Opening an Ecommerce Store: A Guide to Budgeting

Opening an online store is an exciting time for any business owner. Whether your company is small or large, old or new, getting into ecommerce means more customers, more business and fresh opportunities for both you and your staff.

The best way to ensure that any new store is successful is to keep a close watch over your company’s finances. Even though they’re not dependent upon bricks and mortar, there are still costs involved in both the creation and ongoing management of ecommerce websites. In order for your online store to be a success, you will need to have a comprehensive budget in place.

Acquiring an Online Store

It’s actually very easy to set up an online store. All you will need to begin with is a domain name, hosting and a website design. However, all of these things cost money so it’s important that you know how to get the best deals. Here are some handy tips:

• Shop around for domain names and hosting, and if you can afford to don’t be afraid to buy them from different providers.
• Think local – if the .com domain you want is too expensive, choose a .co.uk domain instead; for small-to-medium sized businesses they’re just as good.
• You could spend money on having a website designed, or you could use one of the many free or low-cost pre-fabricated designs that are available for popular platforms such as WordPress.

Making Your Website Work

After you’ve got your ecommerce website up and running you will need to make it work. Simply put, you will need to fill it full of images and text, as well as information about your company and the services or products you provide. Since most online customers spend on average a just a few seconds looking at a webpage before they decide to stay or leave, making your site as eye catching as possible is definitely important. If you don’t already have a creative team, it might be worth hiring a copywriter and photographer to help you showcase your wares. These services can be costly, but it’s important to think of them as an investment.

Setting up Payment Options

Some payment methods, such as PayPal, are relatively easy to set up and require no initial outlay on your part. However, using a financial broker almost always means you’ll run into services charges somewhere down the line, which you should make sure your company is able to absorb from the outset. Other payment methods, such as PDQ machines, require a relatively small initial outlay but reduce the likelihood of a company incurring service charges. To find out more about how PDQ machines work, visit Card Cutters.

Advertising Your Online Store

You should always include advertising in your ecommerce budget. After all, if you don’t tell people about your store, how will they know? Luckily there are plenty of ways to reduce the cost of advertising by using free platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, which will help to drive business to your new website. For those with a little more cash to flash, consider the benefits of purchasing Facebook Ads or Promoted Tweets, which will help you to reach a wider audience.