Free PHPFree PHP scripts classes and info

How to Create an Ecommerce Website: 7-Step Guide for Beginners

Just like one does not simply walk into Mordor in “The Lord of the Rings” — thanks Boromir — one does not simply create an ecommerce website, either.

That’s because building an ecommerce website requires a lot of planning.

Besides choosing who will make your ecommerce website (like an in-house developer using a website builder or a third-party agency using a seasoned design and development team), you also have to decide how to set up your ecommerce site to drive the maximum amount of traffic and sales.

So don’t wait when it comes to learning how to build an ecommerce site. Instead, keep reading to get started now!

P.S. If you’re looking for a fast answer for how to make an ecommerce website, think about 30-day web design services. They provide you with a brand-new site (created by our award-winning, U.S.-based design team) in 30 days so you can start selling your products online as soon as possible.

Table of Contents

1. 3+ best website platforms for building an ecommerce website
2. How to build an ecommerce website
3. What you should do after you create an ecommerce website

3+ best website platforms for building an ecommerce website

When it comes to building ecommerce websites, you need a platform for creating your site. Choosing a platform, however, can quickly become overwhelming. You have dozens of options.

The table below, however, can make your life easier because it highlights the best website platforms available today:

How to build an ecommerce website

Now that you have a quick overview of some of the best platforms for creating an ecommerce site, you can start learning how to build an ecommerce website.

1.      Buy a domain name

Every site needs a domain name. You can think of your domain name like your online address.

A few examples of domain names are:

• google.com
• apple.com
• microsoft.com

Depending on your business, you may already have a domain name. If you do, you can check this item off your to-do list for building an ecommerce website. If you don’t, you’ll need to decide on a domain name.

For the best results, pick a domain name synonymous with your brand like Google is with google.com.

If your preferred domain name isn’t available, you have two options:

• Find an alternative
• Offer to buy the domain name from the current owner

No matter which route you take, you’ll want to confirm that your chosen ecommerce platform (discussed in the next step) doesn’t offer a free domain name. Some platforms will cover the cost of purchasing your domain — if they do, you’ll want to take advantage of that offer.

2.      Choose your website builder

Next, pick your website builder.

A few examples of some website builders are:

• Shopify
• Wix
• Squarespace
• Web design and development agency

If you choose a traditional website builder, like Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify, this guide for how to create an ecommerce website will shrink. That’s because most builders already integrate with online payment gateways, plus offer built-in features to make your life easier, like shipping tax calculators.

In comparison, working with a web design and development agency requires more input from your team. While an experienced web design company, like WebFX, will provide recommendations and take care of implementing all these features, you still need to sign-off on what you want to do.

That’s because a web design agency needs to develop and enable these features for you.

Of course, you can still use the expertise of a web design agency and the convenience of a website builder. Many established ecommerce companies will work with professional designers to create or customize templates according to best practices so they can drive more sales from visitors.

Take the time to weigh the pros and cons of hiring a web design agency or using a website builder. You should also set aside some time to think about the potential advantages of working with a web design company to set up your ecommerce website via a website builder.

3.      Decide on an ecommerce platform integration

Did your business decide to use a website builder? Then you can skip this step!

For companies working with a web design agency, you’ll use this step to determine what type of ecommerce platform you want to use on your site. If you’re working with an agency, they can create a custom solution for your business, as well as integrate existing options, like Shopify.

Partnering with an experienced company can make this step easy.

With our web design agency, for instance, clients can use the years of experience that our team brings (we’ve designed over 1000 sites) to determine what type of ecommerce platform integration is best for their business and its unique needs.

In most cases, your company will be happy with a pre-existing and customizable option, like Shopify.

4.      Select an online payment gateway provider

Whether your ecommerce store opts for a website builder or web design agency, you’ll need to pick an online payment gateway provider. These providers are essential for accepting online payments, so you need to choose one.

Keep in mind that while many website builders support the leading online payment gateway providers, they do charge a fee for using those providers. With Shopify, for instance, your business will pay a transaction fee of up to 2%.

In comparison, if your company partners with a web design agency to build a custom site (that doesn’t use an ecommerce platform integration like Shopify), you can avoid these transaction fees. While 2% seems like a small price to pay, it adds up.

These transaction fees can also increase at any time, which can impact your revenue overnight.

5.      Pick a website hosting provider

Every website requires a hosting provider.

As you get ready to build an ecommerce site, you need to think about your hosting needs. Your hosting needs will depend on your website’s traffic. Larger sites have bigger hosting needs, which means higher costs.

If you’re launching a brand-new, unestablished store, you can plan for lower traffic numbers. In comparison, an established brand looking to open an ecommerce store should prepare for higher traffic numbers.

Hosting costs range widely, from $24 to $24,000 annually.

In most cases, companies with lower traffic numbers will pay $24 to $6000 per year, while businesses with higher traffic numbers will pay $240 to $24,000 per year for website hosting. If you work with a web design agency, they can often provide recommendations on website hosting providers and plans.

Should you use a website builder like Shopify, Squarespace, or Wix, though, you don’t have to worry about website hosting. These builders provide website hosting with your plan, which gets built into your monthly subscription fee.

6.      Build your ecommerce website

Once you’ve finished the above steps for how to set up an ecommerce website, you can start designing!

For the best results with building an ecommerce website, you should follow these best practices:

• Get a web designer to lead your site’s design
• Start your website design with wireframes, and then move onto prototypes
• Establish a style guide that defines font styles, website colors, brand tone, and more
• Outline your site’s architecture, like “example.com/products/shoes” vs. “example.com/shoes”
• Follow a consistent layout, based on page types, like product, blog post, and product category
• Compress all site images to maximize page speed
• Optimize each product page with unique copy that targets a relevant keyword for SEO

Once you complete your ecommerce website’s design, you can move onto testing it.

Ask family, friends, and coworkers to use the site. Log any issues they mention, as well as any feedback they provide. If someone finds something confusing, like checking out, consider making changes — or A/B testing those changes when your website goes live.

7.      Launch your ecommerce site

With your researching, designing, and testing complete, you can launch your ecommerce site!

Whether you use a website builder or web design agency to create your ecommerce website, you’ll want to search your site for any remaining issues. For example, you’ll want to make sure links to product listings, contact pages, and shopping carts work.

If you partner with a web design company, they’ll often take care of your website’s launch and post-launch quality checks. This approach usually makes your work easier and less stressful as agencies like WebFX have completed hundreds of website launches.

Should you use a website builder, create a checklist beforehand of post-launch items to check. Then, work through the items with your team. Depending on the size of your to-do list and crew, this checklist could take a few hours to complete.

Once you have your ecommerce site launched, though, you can start driving online revenue.

What you should do after you create an ecommerce website

When it comes to building an ecommerce website, the building is only one part of the equation. If you want to get the most value from your site (think leads and sales), then you need to maintain and market your website so more people can find your business.

Here are a few tips for what you should do after you create an ecommerce website:

Upload your products to Google Merchant Center

Google is one of the largest search engines, so you want a presence there.

With the Merchant Center, you can earn a prime spot in search results related to your products.

Just create an account and upload your products, which you can do with a Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets file. Then, if you like, you can invest in Google Shopping ads. These ads appear at the top of relevant search results, which help your online store generate even more sales.

While you do pay for Google Shopping ads, they use two cost-effective payment models:

• Cost per click: Pay when someone clicks on your ad.
• Cost per engagement: Pay when someone engages with your ad, like viewing it for 10 seconds.

For many businesses, this payment model offers a more cost-effective solution to advertising. Instead of paying for a billboard, for example, you’re paying when people looking for products like yours show interest.

Grow your website traffic with SEO content

Ecommerce SEO is a must-use strategy — before and after building an ecommerce website.

That’s because SEO influences your website’s position in search results on places like Google. Since more than 90% of online experiences start with a search engine, you want to earn a top spot in search results. Otherwise, how will people find your business?

You can continue to optimize your website (and improve its search result rankings) by producing SEO content. SEO content refers to content optimized for SEO. That doesn’t mean it’s robotic or dull, but that it provides people with the answers they’re looking for while following SEO best practices.

For example, if your online store sells room dividers, you may write a blog post about the types of room dividers. You write this post because it covers a question your customer support team hears a lot, plus targets a search term that generates a decent amount of traffic each month.

Besides answering a frequent question, the post also uses common phrases that people use to research the types of room dividers, like “room divider types” or “room partition types.” These phrases support SEO, but also help users looking for information about the types of room dividers.

That’s just one example of SEO content that a business can create.

No matter your ecommerce niche, you can develop, write, and publish SEO content — and you should. We’ve used SEO content, for example, to help our clients increase their online visibility and revenues too, which is why our clients have managed more than 11 million transactions over the past five years.

Promote your brand and products on social media

Finally, after building your ecommerce website, you should promote it on social media.

While you can use as many social media sites as you like, it’s best to focus on the networks your audience uses. If Instagram is a popular place for your target market to hang out, direct your efforts towards Instagram, not LinkedIn.

For the best results with using social media to promote your ecommerce site, follow these tips:

• Post regularly, like three times per week
• Share a variety of content, from promotional posts to informative content
• Reply to comments and questions
• Incorporate questions into posts to drive engagement

You can also advertise on social media to drive even more brand awareness and website traffic from social networks like Facebook and Instagram. If you advertise on these networks, you can access a range of ads, from video to text.

Make building an ecommerce website fast — launch your site in 30 days

Congratulations, you know how to build an ecommerce website!

While building an ecommerce website requires a significant investment of time and resources, it’s well worth the investment. That’s because your site can serve as a 24/7 resource for revenue. Whether you’re away on vacation or out walking the dog, your ecommerce website can drive sales for you.

If you want to start driving revenue sooner rather than later, think about 30-day web design services.

These services, from WebFX, provide your business with a custom site (based off a template of your choice) that follows SEO best practices. Your site will also include 10 pages of SEO content and the complete setup of Google Analytics, which you can use to track your store’s traffic, sales, and more.

Get your site in the next 30 days by contacting us online or calling us at 888-601-5359!

The post How to Create an Ecommerce Website: 7-Step Guide for Beginners appeared first on WebFX Blog.

Weekly News for Designers № 562

Developing For The Semantic Web – Why semantic markup has become increasingly important for websites.

Animating Number Counters – Whether you’re counting up or down, add some animation to your numbers.

5 Things to Tell Your Clients About WordPress Security – Educating your clients is a great step towards a more secure web.

Dizzle – A tool that turns CSS selectors into functions that tests if elements match them.

Checka11y.css – Utilize this stylesheet to quickly detect some common accessibility issues.

Get into the Halloween Spirit with These Spooky Snippets – Celebrate the scary season with this collection of CSS and JavaScript code snippets.

Full-Bleed Layout Using CSS Grid – Learn how to achieve a full-bleed layout that’s easy to read on all screens.

Clamp – How to use CSS clamp() to create better responsive typography.

CSS Variables 101 – Everything you need to know about CSS variables with lots of examples and use-cases.

How Freelance Designers Can Thrive in a Tough Economy – Tips for kickstarting growth – even in an economic downturn.

Host Rider – Use this fun CSS game to learn more about the justify-content property.

Steep – Great design examples to get you inspired.

Radix Icons – Grab this free collection of 15×15 SVG icons, compatible with Figma, Sketch and more.

Tailwind Play– An advanced online playground to help you learn more about the popular Tailwind CSS framework.

Free Halloween Icon Pack – Download a free 50-icon set that is perfect for your Halloween-themed projects.

Freebie: Vintage Vector Halloween Stamps – Give your Halloween creations a more classical look with this beautiful collection of AI, EPS, SVG and PSD graphics.

MathJax – A JavaScript display engine for mathematics that works in all browsers.

WebGL Video Transitions with Curtains.js – Learn how to build experimental video transitions using Curtains.js and shaders.

The post Weekly News for Designers № 562 appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

PHP 8.0.0 Release Candidate 2 available for testing

Site News: Blast from the Past – One Year Ago in PHP (10.15.2020)

Here's what was popular in the PHP community one year ago today:

• stitcher.io: Laravel beyond CRUD

• symfony Project Blog: New in Symfony 4.4: Improved Welcome Page
• Laravel News: Sign In With Apple for Laravel Socialite
• PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor: PHP 7.4.0RC4 Released!
• @seregazhuk: Introducing PHP-Watcher
• Akra's DevNotes: Custom error rendering in Slim 4
• Webslesson: Laravel 6 Crud Application using Yajra Datatables and Ajax
• symfony Project Blog: Scholarship program and its fundraising are open at SymfonyCon Amsterdam 2019
• symfony Project Blog: New in Symfony 4.4: Messenger Middleware to Clear Doctrine Entity Manager
• Laravel News: Eager Lazy Collections Added to Laravel 6.1
• symfony Project Blog: New in Symfony 4.4: Improved Type Constraint
• Derick Rethans: PHP Internals News: Episode 32: Writing Extensions
• symfony Project Blog: New in Symfony 4.4: Password Migrations
• murze.be: ★ The mixin PHP DocBlock
• Laravel News: Send Notifications for Exceptions with the Notifiable Exception Package
• symfony Project Blog: New in Symfony 4.4: PHPUnit Assertions for Email Messages
• Laravel News: Callable Container Objects Added to Laravel 6.2

The Deadly Communication Sins Freelance Designers Commit

Alright, freelancers – it’s time to confess! How many of you are guilty of not communicating regularly enough with your clients? Maybe you’re running behind on your deadline, and you’re too embarrassed to let your client know in a timely manner. Or maybe the client has done something to upset you, and you refuse to reply to one or two of their emails.

The truth is, people with poor communication skills often don’t even know they have them. A designer can be technically excellent, but if they fail to communicate with their client, they will not continue to get work.

1. Resentfulness

Let’s face it – being a freelancer is a tough job. Sometimes your clients can aggravate you to the point where you want to punch them or worse. However, if you’re on a job, it’s still your responsibility to keep the client up to date on your progress. If you don’t, you’re essentially stooping down to whatever level of immaturity you think they’re guilty of.

Remember that you have to earn your client’s trust, and regular communication is often the quickest way to do that. Many clients would much rather work with a so-so freelancer who is reliable and consistent, than a brilliant freelancer who can’t be counted on to communicate regularly.

If you’re upset with your client for some reason, the best response is to request some sort of change in the terms of the project. Not getting paid enough? Ask the client if you can transition to a project or position that pays more.

Simply want to quit? It’s better to cut your losses early and find a new client rather than suffer through a horrible project that will leave you drained of time, resources, and energy.

2. Making Them Think Too Much

Your client is paying you to think for them. Even if they don’t specifically put it in those terms, your goal as a freelancer should be to make the experience of working with you as painless and simple as possible.

For the majority of back-and-forth correspondence with your client, all they should have to do is say “yes” or “no.” People get confused when they have too many options, so don’t make the client pick or choose or decide anything that’s unnecessary.

They can – and will – always let you know if they have any feedback or additional comments. If it’s within your ability, and you can use your professional experience to simply make an executive decision, do it for them.

This includes things like scheduling meeting, sending reminders, taking notes, following up with members of the team, and anything else you think might make your client’s life easier. Presenting your client with a clear option to approve or deny allows them to maintain control of the project without having to worry about the details.

3. Under-Communicating

When you’re doing a job for a client that lasts longer than a week or so, it’s absolutely imperative that you keep them up to date on your progress. I’ve worked with many people over the years, when I emailed them with a status check, told me they hadn’t wanted to “bother” me with too many emails. Nonsense!

Over-communication is always, always, always better than under-communication. Your client should never have to check in with you to see where you are and how your work is coming along – that should be your job.

You can establish a rhythm of regular updates – an email every Tuesday and Thursday, a weekly update to a Google Doc, or check-in with someone you know reports to your client.

Of course, some clients may not want you to communicate with them so regularly (though I have yet to meet one who didn’t prefer it to weeks of silence). If that’s the case, they will let you know. The absolute worst that can happen if you communicate too much is that the client will simply ask you to cut back. That’s it.

They won’t yell at you or deduct from your fee – and if they do, they are a terrible client and should be fired immediately. Quality clients always appreciate your effort to keep them informed of your progress.

4. Not Being A Consultant

As a freelancer who works with many different clients, often in different sectors of an industry, you have an intimate knowledge of the best practices and successful initiatives of multiple clients.

Especially as you gain years of experience, you know what works and what doesn’t, and you are in a unique position to offer your expert opinion to any new client you work with. However, many designers ignore this golden opportunity, preferring to keep their ideas to themselves and just complete a project without any feedback.

Being a trusted advisor or consultant for your clients will open doors that you never even knew existed. Your clients will value you not only for your technical skills, but also for the valuable advice that helps them increase their profits or avoid costly mistakes.

Always back up your opinion with hard evidence and numbers whenever possible. It makes for a more compelling argument and reinforces for your client that they made a good decision in hiring you.

5. Being Uninspiring

For all you designers out there who made the switch to freelancing from working in an office, think back to when you first decided to become a freelancer. What, specifically, made you want to strike out on your own and never set foot in a cubicle again?

Perhaps you wanted to set your own hours or control the flow of your own income. But chances are that you also felt uninspired working for someone else. Your boss and co-workers simply showed up day after day and ground out work that had no passion or emotional drive whatsoever.

If you’re not challenging and inspiring your clients with each project you take on, you’re essentially doing the same thing you attempted to escape in your day job. Don’t just be an employee who shows up and gets paid. Send new ideas your clients’ way – be a constant source of inspiration. Challenge them to consider their own business in new ways.

Share your research with them and point out ways they can reach their customers that will make them stand out from their competition. Providing inspiration can be a form of consulting as well, and you can use both in tandem to guarantee your clients will be buzzing about you to anyone within earshot.

6. Not Managing The Project

Even if you’re not an official project manager for your client, it’s still part of your job duties as a freelancer. Let me explain what I mean. Say a client needs you to finish a website design by next week, but still hasn’t provided you with the copy.

You’ve asked them repeatedly to send it over, but they simply keep forgetting. Frustrated, you continue to pester them and wait.

Eventually, the deadline comes and goes, and, predictably, your client is furious. You show them all the email correspondence you collected over the last several days, which may embarrass them and make them apologize for holding you responsible for their slip up.

The client-designer relationship may have been saved but the bottom line is: this scenario is avoidable far more often than many designers think.

Instead of simply waiting around for the client to get back to you with important data, you can often take the approach of simply going forward with your end anyway.

Send the client a quick, polite message explaining that you understand they’re busy, but since you know this deadline is important, you’re just going to go ahead and fill in the missing info yourself, contact someone else in the company who might be able to help you, or simply omit it and be ready to fill it in later when the client has more time.

It may seem presumptuous, but this technique works wonders in a lot of cases. As they say, it’s often easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, and clients love freelancers who take initiative and help them be more efficient. If something’s not right, the client can always ask you to fix it later, but that’s nearly always preferable to missing deadlines entirely.

7. Not Asking for Feedback

Every freelancer should be constantly asking for feedback from as many clients as possible, whether past, present, or future.

Feedback is what allows you to adjust your approach to design, marketing, and self-promotion, and it is the key factor in growing your career to the heights you desire.

It allows you to incorporate new ideas you learn from others, improve something you weren’t aware you were doing wrong, and confidently raise your rates and narrow your client base when the time is right to do so.

Ask for and incorporate as much feedback as possible, from wherever you can get it. Client surveys sent through email, or collected through your website or blog are crucial, as well as simple questions throughout your entire experience with the client. Don’t forget to leave your ego and defensiveness at the door!

If you keep getting the same kinds of critiques in a particular area from many clients, that’s a good sign that you need to reevaluate your approach in that area. Lastly, regular feedback allows you to not only track your own progress and growth but also that of your clients.

Always be asking questions that determine your clients’ specific fears and challenges they have with their businesses, and incorporate their answers into your killer problem-solving strategy.

The post The Deadly Communication Sins Freelance Designers Commit appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

PHP 8.0 feature focus: <span>quality of life improvements</span>

Interview with Matthew Weier O’Phinney