E-commerce: How To Create An Online Store

Many people want to create online stores, but they just can’t do it because they have no experience creating websites. I’m going to be teaching you how to make an online store (very user-friendly) using the OpenCart script. You don’t need no experience, and it is very easy so don’t be afraid. Before you start, you might want to look at the demo of how your site will be.
Users (customers/clients) which come to your website will purchase items from a website similar to this.
Your admin panel where you can control your whole website from will be similar to this. (Username = demo and password = demo)

If you’re interested in creating a store like that then read on.

Why you should create an online store?
If you already own a store or a business, creating an online store will expand your target audience. Instead of selling products in your local community, it is now possible for you to sell products on a larger scale. You will be selling to your whole country and if you want you can sell globally. A larger target audience means more sales, and more sales means more profit.

The Good and The Bad
There are millions of stores online so it may be difficult to establish your business on the internet. You will be competing against a lot of larger companies, but it is very cheap to start so it may be worth a try. You will have to promote your website along with your business, and having a website on your business card is always more professional. Basically, if you have knowledge of your products and get traffic flowing through your site then you should do fairly well but it may be a lengthy process.

How to Start
You will need a credit card to purchase your host so you can run your website. You will have to register the domain (www.yoursite.com) for a yearly fee, and pay monthly for hosting. I host my websites at HostMonster and really suggest that because it’s what we use in this example.

Click the above banner to sign up for hosting and to register your domain.

After you purchase hosting and log into your Cpanel you’re just a few clicks away. It’s a very simple process and will take less than a minute.

Once in Cpanel find the icon that says Simple Scripts. Click Simple Scripts and find where it says OpenCart. You can install another one if you’d like, but I found OpenCart to be more attractive and user-friendly. Click on OpenCart then press Install now and this should take you to the next screen.

On this screen it will list your site. If you want to install it on your main directy (www.yoursite.com) then select it in the pull-down list and leave the textbox next to it blank. If you’d like to install it in a different directory then simply enter the location in the textbox. Read both of the terms and conditions, check the boxes and press complete. You should now get an email will all of your information.

How to End
Now that you got everything ready and installed, it’s time to get to work. Log into your admin panel and begin adding your products. Create your categories then setup and customize your online shop.

If you have problems installing the script, then click the banner which was shown above then scroll down to live chat. A representative from HostMonster is always willing to assist you.

I hope this was helpful.
Be Sikk.

Tag: hostmonster