Are you struggling to build you an e-commerce web storefront on the web? Perhaps these few tips will help you as you embark on this exciting venture; of joining the other ecommerce site builders.
First things first, you should plan your website carefully. Determine your goals and lay out which marketing strategies and what outcome you expect from each. Is it your goal to generate leads? Do you want to have an online catalog? Would you like to compile a database of possible clients? List your objectives in quantifiable form (i.e. increase sales by 20%). This will help you to determine the success of your e-commerce site as time goes on.
Your next task will be to determine the things your possible clients will want and need to know prior to making a purchase. These things may be:
• A detailed product/service description complete with pricing guides, key features, product specs, et cetera.
• Customer reviews and testimonials, reports and studies, customer success stories and positive remarks made by prior customers.
• A section that covers frequently asked questions (FAQ) to answer questions and cut down on the need for one-on-one assistance.
When planning the construction of your site, you should focus primarily on customer use. Potential clients will want a site that’s easy to use, easy to navigate, and answers the many questions most consumers have prior to spending money on a product. You should strive to create a site map that will outline each page of your site, starting with the home page. You should also plan to implement the use of tools that will track and measure your site activity (i.e. where do customers click most often, and whether or not those clicks lead to a purchase). This way, as you build your e-commerce web site, you will be able to compare your goals against your results.
As you build, you will want to make certain you’re using the right tools. Your solidly laid out plan is just the beginning. Next comes the actual construction of your e-commerce web site. Many business will turn to professionals (a very powerful tool in web building). The professional web site builders design and create outstanding web sites. There are unlimited sources of contact for professional web builders. Use the phone book, or better yet, look online and you will quickly find a firm in your area.
On the other hand, maybe you’re not budgeted to have professional help building your web site. Many successful e-commerce sites are constructed using tools that are designed to help the layperson create a professional and polished site on their own, without the aid of HTML experts. Again, resources for such sites can be found all over the Internet and you can even find great web building programs to download for free.
Let’s review. In order to build a successful e-commerce web site, your primary goal is to keep your customer in mind. Determine what you’d like to see if you were investigating a product and do your best to build a web page that meets those specs.
