7 Things to Plan for When Building an eCommerce Website | EP 73

7 Things to Plan for When Building an eCommerce Website

1. Solid hosting 01:49
   • Tim does not recommend that anyone put their eCommerce website on shared hosting.
   • Tim recommends WPEngine and David recommends A2 Hosting.
   • Listen to episode 46 for more information on this topic.
2. Shipping 03:15
   • If your client website sells physical products, then you will need to plan for shipping.
   • One of the benefits of using WooCommerce is all of the shipping plugins available.
3. SSL certificate 04:52
   • This is what makes your connection encrypted, so credit card information is secure.
   • If you’re going to have a lot of traffic to your site, Tim recommends buying an SSL certificate. Then you can display it on your website and build trust with customers.
   • Even if you don’t have an eCommerce site, use an SSL. Google will give your site a boost in search rankings.
   • Resources: Let’s Encrypt and Comodo
4. Tax 04:43
   • In the U.S., taxes are different in every state. You’ll need to figure out ahead of time if you will need to charge tax on the site and in how many states.
5. Security 07:37
   • Use solid hosting as mentioned above. Good hosting is secure hosting.
   • Next, you’ll want to use a security plugin.
   • Listen to episode 38 for more information on this topic.
6. Optimize for performance 09:01
   • Everything on your site, from the images to the scripts, needs to be optimized for performance.
7. Payment Settings 10:15
   • Paypal and Stripe are the most popular methods.
   • You want to use one of these types of services because they are PCI compliant. This will protect your customer’s credit card data.
8. Bonus Tip! Use Cloudflare 12:54
   • This software has so many benefits for your website, including an additional layer of security.