How to start an online business

Excellent Article (from Startup) to read if you are thinking of an online business....

Image from frivolouz

A step-by-step beginner’s guide to creating an effective e-commerce website by Megan Dunsby

Electronic commerce (e-commerce), the process of selling your products and services online, is a golden opportunity for budding entrepreneurs. Many new businesses launch exclusively online as it’s an easy way to reap the benefits of sales, to have more control over operations and reach both a UK-wide and international customer base.

For retail businesses, an e-commerce website offers the advantage of being open 24/7; a storefront that is always accessible to your customers.

With online spending rocketing the time to embrace the power of e-commerce is now, especially given the wealth and variety of e-commerce software and platforms available on the market as Andy Headington, CEO of digital agency Adido, explains:

“Setting up a fully functional e-commerce website in 2014 is probably easier than it’s ever been thanks to the growth in platforms like Magento, Shopify and Sellr which have had thousands of man hours invested in them.”

With that being said, Startups has produced a step-by-step guide on how to create an effective e-commerce website for an affordable price with advice from leading experts within the space.

Domain name
Once you’ve identified the product or service you want to sell online, choosing a domain name for your site is essential. A domain name is your web address on the internet and the first step to setting up a website. Make sure your domain name reflects your business and is both memorable and easy to spell, so that visitors can find your website with ease.

Given the upcoming launch of new top level domains such as .uk and .london you may also want to look into registering for these web addresses.
Visit our guide for information on buying a domain name.

Web hosting
You will need a place to host your website which will need to be compatible with your shopping cart software (see next page). A website host is a computer or set of computers which stores all of your website data and then when someone visits your domain, forwards the visitor to the hosting computer; known as the server.
You can either purchase a third-party hosted e-commerce solution such as 1&1 or 123-reg which manages hosting on your behalf or you could choose to manage your own hosting. To manage your own web hosting you will need technical expertise, equipment and access to high speed internet which is usually much more expensive then leasing hosting space from a provider.


Some of the leading UK hosting providers are outlined below:

Hosting provider	Monthly fee	Webspace
1&1	£6.99 for first twelve months then £9.99	Unlimited with 2 GB RAM space
123-reg	£7.49	Unlimited
GoDaddy.com	£4.99	Unlimited
Fasthosts	£5.99 for first six months then £6.99	Unlimited
Easyspace	£7.99	Unlimited

There is a vast array of web hosting providers on the market with different site features included in their hosting packages so make sure you shop around to find the best solution. For detailed comparisons of UK web hosting providers, visit The Best 10 Web Hosting.

John Webb, marketing director of start-ups and developers at IT hosting company Rackspace, suggests purchasing a cloud web hosting solution as it will enable you to scale your e-commerce business as it grows:

“For a retailer a ‘hybrid’ cloud can be the right hosting solution as it enables payments and customer details to be hosted in a secure private cloud environment. This then connects to a public cloud environment that provides additional, highly scalable space for other applications or workloads, such as browsing pages.

“A hybrid cloud solution means that businesses can quickly add capacity for busy periods and reduce it when demand dies down.”

Alongside your e-commerce website, you should also consider setting up on third party platforms and online marketplaces, such as eBay, Amazon or Etsy, to increase your online sales.


Shopping cart software
This is a key component of your e-commerce site as the shopping cart allows site visitors to store items before they commit to buying them, gathering up items in the same way as an actual shopping basket or trolley would. This tool gives your customer flexibility and a better online shopping experience.

For an effective shopping cart script you must have website wizards, shopping features, payment options, shipping and tax configurations, statistics and security.

You can buy pre-made shopping cart software which allows you to customise your e-commerce website as well as e-commerce platforms which plug directly into sites such as WordPress, with many script installations free of charge.

One of the most commonly used e-commerce shopping cart software is eBay’s Magento platform but solutions from Shopify, Sellr and several other brands are popular.

We’ve listed some of the most widely used UK shopping cart software with details of recommended packages, basic features (including how many products you can list), and any associated fees:

Software	Cost per month	Transaction fee	Data Storage	Bandwidth	Products	Free trial
	£39.99	0%	800 MB	16 GB	Unlimited	30 days
	£47 ($79)	1%	5GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	14 days
	£22	0%	2 GB	Unlimited	1000	30 days
	£34.99	0%	250 MB	10 GB	4,000	14 days
	£24.99	0%	‘Unlimited’	‘Unlimited’	Unlimited	30 days
	£39.99	0%	500 MB	Unlimited	2,000	14 days
	£39	0%	2GB	Unlimited	1,000	14 days

E-commerce website design

You will need to decide whether you want to design your e-commerce site yourself or choose a web designer or design company to develop your website. For flexibility and functionality, it is recommended that you choose a Content Management System (CMS) platform such as WordPress, as this allows you to edit your web content and products/services without help from web designers, who will charge you.

You will also need to consider how your e-commerce store looks, and how easy it is to use, on smartphones, tablets and other mobiles devices and ensure that your website is compatible, especially when it comes to the checkout process.

Roland Bredner, head of retail for Peer 1 Hosting, argues that one of the key things business owners should concentrate on when creating an e-commerce website is multi-channel optimisation; aligning your website across many devices.

Bredner: “A multi-screen strategy is nowadays a must, with consumers accessing the internet at every possible angle, a business must ensure the content being delivered is created uniquely for each screen – mobile users purchase differently from those who do so on tablets.

“Keeping calls to action and design very simple is the key to a successful mobile-enabled e-commerce site, excluding unnecessary banner adverts or cryptic fonts. Also, optimised buttons in the right size and colours make it a smooth and simplistic route to purchase.”

If you can’t afford to design a mobile interface for your e-commerce site then make use of innovative visual content and interactive functions that will make your site more engaging when accessed on mobile devices.

Once you’re happy with your e-commerce site design, Mike Flynn, CEO of search specialist Fast Web Media, recommends asking yourself these questions:

1. How does it look in different browsers?
2. Is it mobile-friendly?
3. Is it inviting to the user?
4. Is it user-friendly and quick to load?

E-commerce payments
To accept and handle payments through your e-commerce website you will need an e-commerce payments system which will accept electronic payments for online transactions. You can either open a merchant account with your bank to receive online payments through credit or debit cards or you can use a payments processing company, such as PayPal or WorldPay, to handle the payments for you.

Payments processing companies charge a percentage fee on each transaction made via your e-commerce site so you will need to bear this in mind when choosing your payment method as fees will differ.

Chantal Willis, VP of e-commerce at Skrill, explains the importance of considering your e commerce payment options: “When purchasing online your customers want the experience to be two things, convenient and secure. If you have a processing system which achieves this you will maximise converting browsing into sales.

“E-commerce evolves rapidly so you need to be prepared for swift expansion of your business, perhaps into new geographical markets, by offering local payment methods and currencies. If a payment gateway isn’t fast, flexible, secure and provides the local payment methods which is familiar to each specific geography customers will no doubt look to purchase on another website that offers experience that they expect.”

Moonfruit customer operations director, Walt Rothon, advises using PayPal’s payment software – “With PayPal’s Express Checkout you can start collecting payments from your customers using web and mobile optimised payment gateways without any configuration required.”

Your online payments platform should be customer-friendly so it is advised that you avoid using payments software which requires the user to make an account before they can purchase.  Adido CEO, Headington, explains:

“There is honestly no bigger way to stop customers buying than the dreaded ‘create an account’ forms. Make it as easy as possible for people to buy and if you want to offer customers additional account options, get them to do so after the purchase, not before.”

Marketing your e-commerce website
Once you’ve created your e-commerce website and it’s up and running, you will need to spread the word to attract customers. Make use of banner ads, search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per-click advertising (PPC) and pop-ups to drive traffic to your site.

Find a marketing strategy that suits your budget and business needs; SEO phrases (keywords which make your business appear higher on organic Google rankings) cost nothing but can be highly effective in attracting your target audience.

Alternatively you could utilise Google Adwords, a paid-for service which allows you to investigate useful keywords in your subject area and create ads that will appear next to your keyword search results. This is an effective tool to attract customers that are already interested in you. Google estimates that if you were to spend just £5.97 a day ($10) on Adwords you would get an extra 25 clicks a day to your website.

Moonfruit’s Rothon offers other possible SEO suggestions to help market your e-commerce website:

“Creating linkable content on your site for SEO is a great way to see how many people are clicking-through. You can use Google Analytics to monitor the visits, which will give you a good idea of whether people are interested in your product and an insight into what changes to make.”

Social media is another great tool to help leverage visitors to your site so you should ensure you have a presence across social media platforms, especially Twitter and Facebook.

If you struggle with online marketing then you may to want to look to employ a freelance marketing specialist who can help you with Google Adwords, SEO and social media to attract your desired audience.

Another potential, but arguably more pricey, option to market your e-commerce website is to work with affiliate partners as Graeme Sandwell, managing director of affiliate network Paid On Results, outlines:

“Once your e-commerce website is up and running, you need to do as much as possible to attract new customers. One way of doing this is to invest in affiliate marketing, whereby other websites (your affiliates) promote your brand, services or goods in exchange for commission if they help to drive a sale.”

For information on marketing your new business and effective marketing strategies, visit our dedicated marketing channel.

E-commerce website checklist
Register your domain name
Purchase a web hosting server
Purchase shopping cart software
Design your e-commerce website
Choose an e-commerce payments system
Ensure your e-commerce site is easy to navigate and (ideally) optimised for mobile devices
Create a marketing strategy for your e-commerce site
Click here for more information and advice on building a website.

5 things you shouldn’t do when starting a business (and 5 you should) by Iqbal Gandham

I stumbled upon this interesting piece....

Image from Telegraph

Iqbal Gandham started India’s largest web hosting provider Net4India and has been involved in a series of start-ups in the tech space.
Now chief marketing officer of investment management company Nutmeg, which claims to be the world’s first online investment manager, he shared his essential lessons of successful start-ups while speaking at the Hotwire Ignites FinTech, part of the wider FinTech City London initiative.

1. DO NOT listen to experts all the time
Nobody, no matter how experienced, or what expertise they possess, knows whether your business will be a success. Everyone is hedging their bets and the moment you accept that nobody knows what’s going to work, it makes starting your business a lot easier. Then all you’re doing is testing a series of hypotheses based on the resources that you have.

2. DO create momentum
Everyone seems to create a five-year business plan when they start out. They don’t work. You need to break it down into three years, a year, into months, weeks and days. You need to know what you’re going to do tomorrow. You need to celebrate the small wins, whether it be the first line of coding you’ve created or when an investor backs £10, then £100, then £1,000, then £500,000, even £1m, at every stage you need to recognise and be proud of your achievements.

3. DO speak the same language as your team
Most entrepreneurs are intuitive, other entrepreneurs need their staff to tell them what they need. If you can’t understand your team and your team can’t understand you then you need to adapt and attempt to speak to them in a way they understand. In turn, this will affect the results you’re going to get back. When I’m trying to look at a new business idea I’ll have a meeting with one guy who focuses on data and the other who’s more technical and one will say it’s great and the other will have the polar opposite view, but you need to ensure you involve your team to get this feedback.

4. DO go back to basics
I’ve been in so many companies where they spend days and days asking themselves a million questions; what collaboration software they need to use, how do they share documents, how do they use software so 20 people can co-edit the same document, what voice conferencing should they use, and it’s a complete waste of time. Get a marker pen, a whiteboard, a laptop and a mobile phone and you can create a really great business.

5. DO NOT create new customer segments
If you tell me your customer’s name is Ben, who shops at Primark, drives a Porsche and likes to watch the Wolf of Wall Street, you’re not going to find him. Just go on Experian or TGI and look at their customer segmentation; they’ve already done all the research and pick one of those which most closely match your idea of the perfect customer. They’ve already been marketed to, which gives you a far better chance of reaching them and saving yourself a lot of money.

6. DO NOT spend months creating a tone of voice for your website
Again, I’ve seen so many companies sit there and debate what picture they should use on their site, what language they should use etc. and it just wastes time. If you know who your customers are then just go out and find the media they read, throw it on the table, pick the one you like, download their style guide and use it. It will save you a lot of hassle in the long run.

7. DO spend time on messaging
We ran two ads recently on the London Underground, one said “Does your investment manager skim off a fortune?”, the other one said “Are you paying hidden investment fees?” Both similar messages, both focused around fees. One delivered four times higher assets under management (AUM) than the other. Ensure you run focus groups on your target market to find out what works.

8. DO NOT assume digital advertising is the answer to all your problems
In most industries, especially in financial technology (FinTech) you can generally spend thousands on digital advertising and Google AdWords. With Google AdWords you have such a competitive market and you’re so often spending resources trying to rank higher on Google. Which leads me onto my next point:

9. DO give old-fashioned advertising a go
Print, radio, rail, PR; it all works. It’s really not as expensive as you think and it gives you credibility. Consumers actually think that if you’ve got the money to spend on tube ads that you are a real and well-established company.

10. DO NOT think too much
Two ads, three days and seven people all discussing and debating upon whether the cat in the advert should have its tongue sticking out or not. Did it make a difference? I have absolutely no idea because we didn’t test both the ads but really it’s not worth it. Do the 80/20 rule and go with your gut ultimately. You don’t always need a shadow or a chair.

So, did it work for us?

In 2013 we over-achieved our AUM targets. We’ve got a long way to go, we’re doing well and 2014 is the first year of having a marketing team on board. All in all we’re in a positive place for the year ahead.

Finally, one last lesson: Just do it! Look at what other entrepreneurs are doing and go out and start a business for yourself.

Iqbal Gandham is the chief marketing officer  Nutmeg.

YOUR ROAD TO PROFITABLE GROWTH

With growth firmly back on the agenda now is the time to capitalise on opportunities and ensure your business is in great shape for growth.
Over the last 25 years the Business Growth & Development Programme (BGP) at Cranfield has worked with over 1,500 ambitious owner-managers like you, creating numerous success stories. Through skills and strategies developed on BGP, owner-managers are embarking on an accelerated journey to profitable growth, identifying many growth opportunities along the way.

Kick-start the future you want for your business.
You will find the crucial steps that you need to take to begin your journey in our Guide to Growth. To learn more, talk to past participants and take away valuable insights and knowledge that you can put into action immediately, join us at a FREE BGP Briefing Event in your area.

Wed 26 February 09:00 Birmingham, CV7 7HR
Tues   4 March         09:00 Bristol, BS32 4TS
Tues 11 March         18:00 IoD, 116 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5ED
Tues 18 March         08:30       Cranfield School of Management, MK3 0HG

Places are limited - to reserve today register online or email beth.duff@cranfield.ac.uk

Four golden rules for keeping your start-up costs low

How to create a lean start-up
Article from StartUps
Written by Saurabh Khanna



Here are four rules to get you started…

Rule 1: Subscribe. Don’t implement.

If there is only one tip you take away from this article – it should be this. The good news is that it’s 2013 and most of the solutions to your needs are available in the cloud.

As a business, you may need accounting software, a project management tool, a HR software and so on. A typical approach would be to buy licenses for each of software and install them on a machine in your office, or, get your infrastructure person to host it in a server within your office. Job done, right? Not really.

Once you implement this licensed software in-house, then comes the maintenance – which costs time and money. Even worse, as your company grows there will eventually be upgrades – which costs even more time, money and even downtime! Soon you start to realise that even though you made a smart move by implementing an ‘out-of-the-box’ product, it’s not proving to be so smart and moneywise after all.

Well, what should you do instead? It’s simple – subscribe. For example, if you need a project management software – there are tools like Pivotal Tracker and Zoho that are completely hosted in the cloud. You pay a monthly fee for usage and that’s it – no maintenance, no upgrades and no surprises.  What’s even better, a lot of these tools (at least the two mentioned above) have free small team packages – so you pay nothing to get started. 

A few more handy products:

• Email: Try out Google Apps for Business
• Code hosting: Try Github
• Voice/VoIP/SMS: Try Twilio.

Rule 2: Contract In. Don’t outsource.

Over the last 12 years, I’ve dealt with multiple outsourcing companies. I cannot say to date that I was satisfied with the quality of the work produced. If you’re a small business, it’s silly to hand over the fate of your business process to a body shop in a faraway land.

So what can you do? Contract In. There are sites like peopleperhour.com and ODesk that present you with a selection of quality professionals you can engage with. Even if you have to pay 5-10% extra, get the contractor to carry out the work onsite (unless it’s completely impractical). Have an agreement in place where the contractor gets paid when the work is done to your satisfaction. This way YOU control the quality.

You don’t need workforce on your books until its absolutely required. Most contractors have their own limitedcompany setup via which they’ll invoice you for their services. 

Rule 3: Strategically partner

The resort in the sleepy town of Alghero serves excellent food, but it does not run the restaurant itself. I figured that the resort had leased out the restaurant space to an entrepreneurial chef and his team. It would only be smart to negotiate a profit split in the lease agreement.

Creating strategic partnerships can take you a long way. Be generous to begin with and tighten up as you start to prove yourself in the partnership. 

Rule 4: Take heavy lifting off yourself

You must always take out the heavy lifting from your own workload so that you can focus on the core business. If your business mission is to sell the best doughnuts in the world – you need to focus on how to make and sell the best doughnuts and not worry about putting in hours and hours to host your website or track expenses. Try out subscribing to a personal assistant who can do these tasks for you. Wherever you can – subscribe and don’t hire, so that you can keep your business lean and light. There are websites like Ask Sunday that can provide you with a virtual personal assistant on an hourly basis.

So I’ve given you tips to cut your costs but I never actually told you how that resort managed to lean out their business so much. The truth is, I got distracted by the sunshine and crystal clear water (and my Ichinusa beer), so I never specifically asked them but, I’m sure if I had – they’d have been following similar rules to the ones above.
  
Saurabh Khanna is CTO of demand-driven marketplace Flubit.com. https://twitter.com/_SaurabhKhanna orhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhk01

How to grow your business with funding and investment

Just stumbled on to a great webinar by Warren Knight that I'd like to share...

Grow your Business with Help, Funding and Investment [WEBINAR] from Warren Knight on Vimeo.