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E-commerce websites are everywhere on the internet. It’s one of the best ways to earn money online nowadays, but you need to make sure you are going about it in the right way if you want to see success. It’s easy to create your e-commerce website, but it takes time and dedication to see real results!
This ultimate guide on how to build an e-commerce website will take you through every step of the process in detail. If you follow each step closely, you can be on your way to success in no time!
Steps To Get Started
When you build a website, there are some steps that you can take. First, find your niche. Once you’ve decided what kind of website you want to create, find your niche. Once again, niches will be covered more in-depth later on but for now, just understand that they’re groups of people with shared interests who could use your products or services.
For example, if I was going to start an e-commerce business it would make sense for me to try and sell things that real estate agents would need (i.e. brochures). Second, choose your platform.
There are many different platforms out there from WordPress to Squarespace so you’ll have to choose which one is best for you based on how much control over the design and functionality you want. Third, pick a domain name. .
For example, if I was going to start an e-commerce business it would make sense for me to try and sell things that real estate agents would need (i.e. brochures). Second, choose your platform.
Hosting is like renting space on a server where all of your content will live online once it’s created so don’t forget about it! Fifth, market yourself!
Choosing An E-Commerce Platform
There are many e-commerce platforms available to you, including Magento, Shopify, and OpenCart. Your choice of platform will depend largely on your budget and what features you’re looking for.
There’s no wrong answer here, but you must think through these choices carefully. Once you start selling online and building traffic, it can be extremely difficult—if not impossible—to change platforms.
It’s best to choose a platform that lets you accomplish everything you want right out of the gate; there’s no sense spending months or years trying to bring your site into a place where it can compete with other websites.
In general, smaller e-commerce sites should use something like Shopify because it has lower costs than competing platforms. Larger e-commerce sites may need to go with something more expensive like Custom frameworks because they have more specific needs (such as heavy customization).
In general, smaller e-commerce sites should use something like Shopify because it has lower costs than competing platforms. Larger e-commerce sites may need to go with something more expensive like Custom frameworks because they have more specific needs (such as heavy customization).
Reliable-commerce platforms
These are several easy ways to quickly launch a full-featured e-commerce website. These keys are very powerful and expandable and bear powerful built-in functionality like secured payments, shipping labels, email marketing, and multichannel sales support. These solutions aren’t free but deliver a ton of tools beginning at about $30
Top reliable e-commerce platforms to consider include:
Shopify – Shopify is arguably one of the best e-commerce website creators for beginner entrepreneurs. With a Shopify e-commerce website, you can easily design and build your store using drag and drop interfaces, mobile responsiveness, over 100 customizable features, and more.
Magento – Magento is known as one of e-commerce’s most powerful platforms. It offers all of your standard features, including SEO, a built-in store locator tool, and multilingual support. You can even build your website on top of Magento for free via Weebly.
BigCommerce – Easily build and manage your eCommerce website. One of BigCommerce’s best features is how easy it is to use; you can set up a professional eCommerce site within one hour
WooCommerce – WooCommerce has grown by leaps and bounds since its initial launch a few years ago. It offers a wide range of plugins that extend its functionality, and there are hundreds (if not thousands) of free themes that you can use for your site. We also love how easy it is to set up, customise, and scale as your business grows.
Website builders with e-commerce features
It’s not just websites anymore. These days, businesses can create functional e-commerce websites using business software platforms with prebuilt templates, like Weebly and Squarespace
Here’s how they work: you pick a template that includes sections for product photos, listings and descriptions, payment information, and more.
Then you start adding your pages based on content that fits your unique brand identity (eg: About Us, Services, FAQs). You may need someone who knows design basics to help with that part of things.
E-commerce website creation doesn’t have to be complicated—many businesses use these tools because they’re fast and easy ways for new entrepreneurs to get started online. For example, if you sell a single product or service (like graphic design), it could take as little as one hour to set up your site.
Hosting and Domain Name Options
The best and most secure place to host your website is to get a private server from your hosting company. This gives you more security for all your data, which is important if you’re selling products or services on your site.
You can also use a hosting service that offers a domain name (or URL) with it; sometimes, they offer these for free, but usually, there’s a small fee involved.
If you purchase a domain name and hosting separately, make sure both service providers give support to each other (i.e., if you buy a domain from godaddy, and hosting from bluehost ).
Picking the best domain registrar is a bit tricky. Don’t look at the lowest cost. Look for a company that is reliable as it will cost you less in the long run.
Some allow you to register a domain, host, and design your website as an all-in-one package but we recommend to get what is best for you. Here are three popular domain registrars.
GoDaddy –
GoDaddy is one of the biggest domain registrars on Earth, which means it is also a good place to register your domain.
Bluehost –
It has a great reputation for being one of the most trusted web hosting services, but it also offers access to premium tools that will help you get your site up and running as quickly as possible.
Plus, its friendly customer service team will do whatever they can to make sure you succeed.
Hostgator –
Hostgator provides an easy setup for eCommerce sites and comes with built-in features such as SSL certificates and website builders. With SSD drives and unlimited bandwidth, there are no limits on how large or small your site can grow.
Build your e-commerce website
If you want to build your e-commerce website on a budget then we recommend starting with Shopify.
We strongly advise against doing it yourself because building a great e-commerce website is difficult, especially if you’re not a designer or developer. You don’t need to be a pro, but you will have to invest some money and time learning before you get results.
But for now…let’s talk about what we would do if we were starting from scratch today! This should give you a good idea of how long things take and where to focus your efforts.
Here are our top 5 steps to getting your e-commerce business up and running as quickly as possible:
1) Create a Logo & Brand Identity
2) Create an E-Commerce Website
3) Connect Your E-Commerce Site To Your Payment Processor
4) Promote Your New Business
5) Add Some Products To Sell And Start Selling It may seem like a lot, but most of these steps can be done concurrently.
2) Create an E-Commerce Website
3) Connect Your E-Commerce Site To Your Payment Processor
4) Promote Your New Business
5) Add Some Products To Sell And Start Selling It may seem like a lot, but most of these steps can be done concurrently.
For example, while you are working on creating products (step 4), you can also start promoting them (step 5).
The biggest thing is to break down each step into smaller chunks so that they feel less overwhelming. Take each step one at a time and set clear goals for yourself so that you stay motivated through the process.
Plugin Integrations for E-commerce website
Choosing e-commerce software that’s compatible with your chosen e-commerce platform is key, especially if you’re planning on building a custom website.
Most e-commerce platforms have several available plugins and extensions to choose from, but it can be tough to find out which ones work best.
To build an e-commerce website using any of these platforms, simply search for e-commerce plugins WordPress or similar keyword phrases in Google and take note of what is available.
From there, find user reviews and see how reliable they are. You might also want to check e-commerce forums where users discuss their experiences with different e-commerce plugin integrations.
For example, eCommerce Engine has its forum, where e-commerce experts discuss everything from product recommendations to technical support issues.
Another great resource is EcomCrew, which provides free resources for all e-commerce businesses. Their library includes free e-books about product photography, SEO, and more. Whatever you do, don’t go into your project blind—do some research first!
Integrating Payment Gateways
An e-commerce website needs to be able to accept online payments, particularly if you want it to be profitable. The type of payment gateway you need depends on what kind of currency your business uses. Accepting credit cards?
You’ll need a PCI compliant gateway like Stripe, which lets your customers enter their information directly into your website so they don’t have to leave and go somewhere else just to make a purchase.
Like accepting international money orders? In that case, PayPal is right for you. The good news is there are lots of great e-commerce gateways out there for whatever business model you’re trying out, so read up on them and choose one that will help build your e-commerce strategy from day one.
Creating Product Pages
The great thing about creating product pages for e-commerce websites is that you already have a website, and (most likely) a logo and branding. That makes it easy to have a consistent look across all your digital properties.
The key is getting great pictures of your products. If you’re just starting with no merchandise yet, that may not be possible—but it’s something that you should get as soon as possible if your business is based on selling physical goods.
If you do have items for sale now, ask family members or friends who are photographers or work at retailers if they can help out and snap some high-quality photos of your inventory. Then use those images to create compelling product pages by including details like dimensions, materials used, color options, and pricing.
Make sure each page includes images of every angle of each item so potential customers know exactly what they’re buying. Include customer reviews from other sites like Amazon and eBay to boost trust in your brand.
And make sure you include shipping costs upfront so customers don’t feel blindsided when they see how much extra money that adds to their order total. For example, the Shipping cost is $5 per item. If you offer free shipping on orders over $50, make sure that’s clearly stated too!
Test and launch your e-commerce store
An e-commerce store is a great way to grow your business, but it’s also really hard to get right. Don’t worry! If you spend some time planning and testing your product, you’ll be able to avoid most of those common pitfalls.
The key here is taking it slow. I can hear someone out there telling me that his or her products sell themselves, but I have news for you: You need a website if you want anyone besides your friends and family to buy them.
Take your time with each step—if you rush through, you’re going to end up paying more money down the line for things like redesigning or hiring new developers. Plus, building something that works takes time; don’t try to do everything at once! It will save you money and headaches in the long run.
Marketing Tips for Beginners
If you’re new to e-commerce, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. If your business is built on physical products and not just digital products, getting started with marketing will take a bit more effort—but it’s worth it.
To start with, identify your target market by asking yourself some of these questions: Who is my ideal customer? What kinds of goods or services do they need? Where are they located? Are there any events or conferences I can go to where I could meet potential customers face-to-face?
Once you’ve identified your target market, make sure that you can offer them something valuable when communicating with them through social media. Remember, if you aren’t offering value (like helpful information), then don’t expect people to pay attention to what you have to say.
Don’t forget about LinkedIn for professional networking opportunities as well. Another important thing for e-commerce businesses is knowing how search engines work so that you can optimize your website properly.
You should also know how social media platforms work so that you can get traffic from them effectively as well. Finally, keep track of all your efforts so that you know which strategies are working best for your business and which ones aren’t working at all!
Final Word
An e-commerce website is a business model in which you sell products or services over the internet. To build such a website, one needs three things:
- A content management system (CMS),
- eCommerce software
- Payment gateway.
For your reference here we have listed some of the best CMS, Software, and payment gateways for building e-commerce websites.