We have pulled together a simple 10 Step Checklist to launch your new website on the right footing and begin the new year with the right approach. While we started this list with the recent store owners in mind.....this list is a GREAT way to launch a business at ANY time during the year and an excellent reminder for existing sellers to reassess your strategy during the holidays.

• Activate your Ecommerce Business

The first step to building your search rankings will be to connect your domain name to your ecommerce hosting account.
• Register a new domain name from a registrar like Godaddy.  Always protect the access to your domain name account.
• If you do not have an existing website, take advantage of the Inventory Source Hosted Site Special and get a new business today.
• Follow your Getting Started Guide and platform setup instructions to begin configuring the basic features of your site.
• Point your domain name to your site when ready.  This process can take 24-48 hours to complete.
  
  

• Keep Your Inventory Current

Do not miss a sale, avoid hurting your feed back with bad reviews, or delay the addition of hot new items from your product suppliers.
• Inventory Source Automation users can have this happen automatically every day so you only need to spend your time marketing your site and managing orders.
• Inventory Source Download File and Custom File Users can update their site in bulk each day.  If you have other external products on your site make sure you have enough time to also dedicate to these listings.
• The Inventory Source Wholesale Drop Ship Data Solutions can load thousands of products to your site as easily as managing one product with detailed titles, descriptions, categories, images, and more directly from your supplier sources.
  
  

• Build Consumer Confidence

Build trust and Reassure your customers that you are a credible business.
• Create a professional design
• Add clear return policy, shipping details and business contact information.
• Encourage product reviews or post testimonials from clients.  You can start this by writing your own product reviews for some key items and encourage your family and friends to add input.
• Review your category structure to assess its format, especially if you use more then one product source.  Inventory Source users can take advantage of the Custom Category Mapping Tool for automated management of this or you can submit mapping changes for your Custom Files.
• Think about what makes you shop at other online websites, and assess how well your ecommerce site matches those needs.
  
  

• Generate Customer Traffic

Drive more buyers to your ecommerce store and get it noticed in search engines.
• Submit your site to search engines and post the link on various sites, such as on forums and blogs.  These are FREE steps that you can take on your own!
• Add meta tags or a site map to help with natural search and indexing.
• Add content pages and talk about your categories, your brands, and your products.
• Start a paid search engine marketing campaign such as Google Ad Words.  Start with small daily budgets while you learn how to improve your advertisement's wording, keywords, and landing pages.  The more specific your add is to the landing page, such as connecting an add for a product model and linking to that product detail page rather then your website main page, the more effective your add will be for conversions.
  
  

• Design Your Price Strategy

You do not have to be the cheapest seller online and often the cheapest seller is not the top volume seller, but you do need to review online listings to make sure your prices are competitive.
• Create a promotional offer or consider offering Free shipping or lower your price settings and increase your shipping fees if you prefer.
• User your websites Sales or Specials functionality to discount and feature more of your items.  Retail chains do not have the same products on sale all year, so consider changing and updating your promotions.
• Offer Gift Cards or Voucher Codes for good customers to encourage more repeat business.
• As you generate traffic try adjusting your prices to find the correct balance between margin and volume.  With the Inventory Source Custom Price Setting tool for automation and custom file users these changes can be managed at the push of a button for any website platform or marketplace.
• Try adjusting your prices at least every three weeks over the first 5 months to have enough data to test your strategy fine tuning.
  
  

• Increase Your Conversion
  
• Promote your top selling products on key pages of your site like your homepage using your Specials or Featured modules or with a new main page graphic linking to the brand, category, or product.
• Use cross sell functions to help promote other products to your customers at checkout.
• Pick just 5 products a week and look at the title or description to see if you can add more details, technical specifications, or sales oriented content.  This will improve your natural search rank and help with sales conversions for people looking at your product listings.  Unless you are manufacturing your own products, this is a simple and small step, but an important step and helps you stand out from other resellers and even some of the larger ecommerce websites. 
• You are not the only one to a popular product, but be the only one to sell it your way.  You can add content about the brand or say why that model is better then others in the product line.  Who is the target for this product?  Is this product easier to use then similar items?  Does the existing content use the name or nickname commonly used and search on by most customers?  Just remember that the manufacture can make great products, the supplier can distribute great products, but as the retail store owner you can add the most value by thinking about what is needed to help an item be found and sell.  Use the season or holiday to help prioritize your product listing improvements.
  
  

• Tap Into Your Existing Customers

Generate repeat business from your existing customers.   
• Send a promotional email to your customers.   
• Add an opt-in form to collect visitor emails.   
• Encourage customers to write product reviews for the products they order.   
• You want to find ways to balance "spamming" your clients with value adding service.  Do not just send a common update to everyone.  Look at ways to send a targeted mailing based on their order history.  Did someone buy an HD DVD Player?  Thank them for their purchase and recommend HD cables or DVD's.  Did someone order a large multi-person tent? Recommend other family oriented camping gear and sale items.  If another customer ordered a high-end single or double occupancy tent the same product recommendations might not be best?  Focus the recommendation on other high-end brand name camping items.
  
  

• Market Your Products

Drive new  revenues by marketing your products.   
• Get listed on various shopping portals   
• List your ecommerce business on complementary sites and deal sites   
• Take advantage of Inventory Source Custom File Services for sites like Amazon, eBay, PriceGrabber, Shopzilla, Jellyfish, Nextag, and more.
• There are many market places where you can list your products, but Google Base is one of the simplest options and it is free to list your product data with a Google Base account.
  
  

• Focus On The Holidays

Motivate customers with holiday appeal....and do not forget that there is a holiday or two every month to use for marketing your site.   
• Add holiday promotions.   
• Highlight holiday-based products and suggest holiday gift ideas.   
• Offer free or discounted shipping, especially with multi-product orders.   
• Clearly define your delivery and return dates and confirm this status with your suppliers. It is not uncommon for wholesale distributors to make changes to the order process or delivery options, especially during peek sales holidays.

• Offer Great Customer Service

This might seem obvious, but make it easy for your customers to shop and avoid the stress of holiday shopping.

• Respond to customer questions on your site or products quickly and professionally by phone or email.  If you have problems managing your call volume during holiday sales consider alerting them on your voice mail message to use email support during peek shopping days for a quicker response.
• Process your orders promptly....this can be hard to balance with your own holiday planning and your business but with focus and good planning your can meet your objectives.

We hope this has helped to show you how simple a new business launch can be, and reminded you that during the holidays, any holiday, it is important to look at your marketing efforts and ecommerce "salesmanship".  If you have ANY questions on any of these steps or need professional support from the most trusted name in dropship data solutions, just contact Inventory Source today.