How to Build an E-Commerce Website from Scratch
Build Your Own Ecommerce Website Foundation
Prior to building your own e- commerce website there are some basic foundation things you have to do first.
First of which is securing your domain name and web hosting services. Without these there is no way to actually have a live E- commerce website.
There are thousands of different providers and services you can use to secure a domain name and hosting. You can either buy them together or separately, which we suggest.
If this is your first time building a website then the easiest action will be purchasing them together from the same provider.
This will minimise the number of technical tasks you need to complete and speed up the process of getting your site online.
If you are looking for the fastest and most beginner friendly way to secure a domain name and hosting then consider purchasing them both at GoDaddy.com. Just select your web hosting package and add a domain name to your order before you check out.
You may not be ready to name your store and buy a domain name just yet. If so feel free to return to this section later once you have come up with the perfect domain name for your business.
Further Reading: Choosing the Right Domain Name
Building your own E-commerce website
Building an E-commerce website will be very different from creating a standard website.
After securing a domain name and hosting, you will need to consider tools and software for processing payments along with actually creating and manufacturing your products, descriptions as well as content.
Below is a quick rundown of what is required to build your own E-commerce website from scratch:
- A domain and name
- Hosting provider
- An integrated payment system
- Platform or tool to build your website
- Initial capital to create your products
- Packaging for product shipping
When you are creating an E-commerce website, there will be some initial capital that you will need to invest into your website business.
If done correctly, the results can be exponential and amazing.
Building an E-commerce website is similar to building any other websites except you are selling physical products.
This means there will be more work upfront to help ensure the success of your website.
You need to research and discover your target market, finding out what you are going to sell and finally building your own ecommerce website.
Further Reading: Improve Online Copywriting on Your Website
Selling can be in various forms but the main two are physical or digital products.
It would be a disappointing experience to go through the whole process of building your store, only to find out that no one wants to buy what you are selling.
To avoid this, you will need to spend time upfront finding the right market and products to sell.
You might already know exactly what you want to sell but if not – Don’t Worry Be Happy – this post will walk you through the process of market research.
Ideally you want is to discover an opportunity in the marketplace and fill it with your product and services.
Further Reading: Better Results From Your Call To Action
One way to ensure that you start selling the right products is to align yourself with products that are currently trending. By getting into a trending niche at the right time you can ride the wave in the short-term and long-term.
You do not want to hop into a trending market when it is on a decline trend.
Instead you want to find a product or a niche for products that are growing in popularity an upward trend or steady upward trend.
There are different tools you can use to spot trending products and niches but here are some of the most common.
Google Trends: This Google tool allows you to look into the past and future of certain product keywords. By using the data this tool provides you will be able to see if a market is growing or waning in popularity- either going up or moving down in trend.
Trend Hunter: This site showcases a ton of different niches and products that are currently trending across the globe. Addition to this – there is a smart filter that lets you sort by different industries.
Instagram Influencers: If you spend any time on Instagram then you may be following a few influencers who regularly promote certain products.
The chances are great if the products they are promoting are selling which indicate a viable niche.
Further Reading:Why You Need a Mobile Friendly Website
By exploring the resources above you will have a handful of products or potential niches you could go into. To narrow down this list we are going to do some self-evaluation.
It is going to be difficult to sustain momentum with your store if you do not actually care about what you are selling.
The following questions will determine if you have what it takes to sustain yourself in the niche:
- Are you interested about your chosen niche market
- Do you have any pre-existing knowledge about the niche market
- Will you be in for the long haul - 5 years or more
- Do you care about the people that you will be servicing
By now you should have narrowed down your list of potential products and niches to a group you actually care about. Now we are going to take a further step and validate your ideas in the marketplace.
The most effective ways to do this will be using the Amazon product marketplace and a keyword research tool.
Go over to the Amazon bestseller list in the product category of your choice. Spend some time digging through the products to see what kinds of things people are actually buying.
Look for product multiples and research through the reviews to see if there are any glaring issues with the existing products.
Also go over to the tool Ubersuggest. This is a free keyword research tool that will give you tons of actionable keywords data.
All you have to do is input your target keyword and you will receive a list of related keywords and their overall search volume.
This will help you determine the overall size of the market and maybe even give you a few ideas of products you can sell.
Further Reading: Online Marketing Strategies for Small Business
Before settling on the product you want to sell there are a few more considerations you need to take into account.
Firstly, make sure the product is light enough that it is easy to ship. During the early days of your E-commerce store you will be handling most of the packaging and shipping yourself.
This will make your life easier and you will be able to maintain better product margins which will be crucial in the early days of your store.
Next is product prototyping. Here you are not looking to create the perfect product the first time but trying to create an initial product and then renew and improve based upon product feedback.
This will help you get to market faster and build a better product over time.
Further Reading: Advantages of Online Shopping for Small Business
By now you have secured your domain name and hosting. Next choosing the platform for your E-commerce website, you will have a whole lot of different options at your disposal.
There will be all-in-one platforms, website builders, CMS like WordPress and more.
One of the easiest options is using the best ecommerce website builder to set up an online store from scratch.
4. Building Your Store
You can choose from 3 different plans to build your E-commerce website with Best- Digital Marketing website builder.
For full E-commerce plan functionality
and select your plan according to your business needs.
This will give you options like inventory management, shopping cart, coupon codes and additional online payment methods for E-commerce sites.
Once you have selected your plan, click Add to Cart and once we have your confirmation, one of our designated web designers will contact you via phone, mobile and or email to discuss your requirements.
If you prefer to discuss your requirements first just
or fill your details with a message of your requirements at
We will endeavour to get back to your within 48 working hours or earlier.
Further Reading: Fix Common Website Design Mistakes
5. Launching Your Store and Selling Products
Once you have completed all of the above – Congratulations.
You have put in a lot of energy and work and you are about to launch your website. It is absolutely essential not to launch your store before it is fully tested and polished.
Ultimately you only have one chance to make a good first impression on your customers and create a long lasting relationship for your business.
Spend some time double-checking every page on your site for typos, broken links or other things that do not work.
You will also want to run through a few sample purchases to make sure the checkout process works smoothly as well.
Once you are satisfied with your virtual storefront – it is time to launch your store and start selling products.
Marketing Your E-commerce Website
Since you just started your E-commerce website now it is time to set up your social media channels for your business and start listing to promote your store.
You will not get much traffic to start with. You will need to invest in your marketing E-commerce store to the world.
Here are a few of the most common E-commerce marketing methods:
1. Content Marketing
You have a multitude of opportunities to create content whether it is creating educational content gearing towards your selection of products or creating content gearing towards picking up backlinks or social media shares.
Content marketing will not give you immediate results but in the long run it will provide you with long term traffic.
This is why you need an experienced and knowledgeable digital marketing agency like Best –Digital Marketing to help you create the right content for your products.
Further Reading: Creating Engaging Content for Social Media
2. Social Media Marketing
Social media is a great way to increase brand awareness whilst driving traffic to your E-commerce site.
There are a lot of social media networks out there and the ones you will find the most value in are Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and more.
All of these are more image-driven platforms so they align well with selling products.
Instagram will give you a way to showcase your product along with how it is commonly used.
Pinterest gives you the opportunity to create and share content that is related to your niche and drive targeted traffic to your site.
Facebook can be used to obtain feedbacks, comments, shares and likes about your products and also drive traffic to your site.
Further Reading: How to Increase Social Media Engagement
3. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has been used to build some of the most successful E-commerce stores.
It is the process of reaching out to influencers on Instagram and having them promote your brand and products to their audience.
You have the option of having paid shout outs or you might be able to find accounts who will mention your product for free in exchange for your product.
Further Reading: Ways to Maximise Instagram Stories
Conclusion
By now, you will have a better understanding of what it takes to build your own E-commerce store starting from scratch.
It will take a lot of work to make an online business but with E-commerce markets continuing to grow you will be setting yourself up for success in the long-run.
If you really want to create your own E-commerce website all you have to do is get started. Use the information above and start implementing.
You are not going to get everything right the first time but the most important thing is to experiment, fail and keep moving forward.
Or you could engage an experienced, creative and knowledgeable digital marketing agency like Best –Digital Marketing to help you build your E-Commerce website or build you a custom made website.
We will endeavour to make it an effortless, smooth and calm experience for you on this epic adventure.
For more information on how Best Digital-Marketing can help you build and create your own E-Commerce Website:
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How to Build Your an E-commerce Website From Scratch