E-commerce website and how to create it in 10 steps?
E-commerce website and how to create it in 10 steps? A guide for beginners who want an e-commerce website
Welcome to our guide, how to create an e-commerce website.
If you want to improve your business and take advantage of the growing trend of online sales, you are in the right place!
The e-commerce market is experiencing excellent growth and represents an incredible opportunity for all entrepreneurs throughout Serbia and the world.
According to the latest projections, revenues in the e-commerce sector in Serbia will reach an incredible 1,012 million US dollars in 2024. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.52% from 2024 to 2029.
And that means the market value will reach an impressive $1,669 million by 2029.
The number of users in the e-commerce market is expected to grow to 2.7 million users by 2029. The share of users will be 33.8% in 2024, and it is expected to reach 41.4% by 2029. The average revenue per user (ARPU) will be around US$508.50.
Our goal is to provide you with a comprehensive and clear guide that will help you create a successful e-commerce site that will attract new users and increase your sales. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced user, our content is tailored to ease the process of creating and optimizing your online store.
Continue reading and find out all the key steps for creating a successful e-commerce website.
So let’s get started:
1. Choose and domain name
Web hosting is one of the key elements for accessing your business on the Internet.
Hosting stores all the files of your e-commerce store and allows visitors to access them.
However, with so many hosting companies available, finding a reliable provider can be challenging.
Although cheaper solutions may seem attractive, keep in mind that such providers can limit the overall capabilities of your e-commerce website.
Here are some factors to consider when choosing a hosting provider:
Availability guarantee (Uptime guarantee)
Frequent downtime is bad for e-commerce sites. In addition to negatively impacting search engine optimization (SEO), it can lead to lost sales and damage to brand credibility. Choose a hosting provider that offers at least a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Speed & Optimization
Fast page loading helps improve user experience (UX) and site ranking. For optimal performance, choose web hosting with a server response time (SRT) of less than 200ms. Also, explore user reviews and CDN integration support
Bandwidth
It refers to the amount of data that a site can transmit to visitors in a certain period of time. The higher the bandwidth, the more traffic the site can handle. For optimal performance, check if your hosting provider offers unlimited bandwidth.
Storage
An e-commerce website should have enough space to accommodate content, including images and videos of products. Assess your needs properly so that your online store has enough room to grow
Security
Choose web hosting with a high level of protection to ensure the security of your site. Some of the important aspects include access management, SSL certificates, multi-layered firewalls, automatic backups and easy data recovery.
Simplicity of use
Although cPanel is very popular, some hosting providers offer custom control panels. That’s why not all providers have cPanel. For example, some of them offer an intuitive control panel that makes it easy to manage your hosting account. But it’s not the cPanel we’re used to.
User Support
A good hosting provider provides 24/7 customer support so that your e-commerce website is always available. It can also offer an extensive knowledge base and other resources to help
2. Which hosting is best for a website?
After finding the perfect web hosting for your e-commerce project, it’s time to decide on the type of hosting.
The four most common types of hosting are shared, VPS, cloud and WordPress hosting.
Here’s a quick overview:
-
Shared Hosting: Allows one server to host multiple sites. Because of its affordability and simplicity, shared hosting is great for e-commerce beginners.
-
VPS hosting: Uses virtualization to divide physical server resources into private resources. VPS hosting usually comes with root access, allowing server-level configuration. Best suited for tech-savvy business owners who need maximum flexibility.
-
Cloud hosting: It also divides a physical server into multiple virtual servers. Creates a network of virtual servers to store site files. Because of its robust processing power, high-traffic sites can rely on cloud hosting.
-
WordPress hosting: Choose this type of hosting if you want to create a WordPress e-commerce site. It comes with specific optimizations, such as a one-time WordPress installation, automatic updates, and a testing tool.
Once you have decided on the type of hosting, start choosing the perfect hosting plan for your e-commerce site.
Properly estimate the required resources in order to avoid a negative impact on the operation of your online store.
3. Come up with good names for your domain
Domain is another key requirement for an e-commerce website. It is the address that users type into their browsers to access your website.
A good, custom domain reflects the entire brand of your online store and helps establish credibility, setting you apart from the competition.
Here are some tips for creating a good domain for your e-commerce website:
– Short and clear
A short domain is more impressive and easier to remember. An ideal domain should be 15 characters or less.
– Without numbers and dashes
Avoid numbers and dashes to reduce the chance of typos and confusion, ensuring potential customers don’t end up on the wrong page
– Always choose .rs
As this is the most popular national domain in Serbia, online customers will probably search for your store by typing yourbrand.rs.
This extension also makes your e-commerce store look professional.
If you are thinking of having your business outside the borders of Serbia, then the best choice is .com
– Long-term thinking
Never add local details to your domain so as not to limit the growth of your online store.
– Check trademark protection
Avoid using domains associated with other companies or brands to avoid potential legal problems.
You can check all that on Google.
– Using a domain generator
It helps you come up with domain name ideas, which can speed up your brainstorming and domain name selection process.
Today, you will easily find a domain name generator that uses artificial intelligence to create unique business names based on keywords related to your niche or business.
Although you can purchase domains from any ICANN-accredited registrar, we recommend DreamWeb Hosting. You can do everything with them in one place. DreamWebhosting plans start from 4,260 dinars per year (SSD hosting), while the annual fee for the national domain .rs is 2,340 dinars. For the .com domain, the annual fee is RSD 1,980. These are the prices valid at the time of writing!
DreamWeb employees will help you simplify the process of developing your e-commerce site, because you won’t have to worry about finding a hosting service and a domain registrar, because they offer both services in one place.
4. Choose the right e-commerce platform for your website
When creating an e-commerce website, you can choose to host it yourself or use a platform for creating e-commerce websites.
Self-hosting your site gives you full control, but it’s expensive and requires a lot of time and knowledge. This means that you have to deal with site development, maintenance and security yourself.
If you are not technically skilled, you will need to hire a professional.
Alternatively, you can use a cloud-based e-commerce platform. For example, a platform like Wix for e-commerce, which makes it easy to set up your e-store. But you should know that a good e-commerce website on Wix is not cheap on an annual basis.
Therefore, if you plan to do online business for a long time, our advice is to create your own website or hire someone to do it for you.
Look for a platform that offers a simple website builder, as well as tools to manage different aspects of your business, from marketing and sales to inventory management and shipping.
Key features of an e-commerce web platform
When choosing a platform for your e-commerce website, consider the following key features:
-
Mobile-friendly: Choose a platform that offers responsive themes and templates, ensuring that your online store elements automatically adapt to different screen sizes. WordPress, namely Divi or Elementor, offer designer-made and mobile-responsive templates.
-
Security: The platform should offer fraud prevention measures, data backup and other security measures to keep your website and data protected. If you plan to accept credit or debit card payments, PCI compliance is a must.
-
Reliability: Every second of downtime can jeopardize sales on your website, so it’s important to find a platform that has the infrastructure to handle any volume of traffic. Ideally, it should support unlimited scalability and prevent site crashes during periods of high traffic to your website.
-
Back-office tools: Choose a platform that supports all the major functions, applications and automations you need to grow your business. Consider inventory management tools, product listings, shipping solutions, ordering and other features.
-
Cross-channel sales opportunities: As your e-commerce business grows, you’ll likely want to expand your reach with other marketplaces, social networks, and other channels. Choose a platform that allows you to manage your sales and marketing channels from a single dashboard.
Recommended e-commerce platforms
There are many e-commerce platforms available, but we use and recommend a combination of WordPress, Divi or Elementor and WooCommerce.
With them, you can effectively manage all aspects of your business, improve customer experience and increase sales.
No worries that something won’t work well!
5. Design yours e-commerce website
Your e-commerce website is the face of your brand, which means you want its design to be perfect from the start. The correct choice of design and template is crucial for strengthening the brand image and directing users to the right actions through e-commerce sales strategies.
We recommend WordPress as a platform, and Divi or Elementor as a builder. In the case of an e-commerce website, WooCommerce stands out as the right solution.
When choosing a theme, take into account the category of products you are selling – whether it is fashion, furniture, food or some other type of product.
Search the themes and templates offered by your e-commerce platform for inspiration. If you have no experience in creating websites, this can be a great solution.
The only drawback in this case is the necessary paid theme and Plugins.
Customizing e-commerce templates
After choosing a template for your e-commerce website, you can customize it according to your needs through the editor of your platform.
If you need help, you can hire a professional designer.
Here are some aspects to consider when designing your e-commerce website:
The images
It’s best to use your own product photos, including those that aren’t product-specific but serve as eye-catching header images, background images, or lifestyle photos. Be mindful of the size of each image so that each page loads as quickly as possible. In our opinion, Photoshop is the best for this, but if you don’t have experience working with it, there are a lot of free tools that can do it for you completely free.
Fonts and colors
Select typography and colors that match your e-commerce brand. Check that the text is easy to read and that the buttons are easy to see. Be consistent in your design, considering how colors and patterns have the power to convey different moods, memories and values. Make sure that the fonts have all the letters that are used in the Serbian language.
Home page
Think about the most important information to provide on the home page (think of it like opening a physical store). Highlight the most important products, messages and/or offers on the home page. You can also embed posts from your Instagram or Facebook feeds or add product reviews that showcase your brand’s authenticity
Navigation
Keep your navigation clear and well-organized. As a general rule, visitors should be able to find any product they need in three clicks or less. Add site search, sorting options and filters to further help customers find what they need faster
The mobile experience
When setting up your e-commerce website, don’t forget the mobile experience. Check that text, images, and buttons display properly on smaller screens like mobile phones and tablets
6. What are the important pages on every e-commerce website?
To attract and generate sales from your target audience, the information on the main pages of your site should be easily accessible and visible.
Here are some key pages that every e-commerce web shop owner should carefully develop.
“Landing page”
The home page is the first thing most customers see, so it should contain attractive and clear information about your site along with high-quality images and graphics.
It is important that the home page loads quickly. Most customers expect online store sites to load in 3 seconds or less. Otherwise, they might leave the website before they entered and never come back. Google also considers loading speed as one of the important ranking factors.
But we will deal with this topic separately in a text related to SEO.
To reduce the size of the home page and improve its loading time, reduce the images before placing them. You can use compression tools, such as Kraken.io or Tiny PNG. Also, enable caching and clean up the code.
If you have experience, PhotoShop is irreplaceable!
Additionally, ensure that the home page is easy to navigate. One of the easiest ways is to provide product categories and a search function.
They help customers find what they are looking for faster.
“About Us”
The “About Us” page allows visitors to learn more about your brand’s story and mission. In addition to providing information to online customers who have never heard of your brand, this site helps attract investors and partners.
In addition to a brief description of the company, you can include its background story, mission and values to set your business apart from the competition.
Introducing people to your company is also a great way to boost your “About Us” page.
This helps to humanize your brand, which allows for a more serious connection with visitors.
“Contact”
A contact information page allows customers to check the availability and reliability of your business. Make it easy for them to find your contact details such as phone number, email and physical address (if you have one or want to display it).
To improve your credibility, be accessible and transparent. Customers are likely to make a first or repeat purchase only if they trust your brand.
E-commerce websites can also use a contact form. By displaying a contact form, business owners can collect customer data to help generate and nurture leads.
“Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ)
Buyers usually have many doubts about the buying process. The FAQ section can be of great help to all users of your website. Think about the most common customer issues or questions, such as shipping options, order tracking, or shipping countries.
In addition to detailed and useful answers, you can provide insight into the products and services of your business.
Also add a search bar to the FAQ page to make it easier for customers to find information.
“Privacy Policy”
Display your privacy policy in visible places such as menu, footer, login pages or checkout page.
In this case, we recommend hiring professional help when drafting the privacy policy to ensure its full compliance.
“Return and Exchange Policy”
A detailed exchange and return policy shows that the company stands behind the quality of its products and values its reputation. From the business owner’s point of view, this policy helps to handle exchanges and returns more efficiently. Therefore, consider the following when creating a replacement and return policy.
For example:
-
List of items that cannot be returned or refunded.
-
Time frame in which we accept returns and refunds.
-
Acceptable condition of the item, for example, with an attached invoice or price list.
-
How customers can request a return or refund.
“Shopping cart and secure checkout process”
Customers like to know what they have added to their cart while browsing other items. Organize all items neatly and include important details such as product images and accurate prices. For transparency and if possible, show a clear sum of costs and estimated delivery time.
Make sure forms are easy to fill out to make future purchases as easy as possible for customers.
Checkout without customer registration is a great feature for improving conversions, as it allows anyone to make a purchase without first registering.
At the same time, in this way you reduce the time required for the order.
“Delivery Solution”
In addition to payment options, providing different shipping methods is essential. Include information such as taxes, estimated shipping time, and whether international shipping is available.
Think about which methods your customers may prefer. Real-time shipping costs are a great choice if your products vary significantly in size and weight. However, if they are similar in size and weight, consider offering a fixed shipping rate.
A great suggestion is free shipping over the amount you set as the minimum for free shipping.
“Call to Action” (CTA)
A clear and simple call to action (CTA) is an integral part of a site with good navigation. CTAs are texts, images and buttons that tell customers what to do next.
This can include the following pages – Sign up for the newsletter, Register an account and Add item to cart.
Use bright colors on the CTA buttons, as the choice of colors can significantly affect the conversion rate of the page.
For these things, never use red!
“Product Pages”
Product pages are crucial in the customer decision-making process. With e-commerce web stores, customers cannot hold, feel or try the product. Instead, it’s all based on what they see in pictures and read on their devices.
This is why it is important to have professionally done images and provide complete and detailed product descriptions.
Covering all aspects of a product, including size, materials, uses and benefits can help customers make positive purchasing decisions.
7. Create product pages on your website
Product pages are critical to the success of your e-commerce website and should not be done lightly. If you create them correctly, you will not only drive sales, but also increase the chances of additional purchases through cross-sell and upsell strategies.
Be careful when creating product pages.
Think about the questions and assumptions customers may have when they can’t physically see or touch your products.
That’s why we’re going to reveal to you what the key and essential elements of product pages are.
While creating product pages, pay attention to the following elements:
Product names
Product names should contain an easily recognizable description. For example, if you sell headphones, include the word “headphones” or “earbuds” to make the products easier to find
Product images
Add multiple high-quality images from different angles to give customers a complete overview of the product. Where appropriate and possible, use video or info graphics for additional context. If your products come in different colors or styles, include images of each variant
Product descriptions
Product descriptions should answer frequently asked questions. Include details such as material of construction and method of production. Highlight the benefits of your product, not just its features, and emphasize what makes your product unique. Include keywords naturally to improve your chances of high search engine rankings. This part is part of SEO techniques and is very important for search engines
Shipping and Return Information
Today’s customers want as few clicks as possible, so including shipping costs and return policies on the product page helps create a more efficient user experience. Clearly displaying this information helps reduce misunderstandings and customer dissatisfaction
Product reviews
Include reviews on product pages by adding a widget or importing existing reviews from other sources. You can also display user-generated content, such as images of products in use, to further show authenticity
Opportunities for cross-sell and upsell
Add dynamic “related product” banners to draw attention to other products, accessories or components that may be of interest to your customers. As an additional option, offer premium product versions or product subscriptions
8. Don’t forget the payment and delivery methods
Whether you integrate offline or online payment methods, setting up a secure way to accept payments is essential. Every e-commerce website must have SSL certificates to strengthen the security of your e-store.
A secure online store makes a good impression and ensures that your customers feel safe when transacting. Paying with cards like Visa or MasterCard will not only increase your sales, but also provide additional security to your customers.
Many e-commerce platforms offer built-in payment integrations. For example, WooCommerce has WooCommerce Payments.
But you must know that many payment methods are not currently applicable in Serbia. It varies from country to country. PayPal and WooCommerce Stripe are very popular in the west.
And don’t forget the value added tax (VAT) calculation by setting tax zones and unit tax rates.
Setting up payment methods
Today’s customers expect different payment options. Some prefer credit or debit cards, others digital wallets, while some use payment apps.
We recommend offering as many payment options as possible to give customers exactly what they want. From our experience, cash on delivery is still the most popular payment method in Serbia. But from year to year, payments with credit or debit cards are increasing significantly.
Your e-commerce platform should include instructions for setting up an online payment gateway.
Most will ask you to enter and confirm the country of origin of your business, before determining which payment options and currencies are available in your region.
WooCommerce allows you to manage your entire business from one place, whether you want to view orders or payments.
Shipping and delivery setup
An efficient checkout experience helps customers complete their purchase, while an outstanding shipping and delivery experience helps keep customers coming back for more purchases.
Amazon has achieved great success precisely because of the very short delivery time compared to the competition.
So, when creating an e-commerce website, start by determining your shipping and delivery goals:
-
Do you want to send your products only on the territory of Serbia or all over the world?
-
What shipping policies can you offer customers (free shipping, flat rate, variable fee, etc.)?
-
Which courier service do you plan to cooperate with?
-
Will you use dropshipping in your business?
-
Which shipping management platforms do you plan to use?
Your e-commerce platform should allow you to easily set custom rules and integrate the most important Plugins so that you can provide good customer service and track shipping costs for each order.
If you use Divi or Elementor to create your e-commerce website, you can easily allow local customers to pick up their orders from a nearby warehouse or from your nearest brick-and-mortar store by setting up in-store pickup as a delivery option.
9. Testing and launching your e-commerce website
After you’ve created your e-commerce website, it’s important to test it thoroughly before publishing it. Most platforms allow a preview of the site before it is publicly available.
This will make it easier for you to see exactly how the website will look before the official release so that you can make any necessary changes.
Here are the steps to thoroughly test a website:
1. Test on different devices: Check how your website looks and functions on desktop computers, tablets and mobile phones. Especially on mobile phones, because almost 2/3 of searches are done on them.
Make sure that all site elements such as images, texts, buttons and links are properly displayed and functional on all devices.
2. Walk through the user experience (UX): Simulate the user experience, starting from searching for products, adding products to the cart, viewing the cart, to completing the purchase. Check if the process is simple and intuitive. If not, correct the errors.
It is important to put yourself in the role of the customer in order to go through this process as easily as possible.
3. Check site loading speed: Site loading speed is crucial for user experience and SEO. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom or GTmetrix to test your load speed and identify areas for improvement.
Optimize image size and enable caching to reduce load times.
4. Test the functionality of all links and buttons: Check that all links lead to the correct pages and that all buttons work as they should.
Broken links and buttons can frustrate or confuse users and reduce conversions.
5. Check the functionality of the payment system: Go through the payment process to make sure everything is working without problems. Test the different payment options you offer to make sure they’re all set up correctly and are secure.
This is especially important if you pay by credit or debit card.
When you are completely satisfied with the appearance and functionality of your e-commerce website, click “publish” and publish your new or redesigned website.
After publishing, monitor site performance and analyze user behavior using tools like GA4 and Google Search Console. According to us, these two tools are mandatory when creating every website.
They will help you a lot to identify possible problems and opportunities for optimization later.
Also, consider SEO optimization strategies to improve your website’s search engine rankings.
Focus on keywords relevant to your business, create quality content and build quality Dofollow backlinks to increase visibility and attract more visitors.
In this way, you will strengthen your Domain Authority (DA).
With thorough testing and continuous optimization (SEO), your e-commerce website will be ready to attract and convert visitors into satisfied customers. A successfully completed website is just the beginning of an online business.
If you want a better position on search engines, search engine optimization is necessary. And in fact, the real work for the website starts right there.
Without it (SEO) success on the web is almost impossible!
10. Start promoting your e-commerce store
After your e-commerce website is available to everyone, it’s time to spread the word about it.
Marketing an e-commerce website should not be problematic.
We will present to you, in our opinion, five effective ways to promote an online store:
Implementation of content marketing
Creation and distribution of valuable content, including blogs, videos and newsletters that help improve brand authority and establish a leadership position in the industry. SEO-driven content marketing additionally helps in ranking better on search engines like Google.
Increasing social media presence
Integrating social networks with an e-commerce website is a great way to reach a wider audience. Using social networks to provide customer support and manage feedback can be very useful
Starting affiliate marketing
Paying partners a commission for each purchase made through their unique affiliate links can increase organic traffic and ROI. Collaborating with content creators and influencers can further expand your target audience
Mailing list building
Email marketing can improve your overall marketing strategy. Encouraging visitors to fill out contact forms through surveys, quizzes or promotional offers can improve your contact list
Google Ads campaigns
Google Ads is a powerful tool for reaching your target audience and increasing the visibility of your e-commerce website. Through careful planning and optimization, you can increase your site traffic and improve conversions. Through continuous optimization and adaptation to market trends, your e-commerce business will be in a position to attract and retain satisfied customers.
Google Ads is probably the most important tool for promoting your e-commerce store. That is why we will explain in more detail how to properly define a Google Ads campaign.
Here are some steps to effectively use Google Ads for your e-commerce business:
-
Defining campaign goals: Before you start, clearly define what you want to achieve with your Google Ads campaign. These can be goals such as increasing sales, increasing the number of visitors to the site, collecting potential customers (Leads) or increasing brand awareness.
-
Keyword research: Keywords are the foundation of any successful Google Ads campaign. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to identify relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for. Focus on keywords with a high conversion rate and an appropriate cost per click (CPC).
-
Creating attractive ads: Your ads should be clear, relevant and attractive. Include a call to action (CTA) to encourage users to click on your ad. Experiment with different ad variations to see which one appeals most to your target audience.
Landing page optimization: When users click on your ad, it’s important to take them to relevant and optimized landing pages. Make sure your landing pages are fast, mobile friendly and have a clear call to action.
-
Monitoring and analysis of performance: Using GA4 and Google Ads tools, regularly monitor the performance of your campaigns. Analyze key metrics such as click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per conversion and return on investment (ROI). Based on this data, adjust your campaigns to achieve the best possible results.
-
A/B testing: Test different variations of ads, keywords, and landing pages to see what works best. A/B testing helps you continuously improve campaign performance and achieve better results.
-
Using remarketing: Remarketing allows you to target users who have already visited your website but have not made a purchase. We think remarketing is very important and don’t skip it. Create custom ads to remind customers of the products they’ve viewed and encourage them to come back and complete their purchase.