GUIDE

CREATING AN E COMMERCE WEB SITE: A DO IT YOURSELF GUIDE

GUIDE

Creating an E-commerce Web Site: A Do-It-Yourself Guide
Introduction
Over the past 10 years, e-commerce has been one of the fastest growing segments of the retail industry. That may seem obvious to anyone who has ever shopped online, but the size and speed of the boom has been truly astounding. There are already hundreds of thousands of online stores around the world wide web, and according to some estimates, merchants open 20,000 new e-commerce storefronts every week.1 The popularity of the online marketplace shows no signs of slowing, so now may be the perfect time to start selling on the web. There are more options for creating an e-commerce site than ever before. You can work with an e-commerce platform provider to set up an online store, or you may want to let web professionals handle the design and development of your site from start to finish. Working with services like these offer some convenience, but if you want additional flexibility and control, your best bet may be to create your site on your own. With a little know-how and some easy-to-use tools, you can develop an e-commerce site that looks and functions exactly the way you want, helping you meet the needs of your customers and your business more effectively. In this guide, you’ll learn about what goes into creating your own do-it-yourself (DIY) e-commerce web site, from picking the right tools and services you’ll need to create your web pages, to selecting the best hosting provider and payment solution to fit your business, to figuring out the best security for your site.

Before You Start Creating Your Site Step 1: Create Your E-Commerce Business Plan. What are you selling? Who is your target market? How much money will you need to invest to get your e-commerce business off the ground? Do you want to incorporate or