What are the most common operating expenses of an online business?

Last updated 11.04.2020

Whether you’re taking your business to the next level by building a website, or making your first steps onto the e-commerce world, it’s important to get the foundations of building a website right. 

Considering that, by 2040, it’s been estimated that 90% of purchases will be through e-commerce, it’s key that you have a smoothly running website, with a beautiful website design. If there are cracks in your website – maybe it takes too long to load, or maybe the website design is slightly off – then people are less likely to stay on your website, meaning a lower number of users are going to purchase your products or services. 

To prevent this from happening you’ll need to make sure your e-commerce business is set up correctly – but how can you do this, and how costly is it all?

SEO strategy 

SEO – search engine optimisation – is paramount if you want your online business to be visible on the internet. 

The benefits of SEO are fairly simple: the higher Google ranks you on its search engine, the more likely it is that you will see a higher flow of traffic to your site. In fact, Moz has calculated that the top ranking site alone will receive 30% – 40% of traffic.

What is slightly confusing about SEO is the strategy behind it. Some people will therefore employ SEO specialists to help boost their rankings, but this is a very expensive option. However, you don’t need to spend thousands a month to increase your SEO rating.

High quality content and link building are one of the key things that Google looks for when indexing sites: by writing blogs which answer popular queries, containing keywords that are commonly searched for, you’re telling Google that your content is relevant and therefore should be listed highly on its search engine.

SSL certificate 

An SSL certificate is a must when building an e-commerce website, as it shows the site user that your website is protected, and therefore the visitor’s personal information is safe. For e-commerce purposes, this is incredibly important: no one will want to hand over their card details if they think hackers can infiltrate the site and steal their details.

From an SEO perspective, having an SSL certificate is also essential: Google won’t want to index a site which isn’t secure and therefore poses a risk to its users. It will sometimes even block visitors from accessing your site, meaning it is almost impossible to have a steady flow of traffic to your site.

Although it is essential to have an SSL certificate for your online business to be visible, it can be expensive. If you’re coding your website from scratch then you will have to purchase one through a third party, and most website builders charge an extra fee for an SSL certificate, on top of site builder costs. However, at KitStart we include this within our package completely free of charge!

Website design fees 

Of course, you will want a stunning website design to not only advertise your services or e-commerce section, but also to advertise your brand. A professional site design means site users are much more likely to view your online store as one that can be trusted. If you don’t have any knowledge of  website design, then you may consider hiring a graphic designer.

However, this is a pricey option – the typical website design prices range from £2,000 – £6,000. Using a website builder that offers ready to go site designs can be a much more economical option: not only does it give a high-quality finish, but you can also customise your design, making your website personal to you.

E-commerce section 

Undoubtedly, you need an e-commerce section for your online store: if you want to sell your products online, then you need a safe and secure checkout for people to easily access. The software service prices of having an e-commerce platform can vary from £20 a month to thousands of pounds. Most website builders also charge you extra on top of your standard monthly fee if you need an e-commerce platform, eating into your budget for your online store further. However, KitStart offers this all as part of your package, meaning there are no hidden costs anywhere!

Building your website takes a lot of time and knowledge, and can be very expensive. Our website builder takes away the stress, and the potentially extortionate costs of starting a website by yourself, making us one of the best cheap website builders, without compromising on quality.

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