The widespread availability of high-speed Internet access has resulted in ever-greater numbers of consumers making online purchases. This means that business owners of all stripes - from individuals working from home to big box mass merchandisers - can reach more buyers and can generate exponentially greater revenue than ever before.
There are many theories about and tips for marketing and advertising your online store, and marketing and advertising is certainly a consideration. But in focusing so much attention on marketing, many business owners neglect a fundamental aspect of successful e-commerce: web page design.
If you don't have a professional webpage design, it doesn't matter how much traffic you generate to your site because those visitors won't convert to customers. It's crucial to have a website that is compelling and that makes visitors want to stay long enough to buy. Here, then, are six tips to help your web design transform visitors into customers:
1. Keep it Clean. A professional web page designer will tell you that to keep your virtual storefront clean and free of clutter. It should be immediately clear to the visitor the types of items you sell without overwhelming them with dozens of hyperlinks, fonts, and flashing buttons and words. You can certainly incorporate a flash introduction in your web design, but if you do, give the visitor control. He or she should be able to bypass or pause the flash so that the annoyance factor is kept to a minimum.
2. Intuitive Navigation. Your website designer should think like your customer and design a navigation system that easily takes your customer from your home page to the product or products of interest. The fewer number of clicks it takes to get from point A to point B, the more likely it is that your visitor will make a purchase.
3. Search Functionality. Customers need to be able to find what they need quickly and easily. Allowing customers to search by keyword or product number is a great start. Going one step further and allowing "fuzzy" searches that will also return matches for common misspellings is even better.
4. Seamless Shopping Cart. Many e-commerce sites lose customers at the critical juncture between selecting items and committing to buy them. An intuitive and easy-to-use shopping cart is essential to the online shopping experience. Again, your web page designer should think like your customer and utilize a shopping cart that makes checkout a breeze.
5. SSL Certificate. If you're an online merchant, there's simply no getting around the need for an SSL certificate. With the problems associated with identity theft, your customers need to have confidence that your website is secure.
6. Leave it to the Professionals. When it comes to web page design, don't succumb to the temptation to do it yourself. Even if you have a web design program, you should hire a business web page designer to create your web site. Professionals have a variety of tools that will help your business succeed online, and will act as your partner in developing e-commerce solutions that will encourage visitors to stick around and purchase your products.
Web Page Design For Beginners
A number of web design customers coming to us have only recently set up a business. In fact some have not even set up their business and are exploring ideas with regards to a web design. Designing a full fledge web site can be costly, depending on what type of web design you are looking for. If you are not sure about your business, your products and services, let alone your corporate identity, you might not be ready to invest into a web design project. If you have just started your business a one page web site or web page design might be the answer for you. The one web page design has several advantages.
Nowadays, whether you like it or not, every business has its web site. More than likely you need a web page design as well. But you do not require a full several pages web design from the outset. You can still have a web page with your logo, a nice web design, your contact details, some texts about your business, products or services and be part of the online business community.
Indeed, there are a number of web page design companies that are offering affordable web design solutions for small businesses which are not ready to invest in a large web design project. One of the most popular web page design web sites are those that allow you to have your web page design, a domain name, a hosting and your web site online in a few simple steps. How does it work?
Discount Web Design offers such a web page design product which is popular with business starters. Just visit the site, select Business Starter Web Page Design and follow the simple 5 step web page design process. First, check if your domain name is available. Then choose your web design from a number of templates. Just click on the web design that best suits your needs and proceed to step 2. Here you can easily upload your logo if you have one or order a logo online. Step 3, type in your company contact details and some text in the boxes provided. Preview your web page design, if you like what you see, click on the order button to securely pay online. Once your payment is cleared, allow 48 hours for your web page design to be published online on your own domain name.
Once your web page design is published you will also receive five email addresses with your domain name. The web page design will look professional and you can have your own web site, on the internet within 48 hours at a very affordable price. Discount Web Design will also place a link to your web page design from our web site which is already indexed by the major search engines. This means that your web page design will also get picked up by search engines in time. Having a web page design online will help your domain name and web site with Search Engine Optimisation. The longer your domain name is online, the better it is. Obviously, in time you can use the same domain name and hosting account to publish a full web design with several pages. Until then, your web page design will be accumulating Search Engine Optimisation by just being online. Search Engines like established sites, even if it is a one web page design.
There are then some definite advantages to getting your one page web design online as soon as you can. It's easy and affordable. Your customers can see your web presence through your web page design and it is working in your favour with the search engines.
Both Chris Robertson & Ralph Ramah are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
