I’m not initially from the UK. I grew up in Southern California and together with an everyday want for tacos and journeys to Disneyland, I additionally get the longing for American sweet. SweeTARTs, Jolly Ranchers, Reeses’ Items, Scorching Tamales, Now ‘n’ Laters, Lemonheads… And let’s not even speak about my love of pumpkin spice.
So when a store posted on the native Fb group and mentioned they’d ship, I acquired excited — I’ve been working low on my assortment of American sweet, and, lastly, I’d have the ability to rebuild my shares.
However I bumped into a difficulty. They didn’t have a web based store. They didn’t also have a web site.
That they had an Instagram account.
Which meant that, each time I attempted to determine how one can order with them, I noticed this as a substitute:
No approach to see how a lot issues value. No approach to learn how to order. Only a large log-in field blocking my view of all these scrumptious treats.
That is one thing I’ve been seeing quite a bit just lately. As a substitute of getting their very own on-line retailer, retailers are placing up their wares on Fb, Instagram, or different platforms. This would possibly look like an important thought for small companies, particularly if you happen to’re by yourself and doing it as a facet gig to your primary job, however there are particular pitfalls.
And though it takes a bit extra work at first, having your personal web site is one of the simplest ways to promote your merchandise on-line.
It provides you credibility
With a whole lot of the companies I see promoting on social media, there doesn’t appear to be a straightforward approach to really buy an merchandise — and a whole lot of the time, it doesn’t look like they’ve a safe approach to take funds. They could ask you to learn your bank card particulars over the telephone. They could ask you to ship cash to a private account moderately than a enterprise one. They could even ask you to place your card particulars into Fb messenger.
Safety is a significant a part of a enterprise’s credibility. Do your prospects belief your enterprise sufficient to provide you their cash?
It’s arduous sufficient promoting on-line. Why would you miss the chance to provide your prospects a bit extra safety? Arrange a PayPal button, get on Stripe, choose one thing that offers you much more credibility than simply telling individuals to name in.
Your prospects can see you
Social networks need their customers to remain inside their very own system. The extra time an individual spends inside their system, the extra knowledge they’ll gather on them, the extra focused adverts they’ll present, the extra income they obtain. Which implies that if you happen to don’t have an account with them, you’re not worthwhile for them. They’ll’t observe you, they’ll’t goal their promoting to you, and also you’re simply not as attention-grabbing.
So when you may have a store on a social community, you’re solely capable of promote your merchandise to the individuals in that system. Which is perhaps lots of people (Fb alone has over 2 billion customers), however if you happen to’re centered on a particular viewers, that doesn’t imply that your prospects will see you.
To not point out the searches you is perhaps lacking out on from serps. A decently optimised web site will present up greater in search engine outcomes than social media posts.
You may have (subsequent to) no restrictions
Whenever you arrange a enterprise on social media, you’re restricted by the necessities of that exact social community. Placing in all the small print to your merchandise in 280 characters. Becoming your portrait-sized pictures into Instagram’s squares. Attempting to select between 5 completely different firm classes, none of which really actually match your enterprise.
With your personal web site, it may be no matter you need it to be. Write 1000-word essays on the wonders of your merchandise. Have large pictures fantastically displayed. Don’t fear about altering the merchandise accessible, as a result of you may add as many classes as you need.
The one limits are you (and the authorized obligations of the place you might be).
It’s simpler than it seems
It would look like having your retailer simply on social media is very easy. You add photos, you write about them, you share them together with your followers after which hope they share them with their followers. And, initially, yeah, it sounds simple.
However simply add just a few extra steps, and you may have your personal web site. And never solely will it find yourself being as simple as internet hosting a store on Fb or Instagram, it’ll be even simpler.
It’s a nine-step course of:
- Choose a website identify
- Choose a internet hosting package deal
- Set up WordPress (or select one in all our Managed WordPress packages and we’ll set up it for you)
- Set up WooCommerce
- Add in merchandise and costs
- Add in a fee supplier
- Select a theme that matches your store’s branding and make it look fairly
- Launch
- Promote!
You’ll have a website you may preserve working simply as you need, with every thing you wish to host. And if you wish to inform everybody on social media about your store, you are able to do that too — simply level them to your web site!