8 simple steps to build up an e-commerce website
Last Updated on Jul 16, 2023 - Written By Torikul Islam
Creating an e-commerce website is easy nowadays. But you need to do everything wisely. Otherwise, a mere mistake can harm your whole efforts.
I have examined the ways how a website can grow initially and which mistakes a beginner may make. I tried to find the best solution for beginners and advanced users.
Here is discuss everything shortly how you can create and launch your e-commerce quickly and perfectly.
What is an e-commerce website?
An e-commerce website lets people buy and sell physical or digital products and services online. Through an e-commerce website, a business owner can display his products and services in a virtual shop.
The virtual shop allows users to choose products, place orders, make payments, and more. Business owners can manage shipping and logistics and provide customer service through it.
Steps to build up an e-commerce website
1. Select a perfect domain name
You must be careful when selecting a domain name for your e-commerce website. Because the e-commerce site's domain name also represents the services and the brand.
There are several things you need to maintain to choose a domain name. This is the first task to launch a website.
A domain name represents your website identity. All your plans will depend on it.
2. Get a powerful hosting plan
Not all hosting services are suitable for an e-commerce website. Get a powerful and scalable hosting solution.
Website loading speed mostly depends on hosting performance, so you need to pick a hosting plan that can ensure enough speed. Website speed also influences the user experience as well as SEO.
In an e-commerce site, a good user experience is mandatory to become successful.
There are many security issues in low-quality web hosting services. Be careful about security when purchasing your hosting plan.
Most hosting providers nowadays provide free SSL service with all their hosting plans, so you need to check the availability of it.
3. Pick an e-commerce site-building platform
There are many ways you can create your e-commerce website. E-Commerce site-building platforms can assist you in making your professional website within a short time.
Some site-building platforms include free plans for beginners to open a website. But professional websites require advanced plans.
You can use different CMSs like WordPress, Joomla, OpenCart, etc. Some major CMSs are free to use, but you must spend a lot on different plugins and themes.
Instead, you can create your website by coding your own or hiring developers to write codes. This is the most advanced option of all, and it requires more time and money.
4. Create and customize pages
If you sign up with an e-commerce site-building platform, you need to create and customize different pages of your website.
Set up your pages how you want to show your product or services on your web pages. You must include some essential pages like the homepage, about, contact, privacy policy, products page, and so on.
You can choose different themes for your e-commerce site. Try different ones to find out the most attractive ones.
There may be some free themes available for you to try. You will get huge numbers of paid themes to choose from.
Most of the site builders provide drag-and-drop functionality, and that is how you can customize everything very easily.
5. Set up payment and shipping method
Creating an e-commerce website is a bit more critical than creating other websites. Because implementing payment and shipping systems are quite tricky, and there have some security issues.
Don't worry; e-commerce site builder platforms made it easy for you. Plenty of payment and shipping methods are available, and you need to set them up as you like.
You have to set up your payment and shipping methods according to your region, currency, language, etc.
6. Add enough content
It is mandatory to add a large number of products to your online shop. You must ensure you can provide what your audiences are searching for.
Make the availability of almost all products under your niche. Before launching your website, you also need to prepare everything for users.
Do everything perfectly and professionally. Gathering customers’ trust is too hard at the beginning stages. If your audiences find your website resourceful, you have a great chance to gain trust quickly.
7. Setup marketing tools
Marketing is essential even for established business owners. So you need to initially set up your marketing tools and channels to get better results.
You can try different paid tools, but I emphasize you also try out different free tools simultaneously. Initially, you should minimize your marketing costs.
You need to set up your social media platforms. Those do not just help you market your brand; they also represent your well standing.
In the beginning, you must announce more about your online shop. Otherwise, how will your potential audiences come to know about you?
So prepare your marketing strategies before launching your site. Even you can start your marketing activity before launching.
8. Take your website live
It is time to create your website in front of your audiences. Try to impress them in different ways. A better website user experience is always impressive.
You should check everything repeatedly before launching your site because minor faults can hamper a lot.
If users don't find your website helpful from any perspective, they may not come again. So, be careful to catch the first impression.
Importance of e-commerce website for businesses
Nowadays, almost every business demand e-commerce sites. There are lots of reasons behind the importance of virtual shops. I mentioned here few ones.
- Create more brand awareness
- Make online presence
- 24/7 opening hour
- Truck users activity
- Cross the regional barrier
- Include unlimited products
- Ensure better customer support
- Minimize business costs
- Digital marketing opportunity
Conclusion
When building your e-commerce website, you must focus on your budget, product, audiences, competitors, business type, and more. These help you to determine which site-building platform will be suitable for you.
My strong suggestion is to maintain a better user experience because it is the key to e-commerce success from my perspective.