Set up an online store alongside your website

If you already have a website and are looking for ways to increase your income, setting up an online store could be a smart move be a smart move. An online store allows you to sell products or services directly to Customers and create an additional source of income for yourself. In this blog post, we will discuss how you can set up a profitable online store alongside your existing website.

This is often a bigger step than just running a website and also involves the necessary legal issues before you can Selling products directly. Every web store needs a KVK registration in the Netherlands. So you cannot open it as a private person. launch. We will come back to this later in this article. Read on More.

Define your product assortment

The first thing you need to do when starting an Online store, you must first define what products or services you want to sell. These can Be physical products such as clothing, gadgets or handmade items, to digital products like e-books, courses or software. Make sure that your products match the interests and needs of your target audience and are of good quality. Which, of course, is not completely unimportant if you want to want to sell over a longer period of time. Poor quality products will make your webshop unprofitable.

An example of this is dropshipping, where customers are often not only dissatisfied with the product itself. But also about a long delivery times, customer service, packaging and handling. So before you offer products that can't be delivered immediately, you should think carefully about how to Think carefully about how you want to do it.

Choose an e-commerce platform (CMS)

To set up and manage your web store, you'll need an e-commerce platform. There are several platforms available, from self Hosted and managed. Such as NopCommerce, Woocommerce, OpenCart and others. Or also ready-made options like MijnWebshopPartner.co.uk.

The difference between self-hosted and MijnWebshopPartner.nl is mainly what you have to do for it yourself, with a self hosted option much ends up on your own plate. From the design of the webshop to its maintenance and security. MijnWebshopPartner.nl actually takes a lot from you and you can get started with your webshop in no time.

In the end it is often a matter of choosing a platform platform that fits your technical skills, your budget and your needs. These platforms offer tools for managing your inventory, processing payments, designing your store, and tracking your orders. Payment processing, designing your store, and tracking Orders.

Your online store or web store can be hosted alongside your website Be hosted with a subdomain, like webshop.mijjndemopartner.nl. But also in a subfolder, like mydemopartner.com/webshop. In general we recommend to choose the subdomain option, because this is 2 completely separate websites. And thus can also be managed completely separately.

Design of your webshop

The design of your webshop is crucial to create a create a professional appearance and to gain the trust of your customers. to gain their trust. Choose an attractive and responsive theme that fits your brand and your products. Make sure that the navigation is intuitive, that the product pages are are clear and detailed, and the checkout process is smooth. So Within a few steps and is not a challenge to get customers to order.

Also add relevant information, such as shipping information, Return policy and customer reviews. And try to include this information in a clear format on your website.

Manage your inventory and orders

An important aspect of running a successful Online store is managing your inventory and orders. Make sure that you Have a system in place to keep track of your inventory and replenish it in a timely manner. Automate order processing as much as possible to ensure efficiency. Guarantee efficiency. Strive for fast and reliable shipping and offer a variety of shipping options to meet your customers' needs.

For most SMEs, however, an order is still a manual action or series of actions that still need to be completed. Think of the Printing the label, packaging the product and the final shipping. Digital products such as software and e-books, on the other hand, are much easier to much easier to automate.

Marketing and advertising

In order to make your web store successful, effective marketing and advertising are essential. Use various marketing channels to promote your products such as social media, email marketing Content marketing and paid advertising. Make use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make your store more discoverable in search engines. Search engines.

This is often done by web shops by making an effort on every product page, i.e. creating a comprehensive description, inserting an original image, and providing more information Information than your competitors.

Also offer special discount codes or loyalty programs to attract and retain customers. Attract and retain customers. You can also display these special offers on a display on a separate landing page within your web store. This in turn allows you to run offer marketing campaigns and it is often easier to track how successful it is or was.

Security tips and measures you should take

Before you start a web store, it is important that you get some things in order. Some things need to be in order. You need to register with the Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce to offer your services or products over the Internet in the Netherlands. the Netherlands. So if you want to do this as an individual, you must first establish a establish a company.

In addition, the installation of an SSL certificate is mandatory Not only do you need to install an SSL certificate in your web store, but you also need to configure it properly so that every connection goes over the wire encrypted. You can do this with a free Lets Encrypt certificate, but this is not recommended for business use. There is there is no guarantee. As a webshop, we strongly recommend purchasing a paid SSL certificate. You can find all the advantages of this certificate in our previous blog post:

https://www.mijnhostingpartner.nl/blog/beveiliging/voordelen-van-een-betaald-ssl-certificaat/

Do you want to start a webshop next to your existing website? Order your package now or start as a customer right away. And if you have any questions you can always reach us in the chat!