Build a Ecommerce Website

Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. Ecommerce is often used to refer to the sale of physical products online, but it can also describe any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through the internet.

So, how to build a successful ecommerce website? First, set clear goals on every Page. Each page of your website should have a clear purpose. For example, your homepage’s goal is to entice users to click through to your categories, or better yet, straight through to a product. On a product page, your objective is to provide the user with all the information necessary to convince them to make a purchase and make it very simple and easy to add an item to the shopping cart. Your shopping cart page’s purpose is to initiate the first step of the checkout process by clicking on “Checkout”. Keep this in mind when planning out the various types of pages on your successful ecommerce website.

GET USERS TO COME BACK

Look for ways to get users to regularly come back. One great example is Threadless.com, which brings users back to its website through regular emails that go out announcing the arrival of new t-shirt designs. Another way they accomplish this is to allow users to get notified when a sold-out size is back in stock. Look for opportunities to bring users back to your website wherever possible. Ideally, the more a visitor visits your website, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Create easy points of contact and break down the wall between you and your customers to a minimum. Find ways to make it very simple and enticing for customers to contact you, thus putting you directly in touch with them. A few such example may be the ability to inquire about a product, to leave reviews, or to upload a photo of themselves using the product. Display your contact information visibly for your customers. This way they know how to contact you if they have a question. Don’t frustrate them by having them scour your entire site to find your contact information or it could lose you a sale.

SIMPLIFY THE CHECKOUT

Create a checkout process that makes it effortless for your visitors to get their products. For example, don’t ask for unnecessary information from the customers. It has been proven that the more fields there are in a Web form, the fewer people fill it out. Also, the pages in your checkout process should be clearly labeled and free of clutter. For example, visitors should be able to easily distinguish between a shipping form and a credit card form. Remember you’re not alone! Most people shop online by visiting a multitude of websites when searching for a particular product. They will eventually narrow down their choices to one. Whether your ecommerce website makes the cut will depend on a variety of factors.

Make sure pricing and shipping costs are not higher than your competitor’s for the same product(s). If your shipping rates are not customized to specific products weights and distances, your website may be charging too much for shipping and thus costing you business.

BE FULLY SECURE

Do not try to be Amazon and be up 100% of the time. Rather than selling everything under the moon, focus on a few niche product lines and grow from there. Make sure that your hosting plan is solid and that it can grow as you grow. This is one place you do not want to be skimpy.

Shopping online offers a lot of benefits but many customers are still hesitant to buy because they are worried about having their information stolen. Do everything you can to keep information of your customers safe. And display those trust symbols (i.e. VeriSign & McAfee) proudly on your site, indicating that your checkout process has been verified and is secure.