5 Easy Steps To Start Your Own Store with Magento

How to organize a profitable business, bypassing significant investments and costs? There are many questions: what step to take first, where to go, what platform to choose.

Step 1. Choosing the best CMS for an online store

There are different CMS for trade. Usually, use such engines for online stores:

• 1C-Bitrix;
• Opencart;
• Amiro CMS;
• Host CMS;
• InSales;
• Magento;
• Interchange;
• PHPShopCMS;
• osCommerce and others.

Both paid and free ones are available here. Top CMS for online stores according to – cmsmagazine.com

Step 2: Research the market and choose the product

This is the most strategically important step in which the fate and future of your online store are largely determined.

Here you have to determine your niche, i.e. the products. When choosing a niche, it is obligatory to meet the following criteria:

1. Demand – the goods must be in good demand in the market.
2. Low competition – this is a very relative concept, and rather a desirable criterion. But it is still worth excluding the goods, proposals which are in abundance in the market.
3. The absence of seasonality. The first project should not be tied to a particular time of year, selling fur coats or bathing suits, look for goods with all-season demand.

Step 3: Make a business plan

This step is quite difficult to schedule in the terms of this article, so we recommend that you carefully review this issue on the Internet, because this stage of making a business plan is simply a must.

The most creative and at the same time the most technical stage of the work. For such a task there are two ways of solving it:

1. Using a ready-made solution for your own store;
2. Hiring a specialist. It will be a good choice to hire Magento developer.

In the first case, it is sufficient to find a service that provides access to the existing directory of free sites. There you should find a category “Internet shops” and choose what you like.

Do not forget to read the terms and conditions of use of the pages presented.

In the other case, of course, if you yourself are not an expert in this matter, you can order your site in the web design studio of your city, or organize the search for an artist on the freelance markets.

In this option, you do not have to worry about anything, the professionals will do all the work:

• design, layout, 
• required functionality, 
• and ensure the connection of 1C and payment systems.

So you have your own online store, with a list of products and completely ready to start working.

Remember that it is necessary to formalize your activities before you start advertising and trading. For example, register as an individual entrepreneur.

Step 4: Launching an advertising campaign

Proper planning and launching an advertising campaign is the main key to the success of your online store.

So, depending on the products you offer you choose: contextual, banner or teaser advertising. The main mass of online stores use in their activities advertising, provided by Yandex and Google.

Another modern and popular way to attract customers is push notifications in your browser. Such a tool has a number of advantages: easy to set up, low cost, and high likelihood of subscription from potential customers, as it requires absolutely no effort from the user.

Such notifications are very convenient for returning the customer back to the store, reminding him about the products forgotten in the cart, discounts, promotions, and special offers.

When launching an advertising campaign, you also have two ways to go. If you know the issue well enough, you can create a media plan on your own, estimate the final efficiency, and set up an advertising campaign.

In the other option – you apply to professionals with a wealth of experience, which you search for on the freelance markets.

Step 5: First and inspiring orders

When your advertising starts to work, the first customers come to you and buy goods. You should treat this stage as responsibly as possible: provide quality service to customers and be sure to get feedback on your work.

This will allow you to see areas for business improvement, as well as help to increase the confidence of potential customers in you.

Don’t be shy, ask questions: why did the customer come to you, what did they like, what more would you like?

Your customers know best where to go next, and all you have to do is bring it all to life.

Another important point – the first profit. Be sure to re-invest some of it into the development of your business – improve functionality, increase advertising, improve service.

All this will help you surpass all of your most successful competitors in the future. In addition, be sure to take new training courses and expand your knowledge.