Are you perhaps looking How to set up An eCommerce Website? Whether you are new and entering the world of eCommerce and looking to start a new website afresh to showcase your products, it could be quite stressful with heaps of learning to grasp the concepts of web development.
This tutorial will show the basic steps required to complete to set up an eCommerce website.
eCommerce Branding
Before you do anything in eCommerce, selecting a brand name is crucial. This brand name will be shown in the domain name of your website and will represent your business.
Selecting a business name doesn’t have to be so daunting with thousands of blogs about creating a brand image. Investing some time researching this segment will ultimately help you outline how you can gain an audience by targeting the correct areas.
Some steps to consider while creating branding are the following:
- Research exactly what audience you want to target and the existing competition in that field.
- Decide on what you want to focus on.
- Come up with a business name.
- Create the image of the brand (logo, fonts and color scheme).
Once you have done the following, you are ready to move onto the next section, purchasing a domain name.
Buying a domain name
So, once you created a brand name and logo, we can slowly venture into the world of eCommerce by purchasing a domain to suit your branding. You can purchase domains from hosting companies or domain registrars like “GoDaddy” & “HostGator” for example.
You can search for the domain name and the suffix of the domain like .com, .net, and .org, to name a few. These will have a yearly subscription fee and renewal fee depending on the domain’s suffix and style.
Once you have found the one you like, purchase it, and you are ready for the next step, which is selecting the right eCommerce platform.
Selecting the correct eCommerce platform
Choosing the right eCommerce platform that your site will runoff is a crucial decision to make as changing platforms in the future is very time-consuming and costly.
Depending on the style of the platform you are after, whether it’s a software as a service style platform that requires minimal technical experience such as Shopify or Bespoke platforms where it is all custom-built for your intended purpose, the options are purely endless.
Of course, one thing to consider in this section besides your intended purpose is the platform’s cost, with software as a service being the cheapest option and bespoke being the most expensive. Once you selected a platform to use, we can choose a hosting package for your website.
Hosting Options
Whether you chose an eCommerce platform that is off-the-shelf or bespoke, a hosting service is required. With software as a service, most come with hosting capabilities such as Shopify.
Several aspects should be considered in this part, as this will effectively result in either good or bad user experience and satisfaction. These aspects include the following:
- Website Speeds: Having a website based on your target audience’s country can significantly impact how fast the pages load. The faster, the better, but keep in mind if you are planning to have a multi-nation market, using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) that may help localize your website is crucial.
- Uptime & Performance: Reliability of the website should also be a top priority for any business. If reliability drops, it means more downtime and maintenance periods, which will effectively disrupt customers away from your website as it won’t be accessible.
The best hosting services are those that promise both Uptime & Performance as those are crucial. We’d recommend going with GoDaddy & Hostgator for such services (not sponsored).
Getting an Internet Merchant Account (IMA)
To make money online, you must get an internet merchant account to receive funds; This may differ from country to country.
These accounts differ from standard bank accounts because you have no access to the funds until they clear the bank; This reduces the risk involved in online payments.
Most banks can offer online merchants options; however, they may require a business clearance depending on the country you are based in.
They may also ask for documents such as business plans, a website, an overview of what you intend on trading, and terms and conditions.
Be sure to be prepared with these documents in case they ask.
Getting a Payment Service Provider (PSP)
Now you have set up an Internet Merchant Account, how do you get the payments to be processed?
This is where a Payment Service Provider comes into the equation. Software as service platforms like Shopify, have their integrated systems; however, with bespoke and off-the-shelf options, you need to have your own PSP.
Some of these options include but are not limited to PayPal,Square, NetPay& Stripe. Each has its pros and cons and different pricing points, so be sure to compare the market to find the best possible solution for your eCommerce business.
Terms & Conditions
Now you have completed everything technical and need to set up some terms & conditions for your eCommerce site. This is to protect both you and the consumer browsing the website in case of emergencies.
These terms & conditions can include privacy policies, cookie policies, terms and conditions, usage policies, and accessibility policies.
If you are stuck on what to do in this section, be sure to seek legal advice from law firms with expertise in data protection & compliance to get the most accurate information.
With high-level terms & conditions, it will effectively gain the trust of traffic which browse your site.
Marketing
Now you have developed the site, integrated everything listed above, and all is well, but you want more traffic or constant traffic, this is where digital marketing comes into play.
Using SEO optimization on the website will help rank your website higher in search engine search results. Free applications like Google Keywords can help you get an idea of SEO optimization.
Email marketing is another popular option as people can fill in forms for newsletters, discounts, and more on your website. Getting this email address into the CRM can allow for email marketing, which may increase traffic.
Finally, the last option I will discuss in marketing is social media. With a social media presence (page), posting at the optimal peak hour times and using the appropriate hashtags or SEO optimized articles can help bring traffic to the eCommerce website.
Wrap Up
Using these techniques listed above, you can see how to set up an eCommerce website easily, which will drive traffic to your business. Depending on which platform you choose according to your branding and business needs, you may need to follow the steps listed above.
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