Since a few years ago , in the world of internet, everyone wants to have a marketplace. Almost every site has the marketplace idea, reuniting buyers and sellers together. This is a small article on how to create an online marketplace in 2022 and beyond. Our experts are working in the marketplace website industry for more than 10 years now and we have the needed experience to write about this subject. So read below if you want to find some more details about marketplace websites in general. And what marketplace wordpress theme you can use to launch your website. We also have another article about creating marketplaces on wordpress.
What is an online marketplace website ?
A marketplace website is in general a place where buyers and sellers can find each other. The sellers place a product or an item for sale, and the buyer will buy or participate in an auction and bid against other buyers. It is very similar to the concept of B2B marketplace type of site. The type of site can have many variants, like commodities marketplace, cars marketplace, flea market items, used and new items, hand made items. If you want an example of such websites in the real world: etsy.com, ebay.com, amazon, alibaba and other similar. Pretty much any website these days have an idea of marketplace. It is a great way to make some extra money out of your website.
What kind of software I can use for a marketplace site ?
Normally you have many choices when it comes to software. You can have a standalone marketplace php script or something based on wordpress, like a wordpress marketplace theme. Usually the latter is better, because you have much more support from the community. Also because wordpress comes with many free resources like free plugins. Another important aspect is the cost too, wordpress themes tend to cost way less than the traditional php scripts.
Another type of marketplace website can be even an auction website. Here products sell based on an auction. And the buyers engage into a bidding system before someone wins the goods. If you want to launch an auction marketplace website, you can find out more about the wordpress auction theme .
What are the steps to create a marketplace website in 2022-2023 ?
When we try to create a marketplace website, we need to go through a few steps. Especially if we do not have much technical experience, and we just want the website done. Maybe you are a business owner or an entrepreneur and you just want things done and working. You could hire an agency that takes care of everything. We do such services for our customers all the time. But that doesnt mean you as a web developer or a more technical person cant do themselves maybe using the correct and perfect software for marketplaces. See the following main steps you should take:
1. Getting a domain name and hosting package
With every website, you will need a domain name and a hosting package. That is a must with any type of website. But specially with high demand websites, like e-commerce and marketplace websites, you will need a reliable server. Just do not get the cheapest hosting available because you will regret it. Better spend 10-20$ more a month and get a decent hosting server. If you want to read more about hosting packages and domains, and how to do this step properly, you can check the article we have written for this.
After you have got your domain name and hosting package, you are ready to go to the next step and you are already pretty advanced as you are online, and although your site is empty, people can reach it.
2. Choosing the platform and marketplace software
When it comes to marketplace software, you have multiple choices. But we do recommend the wordpress path using wordpress themes for this purpose. This is because you have to keep the costs down, as wordpress solutions tend to cost less than traditional php marketplace script or reactjs or other thing. You can start with those too, but they are more expensive, and for an MVP, wordpress is the best path. Marketplace themes like walleto marketplace theme, will do the job for you more then enough.
3. Going live with your idea
After setting up hosting and the software to run the marketplace you will go live with your idea. Meaning you will have to open the site to the public and let people actually use your marketplace. The sellers and buyers will interact with each other and have a place to sell and buy their favourite products. This step will require a lot of long term attention.
4. Marketing, SEO and promotion
This step requires a lot of skill and maybe hiring a seo agency would be better for a beginner. But also this process will be lengthy and take weeks , months or even years in some cases. You will have to write and create content (video, text, images) on your website and on social platforms that will boost your visits, and automatically the sales.
5. Further development and support
When you work with a developer or an agency of developers to create your marketplace website you have to ensure you get long term support. You will need this more than you think as when you have thousands of people using your site everyday for sure there will be many situations where things might break, or even improve things. But maybe you want to add new features, and who is better to do this than the person that created your website in the first place. We provide long term support services as well for our work and products.
