Jetanibrothers UK LTD is a Web Development Agency in London. As a business owner, do you want to know how to build an eCommerce website from scratch and start selling? Are you feeling intimidated by the thought of learning all the coding, design, and web development skills that are required for this task?
If so then this post is for you! We’ll go over what it takes to create a successful online store.
As with any business venture, there are some considerations that need to be made before taking on anything.
The first things we will cover are what type of site should I have? Next, we will talk about getting your site set up and making sure it’s mobile-friendly.
After that, we will discuss how to optimize your eCommerce site in order to make it search engine friendly (SEO).
This article will show you the best way to start your online store without wasting time and money. We’ll talk about the most important e-commerce elements, the process and what software to use and how to market it all.
We can divide the process under the following heads:
- Buy a domain name and choose a hosting plan
- Pick a theme or get a custom design for your website
- Create content for the informative pages
- Upload your products/pics/prices
- Configure the payment gateway
- Unlock and launch your store
Step1: Buy a domain name and choose a hosting plan
You may not have thought about it, but your domain name is the first step to building a powerful internet presence. So how do you find one?
The truth of the matter is that there are plenty of free and easy ways to go out on some search time for yourself! Here’s what we recommend.
The domain name should be simple, not too long and if possible, should contain a word about your business. You have to search for it as almost all the popular keywords are covered/registered by
someone else.
You can take help from domain name idea generator websites like Domain Wheel.
Once the domain names are shortlisted just go through various domain registrars like Namecheap, SiteGround, Godaddy and BlueHost. You have to put shortlisted domains in the search box and make sure they are available under various extensions like .com, .net,.org etc
Once you find your dream domain name available, immediately book it.
Next, we need a hosting service or plan. A hosting service is required to put your physical files so that your website starts showing to the world. For a quick comparison of features and pricing, you can go through this article on Codeinwp
In case of any confusion, you can get our help and we will happily guide you.
Step 2: Pick a theme or get a custom design for your website
What are the key elements of a great theme for your website?
Your website should be about more than just a pretty face. Making your site stand out among the competition can mean the difference between success and failure, so make sure to include important features that will help you reach visitors on all devices.
You have two options as far as creating a layout of your website is concerned.
Either pick a pre-built theme that you like and let our team customize it OR let our team create the design from scratch and once the design is finalized, get it coded into an eCommerce website theme.
A website theme can make or break an otherwise good site. They have to be carefully chosen so they match what you’re trying to achieve with each page on your website, while also being visually pleasing and easy on the eyes.
Step 3: Create content for the informative pages
Every company needs website content to promote its business. But how can you write content for your site? Start by deciding who will be your audience, and what they want from your service or business.
What kind of information should you include in your content? This is up to each individual company but here are some ideas for different pages:
- Contact page: address with phone number
- About page: history of the organization including its mission statement
- Products pages: products offered or content for the product pages
- Testimonial page: testimonials from satisfied customers
- Service page: Type of services you provide
If you are comfortable in writing the content then go for it. If not, you can hire a content writer so that he can write well-researched content for your website.
Step 4: Upload your products/pics/prices
Nowadays, consumers are more likely to buy products online rather than in-stores for a number of reasons.
To ensure that your customers make the purchase and do not change their minds when they see it in person, you should display pictures on your website that show off all features. These photos should be professionally taken with quality equipment so there is no discrepancy between what looks great on-screen versus in real life.
Once photographs are available, start uploading them one by one by along with the prices, content and variations for each product, if any.
You will also like to create different categories so that the products can be nicely divided among these categories.
It will be helpful to categorize your products so that they can easily be found. For example, create a category for men’s clothing and another one for women’s.
If you are offering a sale for any product/s, do write down the actual price and the sale price so that the customers can see that these item/s are for sale.
Step 5: Configure the payment gateway
The last step before going live is to set up payment gateways.
A payment gateway is a service that allows merchants to accept payments from customers through different payment methods. One option for merchant account services includes the ability to use your own credit card processing company or one of their providers, which can help you save money and time on making transactions with various types of cards (debit/credit).
For example, WooCommerce offers a number of payment gateways.
Based upon the fee they charge for each transaction, you can create your account and the developer will configure the payment gateway.
The following are the most popular WooCommerce payment gateways trusted by thousands of businesses around the world.
- Stripe
- PayPal Standard
- PayPal Pro
- Authorize.Net
- Klarna
But before you launch your store, you should always make a test purchase to ensure your system is set up and working properly. It’s also good to review your transaction emails.
Step 6: Unlock and launch your store
So, the final countdown begins. You are excited to launch your store and share what you have been working on with the world.
You’re so close, it’s almost time for all of this hard work to pay off! You’ve spent months perfecting everything from logo designs and web design layouts.
Once a dry run is done for a test purchased, make the payment system live so that as soon as the website goes live, you can receive real payment for your orders.
That is all and now you are ready to throw open your online store to your customers. The website launch is to be immediately followed by creating your social media accounts.
Digital marketing, if used from the start, will give you an immediate boost in queries and sales. That is a part of the Digital Marketing campaign that we will cover in a future article.