The Complete Ecommerce Startup Guide: An Introduction to Ecommerce

Table of Contents:
The Complete Ecommerce Startup Guide

1. An Introduction to Ecommerce
2. Defining Your Niche, Strategy, and Goals
3. Picking an Ecommerce Platform
4. Setting Up Your Store
5. Designing Your Website
6. All About Ecommerce SEO
7. Offering Amazing Customer Service
8. Time to Launch!
9. Ecommerce Marketing Methods
10. Common Mistakes to Avoid
11. Long-Term Ecommerce Website Maintenance
12. Further Reading & Additional Resources

If you want to start an ecommerce website, there are a few important things you should be aware of before you open your store.

1. You will need to follow the same guidelines and meet the same requirements as a physical (brick and mortar) business when operating online. This includes:

• Registering your company
• Trademarking any intellectual property, i.e. your business name
• Filing for a resale certificate and collecting sales tax (where applicable)
• Reporting and paying taxes on your income

2. You will need to acquire both a payment gateway (software that allows you to accept payments on your website) and a merchant account (bank account that allows online payments to be deposited) to operate an ecommerce store. Both of these accounts must be secured and operational before your store opens.

3. Ecommerce websites are required by law to provide a privacy policy. This policy details how a website uses any personal data provided by customers, including names, addresses, contact information, and so on. You must write and prominently link to a privacy policy on your store.

4. Ecommerce websites must also collect and store financial information in a way that is PCI DSS compliant. This PDF provides information on meeting the six milestones of PCI compliance.

Much like a physical business, an ecommerce website must be responsible in its actions, and in the way it handles customer data. Just as a store might arm a security system and lock its doors at night, an ecommerce website must have the proper security measures in place to prevent data theft, fraudulent transactions, and so on.

If you are new to ecommerce, you may want to spend some time on the PCI Security Standards Council website. This will help you learn about PCI compliance, website security, and additional topics that you should be aware of before setting up an online store. Although these topics may seem complicated, having a full knowledge of them can prevent future issues.

Now that we have all these important details out of the way—and you’ve hopefully made plans to register your new business!—let’s learn about the strategy that you should create for your ecommerce store before selling even a single product online.

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