5 EASY STEPS TO SETUP E-COMMERCE WEBSITE

There can be a lot of requirement if you’re new to the world of online retail and are looking to step into setup e-commerce website for the first time. Here are some steps you need to take when setting up a brand new e-commerce website:

1. Determine what you want to sell and how you’ll source your merchandise before setup an e-commerce website

Inventory is the lifeblood of any ecommerce business, so you have to make sure you get this right first. Just think about your hobbies, interests or the things that you’re good at. And then, see if you can use your knowledge and experience to  create products that customers would love.

But before diving into business with a manufacturer, you need to ask yourself first: what exactly should you sell? and will people buy it? In other words, you need to do market research thoroughly to figure out which products are ideal to invest. There are some useful ways to go about this:

+ Explore popular online listings:

One way to gauge demand is to see what people are buying and searching for. You can check the popular listings on well-known online website such as eBay, Amazon.

+ Finding supplier:

Once you’ve determined what products to sell, you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to source your merchandise. To find the right suppliers, you can check the website of trade organizations, search through online directories, attend trade shows in your industry or ask someone who can point you in the right direction.

2. Settle your ecommerce technology and solutions

Hosting and domain registration:

Pick a name that communicates your offerings: Your domain name should tell people what you’re about or give people an idea of what the store sells and convey the main message of your ecommerce business. Keep it short and clear, it’s also best to pick a name with a simple spelling and pronunciation. If you’re struggling to find the right domain name, there are a number of online tools that can help you come up with one such as NameStation, DomainTyper.

Register your domain:

Once you’ve chosen a domain name, you have to register it through an accredited domain registrar. Some of the top ones include: Bluehost, HostGator, GoDaddy.You’ll have to pay domain registration fees, which will vary depending on the domain name you choose.

Choose your ecommerce platform:

This is the point where you’ll decide which platform will power your store, a progress in your setup e-commerce website. There are two main categories when it comes to ecommerce solutions: self-hosted ( open-source platforms as Magento 2 that require you to host, implement, and maintain your store) and hosted ( ecommerce platforms that take care of your hosting and server maintenance for you).

3. Arrange the payments side of things

For obvious reasons, payments play an important role. That’s why you have to make sure that you choose the right payment gateway and it works well with your ecommerce platform.

For the uninitiated, a payment gateway is a merchant service that authorizes and processes credit card payments for online and offline retailers. Payment gateways enable you to accept credit cards on your website. There are several payment gateways in the market, and some of the top ones are: Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal, 2Checkout, Payline, WorldPay.  After connect serveral payment gateway with your e-commerce website, you almost completely setup e-commerce website.

4. Market your ecommerce business

Now, it’s time to get the word out and drive traffic to your online store. Here are some of the ways you can do it:

SEO:

You need to invest in SEO to enable your site to rank in Google search results.

Check some SEO tips to boost your site ranking in search engine.

Content marketing:

Having a content marketing strategy can benefit you in various ways. Creating relevant and educational content helps you to engage your audience and peers, and also positions you as a trustworthy authority in your space.

Social Media:

No matter what type of online store you have, there’s a good chance that your customers are on social media. Do a bit of research on the social media habits of your customers can figure out where to focus your efforts. Most popular social networks out there where retailers are using them to connect with their audience are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest.

Email marketing:

Making email marketing a powerful mode of communication and promotion. Once you have those email addresses, start communicating with your subscribers. Send them product updates, give them a heads up when you’re running promotions, or just use email to send content that’ll benefit them.

5. Measure business performance

Once your store is all set up, it’s time to look into your ecommerce data to measure results and performance. How you carry out this step may vary depending on your store set up and ecommerce platform, but typically, you should be able to get the measures you need by looking at your platform’s reports and by using Google Analytics. Some top metrics you should look at are Site traffic, Conversion rate, Cost per acquisition.

Setup e-commerce website It’s not as hard as you think.