eCommerce websites are their own unique beast. Between getting your user experience spot on, ensuring your design and branding are just right, choosing the best platform for your needs, and selecting the right payment service for you and your customers, there’s lots that could go wrong.
If you’re an eCommerce novice, we’ve got just the thing to get you started. Here’s a quick and easy guide, covering everything you need to consider when developing a website for eCommerce:
1. Choose your eCommerce platform
There are many platforms on which you can build an eCommerce site, including:
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Shopify: One of the best platforms on the market, comes with advanced eCommerce tools.
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WooCommerce (on WordPress): Flexible; has a large number of easy-to-use plugins available.
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Magento: Powerful but best suited for larger enterprises.
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BigCommerce: Scalable for businesses of all sizes.
Tip: Select a platform based on your budget, business needs and technical expertise.
2. Select a domain name
Choose a unique, memorable, and brand-aligned domain name for your site. You can register your domain through providers like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or directly through the eCommerce platform if they offer it.
Your domain name should be both representative of your business, but not too long or complicated. If you want people to shop with you, you need to keep things simple!
3. Set up hosting
If you’re using a hosted solution like Shopify, hosting is included. If you’re going with a self-hosted option like WooCommerce, you’ll need a hosting provider (e.g., Catalyst, SiteGround, or WP Engine).
Hosting is fairly simple to set up, but can be frustrating if you get it wrong. If you’re not sure about how to host a website, give our team a shout.
4. Design your website
Your website design is extremely important for any site, but it’s especially important for eCommerce businesses.
If your website doesn’t look the part, it will put people off. Here are some considerations for when you’re designing your site:
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Create your theme: You can either do this yourself, or partner with an expert design team who can bring your eCommerce vision to life. We highly recommend the latter (but we would do, wouldn’t we?).
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Responsive design: Ensure your website works well on both mobile and desktop devices. This is incredibly important, both from a usability standpoint (you don’t want to frustrate potential customers) and an SEO perspective (Google expects websites to be optimised for mobiles first).
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Navigation: Structure your categories and menus for ease of use. Clear product categorisation and filtering options are crucial for a better user experience. Get this wrong and you’ll see significantly less sales than you deserve.
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Branding: Use your logo, brand colours and fonts to create a cohesive look. Try not to overcomplicate this. Messy brands really can put people off.
5. Add products
Adding your products correctly can be a little bit of a faff. Unfortunately, it’s a big part of eCommerce, and it’s important that you get it right. Don’t forget to include:
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Product descriptions: Write detailed and compelling descriptions for each product.
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Product images: Use high-quality images, showing the product from multiple angles. Videos can also help.
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Pricing: Set prices, offer discounts, or use promotional pricing as needed.
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Stock management: Set up inventory management to track product availability.
6. Set up payment gateways
You need to integrate a payment system to accept online payments. Popular options include:
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PayPal
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Stripe
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Square
Ensure the payment gateways you choose support credit cards, debit cards and other options like digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay). Bonus points for Apple Pay & Google Pay – the more convenient you can make your checkout process, the less barriers to purchase your customers will have.
7. Set up shipping and tax options
For shipping, set up shipping zones, rates (flat, free, or weight-based), and methods (courier, local delivery, etc.).
To handle taxes, make sure you have tax rules established based on the location of your business and customers. Some platforms handle tax automatically.
Getting this set up and out of the way early will save you some serious headaches later on – don’t forget it!
8. Optimise for SEO
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is inescapable at this point. Make sure that you consider:
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Meta titles & descriptions: Ensure each page has a unique meta title and description.
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URL structure: Create clean, descriptive URLs.
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Site speed: Optimise your site speed by compressing images and minimising code.
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Mobile optimisation: Your site should load quickly and look good on mobile devices, as Google considers mobile usability for SEO rankings.
9. Set up security (SSL Certificate)
Security is crucial for an eCommerce site. Ensure your platform supports an SSL certificate (often included in hosted solutions). This encrypts data and is necessary for processing secure payments.
10. Install analytics tools
Install tools like Google Analytics to track visitors, sales, and other important metrics. Many platforms have built-in analytics dashboards, but Google Analytics can provide more detailed data.
Always get your analytics tools set up right from the outset. They’ll be crucial in monitoring the success of your eCommerce website, and will help to determine the direction of any future improvements you make.
11. Test your site
Quality assurance (QA) is monotonous, but mandatory. Test your site to breaking point by asking as many people as possible to:
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Place test orders to ensure the checkout process is working.
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Test on multiple devices (mobile, tablet, desktop) and browsers.
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Check load times: Ensure pages load quickly, especially on mobile.
12. Launch your website
Once everything is set up and tested, you can launch your site. After all the time and effort that went into building your site, it’s time to make some noise!
Announce the launch via social media, email newsletters, and other marketing channels. Perhaps consider paid advertising, and ensure that everyone on your team is sharing your new website, too.
13. Ongoing maintenance and marketing
Every site needs a little pick-me-up on occasion. We recommend:
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Maintenance: Regularly update the platform and plugins for security and performance.
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SEO & marketing: Implement SEO strategies, run ads, and engage in email marketing to attract and retain customers.
Forget your ongoing maintenance, and you’ll have a slow, frustrating-to-use site on your hands. Many maintenance jobs can be automated or outsources, taking the stress away from you and your team.
Need an eCommerce website? Look no further!
Getting your eCommerce website off the ground can be a difficult, sometimes stressful endeavour.
There’s a lot to consider, especially if you want your products to sell well.
Our recommendation? Talk to the eCommerce website building experts. Conveniently, you’re on their website – hello!
Give our specialists a shout, let us know what it is that you need and we’ll provide no-obligation advice on the optimal next steps on your eCommerce journey.
We’ll be here when you’re ready to talk – click the link below to get started.
