Ecommerce Business

Blueprint
How To Build, Launch And Grow A Profitable Online Store
Getting Started

Starting an ecommerce business is hard work with many

steps and decisions that need to come together at the right
time. To help, we have put together a comprehensive
resource list, compiled from Shopify's most popular blog
posts. These posts have been placed into a logical order
based on how you would research, build, launch and grow a
profitable ecommerce business.

Let's dive in.

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Choosing a Product

Finding A Product To Sell

The first step to building an ecommerce business is to know

what products you want to sell. This is often the most
challenging part of starting a new online business. In this
section, we will highlight the strategies you can use to find
product opportunities, explore the ten best places to look
for product ideas, and finally, we will reveal ten trending
products that we came up.

● How To Find A Product To Sell Online: The Definitive

Guide
● 8 Strategies for Finding Your First Product
● 10 Places To Look For Products To Sell Online
● 10 Interesting Product Ideas Trending Right Now

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Evaluating Your Idea

Once you have a product idea in mind, how do you know if

it’s a good idea or not? In this section, we will go through
two exhaustive evaluations methods, evaluating both the
product itself, as well as the market for your product choice.

● How To Evaluate Market Demand For Your New

Product Idea
● How To Evaluate Product Viability
● 5 Strategies To Evaluate Your Product Idea

Obtaining Your Product

Having found your product idea and evaluating them in the

previous section, you must now figure out where and how
you’re going to obtain your products. The next two posts
will cover the various methods for acquiring your products,
along with the pros and cons of each model.

● Make, Manufacture, Wholesale or Dropship: The Pros

and Cons of Each Model
● How To Find a Manufacturer or Supplier for Your
Product Idea
● Alibaba 101: How to Safely Source Products from the
World's Biggest Supplier Directory

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Research & Prepare

Research Your Competition

You’ve found your product, evaluated the potential and

sourced your supplier. It’s time to write your business plan,
but before you get into that, you'll need to research your
competition thoroughly so you know exactly what you’re up
against.

● Tools To Research Your Competition

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Writing Your Business Plan

With your competitive research complete, it's now the

perfect time to write your business plan. A business plan
will be your road map that helps bring your ideas and
thoughts together. A business plan is vital so that you can
determine how to best move forward and most effectively
compete.

● Why Your Ecommerce Store Needs a Business Plan

(and How to Write One)
● The Ultimate Guide To Business Plans

Registering Your Business

With a business plan in hand, now is a good time to

consider your options for registering your business.

● The Benefits & Costs of Incorporating Your Business

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Setting Up Your Business

Naming Your Business

Aside from finding an actual product to sell online, another

difficult decision is determining your business name and
choosing an appropriate and available domain name. These
blog posts will help you tackle these important tasks.

● What You Need to Know About Ecommerce Trademarks

● What Should I Name My Online Store?
● 5 Rules For Choosing A Memorable Domain Name

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Creating A Logo

Once you have solidified your name and registered your

domain, it’s time to craft a logo. In these posts, we will show
you several options for creating a great logo for your new
business.

● 5 Logo Design Tips for Ecommerce Websites

● 5 Easy to Use Online Logo Makers to Design Your Brand

Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You’re almost ready to begin building your online store.

However, before you jump into it, you should understand
the basics of search engine optimization so that you can
optimize your site for Google and other search engines.

● The Beginner's Guide To Keyword Research For

Ecommerce
● Ecommerce SEO Video Series

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Building Your Store

With a better understanding of search engine optimization

(SEO), it’s time to build out your store. There are many
critical elements. Below we have included a list of our best
blog posts to help you write captivating product
descriptions, shoot beautiful product photography, and a
list of some of the best tools to help you optimize those
photos.

● Write Product Descriptions that Sell

● The Ultimate DIY Guide to Beautiful Product
Photography
● 18 Free and Paid Online Photo Editor Tools for
Gorgeous DIY Product Photography
● 40 Tools and Resources For Creating Beautiful DIY
Product Photography
● 10 Must Know Image Optimization Tips

Don’t forget, if you run into any problems getting your store
set up, you can always hire help from Shopify Experts.

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Preparing to Launch

As you prepare for the launch of your new business, there

are several essential elements you need to prepare for. In
this section, we have curated some of the most
comprehensive posts on helping you determine your
shipping strategy.

● How to Choose a Shipping Strategy for Your Online

Store
● The Beginner's Guide to Ecommerce Shipping and
Fulfillment

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Furthermore, it’s a good idea to define your key
performance indicators upfront so once you launch, you
know what to measure of success to track.

● 32 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Ecommerce

Finally, before your launch, you’ll want to run your newly

built storefront through the Shopify ecommerce store
grader. This online application will show you errors on your
site and SEO so that you can correct any issues before
launch.

● Store Grader

As a final checklist, this post covers the ten essential things

you need to do before launch.

● Countdown To Launching Your Ecommerce Business

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Post Launch

First Customer

Now that you’ve launched, the hard work begins. Our 50

point guide to getting your first sale is a great start point
and overview of a variety of marketing tactics that will help
you in your first months.

● 50 Ways to Make Your First Sale

Marketing Your Store

You’re well on your way and now likely have some sales
under your belt. It’s time to get serious and focused. The
following posts will help you zero in on some top marketing
tactics for driving traffic and converting that traffic to sales.

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Email Marketing

● How to Write An Effective Welcome Email

● 13 Amazing Abandoned Cart Emails (And What You Can
Learn From Them)
● Divide and Profit: How to Segment Your Mailing List for
Better Engagement
● How to Build an Email List that Builds Your Ecommerce
Business

Driving Traffic

● Why Every Ecommerce Business Needs a Blog (And 9

Ideas to Get You Started)
● How to Land Your Business in the Press: 6 Tactics and 5
Tools
● How to Build an Audience and Drive Sales With
Persuasive Video Marketing
● How To Build A Massive Following On Instagram
● How to Use Polyvore to Drive Traffic and Sales for Your
Online Store
● 6 Practical and Proven Ways to Drive Traffic to Your
New Online Store

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Optimizing Conversions

● The Beginner's Guide to Simple A/B Testing

● 5 Ecommerce Pricing Experiments that Will Make You
Want to Run an A/B Test Today
● How to Generate Powerful Testimonials for Your
Ecommerce Business

Using Analytics

● Google Analytics for Ecommerce: A Beginner's Guide

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Conclusion

Building your own ecommerce business is no easy task.

From choosing a product, evaluating viability and sourcing,
to building, launching and growing sales. There's a lot of
puzzle pieces to put together. However, following this
resource roundup should provide you with a clear roadmap
to help you build a profitable ecommerce business.

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