Setting up an e commerce store today does not need much coding. This blogpost is an ecommerce guide on how to build an e commerce store from scratch.
An ecommerce store could be simple or a little complicated depending on what your desire is. In this post however I will be talking about easy to set up ecommerce sites using free e commerce website builders.
Setting up an ecommerce store is something you can do.It is not however something you just get up and do.
Here are 7 essential steps you need to build your ecommerce store from scratch
If you want to set up your store by your self ,this blog post will help you.
DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO SELL ON YOUR ECOMMERCE STORE.
I love sewing.I sell things that make sewing easy and enjoyable.A Lot of blog post will tell you to sell what is trending.
That is products that people are buying.
From my experience, people don’t buy trending products anywhere. They buy only from sites they trust.
My point is,chose products that you are confident enough to sell.
For example, let’s say you love baking cakes.You can sell every kind of equipment you use for cake making on your ecommerce store.!
Deciding first what to sell in your e commerce store is my number 1 TIP.
That is because you need this to create your brand.
If you don’t know what a brand is, you can read about it in detail here.
RESEARCH WHAT YOU WANT TO SELL ON YOUR ECOMMERCE STORE
Apart from having an idea of what you want to sell it is also good to research on what you could possibly sell on your e-commerce store .
Physical stores and e-commerce are two different things but they have some slight similarities.
And that is the importance of researching what you want to sell to your target customers.
Researching before starting anything online can save you from a lot of business mistakes.
For example apart from selling physical products are you going to be offering digital products or other services?
For example I offer two different kinds of physical products. I also sell variables of each of these two products.
These points are very important when you want to start an e commerce store. This will help you in the next step of choosing your domain name.
But before we get to choosing the domain name, you need to decide on how you’re going to get your products to your customers. This also depends on whether you want to create your products and sell or you want to sell other people’s products. This will determine how you will set up your ecommerce store with word press.
TO OPEN AN ECOMMERCE STORE ;BE WILLING TO LEARN AND LEARN.
This is actually where I started.
I put it as number 3 TIP because a lot of people do not like reading .
If you are not willing to learn new online skills, than it’s better to get somebody else set up your store.
I am not an IT person .I set up my ecommerce store by my self. If you are like me and you want to save cost, then you have to be willing to learn.
Not just that.
You have to be prepared to implement what you learn .Get ready to make mistakes and keep trying until you get an ecommerce store you want.
It took me weeks of listening to several you tube videos on setting up a store.
It also took me weeks too to get my ecommerce store to look the way I wanted.
GETTING A DOMAIN NAME AND HOSTING FOR YOUR STORE
Every physical store has an address.
Without an address nobody can know where your store is located. Same goes for your e-commerce store. Your domain name is what people will used to locate you online.
There are companies online that sell domain names.
I will only recommend the ones that I have used before.
I personally managed 6 websites.
And I bought all my domains from name cheap The short video below
shows you how to register your domain name with Name cheap.
If you are happy with what you see feel free to click the link below to register your domain name with namecheap.
Now that you have your name to store, you need a way to Showcase all the products you want to sell on your store. That is where a hosting company
comes to play. A good hosting company makes sure that when somebody puts in your domain name, your e-commerce store shows up.
For your customers to have a good buying experience, you need to have a website that opens fast.
Not all hosting companies are good for e commerce stores.
I personally use 2 hosting companies
BLUE HOST AND
SITE GROUND
What I use for my e-commerce store is Site ground hosting
Below is a video of how to register with site ground
If you are satisfied with what you see,click below to register your webhosting with site ground
WHERE AND HOW TO START TO BUILD YOUR E COMMERCE STORE
Where you start greatly depends on your long term intentions. And how wide your services will be.
My ecommerce store is a moderately professional, simple looking ecommerce store. It does not have a lot of complicated automation.
you can get your ecommerce store with some basic online skills , and an image editing program like canva.
On the other hand, if you’re someone that’s looking to build something that will really be extraordinary
Then you might consider spending some major time and developing some serious web programming skills . I personally go for what I believe will bring me the greatest amount of profit with a moderate effort.
STEPS INVOLVED IN ACTUALLY BUILDING YOUR E COMMERCE STORE STORE
After you have done all I have listed above, its time to get down to business.
Create time and watch You tube videos on how to create an e commerce store. When I first started, I watched a lot of You tube channels on how to create a simple website .
When I was able to understand fully how to do that, I started watching videos on how to set up an ecommerce store .
luckily I have put together a simple free course on how to set up a simple website.
Here is the exact You tube video I used to create my own ecommerce store
First, create time to listen to the video several times. Then when you understand it, practice creating your store step by step.
BEST FREE E COMMERCE STORE BUILDERS
I used woo commerce to build my online shop. Woo commerce is a free e commerce platform .For me,it is the best e commerce website ever.That however is my personal opinion. There are other free e commerce platforms or other free e commerce templates you can try.
find below a list of free best e commerce website builders you can upload unlimited products.
Square online you can upload unlimited products with no transaction fees
Bigcartel Here you can upload only 5 products for the free plan
ECWID This is a wonderful free e commerce platform for the beginner. Upload up to 10 products for free. No transaction fees. You can also add the ecommerce store to an existing website.
CONCLUSION
Thats my take on how to build an e commerce website from scratch. It is something that you can do by yourself.
It may sound intimidating at first. Especially if you have no IT experience whatsoever. But I always use myself as an example. I am a scientist. I had no IT experience when I set up my own e commerce store.
All the same, feel free to post pictures of your store front for me to see.
And if you have any challenges, don’t hesitate to drop your comments below.
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