How to Create an Online Store Without Any Experience
Let’s be honest honest about something here.Building an online store is NOT difficult. Finding a product to sell online or creating an online store that sells is harder.In this post, I’m going to show you exactly, step-by-step how to build your store by yourself without experience.Don’t believe me? Hundreds of people have done so in my Build a Store in 21 Days eCommerce challenge. You can also join our private Facebook Group to get started.
19 Steps to Create an online Store
- Create a Plan
- Choose a Brand Name
- Design a Logo
- Setup Your Store
- Design Your Store
- Create Must-Have Pages
- Add Your Products
- Create Product Collections
- Create Navigation Menus
- Add Content to About Us Page
- Add Content to Help Pages
- Add Content to Legal Pages
- Setup Shipping Options
- Setup Payment & Taxes
- Setup Customer Service
- Setup Facebook
- Setup Instagram
- Setup Email Marketing
- Setup Analytics
By following these steps, you will easily be able to create your store in less than 21 days.Ready to start? Join our FREE eCommerce challenge: Build a Store in 21 Days
The Tools You Need to Create an Online Store
Creating a store becomes a lot easier when you know what tools to use. That’s why it’s very important to plan things ahead of time.You will a tool for:
- Shopping Cart Software
- Graphic Design Software
- Digital Marketing Software
- Shipping Software
And many more.That’s why inside our free eCommerce challenge, the first thing we do is share a list of 25+ eCommerce tools to help you create your store. This list is free!Want more tools? The eCommerce Toolbox includes a curated list of 375+ tools.
Getting Started in eCommerce
Create a Plan
Just like everything else in life, every project needs a plan. It allows you to focus and avoid wasting time and money on things that do not help your efforts in creating your store.
Choose a Brand Name
Don’t just sell products. Build a brand. That’s how you succeed in the long-term in eCommerce. Products come and go. A brand allows you to sell more products from different categories and helps you increase the value of your customers. You also need to find an available domain name for your store.
Design a Logo
Owning an online store is a proud moment for any entrepreneur. You see it come to life when you start designing a professional logo that shoppers will immediately recognize especially on social media.
Setup Your Store
Now that you have plan, a brand and a logo, you can go ahead and create your store using one of the shopping cart solutions. I personally always recommend you use Shopify to get started in eCommerce (note: this is an affiliate link. I get a commission if you decide to sign up for a paid account. Thank you for the support).
Design Your Store
You can simply use a template to get started or have someone design your store from scratch. I always recommend to start with a template and eventually as the business grows, you may want to change the design later.
Create Must-Have Pages
An online store needs more than just product pages. You need to create pages to help users navigate the website such as the about us page, shipping page and help page.
Add Product
Start adding products to your store by making sure you include product images, product names, descriptions, inventory and pricing information.
Create Product Collections
Organize your products by assigning them to different categories also called collections inside Shopify.
Create Navigation Menus
Allow shoppers to easily browse your store by providing them and easy to use navigation menu in the header and in the footer.
Add Content to About Us Page
Tell your story! Talk about what differentiates you in your about us page. Share who’s behind the brand and how it all started. This page is great for building a relationship with new visitors to your website.
Add Content to Help Pages
Customers will have questions before and after making a sale. Make sure to provide answers to their concerns throughout the website starting with the help pages.
Add Content to Legal Pages
Protect shoppers and your eCommerce business with a privacy policy page and a terms of use page.
Setup Shipping Options
Offer shipping options that allow shoppers to receive purchased items fast and in good condition.
Setup Payment & Taxes
Accept all major credit cards including Paypal so you get paid for your products. Don’t forget about setting up your tax rates as well.
Setup Customer Service
Provide a way for customers to reach out to you by email, live chat, phone and a mailing address.
Setup Facebook
Make sure to create a Facebook page and install your Facebook pixel
Setup Instagram
Create your Instagram profile and make sure to optimize it so your brand is well communicated on this popular social network.
Setup Email Marketing
Build your email list from day one of launching your eCommerce business. It’s a valuable asset. As they say, the money is in the list!
Setup Analytics
If you can’t measure, you can’t improve. Make sure to add Google Analytics to your online store.
Conclusion
Building an online store is a fun journey and an amazing skill to learn for any type of industry.Want to build a store? Join our free challenge today!