If you have figured out what products you want to sell, the next thing to do is to start building an ecommerce store!
The good news is that this is fairly easy. To begin with, you’re first going to want to create a general website if you don’t have one already. This is not only going to be used to promote your ecommerce store but may also provide the backbone of your store itself by providing a way for people to easily access it and find your goods.
An Introduction to WordPress
To create a website that will act as part of an ecommerce store, you’re probably going to want to make something using WordPress.
WordPress is a ‘content management system’ (CMS) that makes it easy for you to build your site, customize the look and add, edit and remove content as you see fit. It can be likened to a blogging platform similar to something like Blogger or LiveJournal – but it’s much more powerful than that and can be used to build entirely self-hosted websites.
What makes WordPress so amazing is just how easy it is to set up. This is a website that can be built as easily as creating a Facebook profile almost. This is practically a one-click installation but from there, it’s incredibly powerful and can provide you with all the features you’re likely to need.
And I don’t mean that WordPress is ‘as good’ as the tools that professionals use – this is the tool that the vast majority of professionals use. Or to be more precise, 40% of websites and blogs on the net are powered by WordPress and that includes many of the biggest blogs on the web like Mashable, Forbes, BBC America, Sony and more.
What this means for you is that you have a simple way to build a website that can be just as successful as any of those. This is a tried and proven means to build a website and removes the need to worry about whether the underlying code of your site might be holding you back.
It’s simply good business to choose WordPress and it doesn’t really make much sense to choose anything else!
And as though all that wasn’t enough to make WordPress by far the best choice, it’s also important to consider the huge amount of support and extra features that WordPress offers. The simple fact that so many big websites are using WordPress means that there’s a near-infinite supply of people who can help you with any technical difficulties you might be facing and there’s just as many support forums, online guides and more as well.
WordPress is also endlessly customizable and upgradable due to the ‘themes’ and ‘plugins’. Themes let you change the way that your site looks and is laid out with a simple installation. Meanwhile, plugins let you install additional features which can include all kinds of things like widgets for the sidebar, like comment sections and like entire ecommerce stores (this is the point at which your ears should be pricking up…). Many of the options we’ll be looking at throughout this book require you to be using WordPress – so just don’t even think about it!
Setting Up
So with that said, how do you build your WordPress site? The first thing you’ll need is hosting. This of course means that you’re paying for space on a server that will remain connected to the internet. In turn, that means that anyone with an internet connection will be able to find your website as long as they have the right address.
From there, you’ll then also need a domain name, which is the address people will type into their browser in order to be directed to the hosting you’re paying for.
Fortunately, most hosting providers also offer domain names, removing the need for you to find both separately. What’s also good is that both hosting and a domain name are relatively affordable and shouldn’t set you back more than $10 a month if that.
There are plenty of great hosting/domain name packages out there and to begin with, you won’t need to worry too much about things like your bandwidth or your space – usually a fairly standard package will more than cover you until your site gains some real momentum. And once that happens, you won’t need to worry about the cost of upgrading your service!
While there are lots of options to choose from, a good choice that will suit most purposes is BlueHost. If you don’t want to spend time comparing hosting packages, then head over to BlueHost.com and sign up there.
Make sure that you choose a domain name that will be helpful when it comes to marketing your site. You need something that somewhat describes the nature of your business but avoid using obvious ‘key phrases’ in your title – Google has said that the best practice for businesses is to focus on creating a brand.
Installation
If you choose to go ahead with a BlueHost account, then your hosting package will come with something called ‘cPanel’. This is basically a control panel that provides access to a lot of useful features that can help you get started with your website.
One of the best things included with cPanel is option to ‘one click install’ WordPress. That does exactly what it says it does, so log into your BlueHost account, choose ‘one click install’ and then choose ‘WordPress’. You’ll be walked through the process and really does take less than 2 minutes. The only tip to keep in mind is to expand the ‘advanced settings’ as this will let you enter a store name and a username and password for your WordPress account.
cPanel isn’t unique to BlueHost either. A lot of other hosting companies also provide the same features and will make it similarly easy for you to set up WordPress with a single click.
Failing that, you might need to go through the installation manually. This is a very simple process too. It involves using an FTP program or your hosting account’s file manager in order to upload the files you need. From there, you simply navigate to the installation page through your browser and follow the few simple steps.
You can find the WordPress files as well as all the steps you need to follow over at WordPress.com.
Note that it’s also possible to set up a ‘hosted’ WordPress account. That means that you won’t need your own hosting account or domain name because your blog will be stored at WordPress.com. This is a great option for building a free website if you’re a hobbyist. For making money though, it’s not something you should consider as it will make your business appear amateurish and it will limit many of the things you can do with it.
Themes and Set-Up
Now just point your browser at www.yoursite.com/wp-admin and enter the username and password you chose. You’re now logged into your dashboard where you’ll be able to add or edit content, change settings alter your theme, install plugins and more!
The first thing you’ll want to do is to change some basic settings which will include the site’s name and its ‘tagline’ (at the moment it says ‘Just Another WordPress Site’). This is still a pretty generic looking site at this point though, which is where adding and editing your themes comes into play. Simply log into your dashboard and then select Appearance > Themes > Add New. You can then browse through themes (both free and paid) that can be installed to completely change the look and navigation of your website.
Failing that, you can alternatively look at another external site such as Theme Forest (www.themeforest.com). Here you can find some more premium themes which will cost more but will also be more unique, more professional and more professional looking.
To install plugins meanwhile, you just need to go to Plugins > Add New. There are again plenty you can choose from including both paid and free options. These can do some excellent things for you though, from pretty much handling your SEO for you, to adding comments or other interactive elements to your website. You can also find plugins that give you more customization options (changing your fonts for instance), that speed up your site and much more.
Have a play around and see what you can come up with. You’ll find that it’s fairly easy to build a completely unique and powerful website that looks just as professional as any of the big names we discussed earlier.