To give you an example you will find plenty of e-commerce websites, blogs, product review sites, video sharing sites, information websites with banners and text link ads, service websites, social networks and membership websites. There are more of course but I think you get the gist in that with all the millions of websites out there they tend to follow a set model.
In the following few paragraphs I will go through what it takes to set up an e-commerce store so that you have a better understanding of how to go about it now or in the future.
One of the first steps which you need to take when setting out to build a new website is to research your competition as they are the ones that have already gone before you and completed the task successfully. By reviewing other websites and finding out what products they are selling, what offers and incentives they have, which keywords they are using to drive traffic to the site etc, you'll get an idea of the type of applications they use to run their e-commerce stores along with understanding the type of layout they use.
By doing this research first you will have a much better idea as to how your own website should look and what you should use to power your e-commerce store. If you want to explore further into finding out what other e-commerce systems are available you can always contact a web design Watford firm for instance to ask their advice on the matter. These professional e-commerce website builders do this type of work all the time so there is no one better to ask.
Once you have all the relevant information you need the next step is to decide on just how big you want your e-commerce store to be as in how big a market as this will reflect in the domain name that you choose. You could get very niche orientated and choose a name like hikingboots.com or expand out to something more general like footwear.com. I'm sure these names are taken but this is just and example to give you an idea of where your focus should be so that you can then buy the domain and build your website around that focus.
The more niche orientated your website is the easier you will find it to rank in the search engines as you will have a greater level of authority for that specific topic. If you choose something like footwear.com you will need to expand the site out a lot further to cover all the different types of footwear that you can buy and this could be into the hundreds if not thousands of pages needed to cover everything.
If you happen to have a store that does stock everything then you really have no choice but to choose something more general but if you're just starting out in deciding on the type of products you should sell then it would be a more prudent choice to concentrate more in one area than trying to be the king of everything. It really all depends on what your long-term goal is because if you're prepared to put the time, money and energy into building an e-commerce store you could end up turning it into a monster site within 3 to 5 years.
Obviously something a lot smaller is going to take a lot less time to build up and get established so the choice is yours. Again it's probably a good idea to have a word with a web design professional to give you advice on the best route to take.
So once you've decided on your niche and you’ve picked out a domain name which is available the next step is to buy hosting. You don't need to go mad here and get the most expensive package as many of the cheaper hosting plans will provide you with all the options that you need to start with. You can always upgrade your plan later on once your e-commerce site starts to make money.
Just make sure that whichever hosting plan you choose has at least three or four databases as you will need these to run the e-commerce website. If possible go for a hosting plan that offers unlimited databases so that you won’t be restricted at any point.
When it comes to designing the layout of your website is vitally important that you have a nice clean structure with an easy-to-use navigation bar and clear categories to choose from. You should also have a search box so that people can type in what they are looking for. Most of the biggest brand e-commerce stores have this option and so you should too.
You should also have well written descriptions for each of the products that you sell in the nice user-friendly shopping cart system so that people can purchase products quickly and without complication.
It's also a good idea to have product review pages so that people can read more about the products without having to leave the website. Some people install plug-ins which allow people to write their own reviews on the site and give ratings which is a good way to provide unbiased reviews.
It's important to provide the visitor with a good user experience so the homepage shouldn't be overly cluttered and it's also helpful to have an FAQ page for the most common questions people may ask. Another nice touch is to use a messaging system whereby visitors can chat to customer support live on the website in case they have any questions that need answering.
Another good idea is to use trust labels which reinforce the security of the website as people are still cautious about buying through e-commerce stores that they are unfamiliar with.
When it comes to payment options the more the merrier so it's good to go with a merchant bank that offers every type of payment method under the sun. There's nothing worse than having a visitor who wants to buy something but can't because they don't have the right payment option available to them.
So hopefully that has provided you with a few tips to get your own e-commerce website off the ground and with any luck if you make a start and put the work in you should start making money very soon.
