Are you new to the ecommerce world? Do you want to hit the ground running? But maybe you’re not sure about the best way to get started. Ecwid entered the market in 2009 and has since been used by more than one million online shoppers and business owners. As an industry leader, Ecwid offers
Ecwid is naturally suited to entrepreneurs who have existing businesses or websites or social media followings. The fact that it functions as a
In some cases, you can add a few lines of the code to your current website and be ready to start your ecommerce journey. This depends mostly on your hosting platform. In this post, we’ll share the basics of learning how to make an online store with Google Sites. You will also find details on how to sell online with Ecwid.
Selling Products Online: How to Ecommerce
Ecommerce refers to buying and selling online. For individuals and business owners who want to receive payments on their websites or create an online store to start selling things, ecommerce is what you’re looking for. If you’re completely new to the ecommerce world, there are certain basics to brush up on in order to have a full understanding of what the right ecommerce solution is for your business.
In evaluating ecommerce solutions to find the perfect fit for your business needs, be sure to think through the number of items you want to sell, where you want to sell them, and how you want customers to discover your business.
According to Google, there are two main ecommerce solutions you can explore. They are:
- Adding a selling functionality to your existing website
- Creating a dedicated site for selling your products
How to Add Shopping Cart to Google Sites
In your quest to take your business online and achieve other related goals, perhaps the easiest way to proceed is by adding a Google Sites ecommerce extension to your website. To do this, you do not need to be fluent in a programming language, or have an abundance of tech savvy. Google Sites are one of the main ways to go about adding on this type of extension.
By adding a shopping cart to your website with Google Sites, you can quickly and easily start attracting more visitors, ensuring a higher level of engagement, and therefore converting these visitors into customers. This is where your knowledge of how to add a shopping cart to Google Sites comes in handy.
Bear in mind that with this solution, you are in for a great deal of competition against both small and large businesses, all vying for the same attention of visitors and customers. To compete in this crowded field, you should make sure that your Google
With Google Sites shopping cart, you have a surefire way to easily drive engagement, increase the number of leads and sales with minimal effort. All you have to do is integrate the Google Site’s ecommerce extension into your Google site. This also applies if you desire how to make a shop on Google Sites.
The Best Way To Add Ecommerce to Google Sites
Although you can add Ecwid shopping cart to your Google Sites website in several ways, some of them might not match your expectations and can influence your customers’ shopping experience. It happens due to the way Google Sites work with embeddable code.
Embedding a store as code into a page (not yet the best way)
You already know that you can add almost any code to your website using the “Embed code” tool. But what you didn’t know is that Google Sites block some important functionality of the Ecwid store, which results in a poor shopping experience. Plus, your store will be locked and limited with container borders. If you don’t stretch it enough, the frame will have its own scroll.
All the above will result in several disadvantages:
- surfing the store, the URLs don’t change. So the store will keep working inside the frame while you will stay on the same page.
- customer account issues. Your customers will face the inability to log in to their customer account.
- the cart reset. The cart may “forget” what a customer put into it while browsing the store in different tabs.
- blank pages. Sometimes, your customers may see blank pages popping up in a new tab.
- not enough space. Your store will be displayed in a frame. The frame has its borders. Although Ecwid will do its best to resize to fit into the frame, sometimes it won’t be possible. You will need to scroll down or sidewise inside the widget to see the full picture.
It’s important to understand that this behavior does not mean that Ecwid or Google are bad solutions. This is just an embedment limitation that Google and we are working on together.
Embedding a store as a page (almost the best way)
Google Sites let you embed the code as a
Adding your store to Google Sites as a page solves some issues from the previous part, but some of them remain.
- the URLs won’t change. If you don’t care about SERP visibility of your product pages and totally rely on content pages created with Google Sites, it’s not a problem for you.
- customer account issues. Your customers will face the inability to log in to their customer account.
- the cart reset. The cart may “forget” what a customer put into it while browsing the store in different tabs.
Aside from these issues, your store will work as expected and your customers won’t feel uncomfortable browsing and purchasing your products.
Instant Site and subdomain (the best way!)
What would you do if you met a brick wall? Correct, you’d walk around. And that’s exactly what you can do to marry beautiful solutions like Ecwid and Google on your domain.
Link to Instant Site
All Ecwid stores have free storefronts (Instant Site) accessible from the web. In addition, they have indexable URLs and are fully functional.
And this is a place where you can send your Google Sites visitors right from the main menu. Add a link to your Instant Site with the word “Store” and offer your visitors to shop in a dedicated section.
Linking the store that doesn’t belong to the same domain as a website is common for many businesses. People see that your official website is sending them there and treat it as a legitimate place to make a purchase.
Place Ecwid Instant Site on a subdomain
But if you believe that your customers need another reason to feel safe with you, placing Ecwid Instant Site on a subdomain is definitely a way to consider.
Perhaps, this is the most widely used way the big brands use to run
Although both (adding as code and as page) ways to add a shopping cart to Google Sites have pros and cons, we recommend the second variant. And there’s a handful of reasons for that:
- best shopping experience. You’ll avoid unexpected errors and limitations.
- you’ll control the layout. Instant Site looks amazing and can be redesigned to match your business needs.
- SEO boost. Instead of working in a frame, your store will have its own navigation. All your products and categories will have their pages accessible from the web and indexable by Google.
But you may ask, “Why would I need Google Sites if Ecwid’s Instant Site is so good?” But don’t hurry.
Your Google site can win you lots of traffic if you continue creating limitless pages linking back to your storefront. They can be a part of the main navigation and can be hidden as well. In fact, you can create a universe of landing pages with Google Sites and generate free traffic for your store.
Benefits of Selling Online with Google Sites and Ecwid
When you integrate Ecwid with your Google Sites website, it preserves your existing web design without any fundamental programming knowledge. Then, you can add your store to different sites and manage it from a single platform. You will also be able to see the changes you make across the sites.
In addition, Google Sites ecommerce allows you to sell
You will be able to add the
This will make shopping easier. It will also ensure effortless management. Within the shopping cart, the AJAX interface and
Conclusion
Due to an evolution in technology and a shift in consumer behavior, robust ecommerce platforms are sought after by many businesses. Google Sites ecommerce allows for the addition of
Integration through a plugin is one of Ecwid’s standout features for any size business. Getting your products to your target audience on the world’s most popular search engine, Google, requires more than the basics of writing an
Ecwid as an ecommerce solution enhances your business by allowing for easy and
