Make Your Own Webshop in 5 Minutes
The word ‘e-commerce’ may well be to blame for the belief that running an online shop is hard to do. It implies suited-and-booted men in large, air-conditioned offices processing thousands of transactions a minute.
In reality, though, as long as your site is secure enough to meet certain standards for card payment, can be swiftly found from search engines such as Windows Live Search and doesn’t take much work to look after, there’s nothing stopping you running your own successful shop from your living room.
Selling online does require a product; if you’re planning to sell your secondhand items, listing them on eBay is still by far your best bet. If, however, you’ve a lot of similar items to sell, or you make your own products, a branded online shop may do wonders for your business.
One of the easiest-to-use hosting systems is 1&1’s eShop package (from £5.86 per month). It takes care of absolutely every element of your shop, and it’ll also handle the payment side of things using PayPal or The Royal Bank of Scotland’s WorldPay system. Here’s an overview of how to get started with 1&1 eShop.
Creating a new contact in Windows Contact
1. Details Details. Once you’ve got an eShop account, you’ve got a few basic wizards to go through, answering questions about how much VAT should be added and bank account information.
Creating a new contact in Windows Contact
2. Design Time. The Template Designer lets you change the design and layout of your site. There are hundreds of designs available, each with their own variations, to suit the theme of your products.
Creating a new contact in Windows Contact
3. Personalise. Once you’ve selected a template, you can upload your own logos to make the site your own. You can use an image editor such as Paint.NET to resize your logo, or let the Designer do it for you.
Creating a new contact in Windows Contact
4. Pick a Price. Clicking ‘items’ from within the eShop Control Panel will open the item editor. Here you can add products, prices and images. Clicking ‘save’ will add the item to your shop and search facility.
Creating a new contact in Windows Contact
5. Under the hammer. While your own site will look more professional, eBay is still a great way to sell items in bulk. EShop includes a listing manager that connects to eBay and advertises your items for you.
Creating a new contact in Windows Contact
6. The Finished Product. Here’s our attempt; this took only a couple of minutes to do, and it’s passable. Spend a little more time and your site will look just as good as any other e-commerce site on the net.
