Building an online e-commerce store is much easier than it ever has been in the past. Thanks to the emergence of easy-to-use website builders and content management tools such as WordPress, creating a website has never been an easier task. There are numerous factors that affect the creation of an online store such as the payment gateways, the nature of pricing, the choice of domain name, the requisite themes and plug-ins, and the space needed for advertisement among other factors.
Be as involved as possible in the process
If you have the funding, you may be tempted to hire an SEO firm and allow them to manage every aspect of your website along with the website developers. You can literally do every task required for website creation by yourself. While it is advisable to hire outside assistance for tasks such as marketing and SEO, you should not be outsourcing all the tasks. This is because, when you run into a problem related to SEO, marketing or site design at a later date, you may need to pay the developers to make the most basic of alterations.
How do you choose the right website building platform?
Creating a website from scratch is an incredibly easy process, and developers are spoilt for choice. If you seek to build a website that is not too complex nor does it require a lot of functionalities, you can opt for a drag and drop builder such as HostRound Site Builder, Wix or Weebly. Sites built on these platforms are incredibly easy to create and anyone who has used a computer can build it.
We recommend that you use WordPress or Joomla for e-commerce websites and online stores as they offer far more functionalities than drag and drop builders. WordPress is the most popular website building tool in the world, but it is inferior to Joomla with respect to e-commerce websites. While WordPress is something you can do by yourself, you will need a small degree of technical knowledge to create a website using Joomla. We recommend hiring a developer if you seek to take the Joomla path.
HostRound can walk you through the whole process to get your online store up and running in no time using your most convenient shopping cart.
Use a simple, powerful shopping cart
A shopping cart is one of the most important aspects of an e-commerce site. You need to pick an easy-to-use platform, and it should be a fully hosted, subscription-based cart. The cart will take care of payment integration, technical and hosting details while allowing you to focus resources on site development. You can also use a self-hosted cart if you possess the requisite technical knowledge. The most popular shopping carts include Shopify, OpenCart, WooCommerce, Volusion, and 3D Cart.
Market, market and market!
Marketing is the fundamental cornerstone of any e-commerce business and it can make or break your chances of getting a portion of your target market. It takes an incredible degree of effort to get noticed in a saturated market and the majority of e-commerce sites fail because they underestimate the important of early stage marketing efforts. This is why you need to select the right SEO firm, which will be able to aggressively push your website. SEO combined with organic marketing efforts and aggressive advertising may lead to sustainable traffic and sustained profits.