1. Welcome to the Bigcommerce family! In conjunction with the
Getting Started section of your control panel, this guide will walk
you through all the steps to set up and open your new online store.
The control panel is your ecommerce command center. Youll use it to
add and manage products, view orders and shipments, manage
customers, check analytics and accomplish all the other day-to-day
tasks of running your store. Here are two key areas that will be
helpful as you get ready to open your store: Store Settings: Click
the gear icon in the bottom- left of your control panel to set up
everything from product image sizes to homepage SEO to order
invoice forwarding. Educational Resources: Click the question mark
in the bottom-left of your control panel for quick access to
valuable resources like: Support Portal: Step-by-step tutorials on
managing your store Bigcommerce University: In-depth videos walk
you through running and growing a successful business Community:
Get help from Bigcommerce store owners, staff and Partners Your
Bigcommerce control panel
2. What is a product category? Categories help organize your
products so customers can easily find what theyre looking to buy.
For example, if you sell homeware, a few of your categories might
be Art, Furniture and Tableware. You can create as many categories
and subcategories as you need, and products can be associated with
multiple categories. Its a good idea to plan out how youll organize
your products before creating categories. How to create categories
Adding products Your products are the most important part of your
store. Without them, what would people buy from you? Luckily,
setting them up is easy. How to add products to your store PROTIP:
A clear category structure will simplify navigation and increase
conversion. Drag and drop or drag and indent to move categories or
create sub-categories on the fly. Categories & products
3. Setting product options Some products have options for your
shoppers to choose from, such as size, color, style, etc.
Bigcommerce lets you offer unlimited product options, and theyre
simple to add and manage. How to add product options Managing
inventory You can track your product inventory by product or option
to stay up-to-date with your stock levels. How to set up inventory
tracking Bigcommerce includes a powerful content management system
that allows you to quickly and easily add new pages to your site.
Adding pages to your store To improve customer confidence in your
store, provide them with more information by adding content like
About Us, FAQ and News pages. How to add a page to your store
Additional webpages
4. Creating blog posts Blog posts are not only a great way to
communicate to potential shoppers and customers, theyll help boost
your search engine ranking. How to use the built-in blog What is a
payment gateway? A payment gateway is a processing solution that
lets you accept credit cards online. We automatically set up a
gateway for you so you can start taking orders quickly, but you can
also select from up to 60+ additional options. What is a merchant
account? A merchant account is another way to get paid by
customers. Its a bank account that lets you accept payment by
credit or debit cards. How to configure checkout/payment methods
Payment gateways PROTIP: Submit a test order after configuring your
payment methods to ensure that everything is set up correctly and
youre ready to take orders.
5. If you sell physical products, youll need to set up at least
one shipping zone before customers can buy from you. You can also
choose to offer benefits like free or flat- rate shipping to your
customers. How to set up your shipping zone Taxes can be a little
scary and confusing, but Bigcommerce makes it easy to charge the
right rates with automatic US sales tax calculation and support for
multiple tax configurations. How to establish your tax settings
When you sign up, we automatically give you a .mybigcommerce.com
store name. Once youre ready to launch, youll want to move to your
own domain name in order to improve SEO and build your brand. You
can buy one through Bigcommerce or use one you already have. How to
purchase a domain name How to set up a domain you already have
Domain namewww Tax Shipping
6. An SSL certificate protects your customers during checkout.
We include a shared certificate so you dont need to purchase one in
order to begin receiving orders. If you want to keep shoppers on
your domain name during the checkout process, you can buy your very
own certificate right from your control panel. How to buy your own
or install an existing SSL certificate How to add a GeoTrust secure
seal to your footer Tools to drive traffic Once you launch your
online business, its time to start driving traffic so you can make
sales. The Marketing section of your control panel has all the
tools youll need to get shoppers to your store. Here are a few to
get you started: How to create and edit marketing banners How to
create and use coupon codes How to build customer groups How to
create and use discount rules Multi-channel marketing You can
expand your reach even further by listing your products across a
variety of marketing channels. How to sell on Facebook with
SocialShop SSL certificate Marketing tools
7. How to sell on eBay How to sell on Google Shopping Add on
marketing apps Bigcommerce has dozens of apps to help you increase
your traffic and sales, including integrations with email
marketing, customer loyalty, social media and online advertising
platforms. Just click the app store icon in your control panel to
browse our app market.
8. Need help? Weve got you covered! Whether you need to talk to
our expert support team or would rather DIY with articles and
videos, were here for you. Support Portal Read step-by-step
instructions Bigcommerce University Watch in-depth video tutorials
Community Forum Ask questions & have a discussion
