How To Create An eCommerce Website

The first step is choosing the platform you want to build your site on. This can be tricky because many options are available, ranging from simple drag-and-drop builders to complex code-based solutions.

It's essential to take the time to evaluate your needs and choose a platform that will be able to grow with you as your business expands. When starting, you may select a straightforward platform like Shopify or BigCommerce, which offer ready-made templates and easy-to-use tools.

The good news is that these platforms can also scale up with you as your business grows. In fact, as some of the best CMS for online businesses, platforms require little technical knowledge to get going and expand as needed.

The next step is to choose a domain name and hosting for your site. Your domain name is what people will type into their browsers to find your store, so it's essential to choose something easy to remember and relevant to your business.

Once you've chosen a domain name, you'll need to set up hosting, which is essentially the place on which your website lives on the internet. Some of the most commonly used web hosting platforms include Bluehost and HostGator.

After you've chosen your domain name and set up hosting, you'll need to connect the two by pointing your domain name to your hosting account. This can be a bit technical, but most hosting providers will have detailed instructions on how to do this.

Setting up payment methods for your site is next. This includes choosing which credit cards you want to accept and setting up other payment methods like PayPal or Apple Pay.

If you're using a web building platform, they will provide you with everything you need to get started accepting payments. However, if you're using a self-hosted solution, you'll need to choose and install a payment gateway plugin. While some technical knowledge will be required if you go with the latter option, there will usually also be step-by-step instructions you can follow.

The next step is to choose a theme or template for your site. This will determine the overall look and feel of your store, so it's essential to take some time to browse the available options and find something that fits your brand.

Depending on your platform, a limited selection of themes may be available. In this case, you may need to hire a developer to create a custom theme for you.

Most website builders will have more than enough choices for many of the top industries, so going with a custom solution won't generally be needed.

Creating product pages, adding photos and descriptions, and setting up pricing and shipping options are fundamental steps when launching an eCommerce website.

Adding products can be time-consuming, but it's essential to take the time to do it right. Make sure to include clear and concise descriptions and high-quality photos that accurately represent what you're selling.

It's also important to set realistic shipping expectations so that your customers know how long they can expect to wait for any orders to arrive.

The next step is to customize your checkout process. This includes choosing which fields to have in your checkout form and setting up any discounts or coupons you want to offer when enticing people to place orders with your business.

The final step is to launch your site and start selling. This includes pushing your site live on the internet, promoting your products, and marketing your store to the right people.

Once your site is live, it's also essential to keep track of your analytics so that you can see how people are finding and using your site. This will help you to make necessary changes and improvements over time.

The platform you choose should be easy to use, even if you don't have any technical experience. It should be intuitive and user-friendly, with a clean and straightforward interface.

Your eCommerce platform should include built-in search engine optimization (SEO) features to help your store rank higher in search results - both for the homepage and specific product pages when someone searches for particular keywords. These features might be able to customize titles and descriptions, as well as the ability to generate dynamic URLs optimized for keywords.

Since more and more people are shopping on their mobile devices, choosing a platform optimized for mobile is essential. Your store should be responsive and adjust to fit any screen size. Additionally, the platform should offer a mobile app so customers can shop on the go.

The platform you choose should be designed with the user in mind. It should be easy to navigate, with a clean and straightforward interface. The overall design should be aesthetically pleasing, and the product pages should be easy to customize. 

In addition, when it comes to the user experience, the fewer clicks it takes someone to get to the product page they want to find, the higher the chance people will go through with purchasing one or multiple products from your site.

Your eCommerce platform should offer a variety of professionally-designed themes that you can use to create a unique look for your store. The themes should be customizable, so you can change the colors, fonts, and layout to match your brand.

Your eCommerce platform should offer various payment gateway integrations so that you can accept payments from all major credit cards and PayPal. Additionally, the platform should provide fraud protection features to keep your store safe from scammers.

The checkout process on your eCommerce website should be quick and easy to complete. The platform you choose should also offer a one-click checkout option and the ability to save customer information for future purchases. Moreover, if you want to include upsells and downsells along with the products you sell, this should be easier to add to your checkout process.

Your eCommerce platform should offer shipping integration so that you can connect to various shipping carriers. This feature will allow you to get real-time quotes for shipping rates and transit times. Additionally, the platform should offer order tracking so that you can keep an eye on your products as they make their way to your customers. This will allow you to also help customers if they have any problems with shipping.

Your platform should include a powerful admin panel that will give you complete control over your store. The admin panel should be easy to use, with a clean and straightforward interface. Additionally, the panel should offer a variety of features, such as the ability to track inventory, manage orders, and create coupons.

Getting early traffic to your site can be as easy as creating social media accounts and sharing your content. Start creating accounts on major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Then, start sharing highly valuable and relevant content to engage the right people. Always ensure to include links to your website so people can easily find it and get more of the same high-quality content.

Using Google Ads is a great way to get your website in front of potential customers. With Google Ads, you can create ads that will appear in search results when people are looking for specific keywords related to your products or services.

If you want people to be able to find your site, it is essential to optimize it for search engines. This means including relevant keywords in your content and titles and creating backlinks to your site from highly relevant websites. Additionally, you should ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly, as these are important ranking factors for Google and other top search engines.

People love contests and giveaways, so this is a great way to get people interested in your site and its products. Offering a valuable prize relevant to your business will give you a reason to promote the contest on social media and other platforms and will also help you get the initial momentum needed to gain some traction.

Retargeting ads are a great way to keep your business in front of potential customers. These ads will be shown to people who have visited your website or interacted with your brand in the past. Keeping your business top of mind will make you more likely to convert leads into customers when the right time comes for them to make a purchase.

If you can get influencers to promote your business, you can reach a much larger audience than you would be able to do by yourself. Look for influencers who have a similar target market as you and who would be interested in your products or services. Then, reach out to them and see if they're interested in collaborating.

One of the most important things you can do to increase conversions is to use high-quality product photos. People want to see what they're buying, so ensure your images are clear and feature the product from multiple angles whenever possible.

Another important thing you can do is create detailed product descriptions. People generally want to know all the details about a product, so the more information the better. Also, try using bullet points summarizing the features and benefits to increase your conversion rates.

Free shipping is another great way to increase conversion rates. People are more likely to buy if they don't have to pay for shipping, so offering free shipping on orders over a certain amount can be a good tactic to consider. You could also offer free shipping for first-time customers who create their accounts and place an order through your site.

People want to be able to pay with whichever method suits them best, so it's essential to provide multiple payment options on your checkout pages. Including popular options like credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc., can help you accommodate the various methods people might want to use.

People who have questions about your products or services will be more likely to buy if you offer live chat support that can answer such questions. This way, you can eliminate people's obstacles in real-time and help them feel more confident about their future purchases.

Customer testimonials are a great way to increase confidence in your products or services. Showcase testimonials on your website and include the customer's name, photo, and location whenever possible. Social proof is one of the best ways to increase conversions, so my advice would be to go ahead and use this whenever possible.

A money-back guarantee is another way to increase confidence in your products or services. This shows you're confident in your selling and willing to stand behind it.

There are multiple ways to do this. From 30-day money-back guarantee to a guarantee that never expires, knowing your business numbers will allow you to offer a guarantee that can increase conversions. It's vital that this guarantee also makes sense for the type of business you run.