My recommendations for an ecommerce website are as follows;
- Woocommerce – WordPress websites (my specialty)
- Shopify (built-in)
- Square (built-in)
- Squarespace (built-in)
- Wix (built-in)
If you do decide to sell online you need to learn more about how to help your customers find you. Entrepreneur.com has 4 Things You Need To Know About SEO
How are you managing your passwords? I use LastPass and starting March 16th their free version will restrict how many different types of devices you can save your passwords on. If this is a problem for you, here are some alternatives – 5 Password Managers to Replace LastPass on Mashable (please change your website admin password frequently)
Security is VIP when you have an eCommerce website. The amount of hacking is off the rails these days! I install Wordfence security on all the WordPress websites I maintain and it catches just about every breach. Whether you use Paypal, bank credit card processing, Square or any other payment processor you need to protect your website.
Google Analytics is essential to your new online shopping site… you need to know where customers are finding you, as well as where they are not. If you are constantly posting a link to a product on your LinkedIn business profile but not a single click comes from LinkedIn, focus your marketing efforts elsewhere!
Marketing your online store and products will look a little different than marketing services. Keywords, metadata, and on-page content will need to be updated on your website to reflect the products you are selling. Blogging and email marketing will need to be more sales-focused… not pushy, but “helpful”. Why do they need your product, what are the benefits of using your products, tell them what people are saying about your products. Depending on what your selling and who your target demographic is, you may need to try out a new social platform. TIK-TOK is on fire, and easier to use than you think… and it’s SO fun!
Now get out there and sell something! xo-Katie