Getting Started with Online Store

Important: This article applies to Online Store customers only. To set up your Online Marketplaces plan, visit Getting Started with Online Marketplaces.

Overview

This article will walk you through the process of setting up your new Online Store website so you can start selling online today.

In this article, we will discuss: 

• First Time Logging In
• Publish Your Site
• Establish Your Brand
• Review and Create Content
• Expand Your Audience
• Adding a Product

First Time Logging In

The first time you access your new eCommerce package, you'll be sent to the Website Builder, where Web AI will assist you with site onboarding. With generated content and personalized images, Web AI makes it easy to go online. Once you complete the site onboarding, you can return to your dashboard to view an onboarding checklist to assist you in setting up and establishing your entire online presence.

1. In your Account Manager, click eCommerce on the left side of the page.
   • If you have one eCommerce product, you will see the eCommerce Details page.
   • If you have more than one eCommerce product, you will see a list of your eCommerce products. Click Manage next to the product you would like to set up to go to the eCommerce Details page.
2. From the eCommerce Details page, click MANAGE STORE.
3. From the Store section, you will get an onboarding form where we capture basic business information that will be used for shipping and/or taxes for your store.
4. In your eCommerce Home page, you can accomplish the following to help you get the most of your Online Presence products:
   • Publish Your Site
   • Establish Your Brand
   • Review and Create Content
   • Expand Your Audience

Important: If at any point you want to stop and exit the onboarding process, you can go back anytime to the section where you left off.

Publish Your Site

In the Publish Your Site section of your eCommerce home page, you will have options to help increase your business’s visibility and reach.

1. Quick Start Publish Coming Soon Page – Click the PUBLISH PAGE option to publish a “coming soon” page. You will be redirected to the Website page where you can create a Site Project. This is a very convenient option, especially for new users, since it serves as an “official trailer” for your business. The “coming soon” page will be your way of piquing the interest or curiosity of whoever sees the page.
    
2. Begin Website Onboarding
   1. Click the BEGIN ONBOARDING option to start building your website.
   2. You will be asked to choose how you want to start creating your website. If you want to let AI create a template and provide custom text and images relevant to your business depending on what information you’ve provided, select GENERATE WEBSITE WITH WEB AI and follow the steps below. However, if you want to create your website with hundreds of templates you can choose from to get started, skip to the GENERATE WEBSITE section.
      
       
   3. Once you click the GENERATE WEBSITE WITH WEB AI button, you will be redirected to a different page, as seen in the image below.
      
       
   4. Web AI will create and build your website, depending on your answers. In the Type Here field, you will need to enter the information needed for the AI to start generating.

      Note: You will be prompted to enter the answers needed three times as the AI will be needing this in order for it to generate the most accurate template for your website.

   5. Once done, click on the Presto, ready to generate your site! button. You will need to wait a few minutes once the AI begins generating a template.
      

      Note: You can amend and edit your answers by clicking the Edit icon besides each answer. To restart, click on the Start Over button.

3. Your website template will be generated. You can scroll down to view the complete website template.
   
    
4. To begin editing the generated template, visit the Site Wizard AI Onboarding guide and skip to the Editing the Website Generated With Web AI section.
    
5. After editing the template, click on the PUBLISH button at the top-right corner.

Generate Website

1. You will be asked about the site that you want to create. These steps will help you choose a template for your store. Select from the list of topics for your business and click NEXT.
   
    
2. Next, more details will be asked for your website. Select the most appropriate type for your website then click NEXT.
   
    
3. You will be taken to a page that presents the templates that best suit your previous choices. You can pick from what is suggested for you or select from another category. Click the template you have chosen.
   
    
4. Once you have selected your template, you will be taken to the TEMPLATE SETTINGS page to make further changes to the chosen template.
   

   If you want to change the logo, fonts, and color of the template you have chosen, follow the instructions below.

   • LOGO – By clicking the LOGO menu, you can customize the logo for the chosen template. Click on the UPLOAD IMAGE to upload an image from your device.
     
      
   • FONTS – By clicking the FONTS menu, you can change the font style for the headers and texts in the chosen template. If you only want to use one font for your headers and texts, toggle the USE ONE FONT ONLY button.
     
     Under HEADING and TEXT, click the name of the font style and a drop-down menu of all the available font styles you can choose will show.
     
      
   • COLORS – By clicking the COLORS menu, you can customize the color and the theme of the chosen template according to your liking.
     
     Theme – Change the theme of your template by clicking on the Theme drop-down menu. Scroll down to show more themes that you can choose. Once you click on a theme, the color of the main theme color, secondary theme color, and text color of the template will automatically change.
     
     
     PRIMARY – To change the main theme color, click on the PRIMARY button and the COLOR menu will show. Once done, click APPLY.
     
     
     SECONDARY – To change the secondary theme color, click on the SECONDARY button and the COLOR menu will show. Once done, click APPLY.
     
     
     TEXT – To change the color of the texts, click on the TEXT button and the COLOR menu will show. Once done, click APPLY.
     
     
     LIGHT TEXT – To change the color of the texts in case the background color is dark, click on the LIGHT TEXT button and the COLOR menu will show. Once done, click APPLY.
     
     
     COMPLEMENTARY – To change the accent for special elements in the theme, click on the COMPLEMENTARY button and the COLOR menu will show. Once done, click APPLY.
     
      
   • COLOR WIZARD – If you want to use a different color on your theme, this option will allow you to upload an image from your device and the colors in that image will automatically apply in the theme.
     
5. You will now be taken to your editor interface, where you can make changes to the template to customize your new store. By default, the home page will be open in the editor. To choose a different page to edit, select PAGES for a list of pages to update, or if you like, you can add a new page.

   Note: Your Product page and Store page have additional customization settings that do not apply to all other pages. The information that you had previously populated (Logo, Business Name, Contact Information, etc.) will already be populated in the appropriate areas within your website.

6. Once you have completed your edits, click PUBLISH in the top right section of the page to publish your website.
    
7. You will be redirected to a prompt to confirm the publication of your website. If you have multiple domain names, select the domain name that you want to use the website for. Then, click PUBLISH again.
   
    
8. The publication will begin, and it will take a few minutes. If you want to continue editing your template while the website is being published, click on CONTINUE READING.
   
    
9. Once the publication is done, it will give you a message informing you that the website is live. To view your live website, click on the OPEN WEBSITE.
   
    
10. Click the Close icon  in the upper-right corner of the page to return to the Site Editor page and examine the websites you created. After that, you can navigate back to the Website page by clicking the Back icon  in the upper-left corner.
     
11. Your Published Site, Drafts, and Deleted drafts are all located under the Overview tab on the Website page. Click the ADD FIRST DRAFT button in the Drafts area to start a new draft using the site wizard.
    

Editing the Text Generated with Web AI

Follow the steps below to start re-generating the texts in the template using Web AI.

1. In the Site Editor, click on a block in the template. Then, highlight the text that you want to edit.
   
    
2. Once the editing menu shows, click on the AI Writer.
   
    
3. The AI Writer menu shows up.
   
    
4. In the Post Topic field, enter a keyword that suts your website to start generating a sentence. As an example, the word "movie" is entered in the field.
   
    
5. Once done, click on WRITE MY IDEA button.
6. After a few seconds, the AI will generate the texts and it will automatically change.
   

   Important: For more information about the AI Writer, you may visit the AI Writer—How It Works article.

Establish Your Brand

In the Establish Your Brand section of your eCommerce home page, you will have options that will help your business stand out from competitors, communicate company values, and effectively showcase its unique selling points.

1. Connect your domain – When you click the CONNECT DOMAIN option, it will bring you to the Domain Overview page of your Account Manager. To connect a domain to your eCommerce package, please see How Can I Manage Domain Connections? If you haven’t registered a domain name with us yet, you may go to How Do I Purchase a Domain Name?

   Note: If you purchased the domain with the eCommerce plan, we would automatically associate it to your store. Clicking the CONNECT DOMAIN option will automatically check off the step.

2. Configure SSL – When you click the CONFIGURE SSL option, it will bring you to your Account Manager. For more information on how to configure SSL, please see How to Get Started with an SSL Certificate.

   Note: If you purchased SSL and domain along with the eCommerce plan, we would automatically associate it to your domain. Clicking the CONFIGURE SSL option will automatically check off the step.

3. Build a Logo – When you click the CREATE LOGO option, it will bring you to the built-in LogoBuilder feature in your eCommerce package. For instructions on creating a logo, please refer to How to Create or Manage a Logo Using LogoBuilder.
4. Add an About Us Page – Clicking the ADD PAGE option will open the site editor. With our user-friendly site editor, you can easily create a page that visitors can refer to learn more about your business and the services you offer. Visit Page Management for more instructions on how to edit a page.
5. Update colors of your website to match your brand – Clicking the UPDATE COLORS option will bring you to the site editor. Your website’s color scheme plays a vital role in defining your brand identity. Choosing the right colors benefits not just your website’s visual identity but also the people who visit your site. See the importance of using contrasting colors in Online Store and Online Marketplaces - Improve a Website's Accessibility.
6. Setup Professional Email – Maintaining communication with customers or employees plays a significant role in a business’s success. Having a professional email that represents your business enhances your credibility and helps you build your brand. Sending email campaigns is one of the strategies you must use to market your product/services to your potential customers. To set up a professional email, click the SETUP EMAIL option. You will be brought to your Account Manager. To set up your mailbox, see How to Create and Manage a Mailbox.

Review and Create Content

Creating and sharing content is key to driving traffic and improving organic rankings on your website. Putting high-quality content on your site will attract users, increase consumer trust in your brand, and improve customer loyalty.

1. Review and update your website copy and information – When you click the REVIEW COPY option, it will open the site editor. You can review and update your content to maintain accuracy, ensure website relevance, and provide up-to-date related content.
2. Generate new copy if needed (AI Content Tool) – When you click the GENERATE COPY option, it will open the AI Writer, where you can easily generate content for your website. For more information on how to use the AI Writer, please see AI Writer—How It Works.
3. Review your images on your site and update if needed – Contents containing visuals like images and infographics are easier to read and attract attention compared to a page filled only with words. When you click the EDIT IMAGES option, it will bring you to Design Studio, where you can manage the images for your site. To learn more on how to manage images in Design Studio, please see Marketing—How to Edit or Delete an Image.

Expand Your Audience

Now that you have found a market for your business and your website is ready, it’s time to hit the ground running. It’s time to connect to people to find and grow your audience. Creating consistent content is key to keeping your customers engaged and informed. Start planning ideas and set a schedule to ensure you're staying on track!

1. Setup your socialbooster account to start – Engaging in social media is the easiest way to build brand awareness, attract website visitors, and grow your audience. Never limit your content to your website only; instead, make sure you post it on various social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on. Clicking the START SHARING option will bring you to SocialBooster, where you can create and manage posts. For more information on creating and managing posts in SocialBooster, please see How Do I Create and Manage Posts in SocialBooster?
2. Check Out Campaign Ideas – Coming up with new campaigns can be quite challenging. However, using our Campaign Ideas will help you create fresh content for your website as we have gathered information on various holidays, festivities, and sales to inspire your campaigns. When you click CHECK OUT IDEAS, it will bring you to Campaign Ideas, where you can create email campaigns and social posts. For more information, please see Marketing – All About Campaign Ideas.
3. View Marketing Calendar – When you click OPEN CALENDAR, it will bring you to Marketing Calendar, where you can establish an editorial plan for email campaigns and social posts and track them. For more information, please refer to All About the Marketing Calendar.

Adding a Product

Once the onboarding steps in the Home dashboard are completed, navigate to the Store dashboard and complete or skip the onboarding steps listed to enable the Store dashboard. To start adding products, you may follow the instructions in Online Store and Online Marketplaces - Adding a Product.