Do you want to build an eCommerce website for your business? Perhaps you may be looking out for, from different website developers, the best quotations or proposals for your eCommerce website design.
#1 Estimated cost
Before you even start searching for a website developer who can create your eCommerce website, you should know the estimated cost of your eCommerce website development. It will help you to make up your mind beforehand.
Knowing the estimated website development cost will also help you to set your expectations accordingly.
How much is the website making cost in Singapore?
Your website developer may charge $1200 or more to create a corporate website while you may end up paying $3000 or more for an eCommerce website development.
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#2 Development platforms
The most important thing to know before you build an eCommerce website is about different platforms that are available to create a website.
There are many ways in which a website developer can create an eCommerce store. Some developers use a CMS such as WordPress or Shopify however others may recommend you to build your website using custom coding.
What’s the difference?
Creating a basic eCommerce website using a CMS like WordPress or Shopify is a great idea. Especially when you don’t want too many complicated features and when your budget is low.
WordPress allows you to create a profitable eCommerce website at an affordable cost.
You may however sometimes need some complicated features or integration with the 3rd party servers for which your website developer may suggest custom coding.
The cost to build an eCommerce website using custom coding is higher than that of WordPress website development, but when you choose custom coding, there would be no technical boundaries to scale up or customize your website.
Below are some of the best CMS platforms to create an eCommerce website:
- WordPress
- OpenCart
- Shopify
- Magento
However, when you want to create your website using custom coding, your developer could use core PHP or PHP frameworks such as Laravel.
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#3 Estimated timeline
The time to complete a website may vary according to the nature of the website and the complexity involved to build the site.
For example, it may take 12-15 days to create a basic corporate website however in the case of an eCommerce website, it could take a month or even more than that.
And if you want to build a website portal like car hire, property listing, handyman listing, etc. it may take a few months to develop these kinds of websites.
#4 Qualities of a developer
Before you even start searching for a website developer to build your website, you must know some of the basic qualities that a website builder should have.
Below are some of the essential qualities that your website developer should have:
- HTML & CSS
- PHP coding skills
- Visualization skills
- SEO skills
- Security knowhow
- Support
- Problem-solving attitude
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#5 Web hosting & domain name
Your website needs a place to live, and that place is called web hosting. Web hosting is what you use to make your website available to the public over the internet.
A domain is the collection of letters, numbers, and dashes at the end of your website address. So if your site is http://www.mywebsite.com, then my website is the domain.
In both cases (web hosting & domain name), you need to renew them annually in order to maintain your website.
How much does a website hosting cost?
A shared web hosting package should not exceed $150 per annum. In this package, you can get all the basic yet essential features from your hosting provider.
How much does a domain name cost?
A domain name (with a .com extension) should not cost you more than $20/annum. However, if you want a location-specific domain name extension such as .com.sg or .sg, you may have to pay more.
You can procure your domain name and hosting package from the companies like Godaddy, HostGator, etc.
#6 Responsibilities of a web developer
Before you even start searching for a web developer to build your website, you must know some of the basic yet crucial responsibilities that your developer should have.
- Providing excellent support, especially in case of urgent matters like downtime.
- Taking care of the security of your website.
- Testing your website for all the features.
- Ensuring that your website looks good on all the devices.
- Ensuring a smooth handover process after the completion of website development.
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#7 Your own part
There are a few important things that you need to clear with yourself before you ask any website developer for the eCommerce website quotation.
Perhaps, it would be a great idea to ask yourself a few questions that will help you to understand what exactly you need and how you can communicate your idea with the developers.
Below are a few questions that when you answer them can help you to understand your requirements:
- What are my business objectives?
- Do I need a blog?
- Will I upload the products myself or I should ask the developer to do this?
- What my competitors are doing?
- Which payment gateways I should choose?
- Do I need a basic eCommerce store or do I need any advanced features?
- When do I need to launch my website?
- What’s my budget to create my eCommerce store?
- Will I need the developer to maintain my website as well?