How to Sell Online
with Ecwid
So you’re ready to start selling online. Now the million dollar question… where do you start?
How do you start selling online?
Setting up and managing an
And your Ecwid account grows with you, letting you add new inventory and new features to your store as easily as you can install an app on your smartphone.
If you’re ready to find out how to start selling online with Ecwid, we bid you welcome, and please, read on!
Building your Online Store
When it comes to building your online store with Ecwid, it’s safe to say you’ve got some options. Like, a lot of options. But let’s start with the obvious first. Creating your
Option 1. Plug Ecwid’s shopping cart into your existing website.
If you’ve already got a website, or you’re looking for a more robust website presence, this is the way to go. Ecwid was originally designed to be a simple and seamless plugin for websites seeking an
Option 2. Build a
If you want to build a website to start selling online fast, Instant Site is your answer. It’s a
Things to remember when you’re setting up an online store
Naming your store: Whether you’re building a website on your own or taking advantage of the
Before you settle on a name though, do a search across popular social channels to make sure your top pick (or something very close) is still available for brand consistency. Then, of course, snatch up that name as quickly as possible.
Writing an About Us: This is an easy step to skip, but that doesn’t mean you should. Your “about us” is your elevator pitch. It’s the very first piece of written content you should create for your website, and it defines who your brand is and what your customers can expect when you begin selling online.
Product images: You can’t effectively sell online without product images. And the better your product images are, the… well, better. Set up your products in front of a neutral background with natural light. Try to get detailed,
If you’re in a rush to get selling, break out the smartphone and start there. But if you can manage to get a nice camera and a friend with a good eye for photos, it can only benefit you down the road.
Choose Shipping and Payment Methods
There are aspects of launching an
Payment Methods
Choose from more than 50 payment providers to power your store to sell online, like Stripe and WePay, or choose providers like Square to include hardware for offline sales as well. Simply select a provider from the list and fill out the appropriate information to connect your bank account to your chosen payment method. No sweat. Watch this video for an
Shipping Methods
Ecwid has relationships with all the largest carriers. Select your preferred shipping provider, then choose how you’ll handle shipping costs — free,
How to sell online from other sales channels
Once you build out your product catalog the first time for either your website or Instant Site, you’ll be able to automatically connect that product catalog to a variety of other sales channels, including social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, Google, and even live
Known as
As a Facebook integrated partner, Ecwid empowers you to instantly upload your product catalog to your Facebook business page to sell and promote products on Facebook. And with seamless, free Facebook pixel integration, we also make managing your advertising easier too.
Any changes you make to your product catalog in your Ecwid dashboard will instantly appear in your Facebook store. One and done.
All this Facebook talk got you curious about how to sell online with Instagram? Once you’ve connected and synced your Ecwid product catalog to your Facebook business page, it’s just a couple more steps to add Instagram to your mix.
Shoppers visit Instagram to be inspired. And with Shoppable Posts from Ecwid, your customers can make a purchase at the exact moment of their shopping inspiration. Shoppable Posts let you tag featured products from your product catalog right in your posts, enabling social shoppers to make purchases right in their Instagram apps.
Simply link your new Facebook store to your Instagram business profile and submit your profile for approval. When Instagram sends you the greenlight, you’ll be ready to start tagging.
Pinterest is growing. Fast. And their audience is a market you want to get behind.
Pinterest’s primary audience (women age
With the Pinterest Tag, we’ll help you share promoted pins with your past store visitors (and Pinteresters like them), and keep you
When you start to sell online, it becomes clear pretty quickly that Google matters. Where and how you rank on Google’s search pages can have a lot of bearing on how your online store performs. So naturally, Ecwid makes selling online with Google easier.
In addition to storefronts that are designed with SEO (search engine optimization) in mind, Ecwid offers free Google advertising integration and tools to make promoting your products on Google fast and simple. And when we say “fast and simple,” we really mean it… because it’s totally automated.
Effortlessly drive your products to the top of the world’s most powerful search engine; simply choose your advertising audience and the products you’d like to promote, and we’ll take care of the rest. Now sit back, relax, and track the results in your Ecwid dashboard.
Amazon
If you’re ready to sell online, you’ve probably given more than a passing thought to Amazon. With a marketplace valued at $100B+, Amazon is the world’s largest online store. In fact, roughly 55% of product searches actually begin on Amazon.
Ecwid lets you quickly sync and sell your existing Ecwid product catalog across Amazon, while simultaneously relieving some of the pressures of Amazon selling through your own branded website, including: retargeting shoppers, promoting your brand, and collecting customer data. It’s the best of both worlds.
eBay
What’s an
Ecwid seamlessly integrates your product catalog with your eBay account to give you access to eBay’s 179 million active users and capitalize on the brand equity of an
What will you sell online?
Before you can begin selling online, you’ll need to know what you’re selling. Not sure what you’re selling yet? No problem. Here are a few tactics to help you choose the right product to launch your store.
- Identify the pain points in your own life, and use your insights to create a product that will alleviate that problem for others.
- Use a social site like Product Hunt to see the latest products people are making and early stage ideas that you can perfect.
- Google lists of trending items that you can dropship or create companion products to support.
- Check out our blog post for more inspiration
Already have an idea, but you’re short on resources to make it happen? Organize a crowdfunding campaign with platforms like Kickstarter to raise money and build anticipation for your product’s launch.
Here are a few broad ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
Get Started Selling Online
Ready to sell online? Get started by registering for your free Ecwid account. Your
