4 Reasons for eCommerce Solopreneurs and Side Hustlers to Use Website Builders

Side hustle - solopreneurs

Creating an eCommerce website isn’t as arduous as others might have made it out to be, that is, if you go at it the right way.

The thing is, if you build your website from scratch, as in, you hard code everything from the ground up, you’ll experience headaches upon headaches.

You’ll also likely spend tens of thousands of dollars to get your website up. That’s just for the basics, too. You won’t have any bells or whistles, and if you need to make any updates to the content, you’ll risk the whole thing breaking.

When you use website builders, however, the same project that might have taken you months to create will only take you hours, perhaps days, if there are specific extra fancy features that you’d like to add.

In a nutshell, this is why, if you have bazillions of things on your plate as an entrepreneur or a side hustler, you’re far better off using website builders to develop your eCommerce store.

Still not convinced? :)

Allow me to share with you four more reasons why you should absolutely use website builders.

1. Truckloads of features

The better eCommerce website builders offer you an abundance of features. We’re talking fancy faceted navigation, an automated shopping cart abandonment email engine, easy ad booking, an interface for collecting and displaying reviews from customers, and so forth.

This comes as no surprise. After all, the website builder platform is backed by countless developers paid by the company to accomplish one goal only to help make it easier for their customers to create feature-filled and professional-looking websites.

These features allow solopreneurs to manage their eCommerce business from one place, making it easier for them to run their business.

BigCommerce, for example, has features for marketing, product, and customer management, website (storefront) creation, analytics, multi-channel selling, etc., all while charging less than $30 per month for their starter package.

BigCommerce - Menu
BigCommerce – Menu

That’s not all, by the way. To further increase the functionality of your eCommerce store, you can also install third-party apps. Bigcommerce has several of these in its app marketplace.

BigCommerce eCommerce App Marketplace
BigCommerce App Marketplace

When equipped with these features, entrepreneurs no longer need to create multiple accounts from varying websites or tools; they can manage everything in one place, helping them streamline their business better.

2. Affordable

With just $30 (more or less), entrepreneurs who’d like to jump on the eCommerce bandwagon can create a professional-looking website. It’s that affordable.

Shopify, for example, has a modest starting fee of $29 (USD) per month.

Shopify Pricing Details
Shopify Pricing Details

With that, you can start using their platform to create your own e-commerce website. They’ll charge you more if you opt for premium add-ons, of course, but you’ll have a foot in the door for sure.

If you compare that with paying a freelance web developer to create your eCommerce website from scratch, you’ll immediately see how costly it can become.

Looking at leading freelance marketplaces like Upwork, you can see that the hourly rate of competent website developers far exceeds the $29 fee that Shopify charges.

eCommerce Marketplace Fee for eCommerce Development - Upwork
eCommerce Marketplace Fee for eCommerce Development – Upwork

When you think about how it would take months (even years) for a reliable and feature-packed e-commerce website to be built from scratch and how reputable web developers charge over $50 per hour, it’s easy to see how you’d be at a disadvantage if you didn’t use an eCommerce website builder.

3. Great customer support

Here’s a little perspective for you. If you hired someone to hardcode your eCommerce website from scratch, what do you think would happen if you experienced technical issues? You’d have to contact that one person that you hired, right?

What if the person is asleep or on vacation, or if the person has a family emergency? What then?

When you think about the number of sales you’ll lose if your website isn’t fixed immediately, it becomes doubly frustrating. That is why you’d be in a far better position if you had an entire team of professional web developers to back you up immediately if you experience technical challenges.

eCommerce website builder platforms can give you just that. As you can probably imagine, these companies have countless competent web developers working for them who can help you. If you need support, just give them a call, send them an email, or use their contact form, and you’ll almost always receive a reply immediately.

Volusion, for example, offers various means of customer support.

e-commerce customer support
eCommerce customer support

Their help center is pretty expensive. You can almost find whatever guide or help you need from their help center. And if that isn’t enough, you can also give them a call. Since you have an entire team of web developers who are willing to assist, your downtimes or issues can be addressed immediately.

Their “Guides” tab also houses countless topics that you will most likely need or run into when developing your eCommerce store.

Topics and Guides from Volusion
Topics and Guides from Volusion

The comprehensive guides that Volusion offers make it easier for their customers to address their concerns should they run into one.

And because their guides are up and running 24/7, you won’t have to worry (that much) about downtime, or if you have questions, you are bound to get the answer you need immediately.

4. Craft a more professional appearance

With all the online theft and cybercrime running rampant, customers are now extra careful with who they transact with. If your eCommerce website doesn’t look trustworthy because it doesn’t “look good,” the chances are your would-be customers won’t buy your products.

It’s because of this that you simply can’t ignore your website’s looks. The good news is if you use a website builder platform, you won’t have to worry about whether or not you can create a stunning-looking website.

The better ones have countless website themes/templates that you can use. Here’s how 3DCart’s selection of eCommerce website themes looks.

3DCart's e-commerce website HTMLs and Themes
3DCart’s eCommerce website HTML and Themes

With the help of website builders, you don’t even need to have website design skills or understand the concept or principles of layout design; all of it is pretty much done for you.

When you’re working with templates, you just need to upload (or add) your content, and you’re good to go.

What’s next?

The benefits of using website builders are undeniable.

Not only can using them help you increase your productivity, cut costs and get better support, but the overall experience of managing your eCommerce business becomes exceedingly easier (and more pleasant) because you can access everything in one place.

Image source: Freepik Premium

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