We have a lot of clients. Some are well-established businesses with annual revenue in the millions (or tens of millions), but some are people who are just starting out. Often, they come to us with little more than a product or an idea and they look to us to fill in the gaps. That’s an excellent business decision; hiring an expert to handle the elements of your business that fall outside of your area(s) of expertise is much better than trying to go it alone. However, even if you plan to contract out every single element of your business, in order to be truly successful, you should (at the very least) know and understand what those elements are. Click through to see the 10 questions you should ask yourself before starting an online business…

1. What am I doing?

It’s a pretty big question and one that would seem to be easily answered, but there are a surprising number of people who, when asked how they intend to make a living, would simply answer, “the Internet.” That’s all well and good, but the Internet isn’t simply a giant cash machine. You can’t just put up a website selling whatever you happen to have and hope to make a living (unless your last name is ebay). Begin your plan with clarity and a specific goal (i.e. “I vow to become the world’s largest online purveyor of toilet paper within the next ten years”).

2. Why am I doing it?

Starting up an eCommerce website is a pretty big undertaking and you’re going to need a bit of passion to carry you through the rough patches. It’s simply not enough to recognize a hot market and try to squeeze your way into it. The fact is that if you don’t have a natural affinity for the field you’ve chosen, there’s a good chance that you’ll be outperformed by someone who does. Do what you love and your chance of success (and happiness) increases dramatically.

3. Do I understand my consumer?

You may have a fantastic product and a reasonable belief that people will respond to it, but do you have any proof? Have you seen a demonstrated need for your product in the marketplace? If so, who are you aiming for? Is your product for 10-year-old boys or 60-year-old women? Are your consumers likely to be upper class or middle class? It’s a seductive notion that your product will have universal appeal, but very few do (with the possible exception of the aforementioned toilet paper). Know who you’re selling to so that you can target your efforts more efficiently.

4. Do I understand my competition?

How saturated is the market you intend to enter? Who are the big players? Who do they cater to? You should know they lay of the land before you proceed. It can help to guide your overall direction and prevent you from making a critical misstep, like duplicating the model of an existing site or failing to recognize an unanswered need in your particular segment of the marketplace.

5. How realistic are my expectations?

One thing that we encounter on a fairly regular basis is the new eMerchant who believes that an Internet store can be up (and making money) in a matter of days. We understand how someone could come to that conclusion, with the proliferation of online companies promising just that, but the fact is that a quality business with a foundation strong enough to build upon will (and should) take weeks (or more accurately – months) to develop. There’s a great deal of planning, design and development under the skin of every successful site and none of it happens instantly. Keep your eyes on the goal, but your mind on the task at hand.

6. Who am I?

… or perhaps, who do you want to be? A great many retailers (both online and brick & mortar) fail to recognize that shoppers don’t just want to buy stuff from you, they want to connect with you. In order to do that, they’ll need to see something relatable in your corporate identity. This is one of the most difficult elements of any business model and why design and “voice” are so important. The look and feel of your site should never be considered an afterthought, especially since it’s the first thing your customers see. As mentioned in point #2, it’s important to bring something of yourself to your online business.

7. Do I have the necessary skills and resources?

There are a lot of specific, resource & capability-related questions that any new business owner should ask themselves, but for the online merchant, one question stands out above all others: Do you know HTML? If you don’t have a basic understanding of the Internet and the code behind it, the absolute first thing that you need to do is befriend or hire someone who does. Even with all of the tools that Volusion has in place to help you avoid the need for a deep knowledge of coding, you’ll still need to be familiar with the terminology involved, simply so that you can ask the questions you need to ask as you move through the development and maintenance of your site. Beyond HTML, you’ll also need to have at least a rudimentary understanding of analytics, online marketing and social networking.

8. What are my priorities?

Speaking of social networking, one request we’ve been hearing a lot lately is, “I want to be like Facebook for <insert industry here>!” Social networking is very important (as we’ve just mentioned) but the likelihood that you can create a viable social media hub straight out of the gate is a slim one. Your initial goal is sales and (especially if your resources are limited) you’ll need to focus all of your energy on that. There are plenty of ways for a business to leverage the social networks that already exist (blogs, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) There’s no need to reinvent the wheel while you’re trying to build your new store.

9. What am I forgetting?

There’s so much involved in the creation of an online store that it’s easy to forget some fairly important details. One of the most common omissions is merchandising your store. In simple terms, how do you intend to get your products into your new store once it’s delivered? You’ll have to create or obtain images, which then need to be uploaded. There are product descriptions to write, meta tags to be created, product options to be defined. Depending on the number of SKUs involved, it can be an enormous undertaking and one that seems to slip people’s minds on a regular basis. Beyond the merchandising concerns, what about marketing? How do you intend to drive traffic to your site? Paid search? Affiliate marketing? Organic ranking-centric SEO strategy? There are a lot of options and it’s best to consider all of their merits before you’re under the gun. These concerns are by no means the only ones to address before your site goes live, but they’re strong examples of the type of thing that falls by the wayside despite their overall importance. Make a plan. Make a list. Check it twice.

10. Am I ready?

Have you asked and answered all of the questions listed here? Do you have a long term goal and a short term plan? Have you worked through your initial excitement and still been left with a belief that your plan can work? Basically, once the initial buzz of being a potential entrepreneur wears off and you still want to move forward, you’re probably ready. Get to work.

… and call us if you’re having trouble answering any of these questions for yourself. We can help.