Starting Up A E-Commerce Website or Blog

Before we start the discussion lets discuss in few words what blog is all about. 

What is a Blog
A blog is often used like a ‘journal’ where an individual make entries of commentary describing events and uploading new material such as images and video. Visitors to a blog are able to comment on these entries and contribute material, but cannot modify the entries. 

 
 Blogging Platform
A blogging platform is the software used to manage your blog. It allows you to create blog pages, add content, images, video and everything else that you would need to do when updating your blog. Another name for a blogging platform is a CMS ( Content Management System).

There are lots of different open source platforms which most web hosting companies will support when you are creating your blog. The main blogging platforms are:

• WordPress – is the most popular and customizable content management system (CMS) in the world
• Ghost – is a new blogging platform that is creating a lot of noise in the blogosphere
• Drupal – is quite popular but is difficult for novices
• Joomla – another fairly popular CMS but there is a very steep learning curve
• Blogger – a free blogging solution from Google

According to Forbs in one of their comprehensive article co-authored with Jeff Oxford. on
Sep 5, 2014 @ 11:39 AM
He said Starting an eCommerce website might sound like a huge undertaking, but it’s not as hard as you may think. In this article I’ll shine some light on the steps necessary to start your own eCommerce website this week and give you the tools you need to get started. All you need is dedication, perseverance, and the willingness to learn.

 Now remember that a E Commerce website is just like an asset for any online business. It is designed in a way so that it helps to achieve the objectives of the e-commerce business i.e. to allow users to make an immediate purchase decision on the website. A designer needs to be careful and planned in his approach while designing an e commerce website. He/She has to think of all the principles of e-commerce website designing. First impressions are everything, and your design says it all. Below, there are some tips for the website design which would help to sell your products and won’t let your customers turn away

Pick a Domain name
One of the tricks of creating a popular and successful website – whether it be a business or a blog – is to pick a good domain name. However, picking domain names is a relatively tricky endeavor. Not only do you need to make sure potential visitors to your site will understand and remember the name, but you must do some research to see if a name you like is viable. Ultimately, though, by picking a concise and unique name, thinking about the future, and researching potential names, you’ll be able to pick a domain that will work for you.

Choose a concise domain name. The shorter your domain name, the easier it will be for people remember. Remembering a domain name is very important from a marketability perspective.

• Internet experts suggest using one or two words if possible.
• The less number of characters, the better. The average number of characters in the names of the top 100,000 websites is 9. A website like Amazon.com is well under this. A website named thebestonlinecandystore.com would be well over 9, and would make an unattractive domain name.

Pick the right extension. The extension you pick is very important, as it provides information about the type of business or website you are running. At the same time, the public has varying conceptions about different extensions. While most people trust “.com” extensions, they may be wary of “.biz” extensions.

• The most popular and often preferred extension is the .com extension. Roughly 75% of websites have it.
• Many web experts advise that if the .com is too expensive or is taken, you should probably try the .net or .org extensions – whichever is more appropriate. The .org extension is best used for nonprofit organizations. The .net extension is often used by companies that offer internet services.
• Other popular extensions include .info .biz, and .us. The .info extension is best used for websites that offer information to the public, the .biz extension is best used for businesses, and the .us extension should be used by companies located in the United States.

 Be sure that the site has a professional design: The website should look professional. Have different webpages, and all of your business information and polices on the website. Don’t make an incredibly long, single web page. Avoid crummy or cheesy graphics, broken links.

Ensure that there is Sufficient information: Make certain that you provide sufficient information on who owns the website and why they should be trusted. Since the customer is not in the physical store. He cannot actually see, touch and feel the products. So it is to be ensured that you provide good quality images with brief description on the web page. Also make details of the products as an option to see, for the customers.

Make sure that the site can be navigated easily. You need to have proper classification of all things. Use breadcrumbs to make navigation more clear. All the products should be classified under broad categories. Even under those categories, there should be sub-categories so as to make easy for the people to search for their desired products.

Shipping Size
How big (and heavy) is the product? Bigger and heavier products tend to have high shipping costs which can negatively affect sales. Most customers not only want free shipping, they expect it. For this reason it can be difficult to sell a product with a hefty shipping fee. Many online retailers combat this by including the cost of shipping into the price tag while raising the price and offering “free shipping.” However, these increases in price can decrease sales. Look for products that are smaller and don’t require expensive shipping costs.

The eCommerce platform manages all the products, categories, checkout process, and other aspects involved with a functional eCommerce website. There are dozens of eCommerce platforms available, most of which have relatively the same functionality and features. Choosing a platform can be a big hang up for a lot of entrepreneurs. I recommend taking the “Ready, Fire, Aim” mindset and just get something up and running now rather than spending hours and hours researching and testing various platforms.
I’ve worked with many different eCommerce platforms over the years and have found two that are both powerful as well as extremely easy to use.

1. Shopify (Starting at $14/mo) – Shopify has done everything they can to make setting up and running an eCommerce website as easy as possible. They handle all the hosting, security, and credit card processing to give store owners more time to focus on promoting their website. However this also means that webmasters are somewhat limited when it comes to changing how the website functions and looks. To combat this, Shopify has a wide range of website templates and apps. While there are free apps available, many have an associated monthly fee which can add up quickly.
2. OpenCart (Free)  – OpenCart is a very powerful and easy to use platform with a long list of features. Unlike Shopify, OpenCart is open source meaning webmasters have the ability to make any changes to the design or functionality of the website. However, this also means that hosting and website security will need to be setup manually. OpenCart also has thousands of pre-programmed “extensions” that allow users to easily customize the website without hiring a developer. Many extensions are free of charge while others have a one-time fee between $10 and $50.

Bottom line: If you want to get started as quickly and easily as possible, choose Shopify. However if you’re somewhat technical and want more control over the look and functionality of the website, choose OpenCart. Again, you can always move to another eCommerce platform down the road if necessary.

Domain Name and Hosting

If you’re using Shopify or any other hosted eCommerce platform, you can skip this section. For those who plan to use OpenCart or another open source platform, read on. Every website needs a domain name for their brand and server for hosting. However, eCommerce websites also need what’s called an SSL (secure sockets layer) Certificate to encrypt sensitive data such as credit card numbers and personal information. To make the process of getting a domain name, hosting account, and SSL Certificate as easy as possible I recommend using BlueHost.
BlueHost is a very popular and affordable web hosting company that also registers domain names. They have amazing customer support which makes it a great choice for beginners. For eCommerce websites, it’s generally a good idea to go with their Business Pro hosting account for higher performance as well as the much needed SSL certificate for added security. They also have a powerful and easy to use dashboard that even allows users to install OpenCart, or another eCommerce platform, with one click.

Logos and Web Design

A website’s design and branding can have a huge impact on how often website visitors purchase. Hiring a designer and having a website custom designed can cost $1,000’s or even $10,000’s. If you want to minimize start-up costs there are a few solutions to ensure a good looking website without breaking the bank.

• Purchase a Website Template – Online marketplaces such as ThemeForest offer thousands of different templates (aka “themes”) for websites. They also have themes specific to both OpenCart, Shopify, as well as a number of other eCommerce platforms. Many of these themes are beautifully designed and mobile friendly. They usually only cost $20-$50 which is a fraction of what it would cost to pay a designer. Best of all, these themes typically have built in customization options which make it easy customize the website the way you want.

• Get a Logo for Cheap – A logo is an important component for any branding and marketing efforts. Again, hiring a professional graphic designer is likely not the cheapest route. Instead, take a look at 99Designs ($299+) and 19 Dollar Logos ($19+). 99Designs is a crowd sourced design platform where dozens of designers submit their logo design and only the one you like best gets paid. The quality is great especially when you provide detailed instructions on what you’re looking for. 19 Dollar Logos on the other hand is much cheaper but only has a few concepts and revisions. Don’t be fooled by the price tag and ugly website, these guys do great work for $19. The quality isn’t nearly as good as 99Designs but it’s a strong solution for those on a budget.

Pricing Matters

For anyone who creates or manages a purchasing environment, a physical store, or an online store of any size, it’s no surprise that, duh, pricing matters. There are also some striking findings from eCommerce markets worldwide, which strongly proves this fact.
For example:

• Price has been named as the most important factor affecting the online purchasing decision by the 60% of all online shoppers worldwide. This number is even higher in emerging eCommerce markets.
• More than 90% of online shoppers invest time online to hunt the best deals and offers for the product they are planning to purchase. More than 10 mins per purchase on average.
• Around 20% of eCommerce website traffic comes from various Price Comparison Shopping Engines all around the world. This ratio is significantly higher for certain product categories like consumer electronics or similarly price-sensitive segments of eCommerce.

Therefore, eCommerce companies of all sizes from all around the world should better gear up with their pricing operations and approach it as a group effort, instead of just leaving it to the hands of a single department or a single employee within the company.
By applying various pricing approaches, eCommerce companies can actually utilize pricing both as a marketing weapon and a conversion rate optimizer. Let’s see how your eCommerce company might tackle the pricing issue from different angles, depending on its market positioning and strategies.

With this few steps your steps your E-Commerce Site is good to go!

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