Creating an Online Shopping Website - A Step-by-Step Tutorial
When I first considered opening an online store a couple of years ago, I imagined having to hire a web developer, buy a costly server and spend several weeks coding my website. As it turned out, the technical aspect was just a part of it.
The real issue was deciding on the type of goods to sell, the methods of payments, delivery and making your website trustworthy.
If you think of starting an online store selling clothes, electronics, makeup, handcrafted goods, food or digital items, you can do it much easier than you might think. There is no need to build a whole new website from scratch.
I have found that for a novice, the simplest way to start is to build a small catalog of items, use an e-commerce platform, try the ordering procedure yourself and optimize the website according to your customer feedback.
This guide will take you through the whole process step by step.
What Do You Need for Creating an Online Shop?
It is advisable to have prepared some necessary items before the creation of the online website:
Name of the business/shop
Products to sell
Photos of products
Product descriptions and prices
Domain name
Hosting/E-commerce platforms
Payment methods
Shipping/ delivery methods
Contact page
Privacy Policy and all necessary pages
Plan for returns and refunds
There is no need to start with many products. Actually, it will be much more convenient to work with a dozen products rather than loading up a thousand right away.
Step 1: Define What Will Be Sold?
This may seem like a trivial matter, but it is actually crucial.
Instead of opening a generic store with products from mobile accessories to shoes, try to specialize on a particular product type.
Examples of specialization can be:
Clothing for men
Women fashion clothes
Mobile accessories
Computer accessories
Handmade goods
Beauty products
Home decorations
Sporting goods
Books
Digital products
Such specialization will simplify the process of writing useful content and understanding of the client.
For example, when selling mobile accessories, the items can be divided into the following categories: phone cases, chargers, cables, screen protectors, and power banks.
Step 2: Select a Domain Name
A domain is the website address people use to access your business.
Like this:
yourshop.com
It is best to select a short, pronounceable and memorable domain.
Avoid domain names which are very long and include irrelevant symbols and numbers. If people hear the name of your business on the phone, they must be able to remember it without much effort.
You should also make sure your chosen domain name is not in use by other businesses or protected as a trademark.
Step 3: Choose the Appropriate Platform
You do not have to develop the website from scratch.
For a beginner, using platform systems such as Shopify and WooCommerce will simplify the task.
Custom-made websites may be considered as an alternative.
Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce specific solution which allows creating product pages, managing orders, setting up shipping, as well as connecting payment gateways within one single system.
It is especially beneficial if you do not want to waste your time on technical website maintenance.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce runs on WordPress and provides more freedom in terms of website management.
It is a preferable choice if you have some experience in WordPress usage or want to have more options in terms of customization.
The disadvantage is that you should take care of website hosting, updates, backup, protection, and other aspects yourself.
Custom Website
Website creation may be performed using such technologies as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Laravel, React, and others.
In this case, you have a lot of freedom, but this approach might become more expensive and difficult.
If you are just beginning your way in e-commerce, I would advise to start with an existing e-commerce solution rather than building everything from scratch.
Step 4: Build Your Store
After choosing your platform, build your store and set up basic settings.
Generally, you will have to include:
Name of your store
Logo
Contact details for your business
Currency
Country/selling region
Shipping settings
Tax settings if required
Payment options
Notification settings for customers
Do not hurry with your settings.
A mistake that I would not commit in my business is that I will not just choose default settings and think that all is fine.
Step 5: Choose Clean Store Design
Your online store does not need to be fancy.
Clean design is even more beneficial.
It should be clear from the first glance of your visitors:
What do you sell?
Do not complicate your navigation.
Moreover, your store must be optimized for mobile phones. Nowadays, many people look for products on their phones, therefore, you should not think only about the website on computer.
Check your website on both computer and smartphone by yourself.
Step 6: Upload Your Products
This is where most new entrepreneurs make unnecessary mistakes.
Do not just upload an image and say:
"Good quality product. Purchase now."
It won't give enough information to a person who is trying to decide whether he/she is going to spend his/her money.
Product page must include:
Product name
Photos
Price
Available sizes/colors
Key specifications
Ingredients/materials where needed
Product dimensions where needed
Stock information
Shipping information
Return policy
Purchase button
Use Good Product Photos
Professional camera is not required.
Modern phones are able to shoot good quality images with proper lighting.
Upload multiple photos of your product from various angles, don't use just one photo that is highly edited.
For example, if you are selling clothes, provide photos of front side, back side, details of fabric, available colors, and sizes.
Step 7: Write Helpful Product Descriptions
Consider what the customer will want to know before buying.
For example, if you’re selling a backpack, consider more than just writing:
"Good quality backpack for daily use."
You can also describe things like:
Dimensions (approx.)
Number of compartments
Materials
Laptop friendly?
Colors available
Weight
Uses
Any warranty information
It’s better that the customer doesn’t have to ask you these questions when it could be easily stated on the product page.
Step 8: Set Up Your Payment Methods
Customers need to have an easy and reliable way to pay.
Based on your country and target market, some examples are:
Credit cards & Debit cards
Bank transfer
Digital wallets
COD
Payment gateway
Other payment methods supported in your country
In case you're running an online business in Pakistan, select payment methods which your customers will actually be able to use.
Do not add any payment method just because others are using it. First check whether it’s available for your store, and what the transaction fees are.
Step 9: Arrange Delivery and Shipping
Payment is only one aspect of the ordering process.
You have to establish how the product will be delivered to the customer.
Determine:
Territory where deliveries are made
Shipping fees
Delivery time estimates
Same or next-day delivery in case it is available
Tracking system
Procedures if the package is returned
How customers will initiate a return
Provide realistic delivery time estimates.
Do not promise one-day delivery if delivery normally takes 3 to 5 days to avoid misleading the customers and generating more complaints.
Step 10: Important Website Pages
A professional online store requires more pages than just the products pages.
In the very least, you may consider making:
About Us
Introduce yourself, describe your online store, and describe what your customers can expect from you.
Contact Us
Give your clients a realistic method of contacting you.
This may include:
Phone number
Contact form
Your business address if needed
Social media account(s)
Privacy Policy
Explain how customer data is gathered, used, saved, and shared.
Terms and Conditions
Describe the terms of use for your website and purchases made there.
Shipping Policy
Explain your shipping area, shipping fees, and other relevant conditions.
Return and Refund Policy
Describe under what circumstances your customers may return their orders and get their refunds.
These pages are not just to decorate your online store.
Step 11: Keep Checkout Simple
Let's say you have found a product which you want to purchase.
You click 'Buy Now', and the website immediately asks you 15 things about yourself.
It is not likely that you will like such an experience.
Make checkout as simple as reasonably possible.
Ask only for information needed to process your order.
The following information must be easily available for the buyer:
Price of the product
Shipping cost
Total amount
Method of payment
Delivery details
Information regarding returns
There shouldn't be any unpleasant surprises in the final step.
Step 12: Test the Website Before the Launch
This is one of the stages I wouldn't miss.
Before starting to advertise your store, pretend that you are its customer.
Open the website on your phone.
Find the product.
Add it to the shopping cart.
Complete checkout procedure.
If your payment processor offers this feature, test the payment procedure in the test mode.
See if everything is okay with the confirmation email.
See if there are no problems with the order in the dashboard of the store.
Check the contact form.
Try to click on important menu links.
For instance, a button to purchase a product might function well on a computer, but be hard to hit on a mobile device. The shipping feature could somehow be disabled for some geographic locations.
This will identify these issues before your customers experience them.
Step 13: Implement Basic SEO
Optimizing the website through SEO techniques helps customers find your products using search engines.
Here are some basic steps:
Use descriptive product names.
Examples include:
Bad product name:
Product 123
Good product name:
Men's Water Proof Travel Backpack 25L
Don't write redundant descriptions with the same keyword used repeatedly.
You should also consider the following:
Title tags
Meta descriptions
Alt tags for images
Clean URLs
Internal links
Categories
Blog articles
Mobile usability
Site speed
SEO is not about stuffing each page with keywords. It should make the page helpful for a customer looking for such a product.
Step 14: Analyze Data & Use Search Tools
After launching, you have to know what your visitors are doing.
You can use tools like Google Analytics to get insight into traffic and user behavior.
Google Search Console can help you analyze the appearance of your site in Google Search and diagnose specific search issues.
Do not fixate on statistics on Day 1.
Focus on trends.
Examples:
When 1,000 visitors visit a product page, but only two of them add the product to the cart, figure out what is wrong.
Is the price unclear?
Are there no decent pictures?
Are there no shipping details?
Is the page loading slow?
Data will show you what is going on, but you have to reason with your customer's point of view.
Step 15: Promote Your Online Store
The launch of the website does not mean that your customers will find it.
You have to tell them that your site exists.
Depending on your products, you could try using:
TikTok
YouTube
Google Search
Email marketing
WhatsApp communication if needed
Useful blog content
Paid ads
Don't waste money on a big advertising budget right away.
Begin in small steps and check how things work.
In case one product garners more attention than another with hardly any, try to understand why it happens.
An Example Case
Let's suppose that you wish to build an online shop for selling phone accessories.
For instance:
Shop name: MobileGear
Items for sale:
Phone cases
USB-C cables
Quick chargers
Phone screens protection
Power banks
Categories for every product.
Take photos of every item using your smartphone.
Specifications for every product.
Shipping costs.
Payment options.
About Us, Contact, Privacy Policy, Shipping, Returns pages.
Then test the whole procedure of ordering from your phone.
Finally, you may add informative articles like:
Choosing a right phone charger
USB-C cable buyer guide
Ways to protect your phone screen
Power bank capacity guide
Such articles will attract people who aren't ready yet to purchase the product but just research it.
Mistakes Made by New Internet Retailers
1. Overloading the Store with Products
Having too many products from the start will be a disaster for management.
Start with a reasonable number of products.
2. Using Low-Quality Product Pictures
As customers cannot touch the product through a screen, the picture is important.
3. Not Showing Shipping Costs
Surprises on the checkout page may lead customers to leave the cart.
4. Not Taking Into Account Mobile Visitors
Always check how the store looks on a phone.
5. Copying Product Description
Do not copy product description just because it is already there at competitors' stores.
Write your own descriptions.
6. Making Unreasonable Guarantees
Stay away from guarantees like "100% guaranteed result" unless you can prove it.
Trust is more precious than any quick sale.
7. Not Preparing for Returns
Sometimes even the best product gets returned by customers.
Think about the return policy even before your big sales campaign starts.
8. Overspending Before Testing
There is no need to spend a lot of money to see if customers would be interested in a product.
Conclusion
Designing an e-commerce store may be less difficult than before but designing is just the first step towards success.
Not all those online stores that will stand the test of time will be the most beautifully designed stores. These are stores that offer convenient purchasing experience, correct information about the goods, clear communication, reliable shipping services, and professional handling of any issues.
Begin modestly, test everything personally, gather customer feedback, and keep improving your store little by little.
You don’t have to design a perfect e-shop when opening for business. All you need is a reliable store that will be appealing enough for customers to return there again.
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