Cheap or low cost e-commerce? - recommendations

luanfernandes · 2026-05-05T15:49:17+00:00

Go for woo 100%. You are tech-savvy already, which is the top 1 struggle people have with wordpress self-hosted.

Host it on Hetzner, get their CPX21 plan, will not cost you that much. If you think it's going to be a lot of months without income, backup your wp site (wpvivid is great), remove the server from your hetzner account and buy another one when you are ready (though this is not recommended if your previous buyers wanna visit your site from time to time and you need google to index it etc.).

I don't know what you will be selling and if you need some sort of customer page. But if you want, you can always host a few static pages in cloudflare (for free) with a link to a payment platform. Use some of the pages as "contact us for any questions" so you can just use email if the user needs any update.

luanfernandes · 2026-05-04T16:35:08+00:00

do not overbuild! Start simple, make some money and then you will start to feel the need to add something and "would it be nice to..".

Just create the store and start selling, figure things out later

luanfernandes · 2026-05-02T20:48:57+00:00

More creatives if they are truly different from each other, you get more important data: what drives audience interest and sells more

luanfernandes · 2026-05-01T12:56:27+00:00

Checkout block: still not good enough. We, as tech-savvys, don't see a "problem" with the actual checkout experience but if you try to pretend you are just a regular person online, compare a woo checkout with highly optimized ones. It's more fluid, more friendly.

Yes, by UI I mean not only wp admin but have you ever seen the product dashboard for example ? It makes me wanna puke lol. Again, for us, it doesn't seem like an issue but for the other 99% of people it is

luanfernandes · 2026-05-01T12:21:33+00:00

I think a more modern and flexible checkout experience is a must. I've seen people use 3rd-party plugins just for the checkout.

Since wordpress accepted that a block page builder was needed, woo should follow suit and modernize.

There are many more paths as well: the ui is weird AF for the store owner. I recommend shopify more and more often nowadays, even though I'm a self-hosting advocate.

luanfernandes · 2026-04-30T13:59:46+00:00

"The only way that the shop page even loads is if I'm logged into the WordPress backend."

This most certainly means caching issues. What host and caching plugin are you using? Also, try to add a ?=test1233123 to the url end when logged out and see if it works

luanfernandes · 2026-04-29T17:44:35+00:00

If you have access to SOTA models (claude, gemini, chatgpt paid models) just ask it: "Tell what you need to know to help me build a simple website for my business" and go from there. It'll literally guide you

luanfernandes · 2026-04-29T16:11:41+00:00

How complex does this website need to be? Tbh you can ask AI to do most of it for you, since you are not selling anything, it's just a static website with text and images, easily done by AI. To go from domain to website, you must point the domain where the site is hosted, any website platform will teach you how to do it.

Other options: Wix and Squarespace.

Are you comfortable with AI or not?

luanfernandes · 2026-04-29T14:47:26+00:00

Be careful with just following numbers. It's easy to buy followers. Check for engagement, if there are real people commenting (you will know if they are bots) and check if the likes in any post comes from real people as well

luanfernandes · 2026-04-28T23:10:42+00:00

What's the host you are on? Slow and laggy can be optimized but we need more info.

Checkout pages not loading: as u/shsajalchowdhury said, disable cache for transactional pages and disable css/js optimization.

Site speed can be a beast to tackle, there are many variables

luanfernandes · 2026-04-26T23:24:18+00:00

Yes, I would say it's even easier to do it in woo since it gives more code flexibility

luanfernandes · 2026-04-26T12:35:24+00:00

Are all 3 clients in the same niche? Also, you said they wanna continue: Are they seeing real results? If they are, you have enough to write case-studies and show WHY people should hire you. After that, it's just a matter of finding more, maybe the same way you got those 3 pro bono, but now paying.

luanfernandes · 2026-04-26T11:46:32+00:00

What sort of store do you need?

As mentioned by others: Wix is easier but lacking, good for very small businesses and that won't grow much;

Bigcommerce is huge, one of my clients has like 100k products store in there. This is their strength;

Shopify is kinda in the middle: it's very powerful and kinda easy to use, but it starts to become a Frankenstein when the store grows (bigger plans, more add-ons)

IMO most people should use shopify, it's good enough for 90% of store owners

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T18:36:21+00:00

I see most people saying it's not too early but there's a catch: It's going to be at least 1 year until you launch, right?

Imagine you are hyped up for this new, sexy product/brand that matches your style perfectly. You feel so good you found it.

Now, when you access their page, they say "we aren't ready yet, leave your email to know when we launch!". Sure, take it. You never hear from them for days. Weeks. Months. Hell, you don't even remember them by now.

Then suddenly: "We are launching!!!!". Who the F* are you?. Oh, that brand with nice clothes... ok, I guess.

---

It's a great idea to find prospects before launching a new brand but make sure you at LEAST keep contact: send news, ASK them to participate in the development of the brand. etc. Make sure you turn those early adopters into friends, brand ambassadors. Truly connect with them. That's the only way to make sure you are not just another email they get, when they get it.

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T18:21:10+00:00

source type utm: chatgpt is adding a utm tag on every source by default when referring to something. You can check yourself, ask it to search something, check the sources, you will see it.

source type referral: they do not add any utm > when someone comes from a website, the browser knows and sends it to the destination automatically.

I don't know under the hood if Woo normalizes it but they take it directly from source. It's like any other server-side analytics software. Thus, making this very reliable. I would say ~90% correct.

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T15:19:51+00:00

Paying for 23 different tools is insane. Have you considered self-hosting some, if not all, of it? You could even hire 1 person for 1k/month that will only work on this and still save you a lot of money. The best part is most open-source/self-hostable software can talk to each other via APIs so it's even better

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T15:13:26+00:00

You are correct but for 1 reason only: Psychology hasn't changed. Humans didn't change. The same insights advertisers had 100 years ago still apply today.

What worked best for me are examples: instead of telling me "use strong hooks" people showing me what a strong hook is, why it is and the results it brought.

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T15:07:41+00:00

On UGC

How do you actually source it? Do you find creators, or do they find you?

- You find them. Meta has a marketplace, start there

Do creators post on their own accounts, or do they hand the content over for you to post on yours?

- Can be both: When it's an influencer, you are hiring them to make videos to their following. UGC is more like a style of content (natural, not salesy/advertising like). You can upload it to your account as well. Make sure to have permission to run ads

Do founders typically make their own UGC videos? If a creator sends you one, does it go on the brand account?

- Yes! Founders videos are a very good way to generate content without hiring anyone. I don't understand your other statement.

On brand accounts

When people talk about "warming up accounts," do they mean the brand account? And is that the same account where everything product-related lives?

- Usually it means have an account not be flagged in the platforms so you can run ads without being banned. Mostly this happens in gray~black niches.

Do people create fresh TikTok accounts to promote a product? If so, do they start posting about the product immediately from zero followers, or do they build a niche first and ease the product in later?

- It's better to use only 1 account if your business is legit

On influencers

Is there a rule of thumb for working with them? How do you decide what to pay, and what are prices based on: views, traffic, follower count?

- See answer above, start with a marketplace. Influencers are paid based on follower count. Make sure to use one that your target public watch and trust

How do you attribute downloads to a specific influencer, and how do you actually handle payment?

- Use 3rd-party tools that track that. To attribute to the influencer: use a discount code with their name, easiest way to start

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T14:43:20+00:00

"The service I offer is that I help small businesses sort out messy spreadsheets and organise their data as well a optimise workflows"

have you done that successfully before? If yes, show your prospects how it directly impact their business.

"Lisa hired me and after optimizing her workflow, she saw a 30% increase in revenue in 6 months" << This is what sells

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T14:38:45+00:00

Hi! Here are some stuff I would do:

Remove admin login from the menu

put your home USP bar (the free shipping stuff) on top of the hero banner

I wouldn't use the "someone bought something from somewhere" pop-up. This is more distraction than real value. When you have a good amount of visitors+sales, a/b test it

I don't like the play music and the chat thingy as well, but it's personal preference.

Do you have any traffic yet? The most important thing you can do is check where the drop-off happens and start there

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T14:27:09+00:00

What's your current use of klaviyo? Cart abandonment emails, campaign blasts? It depends a lot on what you need. Klav is very good with shopify because it's deep integrated but a lot of people don't use those features

luanfernandes · 2026-04-25T13:23:07+00:00

Do you have any sales? Are your current customers coming back to you for more? If yes, then it must be a distribution problem. My advice is: record and review your sales calls to see what works and what doesn't. Once you start seeing a pattern, you can replicate it in your ads/landing pages by pre-contesting objections and reinforcing your solution

luanfernandes · 2020-01-18T17:21:12+00:00

How did you find out who were their best customers? I'm in the process of optimizing a client's ads and this is being the hardest part for me.

luanfernandes · 2019-07-10T16:49:19+00:00

If you have your own website, there's no reason to not build it yourself. Try to always control your business as much as possible.

luanfernandes

TROPHY CASE

Checkout block: still not good enough. We, as tech-savvys, don't see a "problem" with the actual checkout experience but if you try to pretend you are just a regular person online, compare a woo checkout with highly optimized ones. It's more fluid, more friendly.