Let’s face it, no matter how old we get or how far we’ve gone in life, there’s always something new we learn in life.
So whether you’re still just a fresh face in the world of eCommerce or if you’re already experienced in the field, your hunger for knowledge should be insatiable.
After all, what you can have over your competitors is a better understanding of the inner workings of eCommerce.
Sure, you have the tools of the trade and the best time you can find.
But do you have the knowledge to bring out the full potential of your eCommerce business?
How can you maximize your strategies to boost your eCommerce business?
Can you bring out the full power of your marketing arsenal?
Pffft! I know what I’m doing!
—is usually the first sign of the apocalypse for a business.
Knowledge is power, and no one should ever feel like they have enough of it.
And the best sources for knowledge are online courses and books.
Yes, we know what you’re thinking—
Why Should You Take Online Courses?
You’ve long graduated from mandatory education, so why hit the books again, you ask?
Self-learning through watching videos or listening to podcasts related to eCommerce–are these not enough?
They are good sources, but haphazardly searching for knowledge this way isn’t going to build your skills and knowledge the right way.
It’s like picking up a book about advanced eCommerce marketing techniques without looking for a book about the basics first.
Meanwhile, online courses help you get started and then they work you to the end so you won’t miss a thing about what you want to learn.
Because learning something new is a step by step process.
Who knows, you might find something you didn’t think you needed to learn when it comes to eCommerce.
So which would you rather do?
Run around picking up random materials that just so happen to be related to eCommerce?
Or enroll in a course that tackles everything you need to know on the given subjects and where you won’t miss any crucial information that can help you in the long-run.
‘But what’s in it for me?’ you ask.
What you’ll be gaining is the knowledge and experience you need to catapult your eCommerce business into a success.
But if you want to go into detail—
What are the Benefits of Mastering the Craft?
Nothing but good comes from having a better understanding of eCommerce.
You’ll gain better insights as to how the whole concept and system works.
And better yet, you’ll develop strategies you know that best fit for your eCommerce store.
These strategies can then bring you benefits like—
Easy Set Up
Learning about the many e-commerce platforms you can use gives you access to tools for easy and convenient online store designing.
There are eCommerce platforms that let you use pre-made templates, creative themes, and many more so you can customize your customers’ experiences.
One of these platforms is Shopify.
Finding More Ways to Lessen Costs
There’s always a new way to minimize costs when it comes to e-commerce.
For example, save yourself the trouble of investing in physical inventory space and maintenance by exploring dropshipping.
Or you can find more effective marketing campaigns with higher returns and lower costs to conduct.
Increased Brand Awareness
Back in 2014, 81% of shoppers did some online research on the products they planned on buying before actually buying them. Now when all these potential customers do their research, how can you ensure it’s your products they’ll find and buy? By learning more about eCommerce, you can learn about the many ways you can help improve potential customers’ awareness of your brand.
Broaden Your Customer Reach
With eCommerce, you have access to many marketing channels that you can use to reach out to potential customers.
You are in the world wide web, after all. So why not maximize your reach across the globe by learning how to make effective use of the many digital marketing tools you already have?
Effective Use of Information
Use information to your advantage.
You can learn more ways to present your products and share information about them to your customers.
Engage your customers with effective storytelling and attention-retaining product descriptions. You can do this by writing up informative but fun-to-read blog posts about your business and products.
The more your customers know about your online store and your products, the stronger your online presence would be.
Taking Full Advantage of Niche Markets
Ecommerce is rich with methods and strategies when it comes to finding your target market amongst the masses.
One of these methods is email segmentation under email marketing.
When done right, you can find the right audience for your online store’s products and services.
Maximizing Your Location
Nowadays, a lot more people are doing their shopping online.
According to comScore, shoppers made 51% of their purchases over the internet back in 2016, with 48% in 2015 and 47% in 2014.
From 2014 to 2016 that number has only risen, so we can only assume it’s risen even more so now.
So with all these people now shopping online, it’s only obvious you should sharpen your marketing skills to make the most of the high traffic.
Where Can You Learn More About eCommerce Marketing?
No matter how good anybody is, everyone needs help.
And when it comes to learning more about eCommerce, you’re going to need classes and teachers.
So we went out of our way and put together this list of online eCommerce courses just for you.
Whether you’re a beginner or already experienced, these courses will give you the information you need.
So start studying!
Courses from Udemy
How to Create/Make/Build an Online E-commerce Store Website
In this course by Clinton Gorman, you can learn how to create a website in just a few clicks. With little to no coding needed, you can sell products at almost no cost.
“The instructor walks us through the basic steps. He has really thought this out thoroughly. I am impressed. He is taking everything in bite-sized chunks. He is an excellent teacher. Love this so far. I loved the course. I thought that this was just going to be a fun exercise, but I see how this can be used to sell…right away.” – Reed Sawyer (student) –
Alibaba eCommerce Masterclass: eBay Wholesale Sourcing
In this course, Sergey Kasimov walks you through on what sells, what’s fake, and which products yield the highest possible investment potential.
“Sergey did a great job on this course. He gave specific examples of successful products to retail on eBay, Amazon, etc.
This course is packed with resources and a must for those seeking to start an e-commerce enterprise.”
– Raphael Garcia (student) –
Build E-commerce Website with PHP, MySQL, jQuery, and Paypal
Sebastion Sulinski teaches you how to organize your website and how to have better control over how you want your website to look.
“Overall, the instructor is well acquainted with the subject matter. The app seems simple
but the code is very detailed and would have been better if accompanied with some notes.”
– Tesfaye Feleke-Hanks (student) –
Shipping Address and Shipping Cost for E-commerce Series
Here’s a sequel to Sebastian Sulinski’s previous course. Here he’ll teach you how to add the shipping cost functionality and improve the confirmation message on return from Paypal.
“Thanks for further enriching the main selection with another add-on. This add-on helps advancing to another level from ground-up. Thoughtful structure and well-explained introductions to new material, ease the anxiety and enjoy developing new skills. Short clear demonstrations maximize the effectiveness of newly acquired tool to know how. Hope more useful add-ons like this available in future publications.”
– Thein Htay (student) –
Static URLs, Meta tags, and Resend Activation for E-Commerce by Sebastian Sulinski
Here’s an add-on to Sebastian Sulinski’s main course. Here, you’ll learn how to improve your website’s SEO by adding meta tags and converting dynamic URLs to keyword-rich ones.
“I really enjoyed this lecture! Sebastian Sulinski definitely knows what he is talking about. He follows web standards and best practices.
With this add-on, you’ll be able to easily extend your e-commerce system.”
– Ryan Clark (student) –
Adding E-commerce to WordPress
Here, Infinite Skills teaches you how to add e-commerce to the blogging platform WordPress.
“Excellent discussion on using WordPress as an E-Commerce platform. Very informative and enlightening.”
– Daryl Beecham –
Fashion Brand Launch: E-commerce and Drop Ship
Ward & Fifth Consulting gives you a formal presentation of strategies along with subjects like:
- The Best Web Hosts for Fashion eCommerce
- Keys to perfect brand imaging with your website
- What is Drop Shipping, and many more!
“So far so good!”
– Deb Griffiths (student) –
Launch a Monetized E-Commerce Site with WordPress
Khalid Hamadeh teaches you what leading e-commerce marketers do to create massive returns using their sites.
“I’ve done about 80% of the course and I’m very satisfied with the lectures so far. Lessons are broken down to simple significant sections
and are easy to follow. Very well presented, clear videos and clear English spoken. Lessons do explain the many possibilities
on earning with WordPress, aside from teaching step by step on how to use it.
Above all, instructor is very supportive and replies asap.”
– Jan (student) –
MasterClass on E-commerce Website Designing
Sumit Pareek walks you through the basics of web designing and how to maximize performance and profitability of your website.
“Great course! I am impressed with the crisp, clear explanations. I’ve learned a lot. I will be implementing the ideas on my site right away.
I look forward to more courses by this instructor.”
– Gopal Pandey –
E-commerce – Introduction to the Top 12 E-Commerce Platforms
Dave Espino introduces you to online selling and understanding the different e-commerce platforms.
“Course is very good for beginners to understand the e-commerce business.”
– Nethravathi Shivaprakash –
Courses from Lynda
Marketing Foundations: eCommerce
Sam Dey introduces you to the marketing tactics and tools you need and how to use them effectively to boost conversions and revenue.
Email Marketing: Drip Campaigns
Here’s another course with Sam Dey. Here, he emphasizes how optimized email marketing campaigns can help you build trust with your customers, and how to do so using drip campaigns.
Patrick Rauland walks you through on what goes into creating an E-commerce website and how to use the various plugins the platform has available to you.
Online Marketing Foundations: Digital Marketing Research
Adriaan Brits teaches you how to do digital marketing research and how to make the best use of the information you gather.
Shopify Essential Training with Patrick Rauland
Shopify is already one of the most popular e-commerce platforms to date. And Patrick Rauland is here to help you get your online store up and running through on the platform.
BigCommerce Essential Training
Patrick Rauland will show you why BigCommerce is the platform choice of brands like Toyota and Paypal. Patrick will teach you everything you need to know to get onboard this amazing platform.
Squarespace Essential Training: E-commerce
Jen Kramer emphasizes on simplicity. She’ll teach you how to streamline the user experience for your customers for better feedback.
Steve Harris highlights the importance of page optimization and what you can do to get started and improve on this.
Dina Shapiro walks you through on creating programs for lead generation so you can maximize your conversion rates.
Noah Fleming will enlighten you about why customer retention has a more significant importance over customer acquisition when it comes to long-term benefits.
Best E-commerce Books of 2019
The Best Service is No Service
This book is best for learning customer service.
“Admirably straightforward book… refreshingly no-nonsense.”
(Financial Times, Thursday 27th March 2008)
An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula
Here’s a book that’s best for launching your business.
“The title of this book, LAUNCH, is uniquely appropriate because Jeff Walker is the pioneer innovator of online marketing launches,
as well as the online marketing industry’s foremost teacher. The careers of thousands of successful online entrepreneurs have already
been launched by Jeff’s extraordinarily practical concepts, structures, strategies, tools, and processes.
LAUNCH is a must read for all marketers—the go-to handbook for making money selling anything on the Internet.”
– Dan Sullivan, President and Founder of The Strategic Coach –
This one’s best for learning different social media platforms.
E-Business and E-Commerce Management
Here’s a book that’s a good read for any skill level.
“This text provides a strong strategic framework to help students understand this fast-moving subject
as well as a useful guide to practical analysis.”
– Mette Præst Knudsen, University of Southern Denmark –
Jumpstart your eCommerce business with this startup guide!
“The most valuable book on entrepreneurship in the past 25 years!”
– Tim Huntley, An Entrepreneurial Life –
Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
If you need to improve your storytelling for marketing, here’s the book for you!
“Great whether you’re a copywriting pro or a complete novice.
“I’ve been a professional writer and copywriter for 50 years now. I’ve written fiction and nonfiction books, articles, blog posts,
and a boatload of marketing material. I’ve used the hero’s journey model for more than two decades.
So, when I tell you that Building A Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
is a book that taught me a lot, that should carry some weight.”
– Wally Bock –
When it comes to SEO, this book is a must read!
“Good starting point for beginner SEO. The book is a good introduction to SEO with little coding or website experience required.
Not an easy read, but has very helpful step by step tips to get one started. I learned basic tips that could help my website
be more optimized in a few days, with no web design knowledge. A good and must read to understand things
being done wrong and pick up on tips to improve searches of one’s website.”
– Zoilo Ruacho –
Takeaways
Learning is a never-ending search for knowledge.
Ecommerce is a field where knowledge is what gives you an edge over your competitors.
The more you know about eCommerce, the more you know how to stand out from the crowd.
