eCommerce Checklist

Find Your Niche on
• What you are passionate about or
• A business you can do well if you have the necessary knowledge, expertise or skills

Conduct Market Survey
• Identify the market you intend to deal with
• Understand your target audience
• Consider demand, supply and competition

Choose the type of business – selling physical or digital products, providing services, online payments, money transfers, auctions or other

Register the Business
• Choose and register your domain name, URL or website address with Go Daddy, eNOM, Network Solutions, Registrars.com, 1&1 or others

Create a Store on
• eBay or Amazon if you plan to use these platforms

Build a Website with a user-friendly e-Commerce Shopping Cart/ Add-to-Cart with-:
• Homepage and other web pages About Us, Contact Us, Product Pages
• Website design - color, photos, art,
• Product categories, prices, product descriptions, shipping options and rates, coupon discounts, taxes
• Video, audio, animations and pop-ups if you prefer them
• Programming language such as HTML, XHTML, PHP, ASP, JavaScript etc.
• Operating system i.e. Unix, Windows

Make Navigation easy so customers can get what they want without hassles. Use links, tags, breadcrumbs, hyperlinks etc.

Clearly display
• Checkout point
• Contact details – phone, e-mail, chat, URL address
• Acceptable payment methods
• Terms and conditions
• Returns policy
• Privacy and copyrights
• Service guarantees
• Related items
• People who bought xxxx also bought yyyy
• Out of stock items on the relevant product page

Choose the Payment Method
• PayPal which will process card payments on your behalf
• Google Checkout

Open Merchant Account and Payment Gateway Account if you prefer to use a a third-party payment gateway i.e. Authorize.Net.
Web hosting
• Choose a web hosting plan – Shared hosting, VPS hosting, Dedicated hosting
• Purchase a Dedicated server if the volume of operation is very high

Set the site for Search Engine Optimization SEO to have popular search engines like Google and Yahoo rank it on top where shoppers can notice it. This will drive traffic to your website or online store

Conduct Keyword Research and use specific keywords which are being searched by online shoppers in your niche market

Use Link-Building and Back-Linking to your advantage

Update and maintain your website regularly

Marketing
• Pay Per Click Advertising on Google, Yahoo
• E-mail campaigns and always display your URL address
• Online and offline promotions
• Article Marketing
• List on Web Directories such as DMOZ, Yahoo and Business.com

Security - Secure Sockets Layer SSL Certificates

Social Media – Set profiles on Facebook, Google, Twitter and connect with friends and their online community

Use Accounting Packages - Quickbooks, FlashBooks, Sage

Sign-up for Web Analytics Program like Google and utilize sales conversion rates

Sign-up for Internet Webmaster tools

Post on Blogs and Forums with your URL address clearly displayed

Provide space for comments, reviews and ratings

Check feedback and handle complaints promptly