Ways to Create a Website to Sell Products Online

To sell products online you have to create an eCommerce website. Selling products on your own website will give you long-term brand-building, marketing, and cost-deduction benefits.

While you can also sell products without a website through an online multi-vendor store or through social media. But that is like selling the products in front of someone’s shop. You don’t get customer data, marketing data, and various types of other data.

Data is important for business success. But if you don’t sell on your own website you will not get that data such as customer email, location, keywords etc. which is important to scale up the business. And you become dependent on online marketplace websites for your business growth. And you have to pay as well to continue use.

So friends in this post you will explore all the options and tips to create a website to sell products online such as:

Ways to create your own online store website.
Fastest methods to create a website to sell products online.
Website builder software.
Tips to choose the right website builder.
Difference between website builder or no-code platforms to create a website.
How you can hire freelance to create your online store
Guide to creating a website on your own or hiring someone else.
Case studies of successful online sellers those created websites using website builders.
And many other small but important points.

Top 4 ways to create a website to sell products online

Whether you want to sell goods online from home or from factories or stores or warehouses or garages these are the best ways to create a website to start selling online.

1. Create a website on your own by using Website Builders to Sell Products Online:

If you have good basic computer and web skills you can easily create a website on your own by using website builders for online eCommerce platforms. You do not need to hire any website designer or developer when using Website builders.

But yes if you want a custom or more high quality or professional-looking website that you think you can’t do even after watching video tutorials then you can hire website builder experts. Else you can do it by following free video tutorials or by doing online courses. And if you face any problem then search for that on Google or Bing.

In traditional ways to sell products on your own platform online, you need a domain, hosting, responsive design or mockups and search engine optimization, product images, payment gateway, marketing strategy, and reliable sources at an affordable cost.

But today, you do not have to manage all of those things. These things are easily managed through the website builder dashboard. Anyone can create any type of eCommerce website and start selling online within days or even hours. The best and fastest method to sell products online is to use an eCommerce website builder.

What is an eCommerce website builder or eCommerce platform?

eCommerce Website Builders are dynamic and functional websites. These are drag-and-drop methods to create websites. Also called eCommerce website builder software or eCommerce platform. These websites were not created using any other website builder. Rather it is made using programming languages and web technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python or PHP and MySQL or Mongo DB, and integration of various types of business API’s.

A website builder is the best option to create your own online store website quickly, easily, and within budget and start selling. These are no-code eCommerce platforms. Just with the use of a mouse or the use of drag and drop options on the layout you can create and edit your online store website even from your mobile phone.

eCommerce website builders are best for those small business owners or sellers who do not want to manage web hosting, payment gateways, inventory apps, and various other web technologies. eCommerce website builder software is an easy-to-use solution for business owners and especially for those who do not want daily complexity and technical hassles.

While many people and business owners have been using eCommerce platforms and website builders for years. And if you are skeptical about the options of website builders for the online stores then you can create a demo account or signup for free.

And when satisfied, then you can buy or upgrade to a pro account or premium eCommerce options. Everything from the domain, hosting, design, and templates you can manage within. You do not have to pay for hosting and many other options separately.

Things to consider before you choose any one of the below Website Builder:

Evaluate the features and capabilities that you want in your website such as product management, payment integrations, and shipping options.
Assess the scalability potential of the website builder and its ability to accommodate your future growth plans. So that in the future if you want to add more products or expand your reach or want to sell globally you can do that without migrating to another website builder or CMS platform.
Consider your level of technical expertise and the level of customization you require. If you need extensive customization or have complex requirements then chose custom development instead of website builder software.

If you’re not much aware of website builders then read this post: Top 10 Pros and Cons of Using Website Builder Software

Top 5 Website Builders for Modern Sellers

This is a list of the top 5 website builders that you can use to create a website to start selling your products online. While there are many others, we have selected some of the best.

These are the popular website builders used by small business owners to sell products online. Some of the best are below with case studies that you can use any one of these to sell products online.

1. Wix.com – Oldest Website Builder

Wix is a cloud-based website builder that provides a wide range of features, 900+ customizable templates, drag and a drop interface. With Wix, you can create personal, business, eCommerce, and portfolio websites. You will get both free and paid plans with Wix. In the free plan, you will get basic features but paid plans have more advanced features, payment methods, and third-party integrations to create professional websites.

The current tagline of Wix is “Create Websites Without Limits”. This is also visible because you get an abundance of templates and editing options with Wix. This means that while creating any kind of website, you will never feel that you had to make some changes but are unable to do so. There is no limit to creativity when building a website. If you also want to fulfill more editing and creative purposes in website design, then you can try it.

Facts and Data that will help you to choose Wix as your website builder or not?

Wix 31.04% of traffic from the US, 24.81% in the UK, 24.48% from India – According to the similarweb, January 2023 overview data.
The “How to create a website in Wix” keyword monthly search volume of 100 to 1K according to the google keyword planner (Feb 2022 to Jan 2023) and there are many other similar keywords. Overall, I think 1000+ people/business owners studying or learning or interested to create a website in Wix.
But there are also keywords “Wix to WordPress” that people are also searching for.
And for “Wix designer” – 100 – 1K

Overall Wix is popular and professional in what you get with it. But there is also confusion about which one is best Wix or Squarespace or Shopify especially when it’s about eCommerce builders.

While I suggest you compare the pricing and feature on your own as per your business needs and budget. But the five methods that you can use to make the right decision of choosing Wix or any other are the following: Note (Please try all of these on other website builders shared in this list or when choosing any one of your favorites).

Try to find the contact of those who used Wix to build their eCommerce store. Ask about their experiences.
The 2nd thing you can do is find the Wix use case studies.
Watch the videos and tutorials related to Wix eCommerce and watch the features.
You can also do testing through the Wix trial version.
You can also consider seeing freelance projects or jobs related to Wix. That will help you to understand what kind of problems or opportunities other Wix users (small business owners) are getting.

Examples of websites built with Wix:

CeliaB – Fashion Brand
Festela Store – Unique Clothes Prints, Handmade collection

Here you can see more examples of Websites created with Wix.

I am looking for a case study when I will find one, I will share that here.

Analyze and understand these things when considering Wix as your website builder:

Compare pricing + Features
Find a particular Wix website example that is close to your business or idea. So that you can get an idea about the experience you will get.
Understand your target audience and their culture. Then consider what kind of design, layout, and product showcase you want.

My other posts on Wix are below:

23 Pros and 6 Cons of Wix Website Builder

Is Wix a good website builder software to build a website?

2. Squarespace.com simple and easy website builder with all the options

Squarespace is a website builder and hosting platform that provides a user-friendly solution for creating and managing websites. It offers a wide range of professionally designed templates, a drag-and-drop interface, and a suite of design and functional features, such as custom domains, e-commerce tools, and integrations with popular apps and services.

Squarespace provides a seamless experience for building and managing a website, with features such as a blog platform, built-in SEO optimization, and 24/7 customer support. It is suitable for individuals, small businesses, and larger organizations, offering a range of pricing plans to fit different needs and budget constraints. Squarespace is known for its stylish and modern designs, ease of use, and all-in-one platform approach to website building and hosting.

Their main focus is that if you want to sell anything online then they have all the things available which will help you with this. That’s why if you want to sell consulting services, or any book or notes, videos or physical products, or if you want advanced booking before providing services or want to sell products online through a website from home then you can try Squarespace website builder.

The advantage of using Squarespace for eCommerce is that you will get ready-made eCommerce solutions such as design, templates, domain, hosting, payment integration, marketing, SEO, and many other eCommerce optimization features in the yearly subscription. It’s very easy to start an eCommerce website with Squarespace to sell digital content or physical products or services.

Facts and Data that will help you to choose Squarespace as your website builder or not?

Squarespace 50.18% of traffic from the US, 7.21% – from the UK, and 5.94% from Russia, 5.44% from Canada – According to the similarweb, January 2023 overview data.
The “How to create a website on Squarespace” keyword monthly search volume from the US is 100 to 1K according to the google keyword planner (Feb 2022 to Jan 2023) and there are many other similar keywords.
But there are also keywords “migrate Squarespace to WordPress”10 – 100” that people are also searching for.
And for “Squarespace designer” – 100 – 1K

If you want to do a comparison specifically for the online store then you can do that with Shopify vs Wix vs Squarespace. There is very close competition between Squarespace and Wix, especially in small online store websites. You can anyone between these two based on the subscription pricing and features.

I have found one case study that I think is good to share with my readers related to Squarespace. You can watch it below:

Samples of websites (that look best to me as a design) created with Squarespace (As per the Information provided by the Squarespace showcase page:

Soilboy – Online store delivering indoor plants
JBD Label – Online store – Find the perfect pair of denim
A+I is Architecture Plus Information

How to use these examples to choose Squarespace as an online store or a website builder for your business?

Consider the pricing as well as the extensions
Analyze and notice the shopping experience and design
Contact the Squarespace website owners and ask for their reviews.

3. Shopify.com – Start selling online worldwide

Shopify is a complete eCommerce platform that provides a platform for small businesses to create an online store and sell their products globally.

The interface is user-friendly and you will get a variety of customization features and themes to create your store, manage products, and orders, and integrate various payment gateways such as PayPal, stripe, and Shopify payments.

With Shopify, you can integrate or add extra functionality through apps and plugins such as product reviews, chat, social media, order tracking, Facebook & Instagram, page speed optimizer, abandon cart automation, and many others.

This is the best platform for medium and large businesses or any business or individuals who want fully functional online stores to sell products or run global eCommerce businesses.

Some of the facts that might help you to decide whether to choose Shopify as an eCommerce website creation platform or not.

33.50% traffic to Shopify from the US, 5.62% from the UK, 4.55% from Australia, 4.41% from Canada, and 4.06% from Brazil according to the similarweb January 2023 overview.
According to the Google Keyword planner keyword research data, (Feb 2022 to Jan 2023 “create Shopify store” is searched by 100 to 1K users. And 1k to 10K for Shopify developers.
According to the Google Trends

Choose the above methods as well to make a decision but below are some of the Shopify store owners’ case studies that I found related to Shopify I hope this can also help you in the selection of an eCommerce website builder.

Candle Business – Selling Candles using Shopify – Discussion on 7:39 The Importance of a Website

Selling Sports Cards using Shopify – 10:29 eCommerce Platforms

For some of the websites built on Shopify, this data is provided by Shopify on their website example page :

Mollyjogger: Purveyors of Ozark Legend & Other Fine Goods
Leif Shop – Lifestyle Shop
With Love From Brooklyn – The Best of Brooklyn Artisan Food
Mobile Robot Sensors & Components Store
Phoneloops — Phone Straps & Accessories

How to use these examples to choose Shopify as an online store platform for your business?

You can contact these Shopify website owners through email/offline visits/calls. And ask for their views about Shopify benefits and their concerns.
Test these Shopify websites’ technicalities and their shopping experiences as a customer. So that you can find out how the cart is working, and what technologies and methods are already in use with Shopify.
Test the speed and mobile responsiveness of websites.

4. WooCommerce Plugin– Convert Blog into Online Store

WooCommerce is an open-source WordPress plugin to create eCommerce websites. With this plugin, you can create a small online store. This is suitable for those who want to get more traffic through content marketing, SEO, and organic.

The benefit of using WooCommerce is that you can run a blog + store equally within one domain. Or you can say that with WooCommerce you can convert your WordPress blog into a WooCommerce store. Or you can add a blog in the WooCommerce store very easily.

While the basic store setup is easy in WooCommerce but for advanced inventory and store management options you have to buy premium features, plugins, and extensions.

When you create an eCommerce website in WordPress, you will get complete control over your files through Cpanel, you can integrate any type of payment, marketing, inventory, and shipping services. Initially, you have to pay for the domain and hosting. After that, you can use free themes and plugins to build your store.

You’re free to customize anything in WordPress. But for advanced customization, you need to hire WordPress WooCommerce experts as well. And that is also costly if you don’t find the right one.

While you can learn WordPress WooCommerce eCommerce skills to build the store on your own.

But if you think to use plugins for everything then you have to pay. There is a hidden cost to using premium featured marketing, payment gateway, and page builder plugin.

But with WordPress you can start small and then later you can add more features through plugins or by hiring a WordPress eCommerce developer.

How long does it take to build a WordPress website

5. BigCommerce.com – Create a Modern eCommerce Website

BigCommerce provides cloud power to your online store. It means your online store is hosted on the cloud. This means the loading speed of your online store website will be higher.

With the BigCommerce platform, you will get payment, orders, and shipping options and you can also integrate it with amazon and eBay.

It’s similar to Shopify and also offers a wide variety of features and pricing plans. The power of cloud hosting enables you to expand or scale your online store to any limit. It also means you can manage the website traffic.

You can use all the third-party integrations without the impact on speed and SEO. With BigCommerce you can manage and increase sales volume, and store files and the website will get auto updates and will get 24/7 support for any query or complexity.

2. Use any of the above Website builders but hire an expert to create a website:

Website building platform helps you to manage and integrate all website components in a single platform such as hosting, payment services, shipping, and CRM tools.

So choosing a website builder or specialized E-Commerce platform to sell products locally or internationally is the right business decision. It is also less costly, consumes less time, and is less complicated.

But still, many business owners do not have the time or creativity or are talented in designing websites or I can say that they are more interested in leadership and risk management. And that’s actually the main work of the business owner.
The technical parts of the business should be managed by experts. But yes, for saving money creating a website on your own is not a bad idea.

So the way is to buy the website builder or platform yearly or 3 years subscription. You can choose a standard or recommended plan for your store. And after that hire a specialist related to that website builder.

For example, if you have decided to choose big commerce then hire a big commerce expert or specialist. And you can negotiate service prices as per his/her expertise, your requirements and your goals.
This will further save you time and help you to automate the online store management work.

Many website builder platforms or companies also provide the option to hire their authorized eCommerce experts. But for that, you have to pay for them separately and sometimes they cost more.

You can choose a freelancer to create your website to sell products online in three other ways.

You can hire an individual or an agency through the Upwork Freelance Platform.
You can buy the services on Fiverr from individuals.
Find an expert in your locality and hire them for this project. This helps you to communicate your goals more effectively, you will get that at less cost and you can visit or track the progress.

While you can also get these benefits through freelance platforms as well. But you can decide the way you like.

3. Create an online store from Zero using web development technologies

Create an online store using HTML, CSS, JS for the front end, SQL for the database, and python for the backend or choose any other tech stack as per.

This is actually about asset building. And this is also called custom eCommerce development. All the code, parts and things need to be created manually. You have to hire more than 3 to 4 people in your team to create a fully custom-developed web store.
For example, you have to buy hosting and a domain. Then you have to hire a project manager. Or you can directly hire an agency to create a store.

The cost of building your own e-commerce website from zero through manual code or through coding surely costs you more than $1000. The fees for professional development are very high and there is maintenance and security cost as well.

So if you want to create a small online store or just want to start then I do not suggest you create your store from zero or through manual code. Website builders and CMS are the best options. As you have seen in the above videos people are running the store successfully. And there are many other case studies.

Yes, but when your 1st startup or store that you created through website builders becomes successful and profitable then you can start investing in developing your own application or website from zero by investing 10% of the profit on a side.

4. Create an online store using No-Code platforms

The 4th and latest development in website building methods is “no code platforms” or no-code tools. These are in the middle of the website builder and manual web development.

It means you do not have to write your own code to create any custom functionality. But you can use pre-designed or coded widgets or options to make your store dynamic. Some of the popular ones are webflow, bubble and others.

But these tools are not as easy for small business owners, especially those who do not have good basic knowledge of web application development or websites. While anything is possible through learning. These no-code tools are good platforms for web development agencies and website designers to create their client’s websites.

Yes, but as per your online store plan if you think you need custom code integration then you can consider these platforms and related experts.

But for custom integration, you can do that with website builders as well.

So, friends, We hope that you liked the above 4 methods to create a website to sell digital or physical products online.

Conclusion:

Website is not the main thing to sell products online. The main things how you sell. And the website is a part of the marketing strategy. You have to execute your strategy through the website.

So decide on the eCommerce website building method based on marketing and business goals. Always ask yourself, is this method and features best as per my marketing strategy? Even if you fail with one system. You can try a new one. But for that, you have to stay committed.

And the best thing is that before deciding on your own that store is failed or complex, talk to consultants or experts as well. Once you listened to all, then think about which will be the best solution in terms of reliability, marketing strategy, business goals, customer goals, cost, long-term and short-term challenges, etc. that I can use to sell products online.

If you still have doubts or are unable to decide then you can also talk to me about your concerns. I will do my best to help you move forward.

Spread the love