How to create ecommerce site and launch your online store

Overview of key steps to build a successful ecommerce website

Before you rush into learning how to start an online store, let’s take some time and outline some of the key steps to craft a winning ecommerce website. Well, the first thing you should keep in mind when deciding to build an e-commerce site is planning. You should thoroughly plan your company’s purpose and the measures you need to take to accomplish it. Look at your business’s core and discuss essential priorities with your team. Starting from functionality and target audience preferences to your brand messaging and product lineup, plan everything to stay ahead in the market. Form your ecommerce strategy by conducting market research. Define the website targets and outline metrics for success.

The second vital step to crafting a successful ecommerce site is developing valuable content that will benefit your brand reputation and rankings. Keep keyword research for ecommerce SEO in mind and make efforts to create helpful and compelling website content that will help customers during their purchase journeys. Provide them with all the necessary information about the services and products you sell and special offers you have for them. Write yourself or hire professional writers to create exciting blogs, product pages, and helpful guides. Don’t forget about testimonials and high-quality video content, which are kings nowadays. Another essential step toward a professional ecommerce website is its design. Responsive ecommerce website design plays a huge role in attracting and retaining new clients. Intuitive navigation, custom optimization, and visually enticing page layouts do wonders to how people perceive your business.

We have outlined just several steps to start a great ecommerce website. You should care about tons of things like web hosting for ecommerce websites, payment gateways for online stores, ecommerce product page optimization, shipping options for ecommerce, and so on. Below, we are considering other necessary steps to develop an effective ecommerce website in detail.

1. Define your ecommerce business model
• The foremost step you should take when wondering how to create an online shop is to select a specific ecommerce business model that will perfectly suit your company. It is one of your biggest business decisions, so you should think carefully and wisely. By assessing your services, products, marketing strategy, cost structure, and target audience, you can define the ecommerce business model that will be efficient in your case. The model you choose identifies your business core, services and products your brand offers, future expenses, and probable profits. Now, let’s look at four common ecommerce business models so that you can evaluate what corresponds to your business most.
• The first one is business to business also known as a B2B ecommerce model. This type refers to commerce operations and relations between two separate businesses. A B2B model usually includes wholesale transactions. For example, you can sell your products in bulk to other shops and companies. This way, you produce some products or create services for other organizations. They purchase your goods to stock their shelves or buy your services to perform certain tasks. According to the B2B e-commerce model, your company can sell its products and services to various businesses while simultaneously offering some products to common customers.
• The second model is called consumer-to-consumer, referring to various commerce relations between consumers. It includes all electronic transactions of services or goods conducted on online marketplaces. For example, someone selling his used smartphone on Facebook Marketplace belongs to the category of C2C. Some people start their business activities selling on marketplaces like eBay and then transform into a business by establishing an online store and building a brand.
• The third one is business-to-consumer or B2C, which means some commerce operations happen between an individual consumer and a business. Buying a certain clothes piece from a brand’s site falls under this category. There are many malls on the Internet and virtual stores selling various kinds of goods and devices, such as laptops, headphones, food, cars, clothes, software, and financial products.
• Another ecommerce business model is consumer-to-business, encompassing crowdsourcing-based projects. According to C2B, a consumer can sell their own services or products to an organization or business. If you want to sell pictures or provide the services of a photographer for events, then a consumer-to-business model is what you need, as well as product photography tips for ecommerce. Also, there is an array of platforms and markets like iStockphoto, where people sell images, photographs, design elements, and media. A lot of people offer their services and products to businesses seeking these types of work. So, if you have special skills and want to purchase your services for businesses, then a C2B model is perfect for you.
2. Select an ecommerce platform
• Once you have defined the right ecommerce business model, it is time to choose an appropriate ecommerce platform to build ecommerce website on. You can opt for cloud-based platforms like WooCommerce, which is a customizable and flexible platform crafted on WordPress, or another popular option, Shopify, which enables businesses to manage their online stores effectively. Shopify enables mobile-friendly ecommerce design and is easy to use, even for beginners. Magento Commerce is another reliable cloud-based ecommerce platform offering advanced features for marketing automation, order processing, product management, and customer segmentation. It allows anyone to modify the platform the way they need to meet their specific requirements. Salesforce Commerce Cloud is also an effective platform that offers e-commerce solutions to businesses. This scalable SaaS option provides business owners with the ability to manage sales in physical and digital channels with a suite of useful services.
• The platform you select will influence user experience on your website, its management, and promotion. That is why you should choose carefully and evaluate all the pros and cons. Here, we have outlined the points you should pay attention to when opting for an ecommerce platform.
• Customization level

When you wonder something like “how to make my website ecommerce and attractive for customers,” you must remember that modern consumers are picky and demanding. So, you need a platform with a profound customization level that will help your business cut through the noise. A trendy ecommerce template helps you impress your target audience with custom user interfaces and smooth user experience. Top-notch templates enable you to craft an interface that people will remember and appreciate. This way, you reinforce your brand image and make your website stand out from the crowd.

• Security features

The platform you choose should provide fraud prevention in ecommerce stores, secure payment processing for ecommerce, PCI compliance for ecommerce, and other security measures to keep your website well-protected. Security and data privacy are vital priorities when it comes to working with ecommerce. So, make sure that your platform of choice complies with all the laws on personal data received during transactions.

• Growth potential

Consider a platform’s growth potential and scalability to understand whether it corresponds to your business goals. Assess how it will behave if you get a lot of new customers and orders. Will the platform you select grow with your company? Evaluate the platform’s features and ensure it will meet your business's expected growth.

3. Choose a domain name and web hosting
• If you plan to create ecommerce site, you should know that you will have to pay for hosting services and register a domain name. It is essential to define what kind of hosting provider you are going to utilize based on how much traffic your site will generate and the amount of control you expect to get. There are four common types of web hosting: shared hosting, cloud services, dedicated hosting, and virtual private server, also known as VPS hosting. Shared hosting is a shared server where several users have their websites. This type has an array of benefits, such as lower prices and a provider performing all the security updates and maintenance for your website. However, it limits your website performance due to the load of other sites. Cloud services are pretty reliable and run on giant public clouds like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services. This option is scalable and enables you to grow your business substantially and increase traffic to your website. Dedicated hosting ensures a powerful server that is perfect for big companies with their vast traffic. The last one, the virtual private server, provides the characteristics of dedicated hosting but at a lower price.
• As for choosing a domain name, you should remember that it is a significant part of your brand. So, pick it wisely and carefully consider your domain name extension and the name itself. Check whether your domain name has already been used and purchase various misspelled variants of your name and extensions so that people reach your website even if they make a mistake while typing.
4. Design the layout and User Experience (UX)
• Your ecommerce website is what people first see and remember about your company. That is why you should care about ecommerce website design from the very beginning. Developing the right design and setting the required functionalities are crucial for strengthening your brand reputation. Whether you sell furniture, food, fashion pieces, or other goods, you should select the layout that perfectly fits with your category of merchandise. Look through the templates and themes on your ecommerce platform to get some inspiration. Also, you may look at your competitors and assess what their website designs look like and what features can be beneficial to your site.
• If you want to save your time and effort and avoid delving into design intricacies, hire design professionals who know all the necessary tools and have the experience to deliver website designs with superior user experience. This way, you will get the website with all the required functionalities, a user-friendly interface, and smooth navigation that customers appreciate.

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5. Add product pages and optimize them
• Adding product pages and optimizing them are essential steps when developing an ecommerce website. If you do everything right and format your product pages appropriately, you will encourage sales and improve your brand’s image. Consider the questions that may arise about your services or products. What would your customers want to know without the opportunity to assess your goods physically? Provide your buyers with all the necessary information about your products, add some sort of social proof, and offer multiple photographs. Make sure that your product pages include transparent pricing information, clear service and product descriptions, and high-quality images.
6. Set up payment gateway and shipping
• Nowadays, people are used to the breadth of choice and expect multiple payment options. Some shoppers prefer debit or credit cards, while others opt for digital wallets or choose a payment app. Your task is to provide as many payment options as only possible so that your clients get precisely what they expect. Usually, your e-commerce platform assists you with establishing your payment gateway.
• Another required step is to learn how to set up ecommerce shipping. You should identify your shipping objectives and make sure people’s delivery experience encourages them to use your services again and again. Determine whether you plan to ship your goods internationally, domestically, or both. Also, outline your shipping policies and choose third-party logistics providers with whom you will work.
7. Implement essential ecommerce features
• Crafting an ecommerce website may seem a daunting task. However, when done correctly, it justifies all the expectations. Make sure your site has all the essential ecommerce features, such as fast loading speed, great responsiveness, user-friendly navigation, product filters, and internal site search. These features will allow your ecommerce website to operate more effectively and consequently attract more loyal clients.
8. Optimize for SEO and performance
• If you want your ecommerce website to rank high and be visible to more potential customers, then you should consider website SEO optimization. It will not only boost your website's search engine rankings but also improve the overall website performance. Take the time to conduct keyword research and develop a custom keyword strategy that will help your clients find you on the Internet. You can use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google’s Keyword Planner for this task. Also, implement on-page SEO and optimize headings, titles, URLs, linking strategies, and images.
9. Test and launch your ecommerce website
• Finally, you have finished your ecommerce website development process. So, what’s next? The answer is you should take the time and test your ecommerce website meticulously. Usually, ecommerce platforms allow you to preview the result before it is launched. Test your website across various devices to make sure all buttons, menus, and links work properly on mobile, tablet, and desktop. Check your ecommerce website’s speed and performance to ensure a smooth experience for your clients. If everything satisfies you, let your website go live.
10. Ongoing maintenance and updates
• Once your ecommerce website is launched, it is time to remember about ongoing maintenance. You should regularly check whether your site operates smoothly and whether its features work the way they are supposed to work. Make sure there are no broken links or bugs on your website. Catch up with the latest trends and ensure the content and functionalities of your e-commerce website are updated and relevant.

To sum up

Creating an ecommerce website brings numerous advantages to businesses and unlocks plenty of growth opportunities. It enables personalization, data insights, global reach, and streamlined customer experience. With the steps mentioned above, you now have a clear roadmap to guide your online store’s development. However, building an ecommerce website is not just about ticking boxes - it is about creating a memorable experience for your customers. That is where our team comes in. If you need expert help with design, we are here to assist. Just reach out, share your vision, and together we will craft something truly special that reflects your brand and captivates your audience!