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7 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Online Business

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Online Business
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Online Business

Starting an online business can be an exciting venture for any newcomer to the e-commerce industry. So while the thrill of setting an online shop and managing your online business with ease can make it seem like a walk in the park, it is important to refrain from committing the following mistakes that could set you back or ruin the chances of growing your business:

  1. Lack of planning:

The number one most important thing when starting an online business is having a business plan. Walking into a business venture without any action plan is risky and reckless.

  1. Paying attention to tiny details:

Little details can be very distracting from what’s important and can sidetrack your focus, this can lead to wasting valuable time.

  1. Not making money a concern:

You should always be wary and know where funding will be coming from, startups don’t profit from the beginning but experience a lot of losses. Financial plans are important.

  1. Not valuing your product or service:

If you are selling a product or a service, it is imperative to set a price that can end up gaining a good profit.

  1. Not prioritizing customer service:

Your customers are what will give you the profits you seek, ensure they have a good experience. Nobody wants to buy from the business with unimpressible customer service.

  1. Not hiring early:

Hiring early is a positive factor because it will allow you to match the skillsets and personalities and ensuring you have a solid team and company culture when the business picks up.

  1. Underestimating the focus and commitment needed:

It will take a lot of effort and focus to start your business, so you can only imagine the effort needed when running the business. Make sure your focused enough the achieve your goals, multi-tasking might not work for everyone. So dedicating the time for this is highly important for proper management.

All online businesses have the potential to succeed through hard work, dedication, smart planning and of course, the right online payment facilitator for their business. With PayTabs, we are dedicated to empowering and enabling our merchants with all the payment platforms required to accept payments and grow their business. To test the power of PayTabs’ platform, you can sign up for a free demo merchant account. For more useful tips and tricks, you can stay up to date with our posts by signing up for our blog alerts as well.

8 years ago
Your Revolutionary Payments Solution is now in Kuwait!
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Your Revolutionary Payments Solution is now in Kuwait!

Kuwaiti merchant looking for a local and global payment solution for your online business? Look no further!

PayTabs has now launched its services in Kuwait following its efforts to expand its GCC reach. Kuwaiti merchants will now be able to enjoy a premium online payment experience using the latest technology that PayTabs offers.

Get your payments completed using local and international cards, and payment alternatives. Merchants will also be able to test out our free demo account to experience the simplicity and innovative approach PayTabs is best known for. With the support of multiple currencies, payments from anywhere in the world can be reached to your business at anytime. You can also settle all your payments in your local currency or in any currency you choose!

Furthermore, Kuwaiti merchants can enjoy our checkout services such as Express Checkout, PayPage and Recurring Payments to guarantee a truly seamless online shopping experience for your customers.

The starting process has never been simpler. All you have to do is to sign up for a free demo account, test how each function supports your business and payments, once you have been familiarized with the tools and functions, you may request to activate your account to “Go-Live” and  fully power your online business with PayTabs to start accepting payments.

Sign up today for FREE to explore the world of payments and offer your customers the best checkout experience using PayTabs. In the meantime, to keep up with the latest news and trends, you can sign up for our blog alerts here.

8 years ago
Your brand’s online reputation is at jeopardy! Here are 5 tips on how to safeguard it
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Your brand’s online reputation is at jeopardy! Here are 5 tips on how to safeguard it

Reputation is a major component that can drive companies into major profitability or irrecoverable loss. It is highly important your company’s image meets the ideal expectations of the public and the consumers to avoid putting the brand in a vulnerable and controversial position that can put all of your hard work to waste. Not to also mention, retrieving information or opinions about any company is very simple since all it requires is a quick search on Google. Therefore, maintaining a powerful online presence for the brand is essential. Negative reviews or comments can be easily tackled by including content that is easy to share, search and is highly reliable, and that content will have a higher chance of appearing in the first page of the results. Here are 5 essential tips to keep your brand’s online reputation in-check:

  1. Create a company blog

Blogs are good with building relationships with customers instead of just increasing visibility via search engines and driving traffic to the website. It can also give you the opportunity to be placed as an industry leader with quality content.

  1. Keep your company’s website up to date

Having an up-to-date website, and a professionally written bio page not only helps legitimacy and credibility. It creates a strong impression because the company website is the first place people will visit when they research about your business.

  1. Take advantage of online reviews

Consumers find reviews highly reliable, therefore displaying recommendations and opinions on your website is a good method to create a positive expectation for the consumer. It’s important to also make sure you treat customers well online and offline. It will be reflected in the reviews.

  1. Never forget your personal brand:

Personal brand is important to in line with the company brand. This brings more influence and visibility over the search results of the business. There might be cases where your name might be more Googled than your company if it just started. So it’s important to keep in mind you have a positive image and reputation online.

  1. Utilize social media

Social media platforms rank highly in search results, and make great places to push out latest news and content. If your company is doing something interesting, use social media to let customers know about it by sharing recent press releases, or upcoming events and important announcements. It shows that your company is active and relevant.

As important as it is to focus on maintaining a reputable brand reputation online, it is also recommended to maintain certain mannerisms away from the internet such as premium customer treatment, maintaining high-quality standards with merchandise, staff behavior, and contributions to society can help boost your brand’s reputation as a whole. Companies allocate high budgets just for brand reputation and representation, and you can maintain yours without breaking the bank by following these tips! Do you think there are more ideas on how to maintain a positive brand image online? Let us know in the comments below!

8 years ago
m-Commerce: The Future!
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

m-Commerce: The Future!

In 2014, global m-Commerce revenues were $184 billion which is poised to increase to $669 billion by 2018*.

These figures are a testimony to staggering growth of mobile retail commerce in recent times, primarily led by deeper smartphone penetration across the world. In terms of regions, Asia has witnessed the highest growth in mobile commerce, which is not surprising given the population of Asia as a continent and the pervasiveness of the smartphone across the continent.

In multiple surveys, shoppers across the world have agreed that modern mobile sites are safer and easier to use, than ever before. Clearly, there has been a sea change in UX (User Experience) of a mobile site or a mobile app, leading to greater affinity towards mobile shopping. However, the growth of mobile commerce is due to some key factors:

  1. Pervasiveness of Digital Wallets: Across the world, there has been a steady increase in the adoption of digital wallets, which has had its effect on mobile commerce numbers growing. In countries like India, clearly there has been a faster than usual growth in m-commerce, led by the government’s push towards non- cash transactions. The phenomenon of digital wallets has changed the mobile commerce industry worldwide and it is not just limited to developing countries.
  2. Increased Trust: Over time, consumers have increasingly felt more comfortable shopping on mobile. Trust has led greater adoption of m-Commerce across geographies. The trust has been built by the convenience offered by m-Commerce which has been lapped up by the consumers across the board.
  3. Checkouts in a Jiffy: One-page checkouts coupled with the adoption of digital wallets has made checkouts hassle free and has led to greater mobile conversion. If the consumer can quickly buy his or her product, he or she will surely visit the site again to make a purchase.
  4. Increased Awareness: In an interconnected world, a consumer anywhere can learn about m-Commerce and its growth. The stupendous growth has created an urge amongst shoppers to jump the m-Commerce bandwagon and experience shopping at his or her fingertips.

At PayTabs we have been enabling m-Commerce by offering a comprehensive payment solution fully optimized for mobile. Sign up for a free demo to experience the power and flexibility of our solution.

*Data Source: Statista

8 years ago
Digital Marketing: Key for an e-Commerce Startup
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Digital Marketing: Key for an e-Commerce Startup

You have a great idea; you have registered your name and your business; you have complied with the tax regulations, you have chosen a brand name, you have signed up for your domain, you are developed your website, you have selected a shopping cart plugin for your site or developed your own shopping cart, you have selected your payment gateway you have stocked your inventory.

Now you are all set! Your maiden e-commerce venture is about to begin! But, how do you get the word out that you are a new e-commerce venture and how do you attract customers to buy from your website, whether it is a marketplace or a single store. The answer lies in Marketing. Considering all forms of marketing available nowadays, the most effective form is to market through the digital form, especially social media.

The following factors are the reasons why you should concentrate on digital marketing:

  1. Variety of Content:

    As a business, you would have multiple forms of content that you can leverage to educate the consumer about differentiating factors of your e-commerce platform, be it blogs, infographics, images, etc…. From a content creation standpoint, focus on the USP of your platform and the experience that your platform provides.

  2. Pervasiveness of Search Engines:

    Most consumers search online looking for products to buy. Hence it is an imperative for your e-commerce platform to be SEO friendly. You should have optimized all the pages of your site/platform to be picked up by Google/Bing/Yahoo. Well, the most popular search engine is Google, therefore optimization of product pages on your site is a necessity. Most importantly, ensure your site has a search bar for any consumer to search for a specific product they are looking for. Search engine crawlers tend to rank sites higher with a product search option. This also enables your site’s product page to be featured for product searches done on the search engine.

  3. Analytics and Targeting:

    The role of analytics in the digital marketing space has grown over the years and it proves to be a great barometer of consumer assessment. You can often target a consumer who spends more time on your site by pushing out relevant ads of the product pages he has browsed, through remarketing (either google remarketing or facebook remarketing).

  4. Growth of Social Media:

    It is a no brainer that social media platforms such as facebook or twitter have grown to become hubs for consumer conversations. It adds value to have a strong social media presence and market yourself effectively on social media to create awareness about your new e-commerce venture.

  5. Social Listening:

    Using advanced social media listening tools to gain insights about your consumer, as in picking up clues from his conversations, actions, etc… Social listening tools enable you to keep a tab on your competitor and their navigation of the digital space. It is a must for analysing consumer behaviour and analysing competition.

  6. Video Marketing:

    Videos in the digital world are known to capture the consumer’s attention in a very short span of time. Video content can be used for paid/non-paid digital advertising leading the consumer to go to the site and browse through or purchase. It pays to invest in video marketing, as the ROI over a period is going to be highly profitable for you.

As you can gauge by now, digital marketing is an intrinsic lever to grow your e-commerce business. What are you waiting for? Start now! Subscribe to our blog to gain more insights on e-commerce. You can also sign up for a demo of our Payments Solution to understand the value that we can bring to your e-commerce venture.

8 years ago