PRACTICAL GUIDE
Online store development in 8 decisions
Before choosing colours or themes, some decisions define whether an online store will sell. This guide sums up the ones we make with you in every online store development project.
1. Offer and value proposition
A good-looking online store without a clear offer sells little. We define the entry product, what makes it different, why customers should buy from you rather than a competitor, and which guarantees lower the risk of a first purchase (shipping, returns, delivery times).
2. WooCommerce or Shopify
Both platforms serve most stores well. The choice depends on how much control you want, your catalogue and your integrations:
- WooCommerce: full control, no fees per sale, ideal if you already use WordPress or need custom features.
- Shopify: managed hosting and security, faster start, monthly plan and paid apps.
3. A simple checkout and local payments
Checkout is where an online store loses the most money. We cut fields, show total costs early and switch on the payment methods your customers prefer in each market.
- MB Way and Multibanco for Portuguese shoppers.
- Credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- PayPal and other local methods when you sell across Europe.
4. Structure and product pages
We organise categories and filters around how customers search, not how the warehouse is arranged. Every product page has quality photos, benefits before features, visible price and shipping, reviews and one clear call to action.
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5. Speed and Core Web Vitals
A slow online store loses mobile sales. We optimise images, hosting, caching and scripts to meet Google's speed metrics (LCP, INP and CLS) and measure everything before launch.
6. Technical SEO from launch
We set up clean URLs, unique titles and descriptions, product structured data, a sitemap and Google Search Console. The store launches ready to appear on Google and in AI answers, with nothing to fix later. Read more about our SEO and GEO work.
7. A 30-day launch campaign
A new online store has no traffic. For 30 days we run a Google Shopping or Meta Ads campaign to bring the first visitors, test prices and creatives and generate the first sales. The ad budget is paid directly to the platform.
8. Sales dashboard, training and next steps
We hand over a dashboard with sales, conversion and traffic sources, and train you to manage products, prices and orders on your own. After the 60 days of support you can keep the store on a maintenance plan or move on to the Growth System.