VendLab has written a series of introductory guides to give eCommerce businesses looking to grow an overview of the opportunities available.
Over 100 video guides are available on the VendLab eCommerce School YouTube Channel
Ecommerce Business Basics
Before launching an eCommerce business, you need to answer some basic questions about your new venture.
- Product sourcing: What products are you going to sell?
- Product research: Analysing products and finding opportunities
- Branding: What name will you give your business?
- Channels: Where am I going to sell my products?
- Fulfilment: How am I going to ship my orders?
- Backoffice: How am I going to manage my sales.
- Customer Service: Dealing with customer queries
- Ecommerce Platforms: How will you manage your eCommerce processes
Launching an eCommerce Website
This section discusses the main building blocks required to create your own eCommerce website including domains, shopping carts, payments and fraud.
- Benefits of an eCommerce Website. Why your company should sell through an eCommerce website
- Do I need a website to sell online? Why you should sell multichannel – not just on marketplaces.
- Choosing a domain. Tips for selecting a web address for your business
- Hosting. Choosing a hosting provider.
- Choosing a shopping cart. Choosing between the main shopping cart options.
- eCommerce website functionality. The main functionality you should look for in a shopping cart
- Accepting payments online. How to accept payments online securely.
Search Engine Optimisation
- Why SEO is important. Why your company should invest in SEO.
- The Seach Engine Results page (SERPs). Anatomy of a search engine results page
- How Search Engines work. How search engines index content and rank results
- Black and White Hat SEO. How to build search performance in a sustainable way.
- Element of Search Engine Optimisation: Crawling
- Technical SEO – JavaScript, Schema, Usability and Mobile
- Off Page SEO – Building Website Authority
Paid Search – Google Ads, Shopping and Bing
- Paid Search Fundamentals
- How Google Ads Work
- Budgets and Bidding – How bidding works and how to set budgets
- Measuring Campaign Performance – Key metrics for benchmarking your campaigns
- Targeting and Campaign Structure – how to organise and structure your campaigns for best performance
- Types of adverts – Different types of Google ads including search, shopping and display
eBay and Other International Markets
- Creating eBay Listings – How to create attractive, keyword rich listings
- eBay Best Match search – How to win at eBay’s Best Match Search algorithm
- Seller performance: Feedback & Seller Levels – Understanding you eBay performance
- eBay Promoted listings – Gain additional exposure for your eBay listings
- Selling internationally – Expand beyond your home market
- Alternative marketplaces – Diversify into other marketplaces such as Bol.com and Cdscount
Selling on Amazon
- Seller levels and fees – The structure of Amazon’s fees explained
- Feedback and A-Z claims – Dealing with customer issues
- Anatomy of Amazon listings – How to optimise your Amazon listings
- Creating Amazon listings – Creating Amazon listings one by one or in bulk
- Amazon search – How to get high placement in Amazon’s natural search
- Amazon for Brands – How to promote your brand on Amazon
- Building Amazon sales: Sponsored products, Amazon business and dynamic pricing
Web Analytics
- Benefits of Web Analytics
- Basic Web Metrics
- Key performance indicators
- Funnels, filtering and segmenting data
- Google Analytics
Email Marketing
- Why email marketing is important
- Running an email marketing campaign
- Types of email marketing campaigns
- Improving email marketing performance
- Measuring email marketing performance
Affiliate marketing
- Benefits of Affiliate marketing
- How affiliate marketing works
- Types of publisher
- Creating an Affiliate programme
Social Media Marketing
- Introduction to Social Media
- Social Media marketing
- Organic vs paid Social Media
- Building your Social Media presence
- Introduction to Facebook
- Facebook Ads
- YouTube
- Blogging for business