The Ecommerce Setup Process

I have one rule for you while you read this ecommerce setup guide. This single rule states that you should read this guide in its entirety. I am going to give you the truth about converting your business from a brick and mortar company to having an online presence to help increase your revenue. In the process, I will touch on some of the obstacles you may encounter. This is not to scare you, but I want you to realize that they are normal. I will offer solutions to these problems as well. If you leave in the middle of the guide, it may leave you with a bad taste in your mouth of whether you truly want to jump into online business.

Let’s get started. I am going to assume that you have an offline business and are just now starting the beginning phases of having an online presence for your company. I am also going to assume that you are well aware that some items and services are great online sellers, others are not. In this process you should have already thought of this and know that you do have a product that is going to sell well online.

The Development of Your Website

This is the first phase to making the transition to online business. You will need a place for people to buy your products or services. While this seems like it would be the most important part of an online business, it really is not. Do not get me wrong, it is important, but having a beautiful website is only the beginning of the process.

You likely have a good understanding of what your capabilities are. If you have absolutely no clue about how websites work, you may want to hire someone who can handle the whole development process for you. However, if you want to give it a shot, there are actually three common steps to building a website.

1: Purchase a Domain Name

The domain name is what people remember you by. Internet users will type in domainname.com into their web browsers to access your website. It is very important you find something relative to what your business is about. For example, pinkpolkadots.com says very little about who you are if you are selling motorcycles.

2: Begin the Web Design Process

The web design process is not something you will want to tackle on your own if you have never designed a website before. You can always hire someone to specifically do the web design for you. Generally, they will want to know what features you want on the website. You should always give them this whether they ask for it or not. This way you stand a better chance of getting exactly what you want.

3: Begin the Web Development Process

This is probably the most costly and time consuming part of building a website. While the design is the graphics and the way the website appears, the backend programming is what will make the website work the way it is intended to work. Having separate pages, making it easy to update (frequently called a content management system), and processing payments are some of the things that you will almost always find on an ecommerce website. The web developer should also be familiar with what features you would like on the website and what they are expected to do before they get started. This may keep you from having to pay an unexpected amount of money. After this stage, you should have a fully functional website.

Keep in mind that most websites will cost less than $1000.00. Considerably less if you work with freelancers rather than an actual business for developing your website. If you are asked to pay more than this, you might consider getting other estimates on pricing.