Even though you sell predominantly on Amazon, there are good reasons why you should also have a website – but which website-builder should you choose?
Today, we’ll talk about whether Shopify or WordPress would be best for your business.
Shopify and WordPress are hugely popular with individuals and businesses who want to build simple, functional websites.
But, which one you choose will largely depend on what purpose the website will serve: Do you just want to bring a bit of legitimacy and awareness to your business? Or do you want to open up shop and sell, sell, sell?
Reason #1 You just want to show you’re a legitimate business
My choice: WordPress
By displaying your products on a website and telling the world about your business, you’re showing your suppliers and would-be customers that you’re serious about this whole e-commerce thing – and you’ll get treated much better as a result.
Plus, your website email address will offer some much-needed legitimacy. Emailing your suppliers from ‘stacey@abctoys.com.au’ looks an awful lot better than something from a Gmail account.
For something like this, a basic WordPress site would suffice. With WordPress, it’s free to create a website – you’ll just have to pay for your domain name and hosting.
Shopping tools aren’t built into WordPress, but if you decide later that you’d like to start selling through your site, you can install a plugin like WooCommerce that provides you with all the e-commerce features you’ll need to start serving customers.
Reason #2 You want to set up an online store and start selling
My best choice: Shopify
I think of Shopify as being the ‘next level’ in e-commerce as you create a store-front with the sole goal of selling to your customers.
Whereas WordPress requires a little bit of website building, Shopify is incredibly easy to use – in literally minutes, you can have a store set up and be taking orders.
Keep in mind that Shopify isn’t free. It costs $29, $79, or $299 p/m, depending on the level of service you need.
So, what’s best for you, WordPress or Shopify?
If you just want a simple, 2-3 page website to give your brand a bit of legitimacy, I suggest going with a free WordPress site. On the other hand, if you want to go straight into selling on your own store, Shopify is the way to go.
Although Shopify is the easiest way to launch an online store, you may already have a WordPress site and just want to start selling through that. In which case, you have to add an e-commerce plug-in like WooCommerce.
Having a website alongside your Amazon store is often a good idea – and I hope that today I’ve helped you decide which platform is best 🙂
Hope you’re all doing okay out there!
Stacey xxx