1. Quality Design - When you sell things online it is likely that there are other websites selling exactly the same things. This means you need to stand out from the crowd. The only way to do this is to have a professional eye catching design. We would recommend using a web design company that uses a graphic designer to create your site. This will allow you to get a unique site that reflects your corporate identity. This will help people to remember you and keep them coming back. Before employing a website design company make sure you check out their portfolio and ensure they have a quality design track record.

2. Get a CMS - Having a content management system will allow you to update your content immediately from anywhere you are. This will mean if your stock changes you can instantly update your website to reflect this. If you don't have this you could find your website is always out of date which can cause some problems with you not being able to deliver orders.

3. Products on Your Home Page - We would always recommend having some of your best selling products on your home page. This will allow people to buy immediately and will hook people as soon as they come to your site.

4. Follow the 3-click Rule - It is important to make sure it is easy for people to buy. As a result it is a good idea to have your site set up so that people are able to buy any product on your website with at most 3 clicks. If people have to spend ages looking for the product they want to buy it will probably mean they get bored and go somewhere else.

5. Include a Search Box - To help your visitors to find the products they want it is a good idea to include a search box. This will help them to quickly and easily get to the purchase stage.

6. Include a link to your Home Page - It is a good idea to ensure people can easily get back to your home page. This means that if someone comes to your site in the middle they can easily get to your home page to get the information they are looking for.

7. Install an Analytics Program - If you install an analytics program like Google Analytics it will allow you to keep track of your visitors. So if people jump of just before the payment stage you will know and it might indicate you need to make this stage easier for people. Know where people come from, where they leave and how they navigate your website will allow you to make changes and update your site to get mere sales conversions.

8. Do SEO - If you have a website you want it to be found. This means you need to get a web design company that will make you an SEO friendly website. In addition you need to get a link building campaign underway as soon as possible. After all you might have the best e-commerce site our there but if no one can find it what is the point?

The above list is not exhaustive but if you put these steps into action it will allow you to begin to make the most out of your business.