On the websites of internet service providers, you can find people who unabashedly submit calls for tenders for an e-commerce site for 250 euros, and others who are ready to spend 100 euros for organic search ranking in 1st position on Google for keywords such as “car”, “real estate” and other “tax credit”.
Common misconceptions about online business
Where some of my colleagues see cunning in this, I for my part see the persistence of certain misconceptions about online business. Among them:
- You just need to open a well-designed online store to become rich while sipping a cocktail by the pool
- Building an online store these days is something anyone can do, TF1 showed us in a report that it can be done in 3 clicks
- Optimizing a website for search engines means putting 250 keywords in the keywords tag, so it is worth a few euros
The end of illusions
Riding this wave of general ignorance, some providers rushed into the breach. They take the 250 euros and install standard Prestashop instances left, right and center.
Indeed, they do set up an online store. Indeed, 250 euros for such a service is a good price. Predictably, 6 months later, the client still has not made a single sale… and suddenly realizes that a ski shop in the middle of the Sahara cannot work, even if the walls are painted in a shimmering color and the display stands are made of solid gold.
Back to reality
That is when the dialogue resumes with people and companies that have a real project, sometimes of great quality, but who need to be reminded of a few simple truths:
- selling online is still selling, admittedly with a wide catchment area, but also with huge competition
- good search engine optimization takes at least a year of regular work, but it is sustainable and relevant, unlike advertising
- without traffic, even the best online store can do nothing
- Prestashop is the equivalent of the store’s walls, but you still need to think carefully about your market positioning and your product offering in order to fill it
All this requires time and skills. After that, it all depends on each person’s ambitions and goals…
