Monday, January 25, 2010

Designing Your e-Commerce Website

By Ethan O. Tanner

With more and more consumers utilizing the web to shop and execute business dealings, e-commerce has become the future of the online community. Profiting completely from the e-commerce boom can be accomplishable. To keep consumers returning to your site, you must make a unique e-commerce site, one that surpasses all levels of excellence. When designing your e-commerce website, you should have a welcome or introduction on your main page. This statement should lay down the advantages of your site, and reassure those visiting that they should be at ease performing business transactions with you. Tell your intent, express your beliefs, and help the consumer understand why business done at your e-commerce outlet is always secure.

A quality website has smooth navigation. Categories to scan through and obvious search boxes on the site are a must. Design a simple site with large, easy to read fonts and images that will load quickly. Be sure to have a page with specific questions regarding some of your common business policies such as shipping and returns. You may also want to have a link on your home page that leads visitors to a privacy policy. This policy will ensure customers that you will never supply a third party with information they have entrusted with you. It is nearly essential for all e-commerce shops to display this declaration somewhere on their site.

Just like regular shopping, when going to your online store, customers wish for speedy and effortless checkout. If your online store is equipped with a secure server, make your customers informed of this fact. This will put them at rest and make them want to come back. Your checkout or "shopping cart" should be simply one click away so the purchaser can be in and out without a too many steps. Nowadays, it is best to have diverse payment choices available, such as PayPal and other internet payment sources, credit and debit cards, online checks, and money orders. Put up a contact phone number for customer support so the customer knows that they will have help if there are any troubles with the order.

Organize a special section of your e-commerce website dedicated completely to special discounts and current sales. If you have an extraordinary amount of sales items, create a separate webpage devoted to the ones that are most preferred, and have another page with a complete listing of all discounts. During the holiday season, have a certain portion of your website set aside for customers to purchase gift certificates.

Producing a profitable, reputable e-commerce website can be a simple task with a well constructed site plan, some time, and patience. Take your time and design your e-commerce site to be user friendly, secure, and full of informative content. Taking full advantage of the e-commerce phenomenon, you can succeed in your business marketing dream. - 16890

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