In this article, I will show you how to create an eCommerce website in Nigeria for free.
And no, you won’t have to touch any code or such stuff.
In fact, what you are about to see is the ONLY easiest way to build an online store website in Nigeria.
Why?
Because it doesn’t involve you hiring anyone.
And no, you won’t touch the code either.
I mean, do you know how much it costs to hire an eCommerce web designer in Nigeria?
For a payment gateway integration alone, they charge between N150K and N200K
I have seen designers quoting from N500K to N2Million for an online store. Yes, you read that right.
What drives the costs?
Functionalities for sure.
The more pages and functionalities you need, the higher the costs of creating such an eCommerce website in Nigeria.
But using an eCommerce website builder like Olitt, you can skip all that and be done in under 10 minutes.
Must-have features for an eCommerce website in Nigeria
Since you want to create an online store, here are some of the things you need to have.
Well, you may not need all of them at once, but you will eventually have to bring them into the business.
An integrated blog section
To promote your products, you will need a proven system with scalable capabilities built into it.
One of such systems is having a blog section added to your online store.
Why a blog?
Nigeria has over 9.05 million internet users. And this figure is projected to grow to 131.7 million internet users in 2023.
What do they do online?
Among the top activities, social media is on top, followed by news and blog, then shopping.
This means one thing;
If your eCommerce website in Nigeria doesn’t have a blog, you are missing out on attracting millions of potential shoppers.
Say you have created a blog, what do you post?
Here are some content ideas;
- Product reviews
- Guides on how to use certain products
- Videos
Another way to use content is through the product description. A detailed product description can help improve the conversion rates.
Promotion and discount code tools
I bet you have seen Jumia discount codes, right?
Well, those are promotional strategies employed by such online stores to boost sales. And they work all the time.
If you are creating an online store in Nigeria, having tools to help with setting up such marketing strategies is essential.
Lucky for you, there are tools out there specifically designed for such functions.
All you have to do is integrate them into your website. And I will show you how to do that easily and fast.
Fast checkout
69.80% of shoppers leave the site without completing their transactions.
Why?
Among the reasons given, here are the top ones;
- High extra costs (things like taxes, shipping fees, etc.) In fact, shipping fees reduce the conversion rates.
- Users creating accounts. Some shoppers will leave if asked to create new user accounts
- Long and complicated checkout among others.
Now, from all the reasons people abandon carts, some of them can be resolved through design changes.
One of them is shortening the checkout process. To achieve this, you will have to shade off some elements in order to declutter the checkout.
Search engine optimized site code and layout
Google favors fast-loading websites.
Why?
According to them, you lose around 50% of customers if your site’s load time is longer than 3 seconds.
This means that you will see a higher bounce rate and cart abandonment.
To resolve this, you need to optimize website code and layout design to be SEO-friendly.
Lucky for you, you can do that by using SEO friendly website templates.
Reporting and custom report features
In marketing, you only scale what you can understand.
If you wish to scale your eCommerce website in Nigeria from where it is now, to higher highs, you need the reports.
Olitt allows you to integrate your online store to Google Analytics easily. And from there, you can generate comprehensive reports, which help you understand the performance of your website.
Another cool tool on Olitt is HotJar Heatmaps.
With this tool, you can understand how shoppers interact with your website.
For example;
You will know where to put important messages based on how the visitors browse your site.
Email marketing features
Now that more than half of your shoppers will abandon their carts, how will you recover them?
One effective way is by sending cart recovery email sequences.
In such emails, you are simply reminding the user about their incomplete transaction and giving them a reason to go back.
A more common strategy is sending them a discount code through email. Doing so has been proven to help in bringing back shoppers.
In fact, 54% of shoppers will purchase products left in shopping carts, if those products are offered at a lower price.
Olitt integrates easily with Mailchimp.
And through this software, you can conduct your all email marketing efforts.
How to create an eCommerce website in Nigeria
As promised, I will guide you through the steps to create your online store in Nigeria without touching the code, thanks to Olitt.
Olitt is a free website builder.
With it, you can create any website in under 10 minutes.
What makes it the best of the rest?
Well, with eCommerce website builders like Squarespace, you need to upgrade to a premium plan if you wish to connect a domain to your store.
But with Olitt, you can be on the free plan, and still be able to connect a domain.
With that said, let’s look at steps you can take now.
#1 – Go to https://www.olitt.com/
That is the homepage of Olitt.
To get started, click on the Create A Free Website button.
#2 – Select Online stores category
The next step is choosing a category.
On Olitt, or any other eCommerce website builder in Nigeria, they come with a ton of website templates.
And to make it easier for you to find the most suitable, templates have been grouped into categories.
For example;
If you are looking for website templates for personal tours and travel website, you will find them under the Travel category.
As for our tutorial, we are creating an eCommerce website in Nigeria.
As such, the templates for such a site are under the Online Stores category.
#3 – Choosing a template
A website template is a pre-made site with tools and features you can create a website from.
It is the templates that make it easy to create any website in Nigeria.
Under the online store category on Olitt, you will find a number of templates;
Go through the templates to find the one you like.
For our tutorial, we are going with this one:
Whichever you pick, go ahead and click on the center button to use it.
#4 – Create an account
The next step when creating an eCommerce website in Nigeria is creating an account.
You have three options;
The first option; provide your names, email, and choose a password.
With this process, you will be required to verify the email address.
So be sure to use a valid one.
And when logging in, all you have to do is provide the email and password.
The second option is using your Google account.
Pick one account you wish to connect to Olitt.
The last option is using your Apple ID.
If you pick either Google or Apple option, when logging in, click the respective option.
#5 – Start editing
This is the last step.
Here, your job is going through the template you picked and removing the features you don’t need, and adding the ones you like.
On Olitt, you can easily edit;
- Images
- Texts
- Add or remove blocks
Let’s look at how to do each of these.
How to change texts
To edit texts, you need to double click on the block.
- Select the existing texts
- Start writing to replace it
If you feel like editing further, you can use the text tools above the block. With it, you can;
- bold
- italicize,
- underline
Strikethrough- change alignment
- Change color, and
- choose fonts type respectively.
While these tools help edit the text further, these tools help position, duplicate, and delete the text box.
How to change images
To change images, double-click on the image;
Click on upload images.
From here, proceed to pick the image from your computer. It will be uploaded automatically.
To edit the image further, just to right section
While on the same window, you can do some extra editing functions like;
- Change width and height of the image
- Add alt text (for SEO purposes)
- Perform display settings
One more thing;
Do you feel like your website deserves an additional element, but the template does not have it?
How to add extra blocks
Olitt allows you to add extra blocks to the template.
For example;
You can a text, button, image, or any other block.
Say you wish to add extra heading on your website;
Go to the position you’d like to add the text;
Click on the plus button to get the list of available blocks.
Just drag and drop any block to your canvas.
And it will be instantly added to your template.
From here, follow the steps on how to edit texts as we previously covered.
Saving and viewing your free eCommerce website in Nigeria
Once you are satisfied with the editing, click preview to admire your changes.
How to add tools to your online store in Nigeria
Once your store is live, you need to perform some integrations to make it fully functional.
For example;
You need to add a Google Analytics tracking code.
To do that, go to your Olitt dashboard.
Tap on the three (…) dots and then click on Plugins.
You will get a list of tools available.
To integrate Google Analytics to your website, tab on Expand.
Go to your Google Analytics account and get your tracking code.
Read how here.
Once you have the code, come and paste it on the space provided, and then click on connect.
The same applies to all the other tools.
You will find the required tools to connect your website to the tool. Once you have them, paste and connect.
How to connect a custom domain to your online store
You do not need a domain name to create a website on Olitt.
But, you can add your own if you see fit.
To do that, you have two options;
Buy a domain
Go to your dashboard and click on the three dots (…)
Then connect domain.
Type the domain on the space and hit search.
Olitt offers its domains at an insanely cheaper price than any other registrar.
Don’t believe me?
Go check a .com domain on a place like BlueHost, it costs $12.99.
While on Olitt, the same domain is only $8.39
This means that if you register your domain on Olitt, you are saving at least $4.
To proceed, click purchase and complete the transaction.
Connect an existing domain
The other way to connect a custom domain on Olitt is by transferring an existing domain to us.
Up to this point, you have learned how to create a free eCommerce website in Nigeria.
Now, let’s look at why you should choose Olitt.
Why Olitt?
As you already know, Olitt is a free website builder. With it, you can create stunning websites, landing pages, and resumes without touching code.
But what you don’t know is that Olitt isn’t just another website builder in Nigeria.
The tool comes with a free DNS management system. This tool allows you to manage your domain records easily in a secure environment.
Additionally, you have access to SEO resources, free SSL, and a Global CDN.
With these tools, you can have a blazingly fast website and a site that ranks easily on search engines.
What are you waiting for?
Get started for free. No credit card is required.