How to build an Ecommerce Website

This goes without saying, but…

If you want to get into ecommerce, you need a website.

In this guide, we go over how to build an ecommerce website, in 7 steps.

I’m going to assume that you know what you’re going to sell on your ecommerce site. If you don’t know what you want to sell, then you better figure out what you’re going to sell.

Contents:

1. Develop a strategy.

2. Choose a domain.

3. Build your sales content.

4. Choose a website builder.

5. Build your website.

6. Drive traffic to your website.

7. Wait for the first sale.

Develop a strategy.

You need a solid plan if you’re to succeed in ecommerce.

I highly recommend you start writing down a plan, which answers questions like:

• What will make me unique?

• Is there a demand for my products?

• How many competitors are there?

• What pricing structure should I use?

• How much traffic will I need?

• What will the branding of my ecommerce business be?

Once you start answering these questions, you can get a better understanding of how you can start marketing your ecommerce website.

Writing these facts down will make the next steps easier.

Choose and register a domain name.

Your domain name will become your website URL, so choose wisely.

I’m a big fan of “dividing and conquer”.

What I mean by this is, be an expert of one niche.

So if you sell boutique tooth brushes. Your domain name might be…

• www.uniquetoothbrushes.com

• www.specialtoothbrushes.com

• www.organictoothbrushes.com

Keep in mind, your domain name will affect how your site appears in Google. So it’s a good idea to include your target keywords in your domain name.

Build your sales content.

What I mean by “sales content” is, your photographs and descriptions of your products.

Don’t brush over this step.

Your photos and descriptions are going to be key selling points of your products. People won’t trust your website, if the content is bad. So I’ll just say this.

Make sure you have high quality photos.

Ensure your descriptions are well written and inspiring.

Choose a website builder.

Now I recommend, Squarespace or Shopify for ecommerce website builders.

I’m not making any money by recommending these products. I have purchased these products before with my own money, and enjoyed using them. That is why I recommend them.

I recently just launched my ecommerce shop on Squarespace, the first item I’m selling is a car hat holder. Check it out if you want to see what a shop can look like on Squarespace.

If you’re not great with building website, you can always pay someone to do it for you.

Build your website.

It’s time to combine the work you’ve just done.

Using your strategy plan, your sales content and your website builder. It’s time to build your website.

When build your website, you must have the following pages:

• Home page.

• Products page.

• FAQs page.

• Contact page.

These are the most important pages to have, everything else is not necessary.

Keep in mind when building your website, you want to include lots of social proof.

For example:

• Testimonials.

• Reviews.

• Partnerships.

• Ratings.

Social proof on your website is invaluable for convincing people to buy from your website.

I wrote an in depth article on website design requirements, you may find it handy.

Drive Traffic to your Website.

Now this is the hardest step.

Expect to be patient, because this takes time.

You will want to develop several strategies for driving traffic to your website. I’m going to give you a few common methods of driving traffic.

1. Use your own Social Media.
   Get on your social media, and share your new website. Don’t be afraid of asking your friends online to have a look. This method is free, so use it!

2. Do digital ads.
   Facebook Ads and Google Ads are some great examples of advertising platforms which are excellent for driving traffic. You can expect to pay $1-$5 per link click, which is quite reasonable. This method can obviously become quite expensive real quickly, so don’t rely on this method.

3. Have great SEO.
   Having great SEO means your website will be found by people on Google. This is the ultimate method for driving traffic, because it’s free, and you’ll get heaps of traffic. SEO takes time to develop, so don’t expect to see results over night.

4. Do content marketing.
   Content marketing is when you put out content (like videos, or blog posts) which people consume. In the process of consuming your content, you can educate people about your ecommerce website.

These methods are all great ways of driving traffic, but you should focus on the method that works best for you. For example, if you’re finding Facebook Ads are working really well, do more of them!

Wait for your first sale.

Now it’s the patience game.

Don’t expect your first sale immediately. If you have a healthy mindset about how many sales you will get, your store has a better chance of succeeding.

Thanks so much for reading guys.