If you’re considering taking your business online, there’s a lot you need to know. While the “gurus” promise that it’s as simple as just setting up your website, adding your products and hitting the ground running, there’s a lot more to it than that. This is particularly true when it comes to web design for eCommerce solutions. Online retailers have to provide a lot of things, from a secure shopping experience to an easily navigated product portfolio and much more. Here’s a crash course to get you on your way.
- Platform Choices
When you first start considering moving your business online, you’ll discover a host of different website platforms out there. These run the gamut from Perl to Ruby on Rails, PHP and more. Which is right for your needs? A lot of the decisions will be made by how robust the site needs to be and whether you’re going with a custom designed solution or not. If you’ll be hiring a company to design your website from the ground up, you can build in whatever features or functionality you might need, so long as you’re willing to pay the developer.
One of the most popular choices today is to use WordPress – it can be custom developed for your needs, but you can also choose from a tremendous range of professionally designed premium WordPress themes as well. Why opt for a theme over a custom designed site? You’ll find quite a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that you can get all the features and functionality of a custom-built website at a fraction of the cost. WordPress is the most popular choice for virtually any type of website, hands down. You’re free to choose your own path forward, but the availability of premium themes, the ease of installation and the ability to customize these sites to the nth degree all make for an excellent experience.
One of the most popular choices today is to use WordPress – it can be custom developed for your needs, but you can also choose from a tremendous range of professionally designed premium WordPress themes as well. Why opt for a theme over a custom designed site? You’ll find quite a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that you can get all the features and functionality of a custom-built website at a fraction of the cost.
- Design Considerations
When it comes to successful online businesses, you’ll find that they all have one thing in common. Their websites are easy to navigate, uncluttered and easy on the eyes. You need to incorporate those elements into your own website if you want to succeed. However, there’s more to it than just choosing a theme that’s clean and professional.
Navigational Matters – One area that will impact both your customers and your Page Rank is the navigation on your site. If it’s not clear, logical and easily accessible, you’ll find that both your human visitors and search engine spiders dislike it. You need to make it simple and easy to get from section to section, with clear indications of how to get back if the visitor needs to.
Page Naming – Another tip for online website design is to pay close attention to the names you use with your interior pages. For instance, if you operate a bicycle sales shop online, you might be tempted to name your men’s bike page “bikes A” and your women’s bike page “bikes B” or something similar. It makes sense from one perspective, but when taken from the perspective of a search engine, it doesn’t. You need to name your pages something that ties into the specific content of that page. For instance, if you had a page dedicated to men’s BMX bikes, “Mens-BMX-bikes” might be a good choice. You can get as specific as you want, but the key is to ensure that you have those keywords worked in, as it will help enhance your SEO results without having to worry about getting in trouble with the Panda and Penguin updates.
Photo ALT Tags – One of the most overlooked capabilities of a website is to generate SEO results based on the ALT tags you use for your product photos. You can use this technique no matter what type of products you sell, from Chia pets to bikes to shoes and everything in between. Through the WordPress interface, just modify the ALT names of your photos to include applicable keywords. It will help them show up in image searches, and Google does love the photos.
When it comes to successful online businesses, you’ll find that they all have one thing in common. Their websites are easy to navigate, uncluttered and easy on the eyes. You need to incorporate those elements into your own website if you want to succeed. However, there’s more to it than just choosing a theme that’s clean and professional.
Navigational Matters – One area that will impact both your customers and your Page Rank is the navigation on your site. If it’s not clear, logical and easily accessible, you’ll find that both your human visitors and search engine spiders dislike it. You need to make it simple and easy to get from section to section, with clear indications of how to get back if the visitor needs to.
Page Naming – Another tip for online website design is to pay close attention to the names you use with your interior pages. For instance, if you operate a bicycle sales shop online, you might be tempted to name your men’s bike page “bikes A” and your women’s bike page “bikes B” or something similar. It makes sense from one perspective, but when taken from the perspective of a search engine, it doesn’t. You need to name your pages something that ties into the specific content of that page. For instance, if you had a page dedicated to men’s BMX bikes, “Mens-BMX-bikes” might be a good choice. You can get as specific as you want, but the key is to ensure that you have those keywords worked in, as it will help enhance your SEO results without having to worry about getting in trouble with the Panda and Penguin updates.
Photo ALT Tags – One of the most overlooked capabilities of a website is to generate SEO results based on the ALT tags you use for your product photos. You can use this technique no matter what type of products you sell, from Chia pets to bikes to shoes and everything in between. Through the WordPress interface, just modify the ALT names of your photos to include applicable keywords. It will help them show up in image searches, and Google does love the photos.
- Security Considerations
If you’re just getting involved in the world of commerce, a brief word about security needs to be said. You’re responsible for safeguarding the personal and financial information your customers entrust to you. To do that, you need to ensure that all of the checkout pages are encrypted. You should have at least 128-bit encryption, but stronger protection is available (and advisable, really). The encryption should start from the very first page of the checkout process, long before your customers have to enter their shipping address or their credit card number.
These tips will help ensure that you’re able to build a better online business with the right features, design elements and protection for your customers. Also check out this infographic by eboostconsulting.com/blog to know the 7 design tips to boost conversations on your site.
These tips will help ensure that you’re able to build a better online business with the right features, design elements and protection for your customers. Also check out this infographic by eboostconsulting.com/blog to know the 7 design tips to boost conversations on your site.
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