System 09
E-commerce websites
Building a webshop is not hard; building one that stays fast, gets found and whose administration scales with it is. I build the shop and the integrations underneath as one thing, because otherwise they drift apart anyway.
Why the shop and the back office grow apart
At many webshops the front was built by one party and the integrations bolted on later by another. The result is a shop that looks good and an order flow that runs half by hand.
The second recurring mistake is speed. A theme with a handful of apps stacked on top loads slowly, and slow webshops lose both visitors and positions. That is expensive to repair afterwards because it sits in the foundation.
How it gets built
Platform chosen on what you sell, with the integrations taken into account from the start.
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Platform choice without preference
Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento or something custom: it depends on your range, your volume and your integrations. I hold no partner interest in which it becomes.
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Speed in the foundation
Built against Core Web Vitals rather than reviewed for them afterwards. That means restraint with apps and scripts, and taking imagery seriously.
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Findability built in
Server-rendered category and product pages, correct canonicals and schema, and a structure that survives filters without generating thousands of duplicate URLs.
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Integrations from day one
Stock, accounting, carrier and possibly PIM, designed in rather than added later.
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Imagery and video from one product photo
From a single static product photo the system produces the imagery you need everywhere: shop variants, the right format per channel, and short video. Those then fill campaigns on the major social platforms, without a photo shoot per product.
How it runs
- 01
Settle platform and integrations
First work out what has to happen at the back, because that decides the platform more often than the look of the shop does.
- 02
Build and fill
Shop, integrations and product data in parallel, so delivery is not followed by a month of filling.
- 03
Launch without losing positions
On a replacement: redirects from every old URL, and indexation checked after launch. This is the step migrations usually get wrong.
What you get
A shop that is fast, gets found, and whose order flow runs through without manual handling.
- Core Web Vitals in the green at delivery, not as a project afterwards
- Category and product pages served server-rendered
- Orders finding their way to stock and accounting on their own
- On a migration: redirects and indexation checks after launch
- Imagery, video and ad sets per channel from one source photo
What it costs
What an engagement costs depends on its scope and on how many systems are involved. I work with a fixed price per phase rather than open-ended billing: you know what a phase costs before it starts, and you decide after each one whether to continue.
I only quote a figure once I know what we are talking about. That takes a half-hour conversation, at no charge.
Whether this fits
This works well when
- you need a new webshop or have one stalling on speed
- the processes behind it currently run partly by hand
- you want findability taken into account from the start
- you want to replace an existing shop without losing positions
This fits less well when
- you mainly want a cheap standard shop with no integrations
- your current shop works fine and only needs a new look
- you are looking for an agency to run ongoing marketing too
Questions about e-commerce websites
Which platform do you recommend?
It depends on your situation. Shopify for a manageable range and speed of setup, WooCommerce if you want heavy customisation and already sit in WordPress, Magento or a headless setup for large ranges and complex pricing. I earn nothing from the choice and will not steer you to a platform I hold a partner deal with, because I hold none.
Will we lose positions in a migration?
Temporarily a little, almost always; structurally only if it is done sloppily. What makes the difference: a complete list of existing URLs with their redirects, the same or better content on the new pages, and actively checking after launch that everything gets reindexed. That last one is what gets skipped most.
How trustworthy is AI-generated imagery?
For deriving variants from a real photo it is excellent: crops, backgrounds, per-channel formats and short video from a still. The line sits at properties the product does not have. A colour that drifts or a detail invented into existence is misleading, and in consumer law a problem as well. So everything showing the product itself comes from your own photo, and generation covers presentation only: background, composition, format and motion.
Which platforms get filled?
The major social channels: Meta, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube, each with their own aspect ratios and ad formats. The system produces the right sets per channel, so nobody sits cropping by hand per platform. Which channels are worth it depends on your product, and we settle that before anything gets built.
Do you handle maintenance afterwards?
Yes. After delivery you can arrange ongoing support for updates, monitoring and further development as things get added. Everything ships handover-ready and documented regardless, so you are never locked in and can take it in-house or elsewhere. In practice most clients keep me involved, precisely because I know why it was built the way it was.
Let's discuss how I can help your business grow
A short call is enough to tell whether there is a good fit. No sales pitch, just an honest read on what is possible.