerce plugin is available for WordPress. To install it go to the "Plugins” section of your WordPress dashboard and search for WooCommerce. Then click "Install." An setup wizard will guide you through the process.

The WordPress.com eCommerce Plan includes WooCommerce preinstalled so that you can immediately start creating your site.

Select a theme

The WordPress theme is what defines the layout and design of your website. There are many free and paid themes available. A little bit of research will help you find the best fit for your store. You want something that is easy to use on all devices, looks professional, and integrates with WooCommerce. One great option is the Storefronttheme. It's intuitive and flexible.

See a complete list of considerations to see some of the options available from WooCommerce.

Select a payment gateway

A payment gateway processes credit card payments and funds the bank account. You may be familiar with Stripe or PayPal, which are two popular options. WooCommerce can integrate with over a dozen payment gateways so that the setup process is simple. These are the questions to ask when choosing one:

Are there any hidden fees? What are their fees per month or per payment?
Customers will be amazed at how easy it is to check out.
Are they able to keep customers on your website or redirect them to their platform?
Accept international currencies?
Are they able to make recurring payments?

Take into account the needs of your company. A gateway that can accept recurring payments is required if you are selling subscriptions. However, a gateway that can take only one-time payments will be sufficient if you don't need it.

One option is WooCommerce payments. This tool is completely free and allows you to manage all aspects of your store, including refunds and payments.

Find out more about selecting the right payment gateway.

Set up taxes

You may have to charge sales tax depending on the local regulations. You can set your own tax rates with WooCommerce default settings. However, an extension such as WooCommerce tax automatically calculates the correct sales tax depending on where you ship to. It is free to install.

Expand your store

The WooCommerce marketplace offers hundreds of premium and free extensions to enhance your online store. You can:

Subscriptions, Memberships and Courses are all available for sale.
Accept pre-orders and deposits .
You can customize your product and checkout pages.
Connect to social media pages and set up email marketing.

Every extension comes with detailed documentation and unparalleled support so that you won't be left wondering what next.

Create website content

Create pages

Pages are the core content of your website. They contain information about you and your store as well as your policies. The exact pages you need will vary depending on your products and mission. However, there are some pages that all websites should have.

Your company's home page should summarize your offerings and business.
An About Page that contains information about your company, mission, and past.
Contact page for customers to get in touch.
A FAQ Page that answers common questions.
For more information about your handling of customer data, see the privacy page

To add text, images and buttons to your pages, use the WordPress block editor. For step-by-step instructions on creating pages, see the full documentation.

Create products

Products are not created using the block editor, unlike pages. They are designed to be sold online and contain the following settings: prices, inventory levels; sizes, categories; etc. To display products to your customers, you can add products pages.

There are many types of products that you can create, but the most popular are:

Simple products are products that have no options.
Variable products are products with options customers can choose from. For example, a T-shirt in multiple sizes or colors.

View a complete list of product options, and learn how to set them in our documentation.

The setup process for selling services is similar to that of physical products. WooCommerce provides more information about selling of services.

5. Ship products and fulfill orders

Your store is now ready to go. Now you need to decide how to ship and manage the products. These are some things you should consider:

Inventory management

What are your options for storing products? There are many options:

Self-storage. You can store products at home or in your business. This is great for small and new businesses.
Traditional warehouse. You can store products in a designated space such as a warehouse or storage unit. Although this gives you more control and space, it is also more expensive than self storage.
Dropshipping. Dropshipping is where you store products and have them manufactured and shipped to your customers by a third party. Although this is an economical solution, you will lose much of your control.

Next, make sure to create an inventory management system so that you don't sell items that aren't in stock. These are some tips to improve your inventory management.

Shipping

You must ensure that physical products are delivered to customers quickly, safely, and affordably if you are selling them. Fixed prices can be offered, free shipping is available, or charges may be based on weight, size, delivery speed, or distance. Even better, you can automatically pull up live rates from major carriers such as Fedex, UPS, and USPS.

These are the steps to create your perfect shipping setup

Learn shipping methods, and fulfillment options.
Choose a shipping strategy.
Use WooCommerce to implement your shipping strategy and any shipping extensions.

Also, take time to think about your packaging. You should ensure that your breakable items are protected in shipping. You should pack perishable items with dry ice, or use refrigerated trucks to ship them. You can also delight customers with packaging -- think branded boxes and thank you notes as well as fun surprises.

6. Promote your products

Now it's time for potential customers to see your store and products. There are many marketing options available, so it may take some trial and error before you find the best combination for your products and audience. These are some of the most effective (and common) marketing methods. Here are some common (and effective!) options:

Search engine optimization: When someone searches for similar words or looks for products, you will appear on search engines (think Google).
Paid Search: When someone searches for keywords related to your product or service, you can pay for visibility in search engines.
Content Marketing: Write and create visual content to educate your target audience, draw them to your website, or convince them to buy. This is where blogs are best, and WordPress websites are perfect for publishing blogs!
Social media marketing - Share blog posts, tips and recommendations with your followers on Facebook or Twitter, or pay to reach them.
Email Marketing: Keep in touch with customers and potential customers, offer discounts, and retrieve abandoned carts.

It can take some time to find the right marketing strategy. Don't be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. You'll be able to make a lasting impression on your audience by providing relevant and useful content.

Sell online

Online store owners can do what they love, solve customer problems, connect with others who share your passions, and do what you enjoy. WooCommerce makes it easy to start an online store. It provides all the information and tools you need to launch your store, reach new customers, and more.

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How to Start an Online Business