These days online shopping is more than a big deal: today it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that grows with each day. By the end of this year, earnings for online businesses are projected to hit the trillions mark. Just as having a website is a necessity in this day and age, so is selling goods and services on the internet.

Even if you already own a brick-and-mortar business or think you have a great idea for an online store, you might not know exactly where to start when it comes to selling online. To make sure you’ve got everything covered, here are three tips you can use to get started with your online business:

1. Implement an excellent online store.</strong> First thing’s first: if you’re selling products through your own website and not a larger marketplace, you should have a great online shop in place. Having your own online store can help bring traffic to your website and help legitimize your online business. Make sure that your shop is well-designed and can let customers sort items by category, style, color, price, or other attributes.

2. Streamline your product shipping. In order for customers to receive products, you’ll need to figure out how much shipping and handling will cost you. You’ll also need to test to see how long it takes for your employees to get the items together to ship off to customers. Make sure that you figure out shipping costs and make arrangements with the post office or private services. If you deliver locally, you might look into using a courier or your very own delivery service.

3. Use secure online payment processing services. Finally, in order to accept payments for products, shipping, and handling on your newly designed website store, you’ll need to work with a merchant services provider that handles online payment processing services. Payment processing is typically done through a third party to make sure that customer funds transfer safely into your merchant account. Above all, your online payment processing services should be secure enough to give customers confidence when they input their credit card information on your site.

Have more questions about what it takes to run an online business? Leave a comment below.