/PREPARING to build your ONLINE STORE

Your goals & vision

To kick off the planning portion of this process, we're going to get started with an important question:

This isn't just about "making more money" (although that's a great goal!). Here, we're encouraging you to think more specifically:

• Do you want to reach a larger shopping audience?
• Are you hoping to streamline your existing sales process or fulfillment operations?
• Is your online store primarily a showcase of the products you offer from your brick-and-mortar store (if you have one), or are you hoping your online store will become a significant revenue driver?
• Are you aiming for growth in specific product lines?
  

Whatever your goals are, defining them now will help you make decisions throughout the build process: your goal can act as your 'north star' and give you some clarity.

Your goals will also influence your design decisions. This leads us to our next key question:

Whatever your goals are, defining them now will help you make decisions throughout the build process: your goal can act as your 'north star' and give you some clarity.

Your goals will also influence your design decisions. This leads us to our next key question:

Your customer's shopping experience includes things like:

• How will your customers browse and find your products?
• What information will your customers expect to find on each product page?
• Will you want or need to offer a way to collect information to personalize a product?
• How will my customers pay for the products I'm offering?
• What type of information do I need to collect during the checkout process?
  

Again, thinking through these topics now will save you time later.

Your shopping experience will vary depending on what you're selling. While this course focuses on the sale of physical products, know that you can also use the platform for other purposes including:

• Selling services (e.g., consulting, plumbing, massage, etc.)
• Collecting donations
• Selling digital products (e.g., eBooks, templates, etc.)
• Selling memberships (e.g., access to online communities)
  

Given the importance of providing a good shopping experience, we're going to talk through each of the bullets above, starting with thinking through how to organize the products in your store.