How to Build an E-commerce Website – A Step by Step Guide

If you’re one among those who have been thinking of launching an online business, then this post is for you. Starting a new business requires the right strategy with a lot of time and effort. And one of the most important things is building an online store to sell your products.

In this article, I’ll walk you through what you need to take care of before launching a website and then how to build an e-commerce website.

Setting the Base for Your Business
An idea is what gives birth to everything we decide to do and later on accomplish. Thus, setting the base of anything is important before you actually start it.

Likewise, when it comes to starting an online store, it is very important that you decide on the following things:

1. The niche of your business
2. The initial amount you should invest
3. The products you’re going to sell
4. Pricing your product for an effective profit

Once the blueprint of your basics is ready, you’re set to roll out your idea to the world and to do that you need to set up your e-commerce website. In the below section, we see how to build an e-commerce website step by step.

How to build an E-commerce website:

1. Select a domain name and hosting
   Before deciding the e-commerce platform to build your website on, one of the important things is choosing and registering the domain name for your website. Your domain name is the face of your e-commerce website and should reflect the brand’s name. After you’re done choosing your domain name, the next step is to host your e-commerce website. WordPress Hosting is one of the best hosting platforms for a new e-commerce website.Here is an article on how to choose a domain name and host it.
2. Choose an e-commerce platform
   The second more important factor when it comes to the success of your e-commerce website is choosing the right platform to create your website. There are several platforms right from open-source Content Management Systems viz WordPress, Joomla, etc. to platforms like Impress.ly, Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Weebly, etc. to create an e-commerce website.If you’re a beginner and not well-versed with technological aspects like coding, then open-source CMS platforms can be tricky to manage. It is at such times that smart e-commerce website solutions provide you with a platform where all you need to do, to set up a website, customize it and you’re good to go
   .
3. Build your e-commerce website on your preferred platform
   Now that you’ve chosen an e-commerce platform, the next step is to build your website on it. Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, etc. have a user-friendly user-interface that is easy to understand and navigate. These platforms have drag and drop options, as well as, plenty of customization features available.After adding the products to your site and customizing the look and feel of it, you need to structure it in a manner that would make it complete. Deciding on the right theme and designing it is crucial.

   Some of the items that your website needs to have are:

   1. An ‘About Us’ talking about the vision and mission of your business
   2. A ‘Contact Us’ to help customers get in touch with you
   3. An interactive homepage that displays featured deals and any ongoing sale
   4. It is essential you have a blog to publish press releases, new information on products, how to use them, FAQs etc.
   5. Lastly, you need to install plugins like Google Analytics to measure your traffic, security plugins etc.
4. Secure your website using SSL and Install Backup Services
   You’ve decided on your products, the platform to build your website on, figured out how to create an e-commerce website, this means you’re done with the major portion of setting up your e-commerce website.After figuring out the design and data of your website, it is now time to secure it. A secure website builds credibility in the eyes of the customer, as well as, helps improve your SEO thus, getting more traffic to your website. The best way to making your website secure is by installing an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate encrypts and authenticates your sensitive information and keeps the eavesdroppers and hackers at bay.

   Another thing you need to take care of is backing up your website. Even though you may have a reliable hosting provider for your e-commerce website, chances are if your website doesn’t function properly you shouldn’t lose data. Setting up backup right from the moment your website is launched is important.

5. Set up your payments
   Setting up payments is the next steps in building your e-commerce website. Here you need to take care of both how is the money coming to you and how would you transfer it to your bank account. This needs to be a secure gateway an setting up a merchant account is thus, a vital process.Some of the options you can choose from are PayPal, Visa, American Express etc. if you’re planning to set up your business with ResellerClub, here are the payment options provided by us.
6. Begin Selling
   Your website is now officially ready to be launched to the world, and you can start selling the products. However, to make your website known you will need to employ various content marketing and social media strategies for your potential customers to know you’ve arrived in the market.Here are some of the effective marketing tips you can try for your e-commerce website.

Conclusion:
Setting up your e-commerce business is not a cake-walk, however, with the right guidance, it can be simplified. Hope you now know how to build an e-commerce website and will soon build it and start selling.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below.

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