to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster

your online success. Throughout the course of the Two Minute Tuesdays

we’ve recorded, we’ve talked about a lot of things that you should be doing for your

ecommerce site, but we’ve yet to truly focus on activities that you shouldn’t do. With

that in mind, today I present you five major don’t of building your very own online store.

First off, don’t start anything without a plan. Whenever you’re building your ecommerce

site, you need to make sure that you have milestones in place, that your objectives

are established and that you’ve hammered down metrics to see measure how you’re doing.

In other words, go in with a solid business plan – it’ll keep you on track for the

long haul. Next, don’t forget about design and branding

every step of the way. You need to know what your site is going to look like, or at least

have a general idea, and you should know what your brand will represent. This vision will

help with decisions later on, such as button colors, what your product photos should look

like and what the tone of your copy will be, so make sure you’re considering these factors

from the start. Thirdly, don’t skimp on the details. While

you might think some decisions are irrelevant at first, these details can cost you down

the road. Say, for example, that you’re looking at merchant providers and one option

charges just .01% higher of a rate. While this doesn’t some like much, when you’re

making millions on your ecommerce site, that can cost you a lot of money in the future.

Fourthly, don’t expect sales overnight. Yes, launching your website is a very exciting

process, and you’re going to feel good about yourself once you finish. However, when you

don’t see sales coming in immediately, you can set yourself up for disappointment. You

have to remember that there are millions of websites out there, many of which are selling

the same products as you, so you need to know that it’s important to invest time and money

into marketing. These investments will help make sure that traffic is coming and sales

are going through. Don’t expect sales overnight and you’ll be in good shape.

Last, but not least, don’t try to do everything at once. There are a lot of decisions to make

and a lot of actions to take when opening your online store, so set small milestones

like “Today, I’m going to put together five product pages,” or “Today, I’m

going to launch my home page.” Make sure that you celebrate those victories and you

keep yourself on a manageable timetable to keep your sanity and your online business

moving. Hopefully these five don’ts will keep you

on the right track to getting your ecommerce site up and running successfully.

If you have any questions we’re always happy to help. Just leave me a question in the comments

box below and I’ll be happy to get back with you. From me to you, happy selling!