Building a website to sell your products online requires more thought and planning than a website that is used purely for advertising purposes. Think of the Home page of your website as your shop window; it has to look good to make visitors come in and buy from you. There are several elements which Website Designers must account for to create that ambience.
During the design process, resist the temptation to create ‘bling’ on your Home page. Flashing or moving images, sound effects and pop-ups are all a most definite No! No! They can be off-putting to many visitors and will not be supported in all browsers. The biggest online growth market is currently mobile devices, so Website Designers must also enable viewing via mobile browsers.
Website Designers will be able to make sure that your page load time is fast as many users will give up after a few seconds of ………Loading…….. Loading………..The aim is a Home page that can be accessed instantly, with the rest of the website optimised for single click viewing of products.
Website content, including product images and textual descriptions must be top quality. Using a good photography service could make all the difference to how well your products are portrayed online. Good Website Designers will always use an ALT tag on every one, these are essential for search optimisation purposes.
Complement images by writing relevant, grammatically correct product descriptions. Always include the price and shipping cost. (How annoying is it to find the product you want, only to find out at the checkout stage that the cost of shipping is extortionate). If necessary, offer further information on each product plus other relevant information e.g. delivery time, reviews etc.
Having actually got a customer to the checkout, make sure that the Shopping Cart is easy to use and provide step-by-step guidelines for those who may be unsure. Pick a good quality system that is known to be reliable and provides suitable usability features (experienced Website Designers may be able to recommend one). There is nothing worse than losing a customer at the 11th hour with a functionality issue!
It is worth offering a variety of payment options as not all customers will want to use cards to pay online. Prioritise the use of an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) which encodes data and provides a safe transaction environment for payments. Its use can be denoted by the padlock icon on your website, providing further reassurance to buyers.
Website Designers who specialise in e-commerce will be aware that there are some extra pages considered essential to include where online trading is concerned. A page which is dedicated to your contact details including an address and phone number will make customers feel that they will be able to reach a real person should a problem arise. Detailing your privacy policy will also reassure visitors that you will not misuse their private and computer information for any malicious purposes, for example.
Access to a separate page which carefully details all of your Terms and Conditions of trading is a must and should be done in a way that reassures customers that you are a legitimate and caring business. Include product guarantees, after sales service, refund policy and complaints procedures as a bare minimum.
