Selling something can be hard work, even when you’re selling it using the wondrous powers of the internet. You’d think that with the billions of people browsing the web, at least a few would be interested in buying what you’re selling. Even with speed, convenience, and anonymity on its side, the internet can be just as difficult a place to build a business as in the real world. In fact, roughly 90% of ecommerce business fail within the first 5 years of operation – ouch!
But this post isn’t about failure – it’s about helping you avoid it! And one of the most tried and true ways to avoid failure is to learn from those of who came before you and have achieved success. Things move quickly in the online business world, which means ideas, techniques, and business models are created, tested, and improved upon at warp speed compared to the ‘traditional’ business world. A savvy ecommerce entrepreneur would do well to learn from these expedited online business cycles and implement what works best, right?
So where can those who are new to the ecommerce space learn from the pros? By going directly to the source. One of the greatest things about the web is that it is overwhelmingly open. Experts in just about any field are willing to share their struggles, triumphs, techniques, and tips with anyone who cares to look for them. Well, we’ve done the looking for you.
Below are 5 ecommerce blogs that you should be following if you need help getting your online business off the ground.
1. WooThemes blog
WooThemes provides themes and plugins that support the WooCommerce platform (which, btw, is the way to go if you want to build an ecommerce store using WordPress – just our 2 cents). They also have a gang of contributors who provide some great tips on how to improve your ecommerce performance. From on-page improvements to social media hacks, you’ll find useful stuff here.
2. Unbounce blog
Unbounce is all about the conversion. Their blog highlights landing page best practices, examples of good and bad landing pages, running A/B tests, copywriting, and marketing. The bulk of their content focuses on lead gen, but they do have some insightful stuff specific to increasing ecommerce conversions.
3. Checkout Optimization
When people are visiting your site, viewing your products, but leave before they buy, the first place to look is your checkout process. Checkoutoptimization.com, which is run by Nicholas Ward, is geared specifically to helping ecommerce sites improve their checkout process and sell more products. Definitely a must read for those sites having trouble turning visitors into customers.
4. Shopify’s blog
In need of ecommerce inspiration? How about some general online sales guidance? Shopify’s blog has you covered. Content ranges from how to make your first 10 sales, to persuasion techniques, to product sourcing and shipping tips. As an ecommerce platform themselves, Shopify has a ton of insights to pull from, which is why their content is usually top-notch.
5. Quick Sprout
Neil Patel is wicked smart. He’s built several successful online business, and is one of the top experts when it comes to building an online brand, driving more traffic, and increasing your customer base. His blog, Quick Sprout, is chalk full useful tips and info that both ecommerce and non-ecommerce sites can utilize. Neil has also written a boat load of information guides that run the gamut of online branding, marketing, and sales. You can check out those guides here.
Those are 5 of our favorite blogs when it comes to helping new ecommerce sites take off. However, we know there are many more amazing ecommerce blogs, and we’d love to hear about some of your favorites. Please share in the comments section below!