How To Start My Own Online Store – If you’re currently selling on Ebay, Etsy, or Amazon and want to learn how to start an online store, you’re probably overwhelmed by the many options available to you.
There are literally hundreds of different options to choose from, including website builders, shopping carts, services, etc., and it’s a big decision because it has long-term implications for your business. Once you choose, it’s hard to change.
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How To Start My Own Online Store
This article will give you an overview of the different shopping cart options and recommendations based on your specific needs and skill sets. None of them require any technical experience.
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If you’re interested in starting an eCommerce business, I’ve put together a complete resource pack to help you get your online store up and running from scratch. Be sure to take it before you go!
First, I want to dispel the misconception that you need to spend thousands of dollars to set up a good eCommerce website. For example, there are completely open source shopping cart software packages that are completely free.
In fact, if you’re comfortable with computers, you can set up an entire shopping cart for less than $5 a month. By the way, this is exactly how my wife and I started our e-commerce store.
Since I had a lot of budget in the beginning, I started my online store on a free open source platform and spent only $5 per month for the first 2 years. (I’ll show you how to do this later in this post).
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Today, the store is making over 7 figures a year and I’m still on the same free platform I started on.
However, my point is that none of the solutions I’m recommending to you today cost much. And today there are 7, 8 and 9 businesses active on these platforms.
Open source software is software maintained by a small group or community, and the beauty of it is that anyone can use it for free! Linux is probably the most famous example, and there are many open source shopping carts available that you can download at zero cost!
The main advantage of an open source shopping cart is that you are not tied to a specific company or service provider. You can move your store anywhere and pay nothing.
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Going to an open source platform is like having an unlocked cell phone. You are free to use any operator you want but you own the phone and it is free.
Another big advantage is that you control 100% of the source code (meaning you own the phone and all the technology). As a result, if you need to add some functionality that is very specific to your store, you can either implement it yourself or hire a developer.
In other words, being open source means you’re a boss. No one can change the terms and conditions. No one can fire you or raise prices.
Over the years, I’ve played with many open source shopping carts, including WooCommerce, Open Cart, Prestashop, and Magento, but one of my favorites is WooCommerce.
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Not only is it easy to use, stable, and built on top of the world’s #1 blogging platform, it also has a great developer community. Did I mention it’s free :)?
WooCommerce is the most widely used shopping cart in the world and has the largest ecosystem of third-party developers of any e-commerce platform.
The best part about WooCommerce is that it runs on the world’s most popular content management system, WordPress. If you already have a WordPress blog and want to add e-commerce functionality, using WooCommerce is very easy.
These days, content marketing with a blog is par for the course. As a result, it makes sense to integrate your blog and e-commerce store into one platform.
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The only drawback to running a shopping cart on top of WordPress is that WordPress is not designed for e-commerce. As a result, WooCommerce and other eCommerce plugins tend to run a bit slower unless optimized.
But on the other hand, there are thousands of free plugins that will speed up your online store and add more functionality.
My 9 and 11 year olds recently created an e-commerce store selling business shirts online with WooCommerce. And a 9 to 11 year old can start an online business, so can you 🙂
My kids used their own money to start this business and spent less than $3 from start to finish. Click here to view!
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Editor’s Note: If you want to read the full story of My Baby Store and their marketing plan, check out my post How to Start a T-Shirt Business for Under $3.
Today, WooCommerce is one of the easiest shopping carts to install and run. Why?
This is because most web hosts offer a one-click installer. Just push a button and you’re good to go.
In fact, I’ve put together a 5-minute video tutorial that shows exactly how to get started with WooCommerce from scratch for under $3.
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If you’ve followed the instructions in the video below, then you’re tech savvy enough to use the free, open source shopping cart!
Note: The instructions in this video will teach you how to set up a fully functional online store on Bluehost, the web hosting I recommend for new store owners.
I also negotiated a discount for readers on Bluehost’s regular price (only $2.95 per month). You can take advantage of the discount here or by clicking the Bluehost link on my blog.
OpenCart is my second favorite open source shopping cart, fast, easy to use and very modern looking.
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What I love about OpenCart is the backend admin interface, which is simple and intuitive. In addition, there are many companies and independent developers who are very active in developing website templates, themes and plugins.
The downside of OpenCart is that if you need additional functionality that OpenCart doesn’t offer out of the box, you’ll need to purchase and install your own plugins.
Also, since OpenCart is not as popular as WooCommerce, there is less developer support and less availability of free plugins.
But overall, the out-of-the-box features should be more than enough for most users, and the shopping cart is super fast.
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The main disadvantage of using an open source platform is that you are the boss, and controlling the platform itself is a double-edged sword.
For example, you need to manage your server. You need to make sure that your website doesn’t crash. You must have an updated shopping cart. And if something goes wrong, you are responsible for finding a solution.
In other words, you have to be resourceful. You must be good at solving problems. Because eventually there will be a problem.
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that using an open source e-commerce solution and self-hosting may not be the right solution for everyone. Some people don’t feel comfortable installing or modifying their website, let alone modifying their open source shopping cart.
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I once tried to help a colleague of mine set up his online store using OpenCart. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the basic knowledge to make simple changes to her store and had to ask him for help with every little change.
While open source shopping carts are free, flexible, and powerful, you have to decide whether your time is better spent marketing and selling your website or not.
If you’re on a budget and don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing your website, it often makes sense to pay a company to run your shopping cart for you.
While I generally recommend anyone interested in opening an online store to try open source and hosting their own website, some people need a little more intervention to start their online business.
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As a result, it makes sense for some entrepreneurs to use a fully hosted shopping cart for peace of mind.
Some of you don’t want to go through the trouble of setting everything up and want everything out of the box. Some of you prefer to focus on marketing and sales rather than tweaking your website.
In my experience, 85% of you should pay the extra money and go to a fully hosted platform unless you’re comfortable with the technology.
In fact, there are many benefits to using a fully hosted eCommerce platform that may not be so obvious.
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I have spent a lot of time on this in the past
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