November 25, 2009 ( PowerHomeBiz.com )
- Gone are the days where you need to have a brick and mortar store in order to run a successful retail business, and welcome to the world of ecommerce. The success of taking your retail business online starts with a solid marketing strategy and most of all an ecommerce website design, built for success. Here are five tips for making your ecommerce website design a success.
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Ecommerce Website Design Success Tip #1 - Showcase Your Products
When crafting your ecommerce website design architecture, think about
your customers. The moment visitors come to your website they should know
what you sell without having to look for much. Highlight some of your
products with a simple flash intro. Make your specials stands out. If you
offer free shipping or a money back guarantee, this should all be visible at
first glance. Focus on strategically positioning your products; better yet
list your product categories on the homepage. Ideally you should have a side
bar with a list of all your products, as well as a product drop down menu on
the main menu bar. Position your products strategically at every chance you
get.
Ecommerce Website Design Success Tip #2 - Focus on Usability
Your new ecommerce website design should make it easy for your customers
to get from one product category to the next. Better yet, make sure there is
a continue shopping option when a product is purchased and ensure that the
option to view shopping cart is available. Also give your customers the
option to add or delete items, in order to create a great and user-friendly
shopping experience.
Ecommerce Website Design Success Tip #3 – Increase Your Average Sale
Per Visitor by Cross Selling.
Do you have products that complement each other or might be ideal for the
customer? Cross sell your other products by suggesting other items in a
non-disruptive manner. For example, if you sell skin care products, perhaps
if a customer purchased a night-cream, it might be wise to also suggest a
cleanser once the customer have added the night-cream to their shopping
cart, by using a simple pop-up or automation. A great ecommerce website
design should cover all the bases by seizing opportunity to sell your
products at every opportunity.
Ecommerce Website Design Success Tip #4- Provide an Option to Checkout
as a Guest.
I have seen too much ecommerce website design that included only two
options - create an account or sign in for the returning customer. People
like options; don’t force your customers to create a user-account that
stores their information if they don’t want to. It may lead to you losing
the sale. Add an option for your customers to check-out as a guest, you can
still capture their email information to send offers, order confirmation and
a thank you during the checkout so there is no need to force your customers
to create an online account.
Ecommerce Website Design Success Tip #5- Give Your Customers Peace of
Mind – Use a Recognizable Secure Sockets Layer or SSL for Website Security .
A great ecommerce website design makes it easy for your website visitor
to do business with you. In this day an age where identity theft is so
rampant it is important to highlight to your customers that you are taking
steps to secure their personal and sensitive information. Add a SSL
certificate to your website and publish that it is protected by a credible
company such as Verisign or GeoTrust, which are companies that are
recognizable by most online shoppers.
About the Author:
Nicole McCullum is the Founder of Captivate Designs, a Web Design Company that provides professional and effective website design that’s affordable to businesses throughout the US and Canada. Ms McCullum has been featured on inc.com
as a Web Design Expert and her web design tips and articles have been
published in NY Enterprise Report and Strategy Magazine. You may reach her
by emailing her at info at captivatedesigns.com. For more tips on successful web design strategies and internet marketing you may visit her blog "Turn Your Website Into a Lead Generation Machine" at
http://www.captivatedesigns.com/blog .