Do You Need a Developer to Build an E-Commerce Store?

After your have come up with a business plan for your e-commerce store and you know what it takes to create the business you are going to run, you mind might turn to one of the most important aspects of making your store succeed: your website. You might be unsure about whether or not you will need additional help in order to get it off the ground running, or if you can just do it yourself.

Here are some considerations to keep in mind when determining whether or not you need to hire a developer to help you.

Which platform will you use?

Going into knowing whether or not you are going to use an e-commerce platform to house your site or if it will be self-hosted can clarify things a lot. You don’t necessarily need to hire someone to make your site function and look good if you use a template, and with methods like headless commerce, you can make changes to your frontend without having to dig deep into the backend code.

Are you in need of custom features?

Most e-commerce sites are pretty simple, and it shouldn’t take much to get your landing page, product pages, and more in place. However, if you do need any customized features then you might need to hire someone to check out how you are going to build it. Thankfully, you don’t have to hire someone full time in order to do so. You can either someone by project or have them available if anything else comes up.

Are you relying on SEO?

SEO is one of the best ways for you to get traffic to your site, and you should know whether or not your site has the tools it needs in order to be recognized by search engines. This includes making sure that product descriptions have the correct categorization and metadata, which can require having a more involved template than using what comes with your original store. You might also have to create content for your site to not only help your customers, but to also encourage search engines to recognize that your site is an authority in your space.

How will you get support?

Some problems are easily fixed, while others can cause your site to completely break. The platform you choose might not offer the support you need in order to get your site up again, especially if you have made some substantial changes to your template. This is where you might need to hire someone who can help you or can be on call to get things back in order. Prices can vary greatly, so you will want to do some research to know you are paying the right price.

In summary

Hiring a developer can be a big expense when you are just starting out with your e-commerce store. On the other hand, it can add some professionalism and provide you some support when you are just jumping into e-commerce for the first time.