This article will explain how to create your own online store from scratch, but also what to look out for in a great template.
Can I start an online store for free?
Sure you can. VOOG offers all its templates on a free trial for the first 30 days. This gives you more than enough time to see if your online store will take off or not. We suspect that, if you get your marketing right and if you know your customer base well enough, you’ll have an online store that finds its audience.Try VOOG’s online store templates for free now!
Once you’re up and running, our prices are devised in order that any business can find something that works well, and that is affordable. For example, for a small company with a limited product base and the need for a small amount of storage space, our Standard plan is perfectly acceptable, at only €11 monthly. If you want an unrestricted online store, a free custom domain, and unlimited webpages, go for our Plus plan at €17 monthly, which will serve your every need.
If you plan to take on those starting an online store on Amazon and AliExpress at their own game, and you want bonus perks like a custom SSL certificate and total, unlimited, resources, then you may want the Premium plan. €39 per month is the price, and power users will find their site works as hard for their business as their company does.
By the way, if you’re wondering, VOOG’s prices compare well with the competition. A look here (comparison of different platforms) will show you that no other site starts cheaper than VOOG. We’re also proud of the fact that VOOG is the only true multilingual website builder. This means that in 15 minutes you can have a website that speaks multiple languages, doubling, or more, your customer base.
Stella Soomlais is a leather designer and a long-time client of Voog. Even-though her business is mostly international, she has her site in Estonian (where she has her workshop) in addition to English.
How does it accomplish this? By making copies of the pages, rather than asking you to manually place everything on the page yourself. When you start an online store website, you don’t want to waste time on things that aren’t worthwhile. VOOG’s multilingual functions mean you can get straight down to business.
You don’t want to waste time on things that aren’t worthwhile
What’s important to have in an online store builder?
There are several factors that can determine whether your online store succeeds or fails in the market:1. It must accept the world’s most popular payment methods
It’s no longer acceptable for an online store to only accept credit cards, or bank transfers. These days, customers expect you to be able to take their payment, in whatever form that might be. This means looking at the world’s most popular payment methods, and making sure they’re accommodated by your website builder.Once you choose your website builder, there’s no going back - you need to stick with it and make a success of your website - so you may as well get it right first time. Payment methods are your link with your customers, and the more you accept through your online store website, the more people will stay on, and come back to, your site.
The online store is one of the main distribution channels for Stella and to serve the demand she has PayPal and all the major Scandinavian banks as payment gateways.
VOOG accepts the major globally recognised payment methods, including PayPal, which is the most important of all, being the world’s leading online wallet and the number-one way that online shoppers guarantee their data protection. Online stores that accept PayPal are significantly more popular than those that do not. VOOG has inbuilt tools that allow you to harness the power of PayPal and all other major payment methods.
2. It must be easy for customers to use
If your online store follows the natural logic of how customers like to shop, then you’ll have far more chance of success with whatever you’re selling. How do you know how customers like to shop? You could think of what you would find most welcome in an online store; would it be an ease of navigation between products that you would find most useful, or speedy ordering, or a fluid flow from shop-front to checkout to payment pages? Probably it would be a combination of these.
Stella's online store is extremely simple and pure — all you need but nothing more, nothing less. Her store is based on one of our templates, Sapporo.
In order to best determine what makes a brilliant online store, we recommend you, literally, shop around. Check out existing stores, and see what they do well, and do badly. Make notes, and act on them. You can do hundreds of hours of market research on user experience if you want, but Amazon and other market leaders have already done it for their sites, so use their expertise, and be sure to note down what it is that makes using their sites such a dream for customers. Equally, is there anything about the major online stores that is annoying or off-putting for customers? If you can solve a problem no-one else can, do it!Check out existing stores, and see what they do well, and do badly
3. Your ‘About’ page must be clear
The chances are that if someone has searched for, and visited, your site, they probably already want to buy one of your products. Before they seal the deal, though, they may want to know a little more about your company, to be sure they can trust you and that your business has a good reputation.
This is especially true if you’re starting an online affiliate store, because you’re marketing products that you’re paid by the manufacturer to sell, so you must prove doubly that you actually endorse the products you’re selling.
This is especially true if you’re starting an online affiliate store, because you’re marketing products that you’re paid by the manufacturer to sell, so you must prove doubly that you actually endorse the products you’re selling.
If you want to know how a good "about" page looks like, then we highly recommend checking out Stellas's — it gives a very strong understanding of what they are doing as well as why.
Why would you want to wreck a potential sale by having an incomplete ‘About’ page? In some ways, the ‘About’ page is the most important page for connecting you with new visitors, as not only does it broadcast your mission and aims as a company to your audience, it also serves as a great search engine optimisation (SEO) tool.
For this reason, it must come complete with quality content, which concisely explains who you are, what you sell, and what service you intend on providing to customers. Do all these, and you ensure not just one-time business, but repeat business.
For this reason, it must come complete with quality content, which concisely explains who you are, what you sell, and what service you intend on providing to customers. Do all these, and you ensure not just one-time business, but repeat business.
How do I create an online store website using VOOG?
It’s as easy as drag and drop. VOOG has taken all the techie worries out of building a website, leaving you with a streamlined dashboard that lets you focus on putting necessary features on your website.
To create an online store, create a VOOG account. On your starter page, you’ll see a space in the middle of the page where you can add features. To get straight into setting up your store, go to ‘Add’ on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, and then, in the ‘Sell’ menu, drag a ‘Buy Button’ into the middle of the screen. You will see a notification that you need to complete store setup. Click on this.
To create an online store, create a VOOG account. On your starter page, you’ll see a space in the middle of the page where you can add features. To get straight into setting up your store, go to ‘Add’ on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, and then, in the ‘Sell’ menu, drag a ‘Buy Button’ into the middle of the screen. You will see a notification that you need to complete store setup. Click on this.
Here you can see how easy it really is to set up an online store on Voog. But be our guest and try it yourself.
You’ll now be invited to fill out a very simple online form detailing your store settings, under three categories - store info (all the basics you need people to know first), shipping (how you will send products to customers), and payments (which payment methods you want to accept). Like we said before, there is no need to know anything about online store mechanics before setting this up on VOOG - it’s all handled for you, all you need to do is type in the right details.
You can find more information on setting up an online store through VOOG here and here. We think you’ll find it easy to get up and running, but in case you need any help at all, contact our real, human, support team at any time of day.
