Nowadays everybody is online. Or will be pretty soon. You can practically find anything and everything on the web, so being there is a must. Selling online might look like any offline business in essence. In fact, there are many specific features that should be observed if you want to run your online business successfully and grow big. We have tried to sum up most of the crucial factors that you need to take into account when kicking off online sales.

The Brand
First of all, think about a unique brand name. You can’t know how big you are going to grow, so make up a brand that will fly you sky high. It is also a good idea to check if the brand you’ve come up with is available and if it is not copyright.

The Domain
If the choice of a brand might look somewhat easy, the choice of a domain name can turn out to be quite tough. And this is not just because it might not be available or because it is too expensive to buy. The domain name needs to be short, easy to remember and easy to read. Mind you, don’t go for a name that might read in different ways such as www.therapistfinder.com or www.speedofart.com 😉

Security
Many managers of web businesses focus so much on sales that they underestimate the importance of having a secure system. Perhaps security is more important than anything else. It can mean anything from a reliable hosting provider, a reliable platform, secure protocols, and so on. While it may seem tempting to leave these details for the time when you’ve made enough money, in many cases it may not lead you to the best outcome. Leave out from the equation a website monitoring tool, for example, and you will most probably miss many moments when your website is down.

Content
Pay special attention to content too. Writing unique content is a time consuming task, but you can’t go without it especially in the light of your desire to get top positions in the search engines. Don’t forget about ‘minute’ details such as Terms and conditions. Photos and videos are also content which you need to create or pay to have it created for you.

Support and customer care
One thing is the technical side, the other equally important is the human side of providing a perfect service. Make sure that you offer top experience to people while they are vising your website. No one likes to order a product and only later find out that it is no longer available. Timely response to queries is just as crucial to satisfy your online customers or prospect customers.

Marketing
Even if you believe that you sell the best products in your niche and you are convinced that people will get to advertise them word of mouth, you will hardly get anywhere without advertising. The good news is that when it comes to online shops there are plenty of opportunities. Make PPC part of your marketing strategy. Why not go for a Facebook business page? A Google+ page is also a must.

Make it convenient
There is nothing more frustrating to online shoppers than not being able to get a product simply because there is no convenient way to pay for it. Before you start, try to provide as many payment methods as possible at your website. PayPal, Visa verified and so on are obligatory if you want to grow with your online shop.

Analyze
As your business expands it will become even more important to analyze it and be able to understand all details. Go for analytical tools that provide as many data as possible. It is very important for you to note your customer’s habits and behavior so that you can offer excellent customer satisfaction.

Of course there are many other important aspects of online business. But we hope that equipped with these essentials you will never miss a thing upon kick-off. Good luck and may the sky be your limit.