The internet has become a vital sales channel for many businesses, but of course, you can only sell online if you have a presence there. It’s possible to sell via sites such as eBay and Amazon Marketplace, but while that might be a good way of getting started, ultimately you are going to want to build your own site.
Fortunately, there are many options now available to do this and it isn’t as hard as you might think. There are, however, some things you need to consider in order to ensure that your site is a success.
Before you start
Before you begin building a site, you need to think carefully about what you are going to sell and who your customers are. Have a look at what your competitors are doing online; you don’t want to copy them but you can learn from how they approach things.
If your customers are going to be all over the world you need to consider how you are going to handle the packaging and shipping of items they buy. Whether you’re a boutique retailer or an amazon agency pet brands specialist, well-known platforms such as Amazon and Shopify Plus will provide all of the tools you need.
The basics
There are several things you need in order to run an eCommerce site. A domain name allows your site to be found online. A hosting provider gets your site on the internet. A store platform allows you to list products and sell them. And finally, you need a way of accepting payments.
Your domain name needs to be short and memorable. Avoid using dashes and so on as they just make things more difficult. Consider whether you want to protect your brand by buying other versions of the same address – .com as well as .co.uk versions, for example.
Choosing a host
The host provides the server from which your site is made available to the internet. There are lots of hosting options available and it’s important to choose carefully; if your site is down or unreliable, you will lose customers and search rankings.
With a lot of different hosting companies available, it can be difficult to choose the best one for your needs. Key factors to consider when choosing a host include the amount of bandwidth they offer which determines how much traffic your site can handle; the speed with which sites load; how much storage you have for your site; and the host’s uptime statistics. Compare the offerings from different hosting companies and take time to look at independent reviews. If your business is going to be heavily reliant on selling online then the cheapest option may not be the best.
Choosing a platform
Having chosen a domain name and a host, you now need an eCommerce platform. This is the software that allows you to build your online store. There are many options out there but try to find one that doesn’t require a lot of technical know how if you’re going to be doing this on your own. A very well known platform such as Shopify Plus will provide all of the tools you need.
Most platforms use a template-based approach, making it easy to get started and begin building your store. Do take some time to consider the design options available, otherwise, you risk your site looking too similar to other people’s. Make sure you use your own business colour scheme, logos and so forth in order to make your site distinctive. You will also need to ensure it’s mobile-friendly as more people now access the web on smartphones than on PCs.
As with hosting, you need to look beyond the price and to review the features you are getting and at how easy it is going to be to expand the capabilities of your site as the business grows.
Most platforms offer you a range of payment options including popular providers such as PayPal. It’s important to be able to take card payments and you need to confirm that any payment option here is PCI DSS compliant.
Once your site is active
Building a site and getting it online is only the start. You need to ensure that people are able to find you and that means making your site search engine friendly. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ensures that you are easy to find on sites such as Google. It means including appropriate keywords and creating valuable content for your audience. Your SEO will benefit if you make your site easy to navigate.
To support discoverability and consistency across search and marketing channels, many businesses often rely on product feed management tools to keep product information accurate, structured, and optimised for platforms like Google Shopping and social commerce networks. These tools can help ensure pricing, availability, and descriptions remain up to date, improving visibility and click-through rates.
It’s vital to keep your site up to date too; stale content won’t attract visitors. Adding a blog related to your business to your site and keeping it updated with fresh and interesting content, should form an important part of your ongoing SEO strategy (but by no means the only part).
You will also need to think about promoting your site through outbound marketing like email marketing or social media. Do remember, however, that if you are collecting email addresses when you make sales you need to have permission to use them for marketing purposes.