The people of today’s generation have discovered the various benefits of online shopping. Unlike purchasing products in the real world, stores that operate online have fashioned their method of buying and selling, to compliment the ease and speed that is brought by the Internet. Because of this, customers are able to receive products from across the globe without having to wait in line or travel great distances to get what they want or need. This concept, however, cannot survive without a proper e-commerce website to facilitate this action.
As you all know, an online store’s webpage is equivalent to a physical establishment. It is in this location where you will be able to get a glimpse of the products they sell, their policies, prices, and a short introduction about their company. Depending on what these sites sell or offer, they will lay out their webpages with designs that will promote their specific product in ways they see fit.
Visually, creating a good e-commerce website might seem simple, but, in reality, there are numerous factors (both online and offline) which companies need to address in order to create pages that will satisfy their standards.
If you are planning to move your stores online, or are deciding to create an e-commerce webpage, you might want to consider improving or maintaining these following elements to keep your company afloat on the online market.
What’s in the Name?
People immediately retain information if the word they see is catchy or easy to memorize. Keep this information in mind when you are creating your domain name – even if your brand name is quite long. If your company’s name is too lengthy, you may want to consider turning it into an acronym instead. Remember, your domain name will have to wrap up everything your company stands for, so be creative. Once people have familiarized themselves with your name, it will be nearly impossible for them to misspell it whenever they type it in in search engines.
Find a Good Host
In order to find the perfect host to handle your brand, you have to be knowledgeable of the technical nature of your online store. Raising questions such as “will your pages rely on images and videos alone?” or “do you need technical support in-house?” or “how much traffic will your site generate?” will greatly affect your decision on choosing the right host.
The Vision/Mission
Every great idea is driven by a single purpose, and your e-commerce website should reflect on this as well. By jotting down your business’ goals and future plans, you will be able to clearly see the direction your store is heading. It also creates a good habit of ranking your website’s elements in order of importance and relevancy, enabling you to target the crucial factors first before moving on to other projects.
Having a vision/mission page in your website will also help clients understand the purpose of your online store. It will give them a sense of trust and it is one of the many ways you can improve your relationship with them.
Is your Website User Friendly/Responsive in All Types of Devices?
Since the Internet can be accessed in various devices, people are able to browse their favorite websites, even if there is no desktop nearby. Now, you will be able to reel in more customers if your site can be connected to these gadgets, however, you have to remember that mobile phones and desktops do not necessarily share the same format.
Generally, a website is considered user friendly if its links, photos, and the like load and look properly; and that your site (as a whole) can be easily browsed. These same components must also be seen when your clients access your website through their mobile phones.
If you decide to make your site mobile friendly and responsive, you need to make sure that the layout of your pages will fit accordingly to the devices. After all, creating excellent user experience will make your clients resist the urge to click on another website, thus lowering your site’s bounce rate.
Your Pages Have to Be Fast!
People hate it when pages do not load fast enough and the ways they handle this situation can be narrowed down into three things. They will d the problem by continually refreshing the page, closing the tab, or looking for another website that will meet their demands. If you want your clients to navigate through your websites longer, avoid creating these types of pages because your client’s time is precious.
Get Strong Security
Having technological advancements is both a blessing and a curse. For example, even though the Internet has broadened the way we do business, it is still a place that harbors many dangers. Viruses, hackers, and the like exist, and in order to keep your website in healthy shape and your clients’ information protected, you need to have it secured.
Make it SEO-Friendly
When you are creating codes for your websites, you need to abide by the basic rules of SEO. When search engines, like Google, observe a webpage, it sends out bots called “spiders” to crawl your page to determine your page’s rankings. If you fashioned your code to be SEO-friendly, then these spiders would not have a hard time inspecting your page. Remember that in order for your codes to be deemed as readable, it has to follow a specific format and must be organized when published.
Put Importance into Content
Although some e-commerce websites do rely on photos and images to promote their products, you must never skip text or content. It was mentioned earlier that in order for Google to determine the ranking of your page, it sends out its spiders. Sadly, these bots cannot visualize images like we do, so they rely on the text that is written on the webpage. If your text is good (in both grammar and information), then it will give it the thumbs up.
It is also good to note that seeing content on your website does not only satisfy Google’s spiders, but to the Internet users as well. Writing a paragraph of two to describe your product will enable your clients to not only better understand your merchandise, but allows them to visualize their end result once they decide to purchase it
“Add to Cart” Visibility
Making this option visible is a nifty trick to get your clients’ trust. Online stores that do not have this feature makes online users a bit uncomfortable or wary when they shop, because they might think that once they click on a product, it could mean that they have already purchased it and cannot cancel that order. By giving them the ability to inspect what they have picked out before hauling it in will give them the sense that your business cares about their shopping habits, be it good or bad.
Site Credibility
Your products are not the only extensions that represent the face of your brand, because your site, its contents, and the way you address your customers, are part of that as well. Your business should exude professionalism non-stop, so that your customers, big named search engines, and other online stores will take you seriously.
One Last Check Up
Before you launch your site, be it new or coming from routine system maintenance, it is always good to do a rundown of what you have done so that your website won’t experience any problems once it goes online.
In conclusion, when it comes to designing an e-commerce website, you must consider all the factors that transpires both online and offline. Your products are not the only one your clients will see on your website, because the way you conduct your business (both physically and socially) will be reflected in their overall online shopping experience. Follow the rules set by the mogul giants of SEO because they uphold the standards of what people want and need to see online. And finally, always conduct yourself professionally – you are not running a game here, but a serious, profitable business.
Do you think that there are any more factors that need to be considered when one is designing an ecommerce website? Leave a comment below!
Author Bio:
Vincent Sevilla is a professional graphic designer and web designer for WebsiteSetup. He also has a background in online marketing. You can follow him on Twitter @easyvince and on Google+.