Take advantage of Shopify’s eCommerce website builder for small business free trial. Sign up for $1 per month. This will help you evaluate firsthand the effectiveness, ease of use, feature richness, and value for money of e-commerce website builders for small businesses before committing your money.
Starting an online business can be intimidating due to the intense competition in the market. But knowing the basics will help you lay the groundwork for a prosperous online store.
This post will help you know what to consider when selecting the best eCommerce website builder for small businesses.
Here are some 5 crucial factors to consider when choosing the best eCommerce platform for small businesses.
Factors to consider in choosing a suitable ecommerce website builder for small business
1. Determine what you need
Determine your requirements as one of the initial steps before choosing an e-commerce platform. Every business has a unique set of needs, so the ecommerce platform you choose must be able to meet them.
Make a list of the essential features you believe your e-commerce website will require. Think about the functionality you want and how you want the site to look. You should start, in my opinion, by making a list of the essential features you believe your online store will require.
Think about the functionality you want and how you want the site to look.
Additionally, think about the ease of editing the templates, the e-commerce checkout process, and the degree of customisation offered.
Take your time as you complete this process. It’s preferable to get this right up front than to discover that the eCommerce platform you choose doesn’t have all the features you need.
The platform’s scalability should be the last element on your list-building checklist. Your needs now might not be the same as they will be in a year. The future cannot be predicted, but you must
2. Determine the scalability
The platform’s scalability should be the last element on your list-building checklist. Your needs now might not be the same as they will be in a year. The future cannot be predicted, but you must choose the best online store platform for small business that will accommodate your growth in the future.
3. Consider your budget
You likely already have a budget in mind for building your e-commerce website when you begin this process.
You may even have a monthly or yearly budget in mind for running expenses for your website.
Before committing your money, it’s best, to begin with a free ecommerce platform offer in order to get a visual understanding of how an eCommerce platform works. This will help you to make an intelligent decision in selecting the best eCommerce website builder for your business.
Review your requirements and pick the best option that fits your spending limit.
Make sure to look over the payment processing details before choosing an e-commerce platform. Different platforms for processing payments have varying fees for their services. Make certain that the e-commerce platform either integrates with your preferred payment gateway or that the one they use has reasonable pricing.
6 more crucial factors to consider when choosing the best website builder for selling products
SEO friendly
You will employ a variety of marketing channels to acquire clients and expand your business. For many online marketers, organic search will be one of their main marketing methods.
You must take certain usability criteria into account if you want your website to rank highly in the search results. The speed at which a website loads is one of the main factors. The bounce rate increases as your website takes longer to load. The bounce rate is an important ranking criterion in Google.
Another aspect of usability is page speed. You will lose clients and sales if your website loads slowly. Amazon famously concluded that every 100 ms of latency cost the corporation 1% in sales. It’s why the most popular ecommerce website builders are built for speed.
Of course, testing your e-commerce platform is a must before choosing a solution.
Make sure your online store loads quickly. You should check the page speed of competitor websites in your niche to establish a standard for what to expect. Then check how quickly your e-commerce platform loads pages.
You’ll probably need to employ a developer if you’re utilizing a self-hosted e-commerce solution to improve your page speed. In addition, you’ll need to spend money on SEO web hosting I I would steer clear of shared hosting plans when it comes to hosting and instead spend money on dedicated hosting, which will probably cost $20 or more per month.
2. Simple to set up and manage
You should pick an e-commerce website builder that is simple to use and keep up with. Fortunately, the majority of the best ecommerce builder for small business are user-friendly. On most platforms, setting up a store is not too difficult. Many systems, especially cloud-based ones, have templates that are simple to change. The degree of personalization you desire is the area where you are most likely to run into problems. Hosting is another issue that a cloud-based ecommerce solution would take care of.
3. Website security
Your website’s security is an essential component of any e-commerce platform.
Data belonging to your customers, especially financial information, must be secure with you. A hacker can harm your reputation and drive away clients from your company.
If you choose a self-hosted option, you are in charge of maintaining the security of your website. You should be aware of any weaknesses in your CMS or e-commerce platform that could lead to a data breach.
The provider of the cloud hosting e-commerce platform will be in charge of maintaining the security of your website. While that lowers your risk, you still want to be confident that the business you’ve chosen is committed to your online safety.
4. Integration
Integrations are another aspect that I mentioned previously when choosing an eCommerce platform. You must pick a solution that is compatible with the toolkit you now use or want to use.
Your ERP, fulfillment, and accounting software are some of the tools you might need to interface with your e-commerce platform. You also have any front-end integrations you would want in addition to that. For instance, you might want to integrate the plugin with your chatbot software or opt-in form.
Consider which integrations are “deal breakers” and which ones are “nice-to-haves” as you analyze them. Your most crucial tools must be integrated with the eCommerce platform you choose. If it doesn’t, it might later lead to serious problems for you. seriously.
5. Droppshipping
When a customer buys something from your website, the supplier takes care of fulfillment and sends the item right to the buyer. Ensure that dropshipping is supported by your site builder if you want to create an eCommerce site that adheres to this business model.
Consider which integrations are “deal breakers” and which ones are “nice-to-haves” as you analyze them. Your most crucial tools must be integrated with the ecommerce platform you choose. If it doesn’t, it might later lead to serious problems for you. seriously.
6. Customer service
Make sure the eCommerce website builder you choose has the ability to provide quick customer care. After all, if your website malfunctions in the middle of a product launch, you’ll want that issue fixed right away
Make sure the eCommerce website builder you choose has the ability to provide quick customer care. After all, if your website malfunctions in the middle of a product launch, you’ll want that issue fixed right away
What is the best eCommerce website builder for small business?
The Top eCommerce Website Builder with Out-of-the-Box Features is Shopify.
In terms of eCommerce, Shopify is now in the lead. Over a million websites in 175 countries trust it, making it one of the most well-liked eCommerce platforms available today. Over 200 billion dollars’ worth of online sales have been made possible by Shopify. The platform may be easily customized. Whether you’re starting from scratch with an online store or expanding your offline business online, Shopify can accommodate your needs. You need everything, including some of the following, to start your own website and start selling online:
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Eki Ayemenre is the founder of the Online Compass digital marketing agency. I’m a full-time blogger and a digital marketing strategist.
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