Building a successful e-commerce business in just a few steps
Published by Incomedia in Success stories · Tuesday 01 Jan 2019
Silvia Venturi, founder of Dream Shop, shares her story.
When Silvia decided to start her own e-commerce business, her dream was to become independent and create something with her own hands, but she didn’t have any web design experience. She didn’t know any of the programming languages, and didn’t know where to start. But she didn’t give up.
An online search led her to WebSite X5: a five-step website design software, with absolutely no coding skills required. Building a successful e-commerce business by herself: Silvia's dream was finally attainable!
Read her story and find out how to create your own successful e-commerce business.
Creating an e-commerce store: the first steps
This is how Silvia's journey began: after purchasing WebSite X5 Evolution 9, she explored all of the software’s features and soon gained confidence.
“I explored the program, opening all the menus and screens, and used all of the features I found as I tested everything out.”
Incomedia’s software lets you create a project in just 5 steps: each step includes options to add items, insert images, and modify elements as you choose. Silvia started out just for fun, to try her hand out, and ended up realizing that she could create a complete, functional e-commerce site that was easy to use for both her and her clients.
All she needed to do was follow the program’s menus, the attached guide, and start with her project’s main pages.
Product catalog: tips for a beautiful display
Silvia was very pleased with the ability to add a number of categories within her online catalog: her e-commerce business sells clothing and accessories for men, women, and children, as well as animal products, so she needs several sections.
“WebSite X5 lets you put together a truly complete e-commerce business.”
In addition to creating the main categories, Silvia was also able to add subcategories, descriptions, images, prices with or without VAT, and variables such as the colors and sizes available. Not bad for her first web store!
Next, Silvia specified the information required from clients as they place their orders and the text for the order confirmation email that is sent out automatically to show the contents of the order.
“Database” speaks for itself: it’s all about the base
A database is to an e-commerce project as sugar is to dessert: it’s the main ingredient, and you can’t do without it. Without a database, you might be able to create a basic website, but you’ll never have a sales channel. (And... cake without sugar is just bread.)
The database serves a very important function: it allows you to link your project to a series of information that is crucial for the business to work.
“With WebSite X5, managing the database is easy: the features for adding or removing data are really intuitive.”
First of all, it allows you to manage the availability of products in your inventory automatically, and also collects the information you need from your clients to be able to send them promotional emails or updates.
Coupons and promotional campaigns: whet your customers’ appetites
Every now and then, a promotional campaign can help keep up your customers interest and attract new opportunities. With WebSite X5's help, Silvia often offers discount coupons: the software provides an easy and intuitive way to do so.
“I would plan out the promotional campaign first (10% discount, free shipping, etc.), and then I would create it in the software.”
WebSite X5 lets you apply percentage discounts to products, or create promotional coupons, which can be limited to only certain products or be used for the entire store. Use your imagination: WebSite X5 lets you manage your online store however you like!
Payment systems: let’s get down to business
Silvia tells us that she had no problems with WebSite X5: the program supports several methods of payment, including the most common (bank transfer and PayPal). It also lets you connect other payment methods by linking the “Pay Now” to a personalized code.
“Even including payment methods was very simple.”
For her Dream Shop, she chose to accept PayPal, bank transfer, Postepay (Italian postal bank), and cash payments:
Site map and SEO: brilliant add-ons
Silvia says that WebSite X5 automatically creates the site map, so there’s one less thing for you to worry about. It also includes the essential SEO tools you need to optimize your online store for search engines, so you show up easily on Google.
“These days, the Internet is an endless sea of websites and information. You could have the most beautiful website and innovative products in the world, but if no one can find you among all the other fish in the sea, none of it matters.”
So make sure that your product descriptions contain the right keywords (for example, “long black dress” for a product with those characteristics) and optimize your photos to load quickly.
Google Analytics: for advanced e-commerce management
To manage your e-commerce business in depth, you can monitor it with Google Analytics which allows you, among many things, to keep an eye on traffic to your website and see how visitors navigate through your store.
“Google Analytics’ many features tell you a lot of information: the pages your clients visit, the keywords they used to search for products, and much more. It’s very useful for monitoring your store in depth.”
After a few years, Silvia made the bittersweet decision to leave WebSite X5 and work with a company that could help her manage her inventory as it continues to grow. But Silvia’s experience with WebSite X5 isn’t over: she was so satisfied with our software that she used it to create four other websites.
I did it myself. You can do it too.