A Comprehensive Guide Building an eCommerce Website in 2024
With the countless opportunities to make money emerging on the internet in recent years, the average small business owner now has the chance to start a business with no money. Whether you aim to do this as a side hustle to supplement the income from your full time or part time job, or if you want to make it your new full-time job, there are plenty of options to choose from.
Interested in writing, music, marketing, or something else? Depending on your interests, you can leverage any number of topics for your money making endeavors.
There are several avenues for making a profit on angles like these, it just takes some know how to get them started.
In this ecommerce website development tutorial, we’re going to go in depth on how to make an ecommerce website of your own and start making money with it right away.
Alternatively, if you’d like help creating an ecommerce site for your small business, the experts at Sellvia can help with all your needs.
You can get a free personal consultation about any ecommerce business issues you have along with marketing guidance and ecommerce tips.
How to Create an eCommerce Platform in 5 Steps
First off, let’s explain the five simple steps you need to complete in order to get your own ecommerce website up and running your business.
Step 1: Choose a Domain and Domain Name
This is arguably one of the most important steps of setting up your ecommerce website because this is how you’ll establish a website for people to go to. With no website, you’ll have nothing.
The domain of your website (also called a URL) is your site’s web address. It should be something easy to remember so that customers will be more likely to visit and tell their friends about you.
Making sure you choose a good domain name is important to your website’s branding and overall level of success.
You should try to pick something that is closely related to the product or service you’re selling on your website. It can be helpful to include key phrases are words in your domain name that people will typically be searching when looking to buy your type of product.
This may be difficult if your site sells something that is offered by many already established businesses, but it will be easier for more niche products and services.
As soon as you know what your name is going to be, you can go ahead and purchase your domain by using a domain registrar like Bluehost, Google Domains, or GoDaddy.
To do this, all you have to do is head over to one of their websites and enter the name you want to use for your business. It will then tell you if the name is already taken or not, and if it’s available, you can buy it!
You can typically expect to pay anywhere from $12 to $25 per year for your website’s domain. This price will vary depending on the service package and addons you choose to use.
It’s important to note that some ecommerce platforms may include a free domain, which brings us to the next step in the process.
Step 2: Select an eCommerce Platform
Choosing a platform for your website is the next step. An ecommerce platform is a platform that is set up to allow users to sell their products and services on it.
There are plenty of free options out there if you don’t want to have to pay for one, but they may offer only limited features.
You can also use a website builder like WordPress to build your ecommerce site, but you’ll have to build in ecommerce tools and features that would otherwise already come with a dedicated ecommerce platform.
For around $30 a month in average, you can set up your website on a dedicated ecommerce platform and utilize their suite of ecommerce tools and features. Sounds attractive, doesn`t it?
In addition, almost all the ecommerce platforms you can find will offer you free trial periods first so you’ll be able to test their features and tools for yourself before you commit. This makes your decision risk-free and easy!
You may also want to go with a dedicated software development service or the ecommerce website builder to build your website especially tailored to you and your business.
If you’d rather go this route, software development services can help you. With years of industry expertise, they can help build your dream ecommerce platform quickly and efficiently.
Step 3: Decide Your eCommerce Angle
In today’s digital market, there are countless ways to make money with ecommerce. From things like blogging to dropshipping to affiliate marketing, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.
The next step in the process will be to decide what angle you want your site to play by. Let’s take a look at some of the most lucrative ecommerce angles.
Blogging
Blogging is a huge way people today make money online. This is an audience monetization type of business, where you make money on having a large and steady audience.
The more people who regularly come to your website to check out your content, the more potential you have to make money.
To make money with a blog, you can do a few things.
You can engage in affiliate marketing and embed affiliate links in your content, you can sell ad spaces on your blog, and you can run brand deals with brands who are looking for marketing from popular bloggers.
The best part is that to set up a blog really takes only the money needed to buy a domain, which is usually pretty cheap through platforms like Bluehost.
DropShipping
A dropshipping business is different from a traditional retail business because they handle orders from customers by selling products sourced from a third party.
They don’t produce or stock any of their own products themselves. So this business model requires low startup cost and inventory management.
Dropshipping is a great way for small business owners to start making money with ecommerce. You can also learn a lot by dropshipping, as it can teach you about how to select and market high demand products.
Affiliate Marketing
This next one is also a huge way for people to make money online fast. Affiliate marketing is essentially making an agreement with a vendor or merchant of goods to place a link to their products on your platform.
As people navigate to their product page and make a purchase by using the link provided on your website, you’ll get a small commission for each of these sales.
This is a win for everybody involved, as the vendor sees more sales because of your link, and you get a cut of the money made from the sale.
Popular places where you might find affiliate links are social media profiles, blogs, and other ecommerce sites like these.
It’s important to note that you’ll only make commission if people make a purchase from the affiliate merchant using the link they gave you.
Step 4: Set Up Payment Info
It’s essential for any business to have payment, tax, and shipping info and tools set up, so you’ll need to make sure you do this before your website is operational.
Many ecommerce platforms will have these functions built in already. Or if you want to use an external development service they will also be able to set this process up for you exactly how you want.
Step 5: Test Your eCommerce Website
Before you go live, you’ll want to launch a test version of your site to make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible.
You’ll want to test your menus and site navigation, the check out process, and make sure products and descriptions are showing up correctly.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What steps do you need to complete to build an ecommerce website?
If you follow the key steps we outlined above, you’ll have your very own ecommerce site up and running in no time. Using external development services can also help to speed this process along.
Is ecommerce still profitable?
Yes, it is emerging these years. Online shopping became one of the most popular activity worldwide, especially after pandemic restrictions.
What is the cost of ecommerce website development?
The cost of development will usually be driven by the complexity of the website. You may pay anywhere from $10,000 to $250,000 to have a specially tailored website built for your company. Prices may vary.
How to choose the right ecommerce platform?
There are many ecommerce development platforms nowadays. But how to choose the perfect one for you business? Keep in mind your requirements, what is essential for your online business. Then consider all advantages and disadvantages of different platforms, their features and cost.
What are the most popular plugins for ecommerce on WordPress?
A few of the most popular plugins for ecommerce on WordPress include WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, Ecwid, WPforms, and WP Easycart.
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