With an estimated market size of more than $140 billion in 2020, the dropshipping industry is booming. Widely considered a more affordable and simplistic method of starting an ecommerce business, more and more average Joe’s are harnessing the dropshipping model to earn income online. In this simple guide, I’m going to show you how to design and build your own professional dropshipping website in just a few simple steps.
Get a Domain & Hosting
The first step towards designing a dropshipping website is to acquire a unique domain name and web hosting. Every website needs a domain name and hosting to operate. Thankfully, both are fairly inexpensive and very easy to set up, particularly when creating an online store. In fact, even those with limited tech experience will find it very easy to purchase a domain name and hosting.
GoDaddy, Hostgator and SiteGround are all highly reliable domain name and hosting providers, some even offer dedicated ecommerce hosting solutions. Alternatively, specialist managed hosting, WordPress hosting or ecommerce providers with built-in hosting options are also viable options. Typically, a domain name costs around $10/year while the average cost of hosting is around $30/month. However, cheaper and more newbie friendly shared hosting options start from as little as $5/month.
Choose an Online Store Builder
From Shopify to WooCommerce, 3dcart and BigCommerce, there are several leading online store builders to choose from. While Shopify is renowned for its simplicity, WooCommerce is a much more flexible and low-cost alternative. Make sure you study and research each potential option to determine which will be most suited for your knowledge level and needs.
YouTube is a powerful resource for researching just about anything, including how to use Shopify, WooCommerce and other top online store builders. It’s important to note that some providers such as Shopify include built-in hosting, allowing you to quickly launch your store without the hassle of having to get third-party hosting. However, it really all depends on your own personal preferences and long-term goals.
Install a Professional Template
With global sales tripling to almost $3 trillion in 2020, the mobile ecommerce market is growing at an extremely fast rate. In fact, an estimated 30-50% of your website visitors will be browsing on mobile devices. Therefore, using a professional and fully responsive ecommerce template or theme for your online store is essential, otherwise you could miss out on a ton of potential sales. It’s important that your website functions correctly on mobile devices as well as desktop computers, laptops and tablets.
Thankfully, here at Templates.com, we have an extensive selection of feature-rich and professional ecommerce templates for WooCommerce, WordPress, Magento and many other popular online store building platforms. Our low-cost templates are fully mobile responsive, highly customisable and specifically designed to drive sales by maximising conversion rates. Our WooCommerce themes are particularly popular amongst users due to their ease of use, flexibility and low-cost. And if you are looking for Shopify themes you can check out this roundup of the best themes.
Buy Automation Software
Whether you’re planning to sell through a Shopify or WooCommerce powered store, using automation software to manage inventory and prices is essential. From SkuGrid to Hustle Got Real, Oberlo and AliDropship, there are several automation software programs which are fully compatible with WooCommerce and Shopify, as well as a wide selection of leading dropshipping suppliers.
The type of software you require will largely depend on which platform you’ll be selling on and where you’ll be sourcing your products from. For example, SkuGrid is one of the most popular software solutions for selling UK, US and EU sourced dropship products on Shopify or WooCommerce, whereas ShopMaster is more targeted towards China based dropship suppliers. The following list of the best dropshipping software solutions will help you to determine which software is the right solution based on your business model and budget. While not absolutely essential to start a dropshipping website, getting automation software is highly recommended, as it will prevent you from overselling or stacking up losses due to supplier price increases.
Start Creating Listings
Now that you have an online store with a professional theme and reliable automation software, the final stage is to start creating listings. Most software solutions come with built-in listing tools such as a Chrome Extension or URL scraper. However, you can also opt to create listings manually and import them to your software account for tracking and monitoring. Either way, here are a few vital tips to consider when it comes to creating listings for your dropship products:
- Use a unique and professional title with relevant keywords and phrases
- Aim for a reasonable profit margin without overpricing the item
- Choose products which are low in price with a high profit potential
- Study current sales trends and popular selling items on eBay or Amazon
- Try using a different main product image as your competitors
- Advertise and market new product listings on social media
- Create your own unique descriptions to stand out from the crowd
- Run flash deals and promotions to quickly drive sales
The Vendy Multipurpose Shopify Theme for Fashion Is a Perfect Choice for Dropshipping
Start a dropshipping online store with Vendy! This fashionable theme allows you to sell anything from clothes to books. Just stay assured the sleek design of Vendy will meet any of your web projects as well as screens of modern devices.
Moreover, the Vendy multipurpose Shopify theme shows off advantages in:
- quick visual customization;
- a variety of pre-styled page templates;
- social network integration;
- powerful SEO.
So, have a look at this new Shopify theme and let your dropshipping business flourish!
Final Summary
Designing a professional dropshipping website is becoming much easier thanks to simple online store builders and feature-rich themes or templates. Furthermore, with a domain name and hosting being the only requirement, running a dropshipping store is relatively inexpensive and affordable for most people. Follow the 5 simple steps outlined in this guide and you’ll have your very own dropshipping store live and ready to take orders within a few hours.
