Ecommerce website development may be easier than you think. With some time and effort, you can build your own ecommerce website. An ecommerce website is an online store, a website that displays your products and services.Your ecommerce store can allow you to sell products to persons who aren't in your vicinity or who prefer to have their products delivered. Linking your ecommerce website with social media marketing campaigns can quickly bring you increased sales.To make your site more profitable, reach out to the team at Ampry and see how we can help you bring your ecommerce store to life.
Hosting
Before you can get started on your ecommerce website development, you need to find a place for your ecommerce business to live. This is called hosting.There are two main ways to host your ecommerce website. The first is to host it on your own servers. This is usually more practical for larger ecommerce businesses since you will need space for the server, install and maintain it, and ensure that all the data is kept secure.The other option is to use cloud hosting. This type of hosting is offered by a different company. They take care of the servers, upkeep, and security concerns. This is a good option for smaller businesses that do not have the resources (time, employees, and money) to dedicate to a server.
Domain name
Once you have decided on how you will be hosting your website, you will need to pick and register your domain name. Usually, your domain name will be your company or brand's name. Your domain name should be easy to remember and easy to spell. Including unconventional spellings in your domain name might mean that potential customers end up at your competitor's website instead, especially if they have strong search engine optimization on their website. For example, it is much easier and natural to type: blinds.com than it is to type: blindz.com.The same goes for generic domain names. For example, homeorganized.com can very quickly be confused with organizedhome.com.
Finding an ecommerce platform
When you have your web hosting and domain in place, you can start with building your website. The central part of your ecommerce website will be your ecommerce platform.An ecommerce platform is the shop part of your online store and should seamlessly integrate into your website design. The ecommerce platform is what allows you to display products on your website that people can buy. The ecommerce platform software essentially turns your website into an online store. It is this platform that allows visitors to add products to a shopping cart, get more information on your products or services, and quickly and efficiently move through the checkout process.There are different kinds of ecommerce platforms, but most of them work as plugins. You install plugins to the back end of your website to turn it into an online store.Open source ecommerce platforms are free to use. You can customize open source ecommerce platforms, although you may need some coding know-how in some cases. In some cases, open-source software may not have as robust security features as programs that you pay for. They may also limit just how much you can customize (unless you fiddle with the code). More than that, using open source products may mean that you either cannot display your branding as you would like or that you may have to share some website real estate with the developers' branding.Software as a Service (SaaS) is usually a paid service. In some cases, you will pay once-off, while others run a subscription service. These ecommerce platforms are designed for use on websites that run online shops. They are usually easy to use and have robust security features, and often feature either monthly or yearly plans.Headless commerce is a slightly different ecommerce platform. With headless commerce platforms, your website's front and back ends are disconnected from headless commerce platforms. Put very simply, the front end becomes a mask that fits over the back end, which is the brain. The front end can be changed to look and feel different and give customers diverse experiences while the back end function of your website remains untouched.
Website design and development
You can DIY your website design and ecommerce development. There are plenty of free (and paid-for) content and resources that can make the process go smoother. Still, hiring a website developer will save you a ton of time and frustration.Whether you use a website developer or do it yourself, consider a few things. A lot of your web design efforts will involve your website’s look. You will likely be using a template. A template is a pre-built customizable website. It makes it easy to build a website without needing to write code. Many templates are intuitive, allowing you to make changes and build your website how you want.In all cases, you will need to remember that the user experience is the most important. That means you need to focus on how easily they can navigate around your website. You also need to make sure that your ecommerce website has a responsive design. That means it works equally well on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.You have about 10 to 20 seconds to catch your site visitors' attention. They decide whether they want to stay on your website or navigate away in those few seconds. That is why you need to make it easy for them to poke around. Have clear menus and interactive content on your website to keep them engaged.All the content on your website should involve search engine optimization. This will help Google analytics and other search engines to pick up your website. It may be a good idea to hire a company that provides ecommerce SEO services to handle this for you. You could even consider making your ecommerce site multilingual.
Adding your products
The product pages are the most critical part of your ecommerce website. They are your digital showcase, and because customers cannot reach out and touch your products, you need to help them make the best purchasing decision.The product description is essential to give visitors an accurate understanding of what you are offering. Descriptions should include all relevant information about the product or service. Here you tell your customers about the nitty-gritty – the measurements of the product, the material it is made of, the colors it comes in. You can enhance your user experience by making this information scannable. In other words, use short sentences and only convey the necessary information. Forget the flourishes and sales talk. Visitors who make it to this page want to know if the product will meet their needs.Fantastic product descriptions will do little if you have dodgy images on your website. Your product images are the only way for customers to see what they are buying. Using high-quality images will subtly increase your products' perceived quality and value. You don't necessarily need to have professional pictures taken. Just make sure that your products are represented in their best light. A quick search will give you some tips on how to do this.Consider having a few images of each product, including an image of the product being used. This is a powerful marketing tool, as it encourages visitors to envision themselves using the product.
Payment and Shipping
The payment gateway or method and shipping options are the last features to set up on your ecommerce store.Payment options should be easy and safe to use. Redirected payments take your customers to a different site to process their payments. This adds an additional step for customers. On the other hand, it is easy for merchants to use. Additionally, you don't take all the responsibility for facilitating safe payments.Your ecommerce website can offer on-site checkout with off-site payment. In these cases, all the payment information will be gathered on your ecommerce website, while payment will be processed on a third-party site. Again, you will be responsible for adequately encrypting your website and safely and securely delivering all payment details to the third-party site.Lastly, you can opt for on-site payment. This option is best for larger companies as the company is responsible for securely processing all payments, which requires a lot of resources.Whether you sell directly to consumers or want to move into b2b ecommerce, having a website that sells is vital in this day and age. Setting up an ecommerce store takes some planning and effort. Still, you can create a professional-looking ecommerce business without employing an ecommerce web development company. Set up a strategy call with Ampry to discover how we can help.