How to Run Your Online Store BusinessStarting and building your online store business is not that difficult to do. And running it is much easier as well.
For the most part, your day to day business operation will always be the same. Business operating hours: Standard business hours are from 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday, your time. |
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How to Run Your Online Store Business
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And attending to your business during these hours is the best way to run your store.
You’re more than welcome to work as many hours as you can or as you want to. But as far as dealing with customers, and taking and placing orders, cut off time should be 5:00pm, 6:00pm or 7:00pm the latest. And you can continue to work on and update your website after hours as well. Your business hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm or 9:00pm to 6:00pm or even 7:00pm as well should be stated on your contact page after or below your contact form or contact details. |
For example:
Phone Hours of Operation:
Monday - Friday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM EST
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
Tel: 1-800-123-4567
If you’re using a call forwarding service provider such as RingCentral.com for example, then RingCentral will forward all calls to you during your selected business hours and send all calls after business hours directly to voicemail automatically.
Setting standard business hours has always been the best way to run a business and the professional way as well. But you are more than welcome to work as many hours as you wish.
Phone Hours of Operation:
Monday - Friday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM EST
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
Tel: 1-800-123-4567
If you’re using a call forwarding service provider such as RingCentral.com for example, then RingCentral will forward all calls to you during your selected business hours and send all calls after business hours directly to voicemail automatically.
Setting standard business hours has always been the best way to run a business and the professional way as well. But you are more than welcome to work as many hours as you wish.
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Your average business day
The first thing you’ll want to do when starting off your day is to check your emails first.
NOTE: It would be best to have an email program on your computer such as Microsoft Outlook for example, to make it easier for you to check and stay on top of your emails at all times as such programs remain open and receive emails every few minutes and automatically as well. This is a much better option than having to log into an online email account just to check email every few minutes.
NOTE: Your email address should always be support, info, or [email protected] and not [email protected]. The latter is unprofessional and the former is standard business practice.
The first thing you’ll want to do is check the emails that came in over night or after business hours and respond to those emails first.
You’ll have different types of emails to deal with:
-Customer emails
-Distributor emails
-Distributor tracking number emails
-Voicemail notification emails
-Order confirmation emails
Many times, it’s better to read over and deal with the customer emails first.
NOTE: It would be best to have an email program on your computer such as Microsoft Outlook for example, to make it easier for you to check and stay on top of your emails at all times as such programs remain open and receive emails every few minutes and automatically as well. This is a much better option than having to log into an online email account just to check email every few minutes.
NOTE: Your email address should always be support, info, or [email protected] and not [email protected]. The latter is unprofessional and the former is standard business practice.
The first thing you’ll want to do is check the emails that came in over night or after business hours and respond to those emails first.
You’ll have different types of emails to deal with:
-Customer emails
-Distributor emails
-Distributor tracking number emails
-Voicemail notification emails
-Order confirmation emails
Many times, it’s better to read over and deal with the customer emails first.
You can check your order emails to see what products the orders are for and where the orders are going to be shipped to. But before attending to and placing those orders online it would be best to go through and read your customer emails first.
Sometimes, a customer will send an email to request a change on their order such as a change in the ship-to address or to add an additional product or accessory to their order without having to pay any additional shipping fees. And it would be best to accommodate the customer as best as you can in order to fulfill and satisfy their request. And this is just one of the reasons why it’s best to check customer emails first before placing any orders online with dropship distributors.
Distributors will also send you tracking number emails and you’ll want to send those out to your recent customers before they start calling and asking for their tracking number.
You’ll also want to check your voice mail just in case a customer called to make changes to their order via telephone. And this would also be a good time to return phone calls to potential customers as well. Just be sure to check the differences in time zones to make sure that you’re not calling the customer at an hour that may not be convenient for them.
For example, if you’re based in New York, then calling a California customer at 9:30am EST would not be the best time to call them seeing that at this time it is only 6:30am PST in California. You can find out where the customer is located by the area code of their phone number on the order. And these are just a few simple details to make note of.
Sometimes, a customer will send an email to request a change on their order such as a change in the ship-to address or to add an additional product or accessory to their order without having to pay any additional shipping fees. And it would be best to accommodate the customer as best as you can in order to fulfill and satisfy their request. And this is just one of the reasons why it’s best to check customer emails first before placing any orders online with dropship distributors.
Distributors will also send you tracking number emails and you’ll want to send those out to your recent customers before they start calling and asking for their tracking number.
You’ll also want to check your voice mail just in case a customer called to make changes to their order via telephone. And this would also be a good time to return phone calls to potential customers as well. Just be sure to check the differences in time zones to make sure that you’re not calling the customer at an hour that may not be convenient for them.
For example, if you’re based in New York, then calling a California customer at 9:30am EST would not be the best time to call them seeing that at this time it is only 6:30am PST in California. You can find out where the customer is located by the area code of their phone number on the order. And these are just a few simple details to make note of.
After you’ve read and responded to email and voicemails as well, then you can proceed to place orders online.
First, check the order emails to see which product the customer ordered and where the product is going to be shipped to.
Then check with your preferred distributors to see which distributor has that particular product in stock, at the lowest price and at a warehouse location closest to the customers “ship-to” address. The closer the distributor warehouse is to the customers’ location then the lower your shipping costs will be, while the shipping costs to the customer will remain the same no matter where the product gets shipped from.
Many distributors have multiple warehouse and distribution locations strategically placed across the country, and by ordering the product from the distribution warehouse closest to your customer it allows you to save more money on shipping while making more profit on the shipping charge as well.
First, check the order emails to see which product the customer ordered and where the product is going to be shipped to.
Then check with your preferred distributors to see which distributor has that particular product in stock, at the lowest price and at a warehouse location closest to the customers “ship-to” address. The closer the distributor warehouse is to the customers’ location then the lower your shipping costs will be, while the shipping costs to the customer will remain the same no matter where the product gets shipped from.
Many distributors have multiple warehouse and distribution locations strategically placed across the country, and by ordering the product from the distribution warehouse closest to your customer it allows you to save more money on shipping while making more profit on the shipping charge as well.
Once you’ve determined which distributor you’re going to use to fulfill the order then you can proceed to place the order online via the distributors’ website or you can call them to place the order over the phone. And sometimes, you may be able to get a better price over the phone by talking the sales rep down a few dollars or more.
Once all emails and voice mails have been responded to and you’ve placed all of your orders as well, then you can proceed with the rest of your business day in a calm and effective manner.
Once all emails and voice mails have been responded to and you’ve placed all of your orders as well, then you can proceed with the rest of your business day in a calm and effective manner.
Your things to do list
An effective and organized way to run and manage your business would be to work from a “things to do list” and by doing so you can manage to get a lot more accomplished in much less time.
For example, a typical “things to do list” can read as follows:
-Respond to all emails, or at least those that need to be responded to
-Send out all tracking numbers via email to recent customers
-Respond to all voicemails, and return all phone calls that need to be returned
-Complete any unfinished business
-Place all orders online or by phone
-Check your competitors’ websites to see if any new products are out on the market
-Build and add a product page for product abc, Panasonic xyz and all accessories for those products as well.
-Add hot selling product Sharp abc to main page
-Add product xyz and mmn to your comparison chart
-Create and add product review for product bbb
-Add and respond to any open link exchange request
-Check status and statistics for any ongoing marketing campaigns such Google ads, banner ads etc..
-Start, create and launch a new marketing campaign for product ddd
-Call back potential customer Mr. Davis at 3:00pm
-Check availability for product ggg
-Check to make sure customers received their packages for previous orders
-Send out courtesy emails to customers who did receive their orders
For example, a typical “things to do list” can read as follows:
-Respond to all emails, or at least those that need to be responded to
-Send out all tracking numbers via email to recent customers
-Respond to all voicemails, and return all phone calls that need to be returned
-Complete any unfinished business
-Place all orders online or by phone
-Check your competitors’ websites to see if any new products are out on the market
-Build and add a product page for product abc, Panasonic xyz and all accessories for those products as well.
-Add hot selling product Sharp abc to main page
-Add product xyz and mmn to your comparison chart
-Create and add product review for product bbb
-Add and respond to any open link exchange request
-Check status and statistics for any ongoing marketing campaigns such Google ads, banner ads etc..
-Start, create and launch a new marketing campaign for product ddd
-Call back potential customer Mr. Davis at 3:00pm
-Check availability for product ggg
-Check to make sure customers received their packages for previous orders
-Send out courtesy emails to customers who did receive their orders
This may seem like a lot of things to do, but it’s really not. And when you’re working from a “things to do list” you get things done much faster and in an organized manner as well. And if you still have products to add to your website then that needs to be your main daily activity until you’re done adding all products and accessories to your online store database. And from there, it’s just a matter of adding new products as they arrive on the market.
Remember, the more product pages you have on your website then the more traffic your website will get. And when you’re caught up on having all of the products you’re wanting to sell listed on your website then it becomes much easier to maintain your store. And then maintenance becomes a matter of adding new products when they the hit market. And when adding products to your website, be sure to place your new and most popular products in the “What’s New” and “What’s Hot” section on your main page.
Build a product page first for those new and popular products and then link to those pages from the product image, description and a “click here” link on your main page.
You’ll also need to add most of your new products to your comparison charts as well.
You will be receiving orders during the day, online and by phone, (if you provided a phone number on your website).
When those orders come in, then you can start shopping around with your distributors to see which distributors has that particular product at the lowest cost and closest to your customers location as well.
Once you find the product and have decided on which distributor to use, then go ahead and place the order online or by phone and then continue to work from your “things to do list”.
Remember, the more product pages you have on your website then the more traffic your website will get. And when you’re caught up on having all of the products you’re wanting to sell listed on your website then it becomes much easier to maintain your store. And then maintenance becomes a matter of adding new products when they the hit market. And when adding products to your website, be sure to place your new and most popular products in the “What’s New” and “What’s Hot” section on your main page.
Build a product page first for those new and popular products and then link to those pages from the product image, description and a “click here” link on your main page.
You’ll also need to add most of your new products to your comparison charts as well.
You will be receiving orders during the day, online and by phone, (if you provided a phone number on your website).
When those orders come in, then you can start shopping around with your distributors to see which distributors has that particular product at the lowest cost and closest to your customers location as well.
Once you find the product and have decided on which distributor to use, then go ahead and place the order online or by phone and then continue to work from your “things to do list”.
Many times, distributors have sales, rebates and special promotions going on and it would be best to subscribe to any email list that they may have in order to be notified of any such promotions.
If there are any special sales or rebate offers on popular products then be sure to place those products on your main page.
If you receive word or notice of a new product coming out on the market soon, then be sure to build a product page for that product even before it comes out on the market in order to start taking pre-orders for that product as well.
If there are any special sales or rebate offers on popular products then be sure to place those products on your main page.
If you receive word or notice of a new product coming out on the market soon, then be sure to build a product page for that product even before it comes out on the market in order to start taking pre-orders for that product as well.
Marketing and Advertising your website
Aside from taking care of all necessary business tasks, you should be spending the bulk of your time marketing and advertising your business online.
You can work on SEO (search engine optimization) optimizing your pages for the search engines and creating more search engine optimized door way pages for your website.
You can check on your competitors’ websites to see what’s selling and what’s not.
You can continue exchanging links and responding to link requests as well.
You can work on that press release for that new product that just came out.
You can check on your pay-per-click or any on going marketing campaigns that are active.
You can launch a new marketing campaign for a new product as well.
You can participate on online forums that are related to your niche market by answering questions on products, recommendations, etc in order to bring in more targeted traffic to your website.
You can continue to write articles to work on your article marketing campaigns or place other peoples’ articles on your website in order to create even more search engine optimized webpage’s.
You can send out emails on a new product arrivals or announcements on products coming out soon in order to take pre-orders for those products as well.
You can work on SEO (search engine optimization) optimizing your pages for the search engines and creating more search engine optimized door way pages for your website.
You can check on your competitors’ websites to see what’s selling and what’s not.
You can continue exchanging links and responding to link requests as well.
You can work on that press release for that new product that just came out.
You can check on your pay-per-click or any on going marketing campaigns that are active.
You can launch a new marketing campaign for a new product as well.
You can participate on online forums that are related to your niche market by answering questions on products, recommendations, etc in order to bring in more targeted traffic to your website.
You can continue to write articles to work on your article marketing campaigns or place other peoples’ articles on your website in order to create even more search engine optimized webpage’s.
You can send out emails on a new product arrivals or announcements on products coming out soon in order to take pre-orders for those products as well.
Marketing and advertising is the lifeline of your business and it’s important to spend the bulk of your time on marketing. And the more time you spend on marketing your business then the more traffic your business will receive. And the more traffic your website receives then the more sales you’ll make as well. And at the end of the business day, 5:00pm, 6:00pm or whatever the time may be, then you can finish off any last items on your things to do list in order to close down shop, if that’s what you want to do. Or you can continue to work without any interruptions as well.
You can send out tracking numbers for orders received that day.
You can check on tracking numbers online to make sure customers received their packages for previous orders as well.
Then you can send out courtesy emails to those who did receive their package for that day thanking them for their order.
You can finish any last minute emails that just came in. And then once you’re done everything you need to do and have put in a hard days work, then you can close down shop and spend the rest of the day with family or friends or whatever you want to do.
Running an online store business is not that difficult to do, and in fact can become pretty simple as well. And after you’ve been running your business for some time, then everything else becomes routine. And in time, it won’t feel like work any more. It will just become a way of life.
You can send out tracking numbers for orders received that day.
You can check on tracking numbers online to make sure customers received their packages for previous orders as well.
Then you can send out courtesy emails to those who did receive their package for that day thanking them for their order.
You can finish any last minute emails that just came in. And then once you’re done everything you need to do and have put in a hard days work, then you can close down shop and spend the rest of the day with family or friends or whatever you want to do.
Running an online store business is not that difficult to do, and in fact can become pretty simple as well. And after you’ve been running your business for some time, then everything else becomes routine. And in time, it won’t feel like work any more. It will just become a way of life.