Create your Online Sales Site: the Guide to Success

 

Online sales are the most used mode of commerce since the beginning of the health crisis. With the competition that is tough, it is essential to have an online sales site to be closer to your customers.

How to create your online sales site? The answer to this question can be found in this article.

Create your own online sales site

If you love computers and are comfortable with a computer, you can launch your e-commerce site yourself. It is useless to call on professionals to create your online sales site. All you have to do is do some research and follow tutorials on YouTube.

Remember that your online sales site should be as welcoming as your physical store. It is the showcase of the products you sell and even your entire business. It is important to give it the greatest care that you can very well ensure by creating your site yourself. It takes more time, but you invest more in your project.

Create your online sales site

Creating your own online sales site is also the way to demonstrate your technical skills and your computer talents. You can add details to your site that other competitors haven't thought to add to promote your products even more. For example, add a blog of product sheets on the site.

If you want to experiment with this alternative, you can get help from website builders. These allow you to create an online store easily (see also how to create a shop on Facebook). This is the case of Wix, Shopify, Oxatis, Bigcommerce, Weebly and iPao.

If creating your own website is not tempting for you, or if you really do not know how to create a site, you can always use the services of professionals. More and more E-merchants are using them to create their online sales site.

By doing a little research, you will find a list of providers who can satisfy all your requests. They will use their talent and technical knowledge to deliver a website ready for the success of your business.

But for that, there are a few criteria you need to consider when choosing the ecommerce store builder.

The service provider chosen to create his online sales site must be a professional and a specialist. In other words, he must be able to deliver a fully functional, durable and effective website.

Many e-commerce website creation projects do not reach their completion because of the difficulty of the stages of its design. It can be complicated in the hands of a person who is not used to online sales sites.

In addition to knowing how to build a website, your service provider must know how to develop a website, master graphic design, SEO and content management. It has to be the work of a whole team. This is why the creation of websites must be done through a provider specializing in the creation of online sales sites.

Note: See also our advice guide to educate how to become a self-employed entrepreneur. Discover on this guide the effects of the status of auto entrepreneur, the method to find a good idea of self-business, the elements required for registration, and the tips to become an auto entrepreneur according to the activity exercised.

The elements to take into account to create your online sales site

Whether by a professional or by yourself, a few elements must absolutely be taken into account when creating a website.

The domain name

Finding a domain name is the first thing that any future E.-merchant must do to create his online sales site. This is the URL of your web page.

You must then consult a registrar site such as OVH, 1& 1 Ionos and Gandi. It is also possible to find out about the availability of the domain name and make your reservation.

You can also get your web hosting like Lws in a registrar site. This will be used to store the files of your web page.

The catalog of your products or services

This is the most important step in website creation. Here you have 3 different methods to choose from.

• Synchronization of the e-commerce site and the ERP or CRM

This method is more effective, but more expensive. It gives you the possibility to synchronize your stocks and the categories of products you sell, your customers and the pricing conditions for each type of customer...

This method is more advantageous especially for the merchant who wants to create his online sales site faster. Also, the e-commerce store will be easier to administer, a few clicks are enough.

• Import Excel files in CSV format

This way to create your online sales site is easier and faster. All you have to do is create an Excel file. You will insert all the products that will appear on your catalog. Make sure you don't forget anything.

But this simplicity no longer remains when managing your online store. You have to manually manage your customers and inventory. Also, the data on your website must be aligned with your internal monitoring tools.

• The insertion of products in the back office of the online store

The latter method is the most complicated. This involves manually integrating the products or services from your catalog into the back office of the website. It takes a lot of time and attention. In addition, a possible extension of the page as well as the update of the contents will be more difficult.

In addition, you can also consult our complete guide to help you get started in e-commerce. This article presents in a few paragraphs what e-commerce is and what form to exploit it, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of online commerce.

The payment method in your shop

The means of payment are one of the elements that must absolutely be taken into account when creating your online sales site. For this, you can use your bank. Normally, they provide you with turnkey e-commerce payment solutions.

All you have to do is integrate it on your merchant site to receive your winnings directly into your bank account. Security and updating are provided by the bank.

And to make the purchase on your e-commerce site more convenient for customers, you can vary your payment methods. For example, you can use PayPal, one of the most famous at the moment.

And if you install a messaging system such as digitaleo, you can reassure your customers with each payment and for deliveries.

Legal notice

This is a detail not to be overlooked if you want to stay within the law and market your products safely.

Thus, it is necessary to comply with the regulations laid down by GDPR on the management of your personal data. You should then create legal notices for your online sales site. For this purpose, there is a legal notice generator.

You must also inform your potential customers about your GTC or general conditions of sale. For the visual, do not display it on the pages of your site. You can give a link to the GTC.

Updating your online sales site

If you have managed to create your online sales site (see also how to create a dropshipping site), know that it is not over. You still have to take care of order management and make an update from time to time.

The difficulty of this step depends on the tool chosen for the creation of showcase site. Prestashop is for example more practical than a CMS like Wix and Oxatis.

You should also do a redesign to improve the visual of your site (find out how to have a successful design on its e-commerce site). You could do it yourself or hire a web designer.

And if you have used a web agency to create your website, they will provide you with all the necessary recommendations. You could then carry out the management of your site according to your needs and that of your brand. There are even some who offer you tailor-made online training. This way, you no longer need to search for help updating your product catalog.

The best website editors to create your online sales site

Making a website for any type of online sale such as dropshipping is currently accessible to all. All you have to do is use Content Management System or CMS authoring software and follow tutorials. Here are the best web software to create your online sales site:

WordPress

It is one of the most popular CMS to create your online sales site. It is a free, free and open source tool. The use of this tool has many advantages:

• Its many users invest in improving it day by day to make the necessary renewals and to correct defects such as bugs
• The WordPress site has well-stocked technical documentation to help all users in case of problems
• It is very easy and simple to use. This manifests itself in its back-office interface which is automatic and simplifies the integration of your catalog.
• WordPress has many plugins like Classic Editor, OptinMonster, Optimization, and WooCommerce in dropshipping. If you are a beginner in this area, WooCommerce is the plugin best suited to your needs.

Presta shop

It is also free, open source and unlimited. To create your online sales site, Presta shop is ideal. It is very practical and provides you with a wide choice of templates and extensions that can be free or paid.

It is the perfect website editor for beginners because of its simplicity, but also thanks to the user groups that can help you in case of difficulties.

Magento

This tool is much more complicated. To create a professional website, it is the publisher that must be consulted. But to be able to handle it successfully, you need to have a little experience in creating an e-commerce site.

But if Magento is difficult to use, it is because it offers invaluable benefits. You can create a multitude of mini websites, multishops and multilingual sites.

Also, creating your online sales site with Magento facilitates the crucial step of natural referencing. This is mandatory if you want your store to be visible on the first page of the various search engines.

It should be noted that SEO optimization is mandatory, regardless of the CSM you use to create an e-commerce site. Be aware that it is useless to have a site if you do not intend to optimize it. It is also advisable to install ergonomics to encourage customers to return to your home and to increase the conversion rate.

Shopify

It is a Canadian e-commerce platform that is increasingly popular with e-merchants who work in dropshipping. This is mainly thanks to the fact that it is intuitive and very easy to use.

It uses SaaS or Software as a Service mode, so you no longer need to use other software. Shopify is more suitable for beginners and those who only want to create small or medium-sized e-commerce sites. Once created, your site could be manipulated on any medium (tablet, smartphone, computer ...).

The only downside to Shopify is that it is paid. Creating your online or dropshipping site on Shopify requires the payment of a monthly subscription. And if you are not yet decided, you have the opportunity to try it for 14 days.

Note that these are just examples among the best website builders, there are others like Jimdo or Joomla.

Create your online sales site with computer languages

If CSMs were created to help e-merchants who do not know much about computers, another method to create a merchant site is available to those who are skilled with coding and web languages.

It is indeed possible to create your online sales site without going through the Content Management System Software. This method allows you to further customize your site.

To do this, you need languages like CSS, PHP, JavaScript and HTML. For HTML codes, you can get them from publisher sites like wysiwyg.