Hi everyone. Just started using the online portal. Any tips?

[mandysclo]

Hi everyone. Just started using the online portal. Any tips?

[_Violet]

Hi @mandysclo - I see this is your first post in the Seller Community so I'd like to officially welcome you! 🎉👏

I'm sorry that there hasn't been any interaction with your post just yet. I'm going to tag some of our Super Sellers who have experience with the Square Online Store to see if they can offer some suggestions for you 🙂

@MAXSDELI @AmyB1 @bagelboss @dasap1234 @Donnie-M @GoGoGuest  @HC_Charlie @jjgard @JupiterGames @shopfybr @londontea @allwhowander @vinesandrushes @LLCafe @VanKalkerFarms @sugarlab @ryanwanner @Ravenssong69 @porktaco @pieous @TCSlaguna

[HC_Charlie]

Hello @mandysclo thanks for your post. Are you referring to the Dashboard in Square where you can do everything from change your settings, create new items, administer your online website, see reports, and explore Marketing and Loyalty campaigns?

[mandysclo]

Yes please 

[HC_Charlie]

okay @mandysclo there's a lot to unpack here in your Square Dashboard. I don't know anything about your business specifically, so I'll speak a bit generically here. If you are making regular sales by using Square for your business, I would be checking out the Reports area of your dashboard. Take note of your sales information and use that to populate your accounting software. I would suggest you use some kind of accounting software for your business; Square Reports will only show you data about INCOME. Your business also incurs EXPENSES and other financial transactions that are NOT shown in your Square Reports. In order to do your yearly taxes and have the most accurate picture of your business' financial health, you need to use some kind of accounting software (or manual spreadsheets). I use Quickbooks Desktop, but there are online options as well for Quickbooks or Zero (do an Internet search for these.)

Are you collecting email addresses and other data from your customers? You should be! And under the Square Marketing area in your dashboard, you can create email campaigns to communicate with your customers. If you don't have email addresses, you're going to work much harder to stay in touch with your customers. You can also use Square Loyalty to further engage with your customer base.

The ITEM area in your dashboard is where you would manage your business inventory; create new items for sale, or list services (whatever your case for your business.) When you make a sale, either online or in-person, those will show up in the TRANSACTION area of your Dashboard.

Does your business have a website? It should! The ONLINE area is where you can create and manage your Square Website to sell online.

Like I said, the Square Dashboard is the place to manage everything that Square offers for your business. It can be daunting at first, but the more you look around and use the tools, the more familiar you'll become at finding what you need. You'll be a Square Selling Rockstar in no time! Keep at it, and best of luck in your business!

[Candlestore]

@mandysclo ;

HC_Charlie - gave you some good advice but as to start your business and how to proceed would need a little more information.  What type of Business are you running, Restaurant, Saloon, Retail, Online only, Brick and Mortar Only, a mix of these?  Each business has its own unique aspects and may get different responses.  This forum is a great place to ask different questions depending on what you are looking for for help or guidance.  There are different topics in the Help area of the Forum where you can get better help for specific questions.  Since I do a Brick and Mortar business along with a Website, I recommend getting Items setup that is easy to find and scan.  Develop a system that not only works with Square, but also with your accounting software and your Online store.  I would also suggest learning some information about Spreadsheets.  A lot of data from sales and reports from online or from Square can be exported by CSV files.  You do not need a expensive Spreadsheet program like Excel, since there are free Spreadsheet programs out there like Google Sheets or LibreOffice. LibreOffice is Free since it is Open source and works similarly to MS Office.    When I first started out with Square my first goal was to get as many items in my Square Library as possible.  This way my receipts would show the correct item and keep track of inventory.  To do this I recommend, a 3 tier Flow chart for Items since that is the depth you can have with Square.   Something like this in your pantry--

Category--

     Baking

     Dinners

     Lunch  

Items

      Baking-- Cakes Pies

      Dinners--    Pasta --- Meats --- Seafood

      Lunch -- Soups --- Sandwiches

Variations  --

      Baking - Cakes --  Chocolate --- Vanilla ---- Carrot -- Cherry Cheese cake etc

      Baking - Pies --  Pumpkin, Pecan, Apple, Shoofly Pie.... etc

      Dinners - Pasta -- Spaghetti, Chicken Alfredo, Lasagna....etc

       Dinners - Meats  --  Steak, Chicken, Pork, etc

This way you have a system to find things if you do not have a scanner, and if you have a scanner this will make it easy for you to find extract different data from Square sales Data or from Spreadsheet form you Sales or other data exports.  For your business to grow and prosper you need to things:

1) Product or Service that people will want.

2) A solid foundation to build on to keep your business in business as it grows.  With being organized at the beginning you start building the solid foundation for your business.

Square can help you do these things but sometimes you may reach a point where you do not know how to do something or have a question what can I do to help with XXX?   Which is where these forums help.  Sometimes they are work arounds for things that Square does not do, but someone looking at it from a different angel has figured out away to make it work.

Good luck with your business and a prosperous 2023!!  

[MessyMakesArt]

Hello! Welcome to Square Online! I am new too but I wish you the best of luck! My best tip is publish or link your website to everything!