Ecommerce saw huge in 2020 with an extra $900 billion in sales across the globe. While some of those gains will likely drop off as people resume some of their old, in-person shopping habits, predictions suggest some of those gains will prove permanent.
That makes this an excellent time for people to jump into the ecommerce business, but there are some hurdles. One of the biggest hurdles people face is the problem of how to set up an ecommerce website. If you’ve never done it before, the process can feel intimidating.
If that’s your situation, keep reading for some key tips on setting up your ecommerce site.
Website Builder
If you have zero experience with building a website, an ecommerce website builder is probably your safest bet. There is no one best ecommerce website builder out there. With that said, there are several available through established platforms and services.
You should do a little research on the options and see which builder best meets your needs and wants. In most cases, you pay a monthly fee that includes hosting and a range of functional add-ons, like payment processing.
Ecommerce Website Design
Good website design applies as much to an ecommerce website as it does to a news website or a fine arts blog site. The good news is that a website builder will do a lot of the ecommerce website design heavy lifting for you. Website builders typically offer you a choice of templates that give the site its overall look and feel.
Even so, it’s still on you to come up with things like a logo and header image. These things help cement your brand in the customer’s mind.
If you want to try your hand at a landing page, click for more landing page info.
Free Ecommerce Website
Let’s say you don’t want to pay a monthly fee. You can build a free ecommerce website with some work. There are hosting services that will provide free hosting in exchange for putting ads on your site.
In terms of building the site, you can use a free content management system like WordPress or Drupal. Those will get a basic site design by way of a site theme.
You can find free versions of ecommerce plugins for those content management systems. These plugins help you build a storefront for your site, track inventory, and often provide some manner of shopping cart.
You will also need an online payment processor or payment gateway. You can find ones that don’t charge upfront, but will take a bite from each sale in fees.
Getting Your Ecommerce Website
You have several options for building an ecommerce website of your own. You can work through an ecommerce website builder that gives you access to templates and add-ons for a monthly charge.
You can also go the free route with free hosting, a CMS, ecommerce plugins, and a payment gateway. The tradeoff here is that you get third-party ads on your site.
Looking for more tips on launching your ecommerce site or business? Check out some of the other posts over in our Business and Technology sections.
