A Guide to Building the Right ECommerce Site for Business

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A Guide to Building the Right ECommerce Site for Business

A good ecommerce website has become essential in the new online business world. You need to construct a site that is easy to navigate and inspires confidence in your customers. It must also provide them with enough information to make the right purchasing choices.
Your site is your company’s chance to make the first impression. It’s your chance to build relationships with the customer and convince them you are their best option when choosing products and services.
If your e-commerce site is not effective, you will lose potential customers. The value and reach of your site is crucial, so you need to make sure your website is easy to use and has all the correct elements. To help ensure the success of your business and ecommerce site, we’ve created a guide to building the right website for your business.

Research the Industry and Your Market

To build the right ecommerce site for business, you need to do your research. The first thing you need to determine is where your target market is. Determining the demographics of your target market is an important step to take. This will help you decide which social media sites you should be on and how to communicate with your audience.
Next, you need to find out what your target market is looking for. This will help you to determine what they are looking for in an e-commerce site, which will, in turn, allow you to create one that meets their needs. Finally, you will need to find out what your competitor’s sites offer and how they present themselves to their customers.
Once you understand what your target market is looking for, you need to determine which social media sites or online marketing routes are best suited to reach them. Therefore, before you start a social media campaign, you need to figure out which sites are most effective for reaching your target market.

Find the Right Domain Name and Hosting Provider

Once you have determined which social media sites you want to be on and what your target market is looking for, you need to find the right domain name and hosting provider to start your e-commerce site.
When it comes to domain names, it’s essential to choose a name that is short, easy to remember and to search for via search engines.
Your needs depend on the kind of e-commerce site you’re building when it comes to hosting. There are three kinds of hosting: shared hosting, virtual private servers (VPS) and a dedicated server. A shared hosting plan is the most affordable and might be the right plan for you if your website is not very high-traffic and you want to save money.

Find the Right People or Tools to Build Your ECommerce site for business

Building an ecommerce site takes a great deal of expertise, skill and training, so hiring experts is the way forward rather than going the DIY route which can waste time and resources and end up with something that isn’t fit for purpose. Hiring a website development company to build or design your ecommerce site is the best business decision or hiring an in-house web developer within your business.
If you choose an in-house web developer, you need to make sure that person can design and build the type of e-commerce site you’re looking for. Take a look at the candidates’ past designs, work and past projects, and portfolios as part of the hiring process.
On the other hand, if you choose an outside company or designer, you need to ensure they have the suitable skills and experience for the site you’re looking for. For example, you could hire a freelance designer or choose a design firm. Again, look at their past work and portfolios to ensure they have the right qualifications for the job.

Plan Your Site Structure and Content

Next, you need to plan the structure of your e-commerce site and the content you will include. Doing so will help you determine what pages you need, what content you need to have on those pages and how to organise your information so that it’s easy to find and digest.
The most important thing you can do when planning your e-commerce site is to keep it simple. E-commerce sites are information-rich environments. However, you also need to ensure that customers can find the information they are looking for without digging through a lot of information.
Most visitors will only look at a few pages on your e-commerce site, so you need to ensure those pages are full of valuable information packed into an easy-to-use layout.

Make Sure Your Site is Mobile Friendly

As a business owner, you’re probably aware that mobile usage has increased, and it’s only going to increase further with the event of Mobile First. Naturally, this means that your e-commerce site will need to be mobile-friendly.
You can create a mobile-friendly site in a few different ways. You can start with a responsive template or create a mobile site from scratch.
If you’re just starting up, a responsive template might be the way to go. However, if you have a lot of mobile traffic, you might need to build a site from scratch.

Set Up Your E-Commerce Payment System

You are going to need a payment system. This is one of the most important parts of your e-commerce site. Finding the right payment system that fits your business needs is crucial. There are a lot of different kinds, like credit card processing platforms such as PayPal and Stripe.
The right payment system will depend on your target market, how you want to accept payments, and any other needs you might have. For example, if you wish to set up a subscription payment plan option, you must find the right payment provider to fit the bill.
Once you find the right payment system, you need to set it up. You will also need to set up a shopping cart for your customers to pay with.

The Bottom Line

A good e-commerce site will attract customers. You need to construct a site that is easy to navigate and inspires confidence in your customers. It must also provide them with enough information to make the right purchasing choices. Setting up an e-commerce site isn’t easy, but it’s worth it, and it’s an incredible way to sell your products and services to your customers.
If you are looking for an affordable integrated ecommerce website solution that can grow with your business and that will fit your business needs and goals, we can help.

Easitill offers ecommerce websites for all sorts of business capabilities. From a simple advertising site helping bring in the extra footfall through to a simple product directory and catalogue showing stock to full ecommerce sites. Contact us today to learn more.