1. Optimise your website for the search engines
This ensures you are found by the most appropriate customers searching for specific terms on search engines like Google.

2. Make sure your website is easy to use
If customers can’t find what they want they will leave. Test your website, look at your competitors efforts and have a sitemap. Try our MOT for websites service if you don’t know where to begin.

3. Tell customers what to do
Use conditional statements to move visitors from the information stage to taking action. Tell them who to call, how to get more info, where to email and how to pay.

4. Make it relevant
There is no substitute for relevant information on your website. Relevant to: your product, your service, your industry sector, your customer, their demographic and their needs.

5. Visible contact details
Place this information on the header of the website, on every page, to ensure it will be seen first when a page downloads. If visitors can find it, they can use it.

6. Testimonials
Showing how you have helped other customers provides authenticity for your services. Collect testimonials from customers and ask for their feedback on how your businessperformed.

7. Offer something of value
Free “How to Guides”, ‘Top Tips’, “White Papers” on your website encourage your visitors to part with their contact details or to subscribe to your newsletter.

8. Install Google Analytics
Is a free tool from Google that will record information about how visitors use your website to help you refine your keywords and find out where your website visitors come from.

9. Get a great image
Poor quality images can be worse than no images in that they create a poor first impression for visitors to the site. Try photo stock libraries for inexpensive imagery.

10. Make it easy to buy from you, tell your visitors how
Give clear instructions on how to order, who to call, where the form is located and how to send it: online, email or fax. Tell them what options they can use to pay you and when their order should arrive.

What next? call 01962 737989 or email studio@createdesignstudio.co.uk for a free consultation.

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This article originally appeared in our company magazine ‘The Bulletin’ where we write about design, websites and marketing for small to medium sized businesses.  For your free copy please contact us.

An e-commerce website needs careful consideration and planning beyond the normal preparation for designing a website, that is to say what it will look like and how many pages will be needed. The reason being that it will be more than just a “sales and marketing” window on the world, in the majority of cases it will be that business’s only interaction with their customers, so the buying, ordering and fulfilment process must be faultless

So what do you need to consider before setting up an e-commerce website?

What countries or regions will you operate in, i.e. just the UK, EU or globally?
Technically from the web developer perspective it is not a problem. But what tax issues might that raise with Customs and Excise? Do you know which customers you should charge VAT to and those you shouldn’t? Do you understand what tax records you will need to keep and what information you will need to supply to a customer on an invoice/receipt?

Delivery and carriage
This can be a problem, our advice is to keep it simple, but you have to consider your typical order value. Many retailers of low ticket priced items just write off goods lost in transit, or customer claims that goods never arrived, as it is the cheapest option. This may not be something that you can afford or wish to do with a higher price items, so your chosen delivery company will need to offer a parcel tracking facility, and your customer will have to sign for their goods.

Which currencies will your website accept?
The universal Web currency is the US Dollar, but is that appropriate in all your markets?

Language?
If overseas markets are important to your business, should you provide multi language versions of your website?

Consider the logistics of running the website, the areas where online retailers traditionally struggle are:

Order tracking
Website software can include order status information, but for most small retailers that has to be updated by a member of staff.

Returns and refunds
Clear terms and conditions can avoid a lot of problems from the outset.

Stock control
Not realising the space and money required to keep reasonable stock levels, on line shoppers expect next day or delivery in at least 3 to 5 working days not weeks.

Dealing with product enquiries and technical information requests
Failing to provide enough or confusing information on your website at best will generate a lot more work in dealing with questions and enquiries, at worst your customers will go elsewhere.

Credit card fraud
Depending on what you are selling you need to be aware of this problem. Consumer electronics and IT are seen as high risk by the credit card companies and they will charge you a higher fee or impose strict conditions. Do not use the terminal in your shop or office to process website transactions before checking with your card processing company as you may find that you will not be covered for loss or fraud.

Making day to day website updates and adding new products
Most of the sites we build have content management to allow shop owners to update and add products, but most still struggle as they did not appreciate how long it takes to collate the information about a new product, work out its retail price, source and choose the right photographs and then compose the words of the description.

Marketing
Time will be needed on a regular basis to market the site, be that Google Adwords, search engine optimisation or traditional advertising in key journals and the press, it all takes time.

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If you need help with an e-commerce project then contact David Woodroofe on 01962 737989 or david@createdesignstudio.co.uk.

Useful Links:

The unofficial ‘rules’ that make great webpages visitors want to read
Create Design Studio Web Design and Build Services

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