The Ultimate Guide To Build An Online Store In 5 Steps

Are you ready to take your business to the next level and sell online? Building an online store can open up a world of opportunities for your business, from reaching a wider audience to increasing sales. However, it might be challenging to know where to start with the abundance of website builders and accessible platforms. In this article, we'll walk you through the steps to build an online store with Strikingly and learn to optimize it for SEO success.

Understanding The Benefits Of An Online Store

Building an online store offers numerous benefits for businesses of all sizes. First and foremost, it lets you reach a wider audience than a physical storefront ever could. With an online store, customers worldwide can browse and purchase your products at any time of day or night. Additionally, an online store can help increase sales by offering customers more convenience and flexibility in their shopping experience.

Choosing The Right Website Builder

When it comes to building online stores, there are countless website builders and platforms available. However, only some are created equal - some may be too complex or expensive for your needs, while others may need to offer more features or customization options. That's why choosing a website builder to build an online store that fits your needs and budget is important.

The Importance Of SEO In Online Stores

While building a visually appealing and user-friendly website is important for attracting customers, optimizing your site for search engines like Google is equally important. Implementing SEO strategies into your site design and content creation process can help you increase your visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract more organic traffic.

Setting Up Expectations For The Guide

In this guide to build an online store, we'll walk you through the process of building an online store with Strikingly - one of the most user-friendly website builders on the market today. We'll cover everything from planning your store and creating compelling product pages to marketing your site and optimizing it for SEO success. You'll have all the tools and knowledge you need to build an online store ready to start selling by the end of this guide.

Now that we've set the stage, let's dive into the first step to build an online store - planning.

Image taken from a Strikingly user's website

1. Planning Your Online Store

Building an online store can seem daunting, but it can be a rewarding experience with the right planning. To start, you'll need to define your target market. Who are you trying to sell to? What are their interests and needs? Once you completely and clearly understand your target market, you can better tailor your online store to meet their needs.

Conducting market research is also crucial in building online stores. You'll want to know what products are currently popular in your niche, what competitors offer, and what voids you can fill in the market. The information will help you make informed decisions about the products you sell.

Deciding on the products to sell is another important step when you build an online store. You'll want to choose products that appeal to your target market and have a reasonable profit margin. It's also important to consider how easy or difficult it will be to source these products and how much storage space they will require.

Creating a brand identity is the final step in planning your online store. Your brand identity should reflect your values and appeal to your target market. Consider elements such as logo design, color schemes, and tone of voice when creating your brand identity.

Remember: taking the time to plan before building an online store can save time and money.

Some planning tips:

• Use tools like Google Analytics or social media insights to gather data about your target market.
• Consider conducting surveys or focus groups with potential customers.
• Research competitors' websites for inspiration and ideas.
• Develop a clear mission statement for your brand.
  

With careful planning, building an online store can be an exciting and rewarding experience!

Image taken from a Strikingly user's website

2. Building Your Online Store With Strikingly

Building an online store is an incredible way to sell products and services to a larger audience. Creating an online store can be straightforward and stress-free with the right website builder. In this section, we will discuss how to build your online store using Strikingly.

Choosing A Template

Strikingly offers a variety of website templates that are specifically designed for when you build an online store. When selecting a template, consider the following:

• The overall design and layout.
• The ease of navigation.
• The ability to showcase your products effectively.
• The level of customization available.
  

You can customize a template to fit your brand once you choose a template.

Customizing Your Website

Customizing your website is essential to building an online store that stands out. With Strikingly, you can customize your website in several ways:

• Change the color scheme and font style.
• Add images and videos.
• Create custom pages for shipping policies, returns, etc.
• Integrate social media accounts.
  

Personalizing your website can create a unique brand identity that resonates with your target market.

Adding Products And Categories

Adding products and categories is another crucial step in building an online store. With Strikingly's e-commerce features, adding products is straightforward:

• Upload product images and descriptions.
• Set prices and shipping options.
• Organize products into categories for easy navigation.
  

Remember that high-quality images and detailed descriptions can help increase sales when adding products.

Optimizing For Mobile Devices

Optimizing your online store for mobile devices is essential in today's mobile-first world. With Strikingly's responsive design feature, your website will automatically adjust to fit any screen size:

• Use large fonts that are easy to read on smaller screens.
• Simplify navigation for a better user experience.
• Test your website on various devices to ensure it looks great on all platforms.
  

You may expand your audience and boost sales by making your online business mobile-friendly.

Building an online store with Strikingly is an excellent way to get started in e-commerce. You can create a successful online store that stands out by choosing the right template, customizing your website, adding products and categories, and optimizing for mobile devices.

Image taken from a Strikingly user's website

3. Creating Compelling Product Pages

Creating compelling product pages is crucial to your success when you build an online store. Your product pages showcase what you offer and convince potential customers to purchase. Here are some tips for creating effective product pages:

Writing Product Descriptions That Sell

Your product descriptions should be informative and persuasive. They should provide enough detail about your products to help customers make informed decisions while also highlighting the benefits of your products.

To write effective product descriptions, keep the following tips in mind:

• Focus on benefits. Instead of just listing features, highlight how those features benefit the customer.
• Use descriptive language. Use adjectives and descriptive language to make your products sound more appealing.
• Keep it concise. While you want to provide enough information, don't overwhelm customers with too much text.
  

Using High-Quality Product Images

High-quality images are essential for showcasing your products effectively. Ensure your images are clear, well-lit, and show off all angles of your products. Consider using multiple images for each product, including close-ups and lifestyle shots that show how the product can be used.

Incorporating Customer Reviews

Customer testimonials may be an effective technique for gaining the trust of potential buyers and motivating them to make a purchase. Make sure to prominently show client testimonials along with star ratings or other measures of general satisfaction on your product pages. Consider providing discounts or free delivery on your next purchase as rewards for consumers who submit reviews.

Including Calls To Action

Finally, remember to include clear calls-to-action (CTAs) on your product pages. CTAs encourage customers to take action and purchase or learn more about a particular product.

Ensure your CTAs are prominently displayed and use actionable language (e.g., Buy Now or Add to Cart).

Following these tips, you can create product pages that are informative, persuasive, and effective at driving sales.

Image taken from a Strikingly user's website

4. Marketing Your Online Store

It's time to spread the word and increase website traffic now that your online business has been developed. Here are a few efficient marketing techniques to boost your internet sales.

Utilizing Social Media

Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram may be effective marketing tools for your online store. Create social media profiles for your company and begin interacting with fans by offering interesting material. Use eye-catching images and videos to showcase your products and encourage people to visit your website.

To reach a larger audience, you may also conduct social media advertisements. You may target consumers with Facebook Ads depending on their interests, demographics, and behaviors. It means you can reach people interested in your products.

Creating A Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing involves creating valuable content that attracts and engages potential customers. It could include blog posts, infographics, videos, or other content related to your products or industry. Creating high-quality content that provides value to your audience can help you establish yourself as an authority in your niche and entice more visitors to your website.

Running Paid Ads

Paid advertising is another effective way to drive traffic and sales for your online store. You can run ads on search engines like Google or Bing and social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. When running paid ads, targeting the right keywords and audiences is important to reach people most likely to be interested in what you're selling.

Building an Email List

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to nurture leads and drive sales for an online store. Collecting email addresses from visitors who opt-in on your website or through other channels like social media or events can aid build a list of subscribers interested in hearing from you.

Use email marketing software like Mailchimp or Constant Contact to send targeted campaigns to your subscribers. You can promote new products, offer exclusive discounts, or share valuable content encouraging people to visit your website.

Implementing these marketing strategies can help you drive more traffic and sales for your online store and continue to grow your business. Remember, building an online store takes time and effort. But with the right tools and strategies, you can set yourself up for success and achieve your goals.

Image taken from a Strikingly user's website

5. Optimizing Your Online Store For SEO

If you want to build your online store and sell online successfully, optimizing your website for search engines is crucial. In this section, we'll discuss the steps you need to take to ensure your online store is optimized for SEO.

Conducting Keyword Research

The first step in optimizing your online store for SEO is conducting keyword research. It involves identifying people's keywords and phrases when searching for products like yours. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to conduct keyword research. Start by brainstorming a list of potential keywords related to your products, then use these tools to identify additional keywords and determine their search volume. Once you have a list of target keywords, incorporate them into your website's content, including product descriptions, meta titles and descriptions, and blog posts.

Writing Meta Titles And Descriptions

Meta titles and descriptions are HTML tags in search engine results pages (SERPs). They summarize what users can expect to find on a particular page of your website. When writing meta titles and descriptions for your online store, ensure they accurately reflect each page's content while incorporating target keywords. Keep them concise but informative - aim for at most 60 characters for meta titles and 160 characters for meta descriptions.

Optimizing Product Pages For Target Keywords

Optimizing product pages is one of the most important aspects of building online stores that rank well in search engines. Each product page should be optimized around a specific target keyword or phrase. To optimize product pages, include the target keyword in the page title, URL, header tags (H1-H3), image alt tags, and body content. Ensure each product description is unique - avoid copying and pasting manufacturer descriptions or using duplicate content across multiple products.

Implementing On-Page SEO Tactics

In addition to optimizing individual pages, you can use several on-page SEO tactics to improve your online store's overall search engine visibility. These include:

• Creating a sitemap. A sitemap is a file that lists all your website's pages. Submitting a sitemap to Google can help ensure your pages are indexed.
• Optimizing images. Use descriptive file names and alt tags for all images on your website.
• Improving site speed. Site speed is an important ranking factor. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify areas for improvement.
• Using internal linking. Linking between related products and blog posts can help search engines understand the structure of your website and improve user experience.
  

Following these steps, you'll be well on your way to building online stores that rank well in search engines and drive traffic and sales.

Conclusion

Building an online store can be daunting, but with the right tools and strategies, it can be a rewarding experience. In this guide to build an online store, we have covered the essential steps to help you build your online store successfully.

Remember, building an online store is just the beginning of your journey as an entrepreneur.

Now that you have a better understanding of how to set up an online store using Strikingly, it's time to take action! Don't let fear hold you back from your dream business, and build an online store. You can build an online store that generates revenue with dedication and hard work.

Remember that success doesn't happen overnight, but you can achieve your goals with persistence, hard work, and the right tools. Happy building!