E-commerce has taken the world up by the storm. Having an e-commerce store means that the store owner can sell the items/products/services to anyone across the entire globe. The business exists online and the transactions are also done online. In today’s world, the consumer behavior census suggests that people find it easier to buy a product online from a trustworthy source rather than having to visit a physical store to purchase the product. Many suggest that e-commerce is the future of mankind. E-commerce doesn’t stop only at shopping, e-commerce startups can include online services such as internet marketing and communication as well as financial transactions. The selling can be from consumer to consumer, business to business or business to consumer. People are also inclined towards this activity because no third party is involved and sometimes this results in cheaper products and services.
If you are an e-commerce startup, your website is everything as it will be that very website which will flourish your business so it is highly vital to keep some important things in mind when developing your website:
1. Translation of business needs
Before you start designing or developing the wireframes of your website, make sure that the business idea, plan and execution is truly well thought of. Voice the idea to a couple of friends to make sure that there aren’t any loopholes that might arise in the future.
2. Competitive Analysis
This is a major need before stepping into any business. It is due to your competitors’ weakness or your unique selling point (USP) that you’ll be able to attract a better market share than your rivals. In order to grasp any opportunity, you need to study your competitors in the industry and have a competitive edge over them. For example, if your business is that of selling books online, you should make a map of your local and international bookselling competitors, or even companies who sell other products as well as books and see to why and how they have the market share and how their websites work. By seeing how their websites work, you’ll also be able to tell about your potential target market and the mind of your potential consumer.
3. Domain name and Hosting
Getting on to the technical steps, this is the first step you need to complete. A domain name is the name of your website that the users will type into the URL bar and end up at your website. The domain name should be both, unique and extremely creative. A unique domain name ensures that the user won’t get confused with another website. If it’s catchy and within the name, the user gets to know the purpose of the website, you’re in a win-win situation. If you have a name which is unique but doesn’t let the user understand at once what it’s about, you’ll have to market the website in such a way that it gets positioned in the mind of the consumer.
4. Brand logo
Perhaps, if there is something just as important as your domain name, it’s the logo of your brand. The logo, at the initial stages, gets positioned in the cognition of the user. The logo has to be well thought of and well designed. Good logos should have a meaning and every line/letter should have a meaning. The colors chosen should be that of your brand. Choosing the colors is a tricky part as well because all colors represent something. Moreover, your brand will be recognized by the logo so that is something you need to brainstorm about. For help, you can Google the best brand logos and the art behind them to get a better understanding of making a brand logo. Remember to always make variants.
5. Creative web interface
Unless you’re magnificent at the user interface and usability, you need to get hold of a good UX analyst and a UI analyst/designer. A UX analyst is a user experience analyst who will enhance the overall usability perspective of your website and will make wireframes according to how the user would want the website. A UI analyst and a designer will then design the website for you. This step must be invested in because it is very crucial and will either make or break your website.
6. Cross-browser compatibility
If your website works just in some browsers or doesn’t have a mobile interface designed and only has a desktop version, it might be a bigger problem than you think. Users can visit your website from all browsers such as internet explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome etc. and if your website doesn’t have cross-browser compatibility, it is very likely that the user won’t try the website from a compatible browser and you would have lost a customer. Similarly, your website should be accessible on a mobile screen with the good interface even if it doesn’t have an IOS or android application. Cross-browsing compatibility increases your traffic.
7. Search Engine Optimization SEO
A website is of no use if it can’t attract the right traffic. Organic viability can help can help generate the right amount of traffic needed for your website to flourish. If you embed search engine optimization into your website, it will help generate the needed traffic, hence it is essential.
8. Website Security
In today’s world, security and protection is a vital concern. Come to think of it as this way: if you have no security protecting the data on your website, your data and website will be vulnerable and hackers will easily be able to hack it, send viruses, malicious software or uncalled for traffic that can make your website crash. If this happens, all your hard work will go down the drain. With a good website that generates profit, comes the responsibility of protecting it from the bad side of the web. You can read more about website security and how to enhance it on the internet. If you have the budget, you can outsource security services to help perform the protection tasks needed for you.
All of these steps are vital for a new e-commerce startup to know and to accomplish. With the help of these steps and spectrum plans, your business will be up and running in no time and you will have nothing to worry about!
