6 steps to build a great e-commerce website

E-commerce websites have made a huge step forward over the past few years. In today’s internet world, ecommerce websites are attracting more and more customers. As a result of this, ecommerce has become a crucial element to any business plan. There are many factors that decide the success of ecommerce’s website. The factors that make an ecommerce website successful are the same ones that make a business successful. You can fulfill the customer expectations by taking advantage of digital solutions and creating a worthwhile ecommerce website.

The popularity of online marketing shows no signs of slowing. So, it is a perfect time to start an ecommerce website and start selling on the web. You can set up an e-commerce website on your own or let professionals take care of the design and development of your ecommerce website. Here are 6 steps to build a great e-commerce website.

 

 

1. Decide what you are selling

If you want to capture the niche market, you should narrow your scope. Make sure that it is not so narrow that finding customers becomes a difficult task. For example – if you are thinking of selling mobile phones, the better option would be to focus more on Smartphones. If you are serious about online store, spend a lot of time tweaking the website and marketing it. Choose a product that you are interested in and have complete knowledge of it.

Once you have selected the products you want to sell, select the shopping cart to set up your products and services for sale on the internet. There are many shopping cart software to choose from that offer the functionality you are looking for. Look for a cart that offers merchant tools and supports different payment options. Check if it is secured appropriately and is compatible with your merchant account.

 

2. Know your customer

Ecommerce sites should be treated as physical stores. Being the owner of ecommerce store, you should know what exactly your customer is looking for. Look for ways to fulfill customer’s requirements and incorporate all those things that make their shopping experience pleasant. You should focus on things that enhance their purchase experience and make your site memorable.

Companies that launch new products in the market need to adapt their solutions to support local preferences. Many companies failed to attract local customers, and hence, it is very important to know your customer before you start your ecommerce website.

 

3. Choose the right platform

Selecting the right ecommerce platform is very essential to build a successful ecommerce site. There are tons of options to choose from. You can sit down and make a list of all the features that you are looking for in an online store. If you are looking for a low maintenance website and want to avoid the hassle of supplying and shipping your own inventory, you should consider large website such as Amazon, eBay etc that let you set up a specialized store for selling products on commission.

If you are going for a global ecommerce store, you should consider choosing hosted platform. There are many open source platforms such as Jhoomla, Drupal, etc that help you create different types of websites. There are many online communities that assist you in case of any issues while developing the website. People who prefer ecommerce websites want the portal to be easy to use and navigate. Open source platforms such as Jhoomla enhance the productivity and implementation of shopping cart, making the portal easy to operate.

 

4. Picking up a payment gateway

The payment gateway is meant to connect your website to your merchant account. The main role of the payment gateway is to collect the credit card information from the customer, encrypt it and send it to the merchant for processing. You should select a payment gateway that is compatible with your shopping cart and at the same time offers good pricing. It should have the ability to facilitate all the payment functions and offer robust fraud protection. Make sure to set the prices based on your local market. Competitive pricing is very important in every industry, and same is the case with ecommerce website.
It is also important to choose a merchant account that offer good rates on processing the transactions. Additionally, the merchant account should have 24 hour turnaround time on settled transactions and offer live customer support. As you set up your ecommerce website, the processor stands behind your account and consult you in the best possible way.

 

5. Promote your site

Today, there are thousands of ecommerce sites and it is difficult for people to know your site. An online store is just like a physical store, where people will simply pass by if you don’t advertise it or promote it in a better way. You need to promote your site across the web using the best SEO techniques. Make sure that you are using lot of keywords and backlinks to drive huge traffic to your website. Research the keywords using Google Keyword planner and be sure to use them in your ecommerce website.

Blogging is one of the best ways to promote your website. If you are good at writing , you should start a blog and promote it across multiple channels. Make sure to use target keywords in the blog frequently. You will also need as many as subscribers as possible to get as many as links back to your ecommerce site.

 

6. Maintain your ecommerce site

After designing, building and promoting your website; the next biggest step is to maintain your website. If you want a steady stream of customers, update your products and inventory on a regular basis. To make it more effective, you can even update the keywords. This can be achieved by signing up Google Analytic services that help you know what people searched to get to your website. You will also know which keywords are working and tweak the ones that are not performing well.

Remember that you can change the keywords and SEO strategies as per your requirement. Don’t stick with the tools or companies that are not of much benefit for your ecommerce website.

These are the major steps that help you create your ecommerce website. It is not an easy process to complete the ecommerce website. Even proficient web designers struggle when creating ecommerce stores. However, you will do it with ease, once you go through this a few times.

Every business is different and same is the case with ecommerce store. You need to be sure that you are selecting the best solution. It is important to do some research to build a great ecommerce store. If you are unsure where to start from, approach a reputed web designing and Development Company that help you lunch or improve your ecommerce website.