Choose Your eCommerce Website Builder
Luckily you can have unlimited access to DIY services from the websites of reputable Website Builders like Wix and WordPress. If you want to run an affiliate program, you can join a reputable eCommerce platform like Strong Future International SFI. On this platform, you have access to a free webpage to do your business from. This is more so when you don’t have the right technical knowledge to do things right. On SFI platform, you can set your eCommerce store up and running in a matter of minutes. If you choose to build your website on WordPress platform, it allows you to add eCommerce functionality plug-ins to the website. These allow you to customize your eCommerce website as you choose to then add more options if you so wish.
Choose a Suitable Domain Name and Hosting Platform
Here is where things become a bit tricky. You must carefully choose a domain name that is not already in use by anyone else. The hosting platform must first sort that out before hosting your website. Your domain name should ideally be your business name or its variation, if the original match is already taken up. You may be required to pay monthly hosting fees when your store is up and running. That in essence may be your only true cost if you are building a DIY eCommerce website. No matter how your website comes about, make sure you take into account crucial operational factors like reliability, security, reputation, uptime, loading speed and more to make sure it is really useful to your business. For low-cost purposes, you can consider the hosting plans of Hostinger, Hostgator and Dreamhost.
Pick the Right Theme/Template to Customize
If you are building your website DIY on WordPress or Wix, you have access to a range of free themes you can choose from and customize for your eCommerce website. On WordPress, you can easily integrate your eCommerce website with WooCommerce through plug-ins. If done correctly, the website will become really suitable for displaying products, taking orders, receiving payments and shipping out purchased products. When your chosen theme is right and suitable, it easily molds into your eCommerce business. You must make sure that the theme you choose to customize has the right visual appeal and is easy to navigate. This is in addition to other vital and necessary traits like mobile-friendliness and high flexibility for easy adaptation.
Add Your Products/Services to the Website
This is where the real marketing takes root: adding products to your website. The way the products are displayed and the descriptions accompanying them are of vital importance for marketing purposes. Be sure to accompany your displayed products with a clear and concise product description. This is because the more informative this description is the more impactful it is. If you provide the necessary information in the right order, it makes it easier to skim, assimilate and understand.
Use only High Quality Professional Photos of your Products
The average human being is highly attracted to the visuals of your marketing products. So, if you use high quality and professional photos of your products, they attract attention easily. If you are marketing affiliate products, embedding these photos with affiliate links/codes helps to direct buyers to the appropriate website where the products can be purchased. Using the right keywords on the products description helps major search engines like Google to find the product on your website. Ultimately, these efforts help to make the process of choosing the right product fairly easy for the consumer.
Set Up your Acceptable Payment Methods
If you built your website DIY on Wix or WordPress, you can easily set the payment options you prefer. Most eCommerce website builders and plug-ins offer multiple payment options to eCommerce stores owners. They have access to online payments via multiple payment processors, Debit/Credit cards, Cash-on-delivery and so on even though each method may come with its own fees, processing time, and ease-of-use considerations.
Set Up your Shipping Options
Onsite, you can also set your preferred shipping methods which your customers can choose from depending on their convenience. Setting up the right shipping option is necessary and hugely important because it can serve as a marketing technique as well. This is why Free Shipping can be one of the top reasons many people buy products online and save costs. Even if the products cannot be delivered free, be sure to assure consumers that you are using the most reliable and cheapest method to deliver their products.
Test and Launch Your eCommerce Website
Before you launch your eCommerce website, make sure to test the website well enough to be sure it does what you expect it to do. That way, you can always take quick steps to rectify whatever faults you find with it before launching it. Thereafter, you must keep an eye on whatever faults you’ll encounter along the road through user experience and comments. It is hugely important to be sure the website is optimized for mobile devices. You can then test how it performs on cell phones and other smart mobile devices. This is because, according to Google reports, a very high percentage of eCommerce traffic comes via smart mobile devices.
Conclusion
Any business owner who is determined and serious about it can easily create a low-cost eCommerce website by DIY approach. Even though DIY approach to create the right eCommerce website is a possibility, it usually takes quite a bit of time and effort to get it done. Additionally, it is quite a difficult option for people with minimal technical knowledge. However through DIY approach, you can always take full advantage of low-cost eCommerce website creation options that offer a lot of flexibility, tools, and plug-ins. Any time you wish, and as you wish, you can easily maintain and modify the website on your own without any outside technical assistance. Doing so helps you to save time and costs.
