Let’s face it, e-commerce is expected to keep growing, and an online store is now a staple for many businesses. In fact, the pandemic has spurred the growth of online businesses.
According to this research by Eastspring Investments, Asia’s e-commerce revenues are predicted to grow by 22.4% to USD1.36 trillion in 2020. This figure will reach USD 1.92 trillion by 2024, and by that time, Asian economies will account for 61.4% of the global e-commerce market. A study by Meta and Bain & Company predicted that e-commerce sales in Singapore are expected to reach US$14 billion (S$19.6 billion) by 2027.
That’s a lot of money! So if you’re looking to get a piece of that cake and jump into action right away, an online store with GoDaddy is the way to go!
Perhaps you’ve been wanting to start your own online business, but just haven’t had the time to learn how to start an online store. Or maybe you’ve been doing your research, but are feeling a little overwhelmed with all the different options for e-commerce platforms and have no idea where to start selling products online.
We get it. And we want to help you set up a successful online store. With the help of this instructional guide, you will be able to have your online store up and running in no time!
We’ll walk you through the important things you should know about setting up your online store with GoDaddy E-Store and provide you with tips and best practises to make your store successful.
Let’s dive in!
Why set up an online store?
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, business today has changed and people’s spending habits became more mindful.
However, this didn’t seem to affect online retailers.
Online shopping is still one of the most popular ways to spend money, this is because now, more than ever, people feel more comfortable buying things from online shops rather than leaving their homes.
Entering the e-commerce market is a great way to sell your products and make money even during these times! That’s why there’s no better moment than now to set up your own online store with GoDaddy.
There’s no need to spend thousands of dollars on inventory, and you can start making money right away. Plus, GoDaddy E-Store is a very user-friendly platform, so you don’t need any prior experience in e-commerce to get started.
How to set up an online store? A step-by-step guide
- Define your target customers
- Research and choose products
- Choose a business type
- Build your online store
- Connect a payment provider
- Set up shipping or pickup
- Building your online store with GoDaddy E-Store: step-by-step guide
- Launch your online store
- Promote your online store
- Summing it all up
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the entire process of how to start an online store for your website - from product ideation to planning, launching and promoting your online store.
Let’s jump right in.
1. Define your target customers
Without a properly defined target market, your sales and promotional efforts will suffer. There are a couple of things to consider as you classify your target audience.
Identify key demographics
Start by gathering statistical data related to your audience: age, gender, marital status, education level, household income, and geographic location. This is an essential part of your business plan.
If you’re selling a business-related product, you might also want to profile your customers’ professional details, like the types of jobs they do and which markets they serve.
Gather customer psychographics
It’s also important to learn your prospective customers’ lifestyles, goals, interests, and hobbies. Understanding these qualities helps you effectively target your products to their needs.
Again, an online survey tool can be helpful in gathering this data, along with free market research from organizations like eMarketer, Comscore, Pew Research, Nielsen IQ, and Think With Google Research Tools.
Finally, map out consumer buying behaviors and key influences. Do your customers research on mobile or desktop? Do their friends’ recommendations on social media sway their purchase decisions?
Look at how your target consumers interact across all possible sales channels and touchpoints, including mobile apps, messaging platforms, and email.
The more you learn about what makes your audience unique and ideal, the more targeted and effective your content will be.
2. Research and choose products
Selling a unique product that stands out from all the rest is important. But how do you know if people actually need or want to buy it? Start by asking people that you know, such as family and friends.
Here’s what to ask when gathering insights from people you know:
- Do they love your idea? If so, find out what features would be most appealing to them.
- Is there anything about your product idea they would change?
- Ask about their ideal customer experience. What services would make it shine?
- Would they be willing to pay full price for your product? What do they think it’s actually worth?
- Have they bought similar products elsewhere? What did they like or dislike about both the product and buying experience?
Gathering this level of feedback is an excellent way to refine your product before selling it online.
You can conduct casual research by speaking with friends and family in person to gather qualitative insights, or by setting up a quick online survey.
SurveyMonkey has a monthly subscription service that you can use to survey friends and family, along with visitors to your website, to better understand who would or is buying your products right now. Google Docs enables you to set up survey forms, as well.
Determine your business model: where will you get the products for your online store?
Once you’ve narrowed down the products that you’ll be selling, you need to know which products you’re going to sell, and how you’re going to source and physically store them. There are many options for first-time ecommerce entrepreneurs.
Sell existing inventory online
If you own a retail brick-and-mortar store, you can use it as a place to store inventory until your E-commerce business grows.
Use dropshipping to start without inventory
Many first-time ecommerce entrepreneurs start their careers with no physical inventory. Through a process called dropshipping, you can act as a wholesaler of products that you curate on your site, then purchase directly from the manufacturer to ship to your customers. In fact, a dropshipping business might be what you are looking for!
Create and ship your unique products on-demand
If you currently sell crafts, custom T-shirts, or artwork on sites like Etsy, consider driving those customers to your own site after your first sale. Include a business card or coupon in their parcel that promotes your site’s URL, and offers a discount on their next purchase.
That way, you keep one hundred percent of the future profits from repeat buyers. It also enables you to build a stronger relationship with those customers.
The beauty of these businesses is that you only need to create and ship what you sell in advance. Be sure to indicate how long a customer can expect to wait for the product, though, before they make their purchase decision.
Offer a monthly subscription service
Another way to manage your product inventory as a new E-commerce business is to sell a subscription-based service. You only need to store and ship the units you’ve already sold in advance each month or quarter — depending on your business development model.
A note on unit economics
Ensure that whatever products you choose to sell will be profitable for your business, and evaluate your unit economics, meaning your direct costs versus the revenue you’ll generate on a per-unit basis. If the costs per unit are too high or the profit margins are too thin, then start with products that have a higher profit margin.
3. Choose a business type
Before launching your business, it’s important that you select the type of legal entity that you’d like your company to be. Establishing your business from the outset as a legal entity will save you trouble in the long run, as it’ll help you with the following:
- Protects your personal assets.
- Lowers your potential taxes.
- Allows you to more easily secure business loans/funding.
- Keeps your business and personal credit scores separate.
Not sure what type of business structure will fit your business? Here are some of the more common options:
Sole proprietorship
A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business with a single owner who pays personal income tax on profits earned from the business. This tends to be where most small businesses start, since the start-up costs are relatively low (and it’s fairly easy to change your legal structure later). The owner is also able to keep all of the profits for themselves.
Some of the disadvantages that you’ll want to be aware of include being fully (personally) liable for your business debts, it’s more difficult to get business credit/financing, and it can be more difficult to sell your business.
Partnership
There are several sub-categories to this legal entity type, including general partnership, limited partnership, and limited liability partnership. Partnerships are beneficial for new businesses, as it helps spread the costs, and pool skills and resources.
However, be aware that partners are liable for both the profits and the debts of the business. It’s also easy for business partnerships to fall apart, so you’ll want to ensure that you’ve prepared for this possibility before opting for this option.
Limited liability corporation (LLC)
A limited liability company (LLC) is a type of private limited company. It’s a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a corporation.
The advantage to an LLC is that it limits your personal liability. This means that your personal assets are protected from business-related debts. It also allows the business to be taxed as a pass-through entity, which avoids corporate-level taxes.
Downsides to an LLC include self-employment taxes, the possibility of personal liability if personal and business transactions aren’t kept separate, and the rules guiding LLCs can vary by state (as well as the taxes involved).
4. Build your online store
At a minimum, you need to launch your online store using a hosting platform, custom domain name, unique site design, and compelling brand copy and imagery.
How much you spend on these items depends on your budget and your comfort level with doing some of the work yourself.
Select and purchase a domain and business name
When choosing your ecommerce business name, consider something that is short, memorable, and marketable. Our domain name generator can also help you find the right name for your e-commerce store.
Consider using .shop or .store for general ecommerce, or get more specific with .jewelry, .clothing, .coffee and more.
Invest in a hosting and design template platform
Most platforms that host your website will also offer a variety of design templates that you can access for free or for a monthly fee. This depends on the e-commerce website builder that you'll eventually select
A templated ecommerce website package comes in one quick install. It typically includes a website template/theme, product pages, shopping cart, payment processing feature, and hosting for your site.
Note: Interested in a full guide on how to successfully implement these features? Check out this guide for more information.
Budget for additional creative costs or the time to do it yourself
Consumers want to see what your product looks like, and understand its benefits, before clicking “add to cart.” So be sure to include detailed website copy, product descriptions, and photos to your site.
Whether you choose to hire professional copywriters and photographers or do it yourself, you must budget for the time and/or money. Get a quote from a few service providers and request customer testimonials to ensure their services will meet your needs and budget.
Interested in seeing how easy GoDaddy’s Online Store is to set up and launch? Take a look at this quick walkthrough for more information.
Develop your pricing profile
When budgeting for the launch of your site, be sure to include all costs to get to your bottom line, then set your product pricing accordingly.
Your costs will include:
- Securing your site for payments (a secure sockets layer protocol or SSL)
- Hosting and platform fees
- Domain registration
- Business email account
- Themes, plugins, extensions, and modules add-ons
- Payment gateways and credit card processing fees,
- Advertising
- Inventory management
- Shipping fees
- Packaging supplies
Now that you’ve identified your customers, your products, and the type of business structure you’ll use, it’s time to move on to building out your online store.
Create categories for your products
First, you’ll want to start out by planning your product listing pages. Start by grouping your products into easily navigable categories.
Make your products easy to find
It’s important to organize your online store’s inventory for an optimal user experience — especially if you have a large catalog of items for sale.
Begin by building an intuitive map of your product categories for easy and quick navigation. It’s similar to how you’d set up items for customers to find easily in a store.
The image below is a solid example of the categories you could include in an online clothing store.
Visit some larger brand sites, along with your competitors’ sites, to learn what they do well. Then, replicate or iterate on what you like best about those product categories.
Once that process is complete, you’ll need to convince customers using product descriptions to click on an item, add the product to their cart, and checkout.
Craft compelling product descriptions
Details can make or break a sales transaction. Since you don’t have a sales clerk to answer your customer questions on a website, start by thinking of all the questions they might ask that person in-store.
For example, what fabrics is a sweater made of? Is it organic and earth-friendly? Was it made locally? What other items might pair well with it?
Upload enticing product photos
To convert a browsing customer into a buyer, your products must have quality photos. If it’s in your budget, consider investing in a professional photographer.
Not only do you want to provide customers with beautiful shots of your products, but you also want to help them envision what the product might look like on them or in their home.
Urban Outfitters creates beautiful settings for its lifestyle products to spark its customers’ imaginations.
Select products to feature
Next, you’ll need to promote your great products on your homepage and elsewhere on your site.
Two of the most common product categories for featured items are “Bestsellers” and “New Arrivals.”
Showcasing those items on your homepage or on product category pages will help you increase sales, and draw attention to new items for returning customers. Be sure to:
- Start with items with a large profit margin or to sell off excess inventory.
- Gather ratings and reviews of your products for a few weeks or months, then highlight those with the highest rating or feedback.
- Look at your site analytics to find the most popular search terms on your store. Featuring those items on the homepage will help to close those sales opportunities faster.
- Look at your Google AdWords account and identify the most common and best-converting product search terms.
To keep your site fresh for repeat shoppers, you must change your featured products on a regular basis. If you’ve already built a GoDaddy Online Store, it’s easy to manage your featured products.
Decide where to feature those products on your site
Your online store’s home page is a good place to start when featuring hot new products. It’s often the first place that new and returning shoppers will land on your site, and it drives traffic directly to those items, without the need to search for them.
You can feature your great products vertically, horizontally, or place them in a slide show. Regardless, make sure the placement is highly visible.
You can also place featured products on category and product pages to up-sell and cross-sell.
For example, you might place a few featured pairs of jeans on a sweater product page. Or place thumbnails of more expensive handbags on the product page of a mid-priced bag to try and up-sell a customer.
You can even take advantage of your “thank you” page, which appears after a customer has completed a purchase. Experiment with different tactics to uncover the most enticing ways to get customers to click “add to cart” and check out quickly, which leads nicely into our next topic.
Define your refund and return policy
Clearly post a refund and returns policy on your website and prompt users to read it before they make a purchase.
This is essential as it will showcase your brand’s transparency while helping you avoid any costly consumer conflicts of interest in the future.
Your customers should be able to easily understand what you need them to do when returning an item and know your criteria for deciding whether a return will be accepted.
Create your privacy policy and terms of service (TOS)
Speak with a lawyer as you develop this policy, and ask them to help you to craft your terms of service, which is a legal document that outlines the terms and conditions for customers who use your products or services. It will protect you if any legal issues arise down the line.
Your privacy policy and TOS must be visibly posted on your site and should explain what you do with your customer’s information.
Be honest and state exactly how you will manage, distribute, and use customer information to build trust.
Cement your security policy
Your security policy should detail what you do to protect your customer payment information. Find an ecommerce platform that uses secure servers with SSL and explain to customers why it’s necessary. Also, be sure the platform is verified by a third-party security service.
The more information you can provide, the greater assurance you’ll give your customers that you’re being careful with their sensitive data.
5. Connect a payment provider
The key to closing an online sale is to provide an intuitive and seamless checkout and payment experience.
Some platforms offer built-in checkout and payment processing tools. For example, GoDaddy Payments enables you to securely accept payments online within the Online Store — but not all service providers do.
When evaluating options, you’ll need to consider:
- Does the platform’s merchant account accept all currencies and offer SSL certificates?
- What forms of payment can you accept through your account? Credit cards, personal checks, wire transfers, or money orders?
- How about PayPal or Stripe?
- Does your platform offer a payment gateway to verify, approve, and process charges in real time?
- Does it integrate with your website’s existing platform?
- Do other merchants like or complain about the platform’s checkout and payment experience?
- What are the transaction fees?
Review all your options and ask the platform provider about the associated transaction rates and processing fees.
Payment process
Next, you’re going to set up your payment options. Understanding and implementing a smooth checkout process, and using the right payment gateways, will set you apart from your competitors.
According to 99 firms, “30% of shoppers will drop the purchase if they have to fill out their credit card information again, while 25% will do so on having to re-enter shipping info.” And many of them now prefer sites that offer 1-click payment solutions that save their purchase information so they can check out faster.
Do your research to ensure the platform you’re using offers a robust set of tools. Reading ecommerce product reviews will help you to find the right platform for your business.
Here’s a handy guide to help you through your payment processing setup.
Collecting sales tax
Online sales tax laws are constantly evolving. If you aren’t following the latest requirements for your online store, you could be on the hook for paying a large sum of unexpected fees.
6. Set up shipping or pickup
Next up, it’s time to set up your shipping options. As you develop your online store’s shipping solution, you’ll want to consider all of your shipping needs:
- What carriers will you offer and what are the handling fees?
- Will you be shipping based on weight and location or will flat rate work for you?
- Is your shipping formula based on the type of product you sell?
- Will you be shipping locally or nationally? Or both?
As you set shipping costs for your ecommerce site, remember that the price must be reasonable (or free, if you can afford it).
If you have a local presence for your business, you may also want to consider local delivery options or pickup, depending on the type of products that you sell.
Want more information on how to set up shipping options in GoDaddy’s Online Store? Our help guide has you covered.
7. How to set up your online store with GoDaddy E-Store? A step-by- step guide
In this section, we’ll go through a step-by-step guide on how to build an online store with GoDaddy. I know you can’t wait to get started setting up your online store and sell everywhere your customers are online!
Step 1: Create a GoDaddy E-store account
The first step is to create a GoDaddy E-Store account.
You can do this by going to asia.godaddy.com and clicking on the top side menu, then clicking on websites and finding "E-Store".
From there, you will be able to browse and learn more about our different plans.
Once you find one that suits your business needs, you will be redirected to a page where you can enter your information and create your account.
As usual, you would only need your email address, a creative username and a secure password you can always remember.
Quick and painless!
Step 2: Select the template that suits your business
Once you're done creating your user account the next step is to choose a store design.
GoDaddy E-Store offers a variety of templates you can choose from.
You can either select a design that is already pre-made, or you can create your own custom design with your logo and branding colours for the ultimate customisation experience.
Don't worry. With our Website builder no matter what you do, it will always look good.
Step 3: Drag and drop the elements you need for your website
GoDaddy makes every step of the way super easy for beginners.
In this step, you will be dragging and dropping the elements you need for your website.
This can include text boxes, images, videos or even social media icons.
As you know, you also have the option to change the font style, size and colour to perfectly match your branding.
To start building, click on widgets, then select the widget you want to drag and drop into the website. You can also customise the colour of the text, choose a font family and adjust the size by clicking on style.
Our website builder is all about customising as you go.
Step 4: Customise your e-store
It's time to bring your website to life!
Our website builder allows you to personalise your store with your logo, images, and product listings. You can also play around with the layout and colours.
Click on the Design tab, then Customise Design. Change the colours by clicking on the colour picker or you can select your brand colours.
In a few seconds, you can modify the layout or add new sections like a photo gallery, a menu, or a price list from any device.
You can drag and drop all the elements you need for your website, including:
- Your business logo
- A menu so customers can navigate through the different pages on your site
- A contact form so customers can easily get in touch with you
- Social media icons so customers can connect with you on their favourite social media platforms
- Upload images to showcase products/services you offer in order to make the buying process easier for your customers
...and so much more!
You can always go back and edit these elements at any time.
When you're done building your website it’s time to set up your store shop functions.
Step 5: Add products to sell
Now that you have customised your website to look the way you like. The backbone of your shop is set.
It's time to get your store ready to sell! Adding products to your store is easy.
Just go to Products > Add Product or Services.
You will also need to set up payment and shipping options. We offer a variety of payment gateways that are secure and easy to use for both you and your customers (We'll talk more about this below).
Once you have added your products, you will need to fill out the following information for each of them:
- Product name
- Description
- Price
- Eye-catching images
You'll most likely have similar products under one category. So to make things easier, our website builder also comes with a 'category' section to bundle similar items together with a short description so it's easier for your customers to find.
Remember to add catching SEO-friendly descriptions that will make your product or service pages easier to rank.
Product descriptions enhance the customer’s experience, and this is your chance to wow them.
Congratulations! You've added your first product. Your store is coming to life!
Step 6: Setup email marketing tools
Now is the time to make your business grow!
Our website builder also comes with tools to set up email campaigns to drive traffic.
Isn't that cool? Here are the steps for getting started with email marketing.
Click on e-commerce > Marketing tools
The first tool you will want to set up is an email marketing campaign.
You will also need to decide on the frequency and content of your emails.
Email newsletters are an important factor to consider in your marketing strategy. They provide a way for you to inform your customers about upcoming sales, new items, and other important information.
You can consider sending pre and post email sequences, gift cards, abandon cart emails and newsletters to inform your customers of newly available products.
Learn how GoDaddy can provide you with email solutions to run your business smoothly.
Step 7: Connect to marketplaces and social media platforms
Now, this is yet another cool feature of GoDaddy's website builder.
You can connect to a variety of different online marketplaces, including Amazon, Shopee, eBay, and Lazada.
This means you can list your products on multiple online platforms, making it even easier for customers to find and buy them.
You can also connect your store with social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram, so customers can make purchases directly from the post! This will help you build relationships with customers and reach a larger audience.
Steps for connecting to marketplaces:
Click on E-commerce > Places > Online marketplaces
Step 8: Configure the currency and country of sale
The currency and country of sale can be configured on the General Settings page. You will need to enter the currency you want to use and the countries you want to sell to.
Make sure they are aligned to your target market.
Here are the steps for configuring the currency and country of sale:
- Go to e-commerce > Settings > General
- Select your default currency from the dropdown list and click Save
- Click on Add Country to add new countries that you want to sell in (e.g., Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia)
- Select the country from the list and click Save
Now when you create a product, you will be able to select the currency and countries that you want to sell in.
Step 9: Set the Shipping Options
Now a big part of having an online store is shipping. Our E-store provides you tools to manage shipping as well.
Your visitors can now browse and buy your products, let's make sure they get shipped!
You will need to enter the shipping methods that you want to offer and the prices for each method.
There are many options to choose from such as Local delivery, Self-pickup and Automatic rates.
Steps for configuring the shipping:
- Click on e-commerce > Configuration > Shipping & Pickup
- Select your default shipping method from the dropdown list
- Enter the shipping price for this method
- Repeat these steps for each shipping method that you want to offer
Now when customers check out, they will be able to select how they want their products shipped along with the corresponding price.
Your shipping is all set!
Step 10: Choose the payment Options
Time to get paid!
Head over to Ecommerce > Configuration > Payment to set up your payment gateways.
The payment options can be configured on this page. Once you are in, you'll see a variety of safe payment options to connect such as Stripe, Square and Paypal.
Choose the one that is suited for your business and let your customers pay how they want!
Note: It's important to have a variety of credit card payments gateways to offer your customers.
This will not only make their shopping experience attractive but also their checkout process more convenient for them.
You can also enter the prices for each payment option. Steps for configuring the payment:
- Go to e-commerce > Configuration > Payment.
- Select your default payment method from the dropdown list.
- Enter the price for this payment method.
You will need to enter the payment methods that you want to offer and the prices for each.
Setting up 1-click payouts for your customers couldn't be easier.
Now your online store is ready!
Launch your online store
The final step before you launch is to build a strategy for keeping your customers happy and their data safe and secure.
Develop your plan of action
Once you’ve spread the word about your online store, you’ll need to budget some time for answering customer emails and phone inquiries, updating order statuses, and entering shipping details.
Here’s what to consider before you open an online store:
- How will you send your customers their shipping confirmations?
- How will you handle phone and email inquiries?
- Will you have a separate business phone line?
- When and how will you answer social media questions and comments?
- Would it save you time to include an FAQ section on your site, along with templated email responses?
Don’t forget to test before the launch
Once your easy ecommerce site is filled with dazzling product pages, images, colors, fonts, and user-friendly functionality, you’ll want to test your site before making it live. You don’t want to launch your site, only to find that no one can find your products.
Here are a few suggestions of tests you’ll want to run before launching your store:
- Functionality testing: This involves checking that all website features and functions work correctly, including forms, links, buttons, images and videos.
- Cross-browser testing: Testing the website on different web browsers to ensure it works well and looks the same on different browsers.
- Usability testing: Have friends or family test out the website's user interface and user experience to ensure it's easy to use and navigate.
- Mobile responsiveness testing: Test your website on different mobile devices to ensure it looks and functions well on mobile devices.
- Content testing: Check your website's content for accuracy, readability, and relevance to your target audience.
By testing these functions out, you can identify and fix any issues before launching your website, resulting in a more successful and user-friendly site.
Once everything looks good, you can launch confidently and focus on getting people to your store.
Promote your online store
Your site is live! Now you’ll want to attract customers to your online store. Let’s take a look at tools that’ll help drive customers to your store.
Social media
If your brand targets Gen Zers or Millennials, it’s critical to have a social media presence to drive traffic to your website and boost your sales. One way to do this is to directly list your products on social media stores. If you’re using GoDaddy’s Online Store, Marketplaces is a great place to start.
But, listing your products via Marketplaces is only one piece of the puzzle. It’s vital to use social media content as a free way to personally connect with customers, and build buzz about your latest products. Getting it right is essential.
Whether a customer’s experiences are good or bad, your business’s social profile is a place where they can go to engage and share their feedback about the products they use. The one-on-one interaction can also give incredible insight into what you’re doing right, and what needs improvement.
Related: How to sell on Facebook Marketplace
Advertise your website
Once you’ve created your seasonal or feature product promos, contests, and discounts, it’s helpful to drive traffic to them through online advertising. Here are some of the biggest paid marketing channels that small business owners use.
Facebook and Instagram ads
Facebook and Instagram offer a host of image-based and video-based ad placements that you can target to your customers’ demographics, geo-location, and psychographic interests. The ads can be bought on a pay-per-click or cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis, as well.
Visit the advertising solutions pages for Facebook and Instagram to learn how to get started.
Google Ads, Network, and YouTube
Google Ads is a pay-per-click advertising platform that businesses use to target people who search on Google. You need to specify the search terms you want your ad to show up for and write ads that will appear on those search engine results pages (SERPs).
Ads on Google’s ad network and on YouTube can be targeted in a similar fashion. You can also place display (image) or video ads on these sites as well.
Ad pixels
To track your ad campaigns in your website analytics tool, and via an advertising platform like Google, Facebook, or Instagram, you’ll need to install an ad pixel on your ecommerce website.
It’s basically a tiny snippet of code that you add to your site to track customer sales conversions, help you optimize your advertising efforts, and enable you to re-target a customer after they’ve seen one of your ads on a specific site in an ad network or social media platform. Here’s an overview from Facebook to give you an idea of how to do it yourself.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engines are still one of the leading sources of traffic for any ecommerce website. That’s why optimizing your site for search is critical. To make sure your online store is easily found in search engines, review this comprehensive SEO beginner’s guide.
Summing it all up
Once you’ve planned everything from customer targeting to finding the right hosting and online store-building platform, your marketing strategies, as well as customer privacy and security policies, you can launch your online store with confidence.
Be sure to stay on top of sales tax collection laws wherever your products are sold and shipped. Likewise, regularly update your homepage and product pages with seasonal or hot new products to keep your site fresh for returning shoppers.
When you engage with customers on social media and on product review pages, be helpful and respectful of their product complaints and needs. We wish you great success as you launch your new online store, and invite you to come back to this blog whenever you need helpful tips on how to grow your business.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much does it cost to start an online store?
The price to start an online store will vary greatly depending on the type of company that you own. A small business can expect to spend anywhere between $1000 to $10,000 to launch their store, depending on the complexity of their business. An online store through GoDaddy starts at $16.99 per month.
Is creating an online store worth it?
Creating an online store can be a great way to start a business, but whether it's worth it or not depends on several factors. Let’s take a look at some of those below:
Some benefits of creating an online store include:
- Increased reach: An online store allows you to reach a wider audience beyond your local area, potentially increasing sales.
- Lower overhead costs: An online store can be cheaper to run than a brick-and-mortar store, as it doesn't require rent, utilities, or staffing costs.
- 24/7 availability: An online store is open 24/7, allowing customers to shop whenever they want, which can lead to increased sales.
- Easier to scale: An online store can be easier to scale than a physical store, as you can add new products, categories, or features with relative ease.
However, creating an online store also comes with some challenges, including:
- Competition: With so many online stores out there, it can be challenging to stand out and attract customers.
- Technical expertise: Building and maintaining an online store requires some technical expertise, which can be a barrier to entry for some business owners.
- Marketing costs: To attract customers, you'll need to invest in marketing and advertising, which can be expensive.
- Shipping and logistics: If you sell physical products, you'll need to figure out shipping and logistics, which can be complex and time-consuming.
What is the average ecommerce store profit?
Generally, a 10% net profit is considered to be an average profit for ecommerce stores.
How can I create my online store?
To create an online store, you’ll first need to set up your online store platform (like GoDaddy’s Online Store), add your products, create your product pages, customize your ecommerce site template and features, configure your tax settings, setup your payment and shipping options, test your site, then launch your online store.
Introducing GoDaddy E-Store: an easy-to-use online store & website builder
GoDaddy's easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder is a popular solution for anyone wanting to launch their own website from the ground up without any hassle.
Here's the cool thing. GoDaddy's intuitive site-building tools make it one of the simplest-to-use site builders available today. Specifically tailored to attract your online shoppers and keep them coming.
This means GoDaddy is an ideal solution for people who just want to focus on opening an online store of their own and scale up as they grow.
Another great thing, regardless of your target market you can find free templates to get started right away.
Or, if you're feeling more creative, you can even create your own custom designs. With over hundreds of themes to choose from and a library of images and videos, you can create a website that looks just like how you want it to.
Ready To Get Started?
You're about to enter a world of no limits and sell anything.
Yes! physical items and digital products too.
Oh and one last thing before we set up your E-store: Let's talk about domains real quick.
Another great thing about GoDaddy you should know is that alongside your trial, your website will come with a free GoDaddy domain. Which is pretty cool. But of course, you have the option of choosing a custom domain as well.
It isn't that hard to start an online shop
You might already know that if you want to be successful you need to have an online store.
But perhaps you're still having some concerns…
GoDaddy is here to debunk the myth that you need to code to become an online retailer.
Having a website these days is not as difficult as you believe.
With our E-Store's streamlined backend admin area new users can drag-and-drop widgets, choose pre-designed templates to create their own sites, so design is never an excuse to start.
These days, websites are multi-platform compatible, allowing you to manage numerous sales channels into a dashboard.
You're also going to be able to connect with customers through email, and social media.
This means: Having a website allows businesses to expand their customer reach.
No matter if you are planning to run a big or small store, we can help you build your dream online store today.
Another thing I should mention too. Costs for new web pages are low. With GoDaddy it’s easy to find web hosting, domain registration, and e-commerce solutions all in one place.
So don't be discouraged if you think it might be too difficult or expensive to start your own online store.
In fact, why don't you try our free trial today?
Why do you want to choose GoDaddy Online Store?
As you can see, the process is simple and can be completed in minutes. Plus, there are a ton of features and benefits that you'll get when you set up your store with GoDaddy.
Set up is quick and easy. No technical knowledge or experience is needed. Our Web builder comes with all the online marketing tools at affordable prices for every budget to help you market your business.
Now your online store is rocking and you want to be seen. Our E-Store can also help you optimise your site and content for Google's SERPs to attract the right crowd.
Want to know more about SEO to help your site rank well? This is how it works
Now that you have an idea of what products you want to sell, your online store is set.
Yes, you can get both from GoDaddy.
First, choose a domain name for your store. This will be the address people use to find your store, so make sure it's easy to remember and spell.
Next, you'll need a secure hosting plan for your online store.
GoDaddy offers several different options for e-commerce sites: Basic Web Hosting or Managed WordPress.
Not sure which option best suits your needs? Check this article out.
What else can I get with a GoDaddy E-Store?
Besides getting a full-featured, fully responsive online store with seamless integrations, and boosting your online purchases.
You'll develop great buying experiences that let your customers have an awesome time and keep coming back.
Here are some of the features you can expect:
- flexible product pages
- secure checkout
- multi-channel sales
- coupon and gift card options
- The ability to accept payments from customers around the world
- 24/7 customer support
and much more.
Build your first online store today!
Starting your own online store is a daunting endeavour, but with the right tools and resources, you can make it happen. Whether you want a simple storefront or advanced features, GoDaddy E-Store is an excellent choice for entrepreneurs looking to get started with their first business venture. GoDaddy E-Store offers an easy drag-and-drop website builder for new online retailers to set up their first online store without web design challenges.
The process of setting up the website only takes a few minutes and there are plenty of e-commerce website templates that will allow you to design it exactly how you envision it.
With large bandwidth, storage space, domain name registration, mobile site builder tools at your fingertips, this solution is the perfect way for new businesses to get off the ground quickly without breaking the bank in startup costs!
The ready templates and other features like e-commerce capability, social media integration, mobile commerce app downloads and more; we’ve got what you need to help grow your small business into something big!
So what are you waiting for? Get started with your GoDaddy E-Store Trial today!
NOTE: This article was first published on 25th February 2022 and updated on 23rd May 2023. The updated version contains content from this article.
