We now have a generation that only knows the existence of the internet and could not imagine a world without it. And as they continue spending more money and the generation after them, eCommerce will go nowhere but up. Nowadays, retailers could not afford to not stay online if they want to reach customers. In this article, we’ll read about How Do You Develop an eCommerce Website?
Knowing the process on how to develop an eCommerce website could help you make a well-informed choice. Let’s find out the best way of developing an eCommerce website.
How Do You Develop an eCommerce Website?
1. Selecting your business and domain name
The domain, also called the URL, is the address of your website. This is where your website will reside on the internet and what shoppers will enter in the browser to visit your site. Having a good domain name is important for branding and overall success in your online business.
If possible, choose a business and domain name that’s connected or related closely to what you are selling or the services you are rendering. With key phrases and descriptive words in your business and domain name, customers will get to know what you sell up-front. Furthermore, it helps you rank well in the search engines, which is paramount to any business SEO strategy.
You can then proceed to buy a domain with the domain registrar service, like Bluehost, Google Domains, or GoDaddy. You can just proceed to one of these sites and enter the name of your business and it will inform you if the name is available. Otherwise, these sites will display options or alternate names.
2. Choosing an eCommerce platform
An eCommerce platform is where your website will ‘live’ online and there are so many choices available for you. You can also choose from several of the free platforms with limited features as well as almost free stores on WordPress. You can opt to add eCommerce features to popular website builders or a dedicated platform that could support limitless growth.
Some top eCommerce platform choices include dedicated platforms, such as BigCommerce, Shopify, and Shift4Shop. All these offer a free trial period; thus, you can be completely test-driven, all of them risk-free before deciding which to use.
3. Planning and Creating an eCommerce website
To build your business website, you have to gather the following information and elements:
– Brand imagery and logo. All eCommerce platforms enable you to build a simple type logo, or you could utilize a third-party platform, such as Canva, for instance, to build your own logo with free logo templates.
– Product descriptions, data, and photos. Great product photos that are creative and from several angles. You can also use real-world product videos and capture these with your cell phone. Create great product descriptions that cover each and every detail, which includes the weight, size, and material for every product you sell. Don’t forget to use keywords in the titles and descriptions of products.
Read more: Complete guide to IVF.
4. Setting up payment, shipping, tax, and marketing tools
This step will vary, depending on your eCommerce platform. All-in-one solutions, such as Shopify and BigCommerce come complete with built-in payment processing, shipping label printing, tax calculations, and marketing tools. The eCommerce website platforms above offer plug-and-play integration with top payment services, which include PayPal, Square, and Stripe.
To allow payment processing with these solutions, you can just click a few buttons, set up an account and you’re connected. After you set up your payment processor, you have to configure sales tax rates to be collected from your shoppers. The charge will depend on your location, and in most instances, the overall sales volume.
Shipping software could be added and integrated into your eCommerce platform to make the order fulfillment process easy. Integrated shipping connects orders easily to shipping software so you can choose shipping methods, carriers, print labels, and notify customers when orders are shipped automatically.
5. Testing and launching your eCommerce website
The last step in creating your eCommerce website starts with a few test orders. Every eCommerce platform handles testing in different ways. Nevertheless, all of them let you run with a few pre-launch test orders via the system.
The orders connect with your payment processor but will not charge you. When you have successfully sent a few test orders, or have worked out any bugs while navigating, you’re good to go. Bear in mind that launching an eCommerce website does not always mean instant sales.
Finding and indexing your new online store on search engines takes time. You can, however, speed this along by verifying your new store in the search console of Google as well as uploading an XML sitemap, which eCommerce platforms provide for this purpose.
Conclusion
Having an eCommerce website has become a necessity these days. As more and more people look for products and services online, businesses big and small must keep up with the changing demands to stay on the competitive edge.
