Creating Your Website and Selling Online

No business can afford to be without an online presence. If you run a brick and mortar store, a website sells for you while your shop is closed. If you have a niche product a website can help you reach potential customers across the globe who is interested in your specialism.

You may simply want a brochure site to show off what you offer, but it is becoming increasingly simple and affordable to have your own online store and take secure payments over the net.

First work out what you would like your website to do. Make notes on what appeals to you about the layout and the functionality of other sites. Think about how many pages you want, whether you want customers to be able to buy online, the volume of products you are likely to be listing, and what will make it simple for you to pick and pack orders or link up your sales to your accounts software. Note down all the different pages you might need. As a starter, think about:

•    Home page
•    About the business
•    Contact details
•    A blog
•    Product or service details
•    Terms and conditions
•    Privacy policy

Now think about the technicalities of creating it. If you know you want an online store, search the net for online store providers. Some are largely set up for you, while others allow you the maximum flexibility to customise them so your store is not a carbon copy of thousands of others. The option you choose to go for will depend on your technical ability and confidence. For many of them you pay a small monthly fee.

You can also design your own site from scratch. You pay for web hosting – virtual space for your site. You will need to learn about HTML (hyper text markup language). This is the language websites are written in, and it is useful to understand the basics even if you are getting someone else to create your site. Once you have your site in progress, you also need to check out ways of taking payment.