With up to 24 million eCommerce stores out there right now, estimated to generate $4.5 trillion by the end of 2021, there’s no better time to set up an eCommerce website. You've probably got this killer idea to start your own business and want to sell your products online, but you don't know where to start. Am I right?

This blog is your sign to take the plunge and create the best online store your brand new business needs. I have created the ultimate guide to setting up your first online store, including everything from the best way to learn from your competitors to the strategies you need to implement to get your online store out there to your customers. Don't worry if that last thing I said panicked you a little bit, it can be nerve-wracking if you're unsure what you're doing. I have broken down all the steps you need to take and will walk you through it all. This is somewhat your eCommerce Bible.

Before you build your website

• Do your homework - yes you heard right, homework, that dreaded word from school is back. As an enthusiastic entrepreneur, it’s important for you to do your research before laying down the groundwork. You'll need to explore what’s been going on in your chosen industry and stay up to date on the latest movements/ trends so you can better position yourself in the market. In the case you are in a highly competitive industry such as fashion, makeup, fitness and health etc - Take notes! The best way to get ahead of your competitors is to stay completely attuned to what it is they’re doing. Investigate what works for them, or more importantly what doesn’t, and create a plan of action around that. A key point to note, it's as important to research the industry you're going in and the competitors you have as it is to research the audience. This is where you identify your target audience, get an understanding of what it is they’re looking for/want and find a way to make your online store their go to place.

• Plan ahead - so you've done your homework and know the ins and outs of your industry, competitors and target audience, you’ll be able to think ahead to the layout and design of your online store. This is where you can allow your imagination to take over and think about the structure and flow of your website. Think about your website as the gorgeous storefront that’s going to reel your visitors in - your audience want to see product galleries and the beautiful images of your products. If you can, but don't worry if you can't, organise all of the written content you’ll need for your site and have all of your visual content such as product images and videos ready in advance. Gathering all the materials you can, ahead of time, to ease the creation part of building an eCommerce site.

Building your website

Let’s get down to business! Your goal is to get your audience to buy right? Well in order for them to do that, you need an awesome site that encourages your target audience to scope out your website and check out your killer products. In order to achieve this and have a successful eCommerce website, there are a few things you need to consider and some elements you must have:

• Choose the perfect template - the first step for building any types of website is selecting the best template that suits your business and just feels right. It's the same for eCommerce, the template can make or break a website. Keep in mind that whatever template you choose can be completely customised to reflect your business and the products you’re selling. Check out the incredible templates we have HERE. There is an 'Online Store' category with our most popular eCommerce store templates but you're not subject to keep to just these templates, all of the Avanty templates can be made into an online store.

• Building the storefront - as I mentioned earlier, your website acts as a storefront for all the online peeps you're wanting to reach out to. So it's important to note, the first thing your visitors will see is the homepage of your website (storefront), so you’ll need to do everything you can to reel them in from there. A great way to do this is to feature your most popular and/or most recent products and get your visitors excited to explore the rest of your collection. Always refer back to the user experience when it comes to building an online store. With almost 70% of online shoppers abandoning their shopping cart, it’s important to be aware of the journey your audience goes through in order to make a purchase. You want your site to be as simple as possible so that your visitors successfully make it to checkout point and fill in their payment details. So simplify the experience and make the journey enjoyable! The best way to do that is to use strong Call To Actions (CTAs) such as “Buy Now” on every page. Set a path for your audience to move on so that they never get stuck or lost along the way. If you want to know more about CTAs and how to create the best ones for your website, we have the resource for you. Click here to learn more.

• Customise every part of the website - Avanty makes it easy to customise every element of your website. But what will you need to consider when changing elements of the template? You will need to think about your brand’s identity, colours, fonts and images accordingly. Our advice to you is stick with a colour palette that compliments the products you’re selling and suits your business as a whole. Always stay up-to-date on the latest design trends so you’re "ahead of the curve".

• Add detailed product pages - customise the product pages on your eCommerce site accordingly, to keep up with the stunning theme of your store. Every product page should have a detailed description that will give your SEO a boost and a professional image to help seal the deal. People often forget that the images are a big factor as to whether your audience buy your products or not. So remember to choose wisely on the images you use and allow your audience to experience the product as best as they can. Once you have a collection you want to show off, why not display it in a stunning product gallery to greet your visitors immediately.

• Get the content right - remember that killer text you prepared, before you started building your website? Now is the time for it to shine and make an impact on your audience. For any written content that is added to your site, make sure it is clear, easy-to-read and enticing to your audience because you want them to journey through your website and make a purchase. Have fun with the text - add fun facts about the team behind the business or share interesting stories about the products. Whatever you choose, make sure it's information your audience want to know.

• Make it all mobile friendly - not only are more people reading on the go, they’re also shopping on the go. In fact, 60% of web traffic comes from mobiles, so it’s imperative that your website is optimised for mobile. Fortunately, the Avanty editor automatically creates a mobile-friendly version of your website, that you can edit separately if you wish.

Manage your online store

Once you’ve got everything up and running, you’ll need to go behind the scenes to manage your store in an efficient way. With Avanty, you can monitor your inventory on the go, choose your special offers and update your inventory 24/7. Here are just a few things you can do to manage your online store with Avanty:

• Set the shipping and tax details - you can choose a variety of shipping options like ‘free shipping’ or ‘shipping by product price’. And when it comes to setting up your tax rules, you can choose from options like ‘no tax’ or ‘same tax on all regions’.

• Track all orders - you can easily view all of your orders, whilst also updating the payment and shipping status of an order.

• Set up your payment option - we now offer multiple payment options and gateways to meet every customer need. In addition to 40+ payment methods already available, you’ve now got Paypal Plus (in Germany) and Klarna, too. And because this is your business, we take 0% commission on all sales.

To learn more about what you can do to manage and scale your online store with Avanty, click HERE.

Before you promote your new website

This is where you build the trust between you and your potential customers. If you want your customers coming back to your website, then you need to earn their trust. There are a few easy ways to go about proving you’re a reliable business, looking to improve and positively impact their lives:

• Show who you are - the best way to showcase who you are and make your customer’s experience with your eCommerce website all that more personal is to create an 'About Us' page. So find a fun way to show off who the people behind the screen are.

• Answer before the ask any questions - outline your most popular questions, showing your visitors that you’re one step ahead of them, through a FAQ's page. Offer support wherever possible!

• Be accessible - you want your audience to be able to reach you if they have any questions, enquires or simply want to learn more about your products. Having all of your contact information on one page is the simplest way to show your potential customers that you’re accessible and therefore, trustworthy. In fact, add a 'Contact Form' to encourage your visitors to reach out.

Promote your online store

Even when you’ve got an awesome online store up and running, you’ve still got work to do. There are a few things you need to keep in mind for bringing in new business and for keeping your existing customers happy.

• Make your eCommerce site easy to find - in order for people to find your website, you need to make sure your SEO is on point. The first step is to choose the perfect domain name that’s easy to remember. Make sure you have clean URLs with clear page names (free of special characters and page IDs). Once that’s done, make sure you check out all of the SEO tips we have in the Avanty Blog to get your online store found. Oh, and keep track of your site analytics such as how many visitors you’re getting with Google Analytics and use that information to your advantage.

• Spread the word on social media - an easy way to spread the word about your new online store and keep existing customers "in the know" is through social media. Set up business accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest and any other platform that will help you reach your audience. Share the information your customers want, such as behind the scenes photos or upcoming limited edition collections across all your social channels. One way you can up your game in spreading the word about your business on social media is get your audience to share the products they love with their friends. The best way to do this is to add social sharing options to each product page. Oh and you can also add your social feeds to your website.

• Keep your customers in the loop at all times - encourage people to subscribe to your newsletter or weekly email and update them with the goings on. Send people your creative emails to promote a new collection or a seasonal sale and expand your reach by sharing your newsletter on social media. Also, don’t forget to encourage them to leave reviews about your products. Your potential customers will do research on other people's overall experiences of buying from you. They will make an instant judgement with this kind of information so encourage your current customers to leave a positive review on your website as well as your social media accounts.

And that is it, everything you need to know about starting up a successful online store. Remember, have fun with the whole web building process and make your website a great place for your customers to learn more about you and your products, all the way to the checkout point.