If you had a mind-set that building an ecommerce website on your own is hard then read on to change your mind.
5 step by step process to build an ecommerce website –
- Select a domain name and choose a hosting provider
Domain name selection plays a vital role especially with regards to digital marketing & online advertising such as text links and banners. Brand building requires a name that is uncommon, a name that will stick in the public minds when they come across it in your online/offline marketing campaigns.
At the onset, there isn’t the requirement of a huge web server or hosting account. Just go about with a shared web hosting account. Make sure there is the potential to develop the bandwidth and web space for the hosting services.
- External shopping cart or complete web shop?
Depending on the number of items you have decided to sell consider your website accordingly.
You should opt for a standard website in case you are going to sell below 10 items. However, the website must contain some link that advances to an external shopping cart application. This set-up is convenient but when customers re-visit your website their shopping carts will be empty which may lead to sales loss.
In case you have a huge product catalogue then it is right to opt for full-featured ecommerce solutions. Three superb open source projects to run a website shopping portal for free or at a cheap rate are- Zen Cart, Magento, and osCommerce.
- Online Payments Options
It is of utmost significance to provide customers with the appropriate payment methods. This is most essential factor for the success of online business. There are bulk options available when it comes to online payments. You should select an option that is customer friendly, convenient and quick. Some options do not fulfil all the three such as wire transfers are very customer friendly but time consuming. If you cover high margins then credit card payment option such as PayPal is a great way to go.
It is a good idea to make an estimate of the average monthly transactions in order to check for the best suited online payment options that in turn will boost your online business.
- Designing your ecommerce site
One of the most economical and fast way to designing your online shopping website in a unique manner is to begin with one of the several available pre-designed templates. Once you select a template you can carry out all the changes you feel necessary to make your ecommerce site your very own. It is very easy to customize on a shopping cart template. Thus, you will be able to make your site stand out and attract more customers.
- Review your first year Sales
After you have crossed your first year you should run a check on all the reasons leading to losses and failures. Also check the reasons leading to the website’s success.
It is very important to review your sales, your shopping cart and your payment options. When you are able to figure out whether you are losing sales for your payment method or any other reason, then it becomes easier for you to look for better solutions and take corrective measures to heighten your sales margin and eliminate losses.
