How a beginner entrepreneur can choose a platform to create an online store: a step-by-step guide.

Do you want to dive into e-commerce entrepreneurship? Then you need to have a complete understanding of what is required to make online sales. 

Creating an online store from scratch will require large investments. Therefore, for a beginner, a more affordable, yet flexible and functional platform is the best option. We have developed a full-fledged guide for you, so download the document and proceed to the advanced platform search recommendations outlined in this article.

To make the right choice for your business, ask yourself these 7 questions:

1. What is my budget?
2. What technical capabilities do I need from the platform?
3. How flexible should the platform be?
4. What integrations do I need to run an online store?
5. How easy is it to learn the platform?
6. How will the platform affect the speed of my website?
7. Is the platform SEO-friendly?

What is my budget?

The cost of launching an online store can vary significantly depending on the way you build your website, the features you require, and other factors.
At the initial stages, businesses mostly work within small budgets. And it's not always possible to find the funds to hire website development specialists. 

If you are also on a tight budget, then you should choose ready-made solutions. You can create your own store based on the chosen template, using the constructor, customize it to your assortment, fill it with goods, and start selling. 

Solomono also has solutions for those who want to try working with an online store for the first time or have a seasonal business. You can rent a website for your store to take the first steps towards starting your own business, and pay for the website only when you really need it.

Read more tips on how to save money on launching an online store without sacrificing quality.

Compare the pricing policies of different platforms and compare them with your short- and long-term goals for your online business. After that, you can move on to other selection factors.

What technical capabilities do I need from the platform?

The functionality of the platform should meet the needs of your business and facilitate sales in every way possible. 

When using SoloMono, you can count on an individual approach. At your request, we integrate additional modules that allow you to further expand the capabilities of your online store and scale at any time.
Choose the right modules for your website on your own or together with a specialist during a free consultation.

How flexible is the platform?

Every online store owner wants to have a beautifully designed, unique store that drives traffic and sales. The flexibility of the e-commerce platform is responsible for this. Also, make sure that the website is designed for the required number of products and has enough features and settings. 

It is equally important that your website is user-friendly for users of different devices. It should be easy to place an order from a computer, phone, or other device.

One of the main goals of any online store is development and scaling. With SoloMono, your website will withstand all the loads and won't lose its loading speed, because the platform can grow with you. And the main thing is that you can always expand the functionality with additional modules and individual improvements.

What integrations are necessary for running an online store?

Integrations are an additional opportunity to expand the functionality of the website and use business tools by connecting external software, applications, and plugins.

Why is it so significant for the effective running of an online store? 

Firstly, integrations provide the possibility of omnichannel. 
Before making a purchase, customers browse many offers, compare and decide. If your product is available on different platforms, it is easier for you to win the favor of customers and be remembered.

SoloMono has integrations with leading marketplaces and allows you to set up and unify your sales channels in half the time. Synchronize sales on your own website with products on Rozetka, Prom, Hotline, and other marketplaces.

Secondly, additional tools can also help with the following aspects of running an online store: 

• marketing;
• analytics;
• customer service;
• communication with customers.

The more integration options you have, the more perfect your business processes will be.

Read the article about all the important tools for an online store owner.

How easy is it to learn the platform?

You definitely don't want to spend a lot of time on a long and complicated learning curve of your website's functionality.

Business owners need to keep their focus on the strategic development of their business. Therefore, the platform should be easy to use, intuitive, and have materials for quick learning. 

On SoloMono, new users have access to onboarding, as well as text materials with step-by-step instructions.

How will the platform affect the speed of my website?

Slow website loading can lead to lost sales. Speed is incredibly significant for your website visitors. And it directly impacts the achievement of business goals and prospects.

SoloMono understands this and cares about the success of stores. Even with an assortment of 30-50 thousand products, the page load time will remain minimal, because SoloMono is currently the fastest online store platform in the world.

Is the platform SEO-friendly?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an opportunity to increase the position of a website in the organic search engine results.

Users won't be able to buy anything from your store if they can't find it. 

Of course, you can ensure good results in website traffic using paid channels (advertising), but in the long run, this is a losing option. Developing SEO will help your customers find your website in search results, even when you don't pay for it.
Nowadays, when entrepreneurs choose ready-made solutions for their websites, they fall into the trap of limited search engine optimization functionality.

Solomono has taken care of this issue as well. Our online store builder has modules for SEO promotion. Using the prompts, you can customize descriptions and prices without any special knowledge.

What is the conclusion?

Choosing the right platform for your future online store is not an easy task. You need to set your own expectations, analyze the offers, and make a choice. To help you choose the right platform for your online store, we've provided a step-by-step guide below. Save it so you don't lose it

Step-by-step guide:  How to choose an online store platform for a new entrepreneur.

Use this comprehensive guide and you will be able to choose a convenient platform and start a successful business. 

20 key factors for choosing the perfect platform:

1. Make sure the cost of using the platform falls within your budget and is affordable for your business.
2. Compare tariff plans of different platforms.
3. Remember to take into account possible additional costs for design and development, hosting, store maintenance, integration of features and tools.
4. Determine the possible options for owning an online store and choose the best plan for you. You can rent a website to create your own online store or buy it.
5. The platform should provide high-quality and reliable hosting for placing information on the server or provide you with the opportunity to use your own hosting.
6. Find out if the platform provides open access to the website code. This is important for implementing changes and promoting the store.
7. Match the technical capabilities of the platform with the needs of your business.
8. Choose a platform that allows for flexible customization of the online store interface.
9. Estimate how long it will take your team to get up to speed with the platform. It shouldn't take a lot of time and energy.
10. Identify opportunities for integration with marketplaces to increase sales.
11. The platform should also be compatible with other software to make all processes work efficiently.
12. Find out if the platform provides SEO and marketing tools, sales analytics, and finance.
13. Check for different payment methods, payment systems, and the ability to connect a cash register.
14. Check the ability to determine the availability of products in warehouses so that you don't have to do manual accounting. 
15. Make sure that you can place the volume of goods you need on the website.
16. Make sure that the website's page loading speed will remain high even with a large number of products.
17. Find out if it is possible to create sales and set a promotional price.
18. Since your online store should provide a good customer experience, it's important that your e-commerce platform has proper customer support.
19. Make sure it's easy for customers to place an order from a computer, phone, and other devices.
20. Consider your long-term growth goals so that the platform can scale and grow with you.