You’ve got a brilliant idea for selling products online that’s been festering in your mind for a long time. This means you need to build an ecommerce web site or online store as others would call it, but have no idea what is involved and how much it is going to cost you.
This article will put your mind at ease as I will try to give you the necessary knowledge for creating, building and promoting your ecommerce store.
Steps involved in building an ecommerce website:
1. Do the necessary online research - you first need to see if your product is in demand. It’s no point spending time and money building your ecommerce store only to find out no one is interested in your products.
Enter the keywords or keyword phrases that visitors would use to find your web site in the overture suggestion tool:
This will give you a good indication of the number of people that regularly search for that term. If there are no search results, you may want to reconsider what you intend to sell or do more extensive research on other types of keywords that may match your products. Subscribe FREE to Marketing Tips Newsletter Please enter your e-mail address below to receive original in-depth Marketing Articles every 2 weeks.
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2. Prepare your product information - if you organize your products ahead of time in an excel spreadsheet, it will make it much easier for you (or your web site designer) to add them to the ecommerce web site.
Here are the columns to create in your spreadsheet:
a) product categories and subcategories ie horse supplies-horse boots b) product options ie sizes, colors c) product ID number ie SK105 d) product description e) product image f) product price g) shipping calculations h) tax calculations
3. Open a PayPal account - the paypal shopping cart is one of the easiest payment solutions to integrate with your ecommerce web site. You won’t have to bother with a merchant account, payment gateway or shopping cart and signing up for a paypal account is free. Paypal integrates all these services automatically and just charges you a small processing fee for each purchase. You can accept both paypal and credit card payments online. Customers don’t even have to open a paypal account to purchase products with their credit card.
To sign up or learn more, click on the banner below:
There is plenty of online documentation on how to set up your paypal shopping cart should you get stuck.
There is plenty of online documentation on how to set up your paypal shopping cart should you get stuck.
4. Register a domain name - choose a name that is easy to spell and remember. This makes it easier for the customer to return to your online store without looking it up. You can register a domain name for around $9.00 at Godaddy.com.
5. Select a web host company - here are some features to consider when choosing a web hosting company for your ecommerce web site: web space bandwidth email accounts autoresponders site statistics database (if needed) fast customer service reasonably priced You can view some very affordable web hosting plans here
6. Build your ecommerce web site - decide on how many pages you want on your site (this won’t apply if you have a database driven site). Name the navigation links for the web pages according to the main product categories you are using.
Here are some suggestions:
Homepage Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5 Category 6 Policies About Us Contact
Some points to consider:
-There should be a consistent theme and design running throughout your site ie same header image and/or logo, slogan, navigation, copyright and colors.
-The homepage should include a summary of what products your site has to offer. Customers can always delve deeper into your site for more information.
-Add a paragraph of text at the top of each page (250-500 words) which includes the keywords you have researched for that product. This will attract potential visitors to find your site based on the keywords they insert in the search engines.
-Include a contact form to build a contact list so you always keep in touch with your customers.
-Include a policies page for shipping, refund and terms of service policies.
7. Test your web site - after uploading your site files to your web host, thoroughly check your site by testing for these factors:
-broken links -browser compatibility -screen resolution -html/xhtml vaildation -contact form works -site loading time
8. Market your web site - you will not make any sales if you don’t actively market your web site. The most important action you should do on a consistent basis to increase your presence in the search engines is to build your link popularity (number of links pointing to your site). Contact sites related to yours and exchange links with them. You should also submit your site to the main search engines and directories.
Other methods of marketing include writing articles related to your site’s material, advertising in ezines and pay per click advertising. Be sure to include offline advertising by including your web site address on all your stationary.
Conclusion - building an ecommerce web site doesn’t have to be complicated task. By following the steps outlined above, you can quickly and easily set up your site and start selling your products.
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