Small Business Blog

I was browsing the small business questions on Yahoo! Answers recently and came across a question about starting an online store. The individual asked what steps were necessary for starting an e-commerce business. Here’s my answer:

Assuming you are starting completely from scratch:

1. Decide what product you want to sell and to whom
2. Learn as much as you can about your target customer: what motivates him/her to buy, where he/she likes to hang out, etc.
3. Find a source for your product
4. Estimate your costs to buy the product
5. Start researching marketing/promotional efforts that would allow you to reach your target customer and tell them about your products
6. Estimate the costs to run your business and allocate a big chunk to marketing
7. Find a trusty web developer/designer and copywriter
8. Define your brand image and create an appropriate logo and tag line
9. Get your site up and start promoting it

What do you think — did I miss anything?

See the original conversation here.