Whether you design it yourself, purchase a template, or hire someone to develop an e-commerce website for your retail business, it must be professional looking, easy-to-navigate, and content rich. The website should be hosted with a reputable source, with little downtime and reliable technical support. The website must also be secure as it will need to collect personal and financial information from customers.
As you begin to plan the e-commerce website on paper, first define the purpose and goals for the site. Then, develop a strategic plan and design the site accordingly. The website's purpose--whether it's to gather leads or sell products--should drive the design of the pages.
The answers to these questions can help in e-commerce planning:
- Who is your target audience?
- How will the site be navigated?
- What graphics, fonts, and colors will the site use?
- How will you design the site for different browsers/customers?
- How will you optimize the site for the search engines?
- What content will the website offer?
- How will you build trust and convey credibility?
- How will you deliver your products to customers?
- What methods of payment will you accept and how will you process payments?
- What steps will you take to keep customer information safe and secure?
- How will you drive traffic to your site?
- How will you market your website and products?
Planning an e-commerce website is very similar to writing a business plan. The objective is to identify the focus of the website, the needs of the customer and what the competition is doing online. From there, we can begin to design and develop a solid e-commerce website.
