Building an e-commerce website on the cheap

Last week, we gave you ten reasons why your business needs a website. If you have a business in the Caribbean, the only way to get paid online is through having an e-commerce-ready website, since none of the e-commerce features on social media are turned on for our region.

This week, let’s take a look at the most affordable way to build an e-commerce-ready website and also how to send digital invoices to international clients so that you can get paid in TT or US dollars.

Let’s tackle the website first – your digital home, the place where you want to have all of your business info, your products and your content.

The reason why this needs to be done correctly is that according to Intergrowth.co's 2023 research, 68 per cent of all digital sales start with a Google search. Your audience Googles their problems or desires, find a link to an article that provides the answers or the products they need, they visit the site, add to their cart and make the purchase.

Also, the new Linx Visa debit cards that have been rolled out by the banks are all are enabled for local e-commerce, meaning that more people have access to pay for your products or services online than ever before.

Here is the recipe for those looking to build an e-commerce website on a budget. You are going to need a couple of things.

The platform you need will be WordPress and the payment gateway to make this work will be Wipay.

WordPress web hosting can start from as low as US$3.99 a month, but you will need a credit card to pay the fees monthly. I would suggest checking out Siteground as a WordPress host, or Google “WordPress hosts” and you can read the reviews to make your own decision.

If you do not have a credit card and since not all of the Linx Visa debit cards have access to US dollars, you can use a local WordPress hosting company like Overmill. This will allow you to pay via bank transfer or bank deposit.

Wipay has a free option where it does not charge you monthly and the transaction fee is 3.5 per cent plus $0.25 per transaction. This is good, because if you are starting and you do not make any sales, you don’t have to worry about paying additional fees outside the monthly hosting fee for your website.

Now, many of you get confused about WordPress, because there are two versions, Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org.

Wordpress.com is the blogging platform and has major limitations that we won't get into here. You are looking to use their website-building software, which falls under Wordpress.org.

The good thing is that any WordPress hosting provider comes with the WordPress website software ready to instal. Popular hosts like Siteground, Bluehost, Hostgator and Dreamhost all come with one-click WordPress software installation, and their support teams can help you get started.

The other issue people have with WordPress is the learning curve, since it is open-source and there are over 1,000 ways to build on their platform.

I would recommend you instal the Elementor plug-in for your WordPress platform and build your website using that tool; or you can buy themes online that are built using the Elementor tool. Visit Elementor’s website or Youtube channel to learn more about their tool and how to create your website with the easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder.

So, if you use the combination of WordPress, Wipay and Elementor, your monthly costs will be US$3.99 a month at a minimum.

The cost could rise depending on the hosting provider you use, or which plan you select, if you decide to take Wipay’s paid plan or if you choose to use Elementor’s Pro plan.

If you are on a budget, you can create a website with the tools listed and stick to using Wipay and Elementor’s Free plans until you grow.

Service providers that do not have a website but need the ability to send clients around the world a digital invoice so that they can pay you with their credit cards can use Wipay’s Free plan to send out those digital invoices.

You can receive funds in both US and TT dollars. You will need a local US-dollar account if you want Wipay to deposit those funds and keep them in US dollars; otherwise, you will have to convert the funds to TT dollars on their platform.

To use Shopify in the Caribbean, their monthly plans start at US$25a month and Wix e-commerce plans start at US$17 a month. They integrate with First Atlantic Commerce (FAC)'s payment gateway, and to use it, you will need a merchant account from your bank, which usually starts at US$75 a month, depending on your bank.

FAC will charge three-five per cent per transaction plus $0.25. You will also need Tilopay to connect your FAC gateway to Shopify or Wix and they take one per cent per transaction.

Squarespace does not connect to any of the payment gateways in the Caribbean and will only connect to PayPal or Stripe (not available in the Caribbean).

Happy selling!

Visit Keronrose.com to learn more about building your digital presence and monetising your platforms.

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