# how to start with ecommerce



## chappy6107 (May 23, 2017)

I have been reading through lots and lots of posts on here about this subject, but it seems the highlighted post is several years old and more.

I will most likely start with an etsy page & FB. Then I would like to create a web page. Preferably not having to hire someone to do the website for me...last case scenerio. I would like to find a good shopping cart (free/cheap) to start with and have a site that I upload my designs for sale. At this point I do not want the customer to create their own designs as I am not ready for that just yet.

Should I be looking at cubecart, woocommerce, ecwid, opensolution, zen-cart, etc? which free cart is the easiest for a newbie to use and is not outdated. I read lots of good things about cubecart, but most of those posts are 7-8 years old. what are you guys that are not fluent in code using these days? and who are you being hosted through?


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## jennGO (Mar 11, 2014)

Woocommerce is super easy Especially when starting out! I host godaddy but shop and find the cheapest. Get your domain and play with the free carts. No harm in that!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## chappy6107 (May 23, 2017)

jennGO said:


> Woocommerce is super easy Especially when starting out! I host godaddy but shop and find the cheapest. Get your domain and play with the free carts. No harm in that!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Is that the steps to take. 1 get the domain, 2 find a host 3 get a shopping cart ?


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## jennGO (Mar 11, 2014)

Yeah. GoDaddy does lots of help explaining things and they have 24/7 service. Something like Shopify might be a good solution for you if the tech side is too much 


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## chappy6107 (May 23, 2017)

jennGO said:


> Yeah. GoDaddy does lots of help explaining things and they have 24/7 service. Something like Shopify might be a good solution for you if the tech side is too much
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


yeah shopify looks easy enough, but I dont want to spend $30/ month on it. I would rather find a much cheaper host and spend the money on marketing or plugins as needed. I am a green newb when it comes to setting up a web page, but I am willing to learn.


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## jennGO (Mar 11, 2014)

You can do it! 
You can buy your hosting and your domain in two different places. I've enjoyed GoDaddy support for all sorts of issues I've had. I know some coding but Wordpress + woocommerce is simple IMO. 

I'm not good at explaining this stuff even though I know how to do it haha. But basically once you get your hosting space and domain name you can try out the different shopping carts and see what you like 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## chappy6107 (May 23, 2017)

jennGO said:


> You can do it!
> You can buy your hosting and your domain in two different places. I've enjoyed GoDaddy support for all sorts of issues I've had. I know some coding but Wordpress + woocommerce is simple IMO.
> 
> I'm not good at explaining this stuff even though I know how to do it haha. But basically once you get your hosting space and domain name you can try out the different shopping carts and see what you like
> ...


thanks alot. I will get something going so I can start messing with the different cars.


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## fidelmartin (Jun 15, 2017)

hi chappy6107,
As of my experience, Woocommerce is the best way for startup.


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## chappy6107 (May 23, 2017)

fidelmartin said:


> hi chappy6107,
> As of my experience, Woocommerce is the best way for startup.


Thanks fidelmartin. that is the direction I have went. what theme do you like to use?


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## brushyourideas (Oct 18, 2016)

chappy6107 said:


> Thanks fidelmartin. that is the direction I have went. what theme do you like to use?


If you wan to go with WooCommerce platform. There are several good themes available on themeforest for that.

I recommended to use *Recent trending* or *Best Sell* Theme to use for your website.

https://themeforest.net/category/wo...tf8=✓&referrer=search&view=list&sort=trending


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## chappy6107 (May 23, 2017)

brushyourideas said:


> If you wan to go with WooCommerce platform. There are several good themes available on themeforest for that.
> 
> I recommended to use *Recent trending* or *Best Sell* Theme to use for your website.
> 
> https://themeforest.net/category/wo...tf8=✓&referrer=search&view=list&sort=trending


Thanks brushyourideas. I may end up doing one of these paid themes if I cant find a free theme that I feel looks right.


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## theecocobutter82 (Jun 27, 2017)

jennGO said:


> Woocommerce is super easy Especially when starting out! I host godaddy but shop and find the cheapest. Get your domain and play with the free carts. No harm in that!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I had only been looking at Shopify and didn't know of any other competitor out there. I'm going to have to do more research and pick a great commerce site that doesn't break the bank, but is also secure and easy to set up. Thank you!


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## seacookie (Apr 29, 2015)

Just my 2 cents. It seems a lot if you pay as a start up 30 per months. But we need to look at this from other perspective.

What you get for this? And for what you are willing to pay 30/per month... I would like to pay 30 if I get best SEO and best security. So what I wont to say is, that 30 per months isn't much for a business. It is more of a question what you get for that money.

Personally i think for us as a business owners SEO is the most important thing, after all that brings sales. And security. 

If I can get 5 stores in woocomerce for example and they make the same amount of sales like mine lets imagina I got shopify store, then shopify store is worth 30 bucks.

So I think we as a community should ask eachother what is the best and cheapest e-commerce solution for small businesses with best SEO,security,ease of use,payment processors and design. Probably few more other stuff as well...


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## jennGO (Mar 11, 2014)

I am skeptical that Shopify gives any SEO features that boost your visibility on the web. Sure maybe it is clean code that google can crawl but if you're selling what everyone else is selling IMO you can't get up to the top unless you creatively work for it. 

I think Shopify is worth it when you just don't want to deal with customizing a theme and wresting with Wordpress 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## seacookie (Apr 29, 2015)

jennGO said:


> I am skeptical that Shopify gives any SEO features that boost your visibility on the web. Sure maybe it is clean code that google can crawl but if you're selling what everyone else is selling IMO you can't get up to the top unless you creatively work for it.
> 
> I think Shopify is worth it when you just don't want to deal with customizing a theme and wresting with Wordpress
> 
> ...


I don't know anything about shopify, but I do question my self what e-commerce has best seo or security.


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## hvac (May 24, 2017)

Hi,

You may want to try Camelot Hosting, the person there is Tony they are one of the original developers with Zen Cart. He is excellent and offers support, you have c panel. they back up your cart daily if anything happens he is able to put you back up. Hope this helps.

Lisa


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## ketnooi (Dec 27, 2012)

seacookie said:


> I don't know anything about shopify, but I do question my self what e-commerce has best seo or security.


You can try website management service they will help you build an ecommerce website with SEO assistant


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## brushyourideas (Oct 18, 2016)

chappy6107 said:


> Thanks brushyourideas. I may end up doing one of these paid themes if I cant find a free theme that I feel looks right.


Which type of UI and features, you want in theme? 
Do you have any reference site?


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## pixelgraffiti (Mar 16, 2017)

I personally love shopify...


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## Rosie13 (Jan 19, 2016)

Majority of *Shopify* owners know nothing about SEO and are discouraged by so called gurus from using it.

Majority of *Shopify* owners rely totally on running Facebook ads for sales.

*Woocommerce* is the most common way of running an *ecommerce store* using wordpress 

*Wordpress* is a free website platform 

*Hosting*
Do some research on hosting (my least favourite is Godaddy)
my favourite is Namecheap They have good speed and good prices
and no downtime.

Look for hosting *package* that allows you to have *several sites*
Hosting companies nearly always have a *reduce fee for the first year.* So take advantage of it

*Domains*
I buy my domains from Namesilo because they are cheaper and you get *free privacy*
My next favourite is Namecheap because their privacy is free also

*Privacy*
What is privacy?? when you buy a domain and hosting your information gets listed at whois
I have bought without privacy and then was *pestered by phone calls* from Chinese web designers

You *do not* have to buy a domain from your hosting company
So shop around *Prices do vary*. Try to stick with .com

*DNS*
But you do have to add the domain name to your hosting 
You hosting has a hosting address and its that address that you have to connect to the domain name and this is called DNS (domain name system) 
This is not hard to do and I suggest that you learn to do it ASAP to give yourself the knowledge to do it as soon as you buy your domain so as to get it moved to the web otherwise you will lose days before your web site will show on the web
It will look something like this

dns1.registrar-servers.com 
dns2.registrar-servers.com

1)You find out your hostings DNS address (it will be on their site somewhere)
2) Go to where you bought the domain and point the domain to the DNS of your hosting company

*NEXT*

1)Sign into your *hosting Cpanel* (You should have this link in an email that your hosting sent you)
2)Look for addon Domains
Follow the instructions

*NEXT*

From your *cPanel look for wordpress*
click install
Select what domain you want it installed on
When it gets to the part about *admin name and password*
make sure that you *copy it down and keep in a safe place*
*ALWAYS* tick the box to have the information *emailed to you* (the password will be encrypted so you wont be able to see it)

*NEXT*

This is when you add the *woocommerce, add on (Plugin)*

There are hundred of free themes that you can use
... just make sure you pick one that you can use with woocommerce 

I would then search for Yoast SEO plugin and install it

*HELP*
If you need help, go to Youtube and type into search what you need help with.

I hope that this is of some help to you.
.


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## chappy6107 (May 23, 2017)

Rosie13 said:


> Majority of *Shopify* owners know nothing about SEO and are discouraged by so called gurus from using it.
> 
> Majority of *Shopify* owners rely totally on running Facebook ads for sales.
> 
> ...



this is an amazingly helpful writeup! thank you very much.


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## gregorylemarsh (Jul 25, 2017)

I recently started to use Magento platform . I am not expert in e commerce but my friend recommend me to use this platform. For my online store I choose dimensional shipping and review booster on http://www.aitoc.com/ I can say that I was satisfied with its work.


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## aldorabancroft (Nov 18, 2014)

According to your requirements you can choose ecommerce software. If you are looking for user-friendly & hosted ecommerce software then you can go with Shopify & BigCommerce and if you are looking for more advanced & self-hosted open source ecommerce software then you can try for Magento.


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## nihal4440 (Apr 11, 2017)

If you want to set up your ecommerce store on wordpress then you can choose best theme at lowest price from theemon.com and can set up your online store easily.


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## TeeNewbieGirl (Sep 29, 2017)

WONDERFUL!!! Thanks for this, Rosie!


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

i use woo and host on namecheap (i also buy my domains from them),
and they are great
anytime you need help they have an online help desk 
(they also have a free ssl promo going right now)


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## Inkc (Nov 4, 2014)

I tried on the same lines as Rosie mentioned but the results were not so good....
I got namecheap domain and its real good in terms of value and service, then i got siteground host which had good tech support but the site speed wasn't great. 
I bought a theme called Zyra from themeforest and set the woo commerce site on wordpress.
I was playing around with site settings and the theme but i found it really clunky, I had a wordpress site in past and it was a good experience.
But this time i couldnt do a single thing on the site, i would spend hours to get the product page, dont know if it was me or it was the theme that caused all sorts of issues, like the page wouldn't be formatted the way i wanted, it was way too complicated to set anything so I got my money back from the host and went for Bigcartel.
Bigcartel has been easy so far to set things up and I like how easy it is to add and remove products.


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## dlanthripe (Jul 19, 2010)

I used to create e-commerce web sites but now a days its so easy to do yourself, no one is willing to pay me!! I worked as a reseller for GoDaddy. They do offer great support anytime and will walk you through any issue or question you may have. I have other sites hosted other places and like them also, but I have always loved GD customer service.

When we looked into e-commerce we looked into what we needed and what we wanted to do in the future.
We looked closely at volusion but settled on Shopify. It will do most all we need it to. Mainly my office staff - _read Wife_ - could run the site with out asking me how to do this and that. We decided that if we need to hire more help, it is simple enough to use anyone we hire could take on that task. Its relatively low cost, but the hook is you have to pay for a few more options. Its almost a re-skin of Wordpress.

Example: We do shirts for our local fire department. They want to shop and pay online with each fire fighter ordering what they want from a collection. We have to have a security code to get into that collection so the public can not buy city work clothes. That option/plug in costs about an extra $8 a month.

Just food for thought.


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## MaxxFusion (Oct 30, 2012)

Take a look at ecommercetemplates.com and hostgator for your hosting. I have been using both for over 10 years. I have built many sites using this setup.


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