Complete Guide to Building an E-Commerce Business

Complete Guide to Building an E-Commerce Business
CONTENT AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETINGFOR SMALL BUSINESSES
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Advancement in technology and an increasingly savvy consumer market has made e-commerce a

powerful force in the global economy. With more people opting to shop on the Internet, SMBs take steps
to reach this market by setting up online shops.
As more payment services providers get into the market, setting up an e-commerce website is no longer
cost-prohibitive. Today, anyone with basic web skills can set up a robust e-commerce site within a few
days and without breaking the bank.
So, you want to set up an online store? Good. But first things first.
One of the major things that buyers are
concerned about when shopping online is their
security.

With major online fraud cases being
reported around the world, you cannot blame
consumers for being extra cautious. Therefore,
when setting up an e-commerce store, you
need to plan carefully and keep security at the
forefront of your installation.
With that said, this guide will take you from
setting up your ecommerce site to fulfillment and
marketing. Let’s get started.
The Planning Stage
Before you jump to building your store, you must know what you will sell. At the least, answer these three
basic questions before proceeding:

• What kind of products do you want to offer?
• Are there any competitors in your niche?
• How would you like your website interface to look?
This is the planning stage of your business. You need to carefully consider your goals and how you see
your company. It also helps to start building your brand before you even start developing your site. To
begin, buy a matching domain name for your company and get a logo designed.
You can also start building clout for your business even before you launch. If you are online, set up
some profiles on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and start connecting with potential
customers (more on this later in the marketing segment of the eBook).
Complete Guide to Building an
E-Commerce Business
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You can also create a Google account for the company to access apps such as Google Analytics and
Google Docs that you can use for your business. Having a YouTube account is also important especially if
you will be using video to market your store.
The major work at this stage is to secure your store’s brand across the various online properties. This
should not take you more than a week to finish. Get a list of web properties that you want your store to
have a presence on and open accounts using your company’s name as the user name.
Domain Name and Hosting
If you already have the name of your shop, it is time to start setting
it up. The first thing to do is to register for a domain name. This
should not cost you more than $10 for a .com extension. You can
use NameCheap, GoDaddy or any other domain name registrar
you prefer. Your domain name will be part of your brand. Think
carefully about the name you want to use.
After getting the domain name, you need to find a good hosting
company. Look for a hosting company that has good servers and
that will be able to run your online store. If you do not have any
preferences, you can stick with servers that run PHP. The language
is open source and is supported in most server environments.
Make sure your hosting accounts will support PHP and MySQL
databases.

Also, check the features and capabilities of the hosting account. To begin, you want an account with your
own cPanel and unlimited bandwidth. With hosting companies like Bluehost and Hostgator, you can
get unlimited storage and bandwidth for less than $300 per year (based on their fair file storage policy).
There are many guides online that can help you with choosing the right hosting company.
Choosing Your E-commerce Package
You can build your online store through hosted solutions or self hosted solutions
i) Hosted Solutions
There are companies that host e-commerce scripts on their servers and provide everything that you will
need on the backend of your site. This is referred to as a hosted solution. With hosted solutions, you will
not have to upload any files or perform any programming. The only thing you will need is a domain name
to redirect and give your shop a unique URL.
ii) Self-Hosted Solutions
You can also choose to host ecommerce scripts on your servers. This is what constitutes a self-hosted
solution. You can use either open source or paid scripts and customize them to meet your needs. The
installation process is simple even if you are not a programmer at heart.
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Pros and Cons of Hosted Payment Gateways
Hosted payment gateways significantly reduce the time it takes to start an e-commerce store. With the
gateways, you do not have to program or install any scripts on your website to start accepting payments
online. You simply need to create a page for your business (on the checkout provider) and link to it. When
users select an item on your store, they will be directed to the payment services provider checkout page
to pay. After the payment has been made, customers will then be redirected to a “thank-you” or any
other page on your website.
The biggest drawback of using hosted solutions is that you may see lower
conversions. Most online shoppers are hesitant to complete the checkout
process on a third party website where they will be redirected to.
However, some hosted solutions have packages that allow you to
customize the checkout pages to match the design of your website. Having
a consistent brand is crucial for a good user experience on your shop.
TIP: When choosing a hosted checkout solution, keep in mind your customers’ user experience and security.
Top Hosted E-commerce Solutions
Many hosted solutions provide a good experience to users with you doing very little on your end. The
solutions have fairly similar administration panels, where you can upload photos and add catalogue
entries.
When using a hosted solution, be prepared to lose a lot of opportunity for customization. However, you
will benefit from added security and personal staff support.
There are many hosted e-commerce solutions you can go with. The following three are among the top
solutions:
a) Shopify
Shopify makes it easy for anyone to set up an e-commerce site. The website has great demos on how
easy it is to set up a store with them. Some of the features you will enjoy by setting up a store with them
include a custom mobile template, unlimited server bandwidth, SSL security, a personal app store and
more.
Shopify offers a lot more customization than other scripts in the market. To choose a theme, simply log
into the admin backend and select the design you want. If you have CSS/HTML knowledge, you can edit
the raw website design online. The editor has a simple User Interface (UI) that is similar to the WordPress
theme’s editor.
Shopify also offers live chat and support 24/7. Here are examples of stores built using it. You can try it
for free for 14 days or choose a package that will suit you. Pricing starts from $14 to $179 per month
depending on the features and functionalities you are looking for. Compare the pricing structure here.
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b) Yahoo! Merchant Solution
Yahoo! Merchant Solution may also be right for your small business. The layout of Y!MS is fairly straightforward
and can be easily customized. From the admin panel, you can check custom analytics to see how
your site is performing, where visitors are coming from, split test your offers and so on. You can accept
popular payment options on your Y!MS store including credit cards, checks, money orders and PayPal.
Click here to see all the features of Yahoo ecommerce solutions.
If you are looking for a hosted solution, Yahoo is a great company to partner with. You can take your
business from development to launch using Y!MS. Moreover, if you are looking for more customization,
the small business network is a great place to find talented designers and developers.
Y!MS ecommerce plans start from $19.98 to $224.96 per month depending on the package and features
you need. Here is a detailed comparison of the available plans.
c) BigCommerce
BigCommerce is similar to Shopify but has limited features. The website has a clean interface, making it
easy for users to sign up. You can easily add users, products, features and take payments online in just a
few minutes.
BigCommerce offers plenty of customization so you will never have to worry about branding. The
company gives you everything you need to set up an online store including a website, domain name,
secure shopping cart, product catalog, payment gateway, email account and so on.
The stores are built and optimized to rank well on Google and are also mobile friendly. The company’s
built-in marketing that includes discounts and coupon codes, automatically generated customer
lists, newsletters, and social media integration make sure you have an edge with your store from the
beginning. There are many beautiful store themes you can choose to get started with. Click here for a
showcase of stores powered by BigCommerce.
BigCommerce pricing ranges from $24.95 to 299.95 a month depending on the features your need. Here
is a breakdown of the features for each price package.