With the availability of e commerce websites the buyer attitude is changing and people prefer to shop from the comfort of their homes and/or offices and scrupulously avoid physically visiting shops.
As a result, e-commerce is growing at an incredibly rapid pace and surveys reveal that on-line sales have already crossed several billions. Many business organizations are understandably exploring this new-found channel to expand their customer base and boost sales.
E-commerce has helped businesses to successfully overcome the barriers of time and distance and carry on online transactions across the globe.
Here are some useful steps to develop a successful e-commerce websites:
You must first conceptualize your own ecommerce website and create a mental picture of what the web site should look like and the manner in which it should function.
Planning the site content is the most intimidating part. It is prudent to get your products, UPC (UPC codes standardized by GSI, an international association that assigns each manufacturer a unique prefix for using in their UPC barcodes) and SKC (numeric or alphanumerical codes assigned by each company for stock maintenance purposes and internal operations) and written descriptions on a spreadsheet to facilitate copy/paste into a shopping cart later. Save into Word or Google Docs any written content that you plan using on the site. Leave the HTML part for your web designer to do later.
After finalizing your written content, you must develop the most logical layout. You may first import your products into the shopping cart and thereafter start designing the websites. It is best that your e-commerce site is uncomplicated and user-friendly. Avoid confusing the visitors with trendy web techniques. The object of a websites is to induce people to buy and this is no place for you to exhibit your web design skills.
Make sure all of your links work and the site is complete in all respects. Insert the Google analytics code on it so that you can monitor your traffic. It is imperative you test your site click every link, add a product to your cart, and buy them with your credit card. This experiment is essential for you to know everything is functioning the way it ought to. Thereafter launch your e-commerce website.
For a period of 30 days compulsively do pay-per-click marketing even if it is not part of your overall marketing plan, This will help you know what keywords convert into sales and the ease of your site’s navigation. After this initial period, it is wise to switch off your PPC marketing campaign and carefully review your stats. Armed with this feedback information, you can now tweak your websites to provide a perfect shopping experience for your visitors.
Please know that 43% of visitors to e-commerce sites type the product name or product category into the search box. Use the right search tool and optimize its results and you will increase conversion rate as also achieve customer satisfaction.
