Running your own ecommerce website is a pretty good business idea, especially now in 2024 when almost the entire world is dealing with a global virus pandemic. It’s one of the best startups nowadays but it’s not really easy to create such a business and get it up and running because of a few reasons, the largest one being your competition.
When something is a “hot trend” in the startup world, a lot of people will try to succeed in it. Now when shopping malls are closed and people spend their money online, running a shop on the internet seems like an amazing idea even to those who aren’t remotely familiar with the concept of e-commerce. Needless to say, your website really needs to offer something special if you want to “steal away” all the customers. Ever wondered how much it’s going to take you to start such a business? Well, today we’re here to answer all of your questions. Let’s take a look.
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Covering the costs for the programmer
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If you are not a web developer yourself, and since you’re reading this chances are that you aren’t, the first and most basic cost, probably the largest one as well, is paying for someone to bring your idea to life. Now, we know there are tons of free templates and things such as WordPress, allowing even the most average people in terms of computer knowledge to create their own sites. But, it’s a bit more difficult when the site is an ecommerce one.
These templates, WordPress plans, themes, plugins and all that are not free. You’ll still have to spend a lot of time building the site on your own. That is if you don’t hire a programmer. Depending on the person you’ll contract and their experience, an e-commerce website can cost somewhere between $700 and $1500. Sometimes even more, but let’s take the average of $1000.
Product Photography
Investing in high-quality product photography is crucial for the success of any e-commerce website. Professional product images can significantly impact customer engagement and sales conversion rates. When starting an e-commerce business, you have two options: outsourcing or doing it in-house. Outsourcing product photography may seem expensive initially, but it can save time and money in the long run. If you decide to do it in-house, you must purchase photography equipment, lighting, and editing software, hire staff, and dedicate time to learn photography skills. However, you can still choose to outsource specific tasks such as photo editing. Click here to learn more about the costs of outsourcing photo editing.
Whether you outsource or do it in-house, investing in product photography is necessary for any e-commerce business looking to succeed. Choosing the right approach can create visually stunning images to attract customers and increase sales conversion rates. The cost of outsourcing may seem high, but it can save you time and money in the long run. On the other hand, doing it in-house requires a significant investment in equipment, time, and staff. Regardless of your decision, investing in product photography is a wise investment that can significantly benefit your e-commerce business. The cost range for this can vary greatly depending on your chosen route.
Designs and appearance
Your website needs to look good if you want it to sell good. People are attracted to what is aesthetically pleasing. It’s not a graphics design portfolio-type of a site, but it still needs to have at least some kind of an aesthetic look. You can take care of this on your own but if you are aiming high and you want to overtake the competition, you’ll need some top-tier designs, and for that you’ll need a professional by your side. Let’s add something like $500 to the costs for this particular thing. If you are hiring a company to design the site entirely for you, you’ll be paying for the design as well. So far we’re up to $1500.
Search Engine Optimization
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SEO is what every website owner is focusing on in 2024. Without proper Search Engine Optimization your e-commerce site won’t be showing up high on the results list to any of your potential customers. You have to avoid that by any means if you are willing to sell quickly and efficiently. Search Engine Optimization is something that takes a lot of skill and we don’t really suggest doing it on your own if you are not experienced. Thankfully, there are tons of companies out there offering their professional service to millions of e-commerce website owners.
Don’t focus only on global SEO. Local SEO is important too, especially if you are looking to sell products in your country or city. Local SEO Shark is where you can find out more information on this topic. We cannot really say the exact price for such a service because every company charges differently. Throw in about $1000 from your budget in there if you are looking to boost up your results. We’re currently up to $2500, which isn’t a lot for a startup, but it doesn’t end there.
Product listing, thumbnails, updating information and a lot more
No matter what type of a business you want to start, it needs to be properly maintained in order to get results. The same thing goes for an e-commerce website. If you are the one who’s going to work the site then you can save up a bit of money here, but if not, you’ll have to hire someone, and that costs.
Someone needs to list all the products on your website as soon as you receive them. They need to be listed professionally with good-looking thumbnails as well as an accurate product description. This ensures good reputation for your store as well as a lot of convenience for your customers. If you’re going to do this then you need to learn a few computer programs, such as Photoshop for the thumbnail design, Grammarly for the accurate and well-written product descriptions, Copyscape to ensure you’re not into the range of plagiarism and a lot more. It’s not hard work but it takes effort. If you decide to hire someone for it, that’s at least $200-300 per month for them. That puts us close to the $3000 range.
Advertising and promotional relations
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Last but not least, everything related to marketing is going to cost you the most. Don’t mistake this with SEO. You need both Search Engine Optimization and good marketing in order to overtake today’s competition. After all, website like Amazon, Ali Express and EBay exist for a long time and they’re titans in this e-commerce sphere. You can’t compete with those if you are not willing to invest in good marketing. Let’s say this will cost you around $300 per month for a start, and the costs are going to increase the more you want to advertise, but so will your profit.
So, there you go, the most basic costs, or should we say the initial investment for your ecommerce website will be somewhere around $3500, of course, depending on where you live and the companies you’ll be working with. In case you find less-expensive choices for all this, that’s great, you’ll be able to invest the money you saved in something else, probably marketing. Believe in what you do and your website will grow huge one day.
