Website Design And Development - Tips On How To Get Started With E-commerce And Be Successful

By Author: Daljeet Sidhu
Total Articles: 4762
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If you want your business to thrive, do not wait for customers to come to you. Take your products to your customers through internet and e-commerce. Suitable for all business sizes, e-commerce allows you to harness the benefits of business at low-costs, without time and distance barriers.

You do not need to spend a fortune to start your online store, use the following tips and tools to start reaping the benefits of a successful online business and e-commerce.

How Do You Start Selling Online?

1. If you do not want to build your own online store then you may sell your products on big market sites such as Amazon and eBay to build a client base, assess demand, prices and competition.
2. Add a PayPal payment option to your existing website to give customers an easy and convenient payment option. Use PayPal to build a basic order form that can be integrated into your website.
3. Build your own e-commerce site either by hiring a web designer or using template-based website building tools.

If a single option does not work for you, use a combination of two or more options that best suits your ...
... business requirements.

Develop a Specialty

Before you start building a new online store, try to find a specific and unique e-commerce niche. Product categories like shoes and books are very common and saturated with large sellers who can cut your business profits. Conduct some research on product categories and specialize in one that has an untapped customer base. This can be your ticket to online store success.

Getting Started With Building Online Store

To build your web store ask your web provider for e-commerce tools and templates. This option is low-cost and can greatly simplify web store design reducing your job to merely pointing, clicking and modifying pre-designed templates. These basic web stores come for a small monthly fee and transaction fees for every order.

If you need extensive customization then hire a web specialist. Discuss the available e-commerce services and web store options with your web designer. A specialist can help you to incorporate advanced features such as connecting your inventory database to the online store so that you do not offer out-of-stock products.

Essential Features of an Online Store

Photos
Photos help to sell products. Use multiple views and pictures of different colors and options to minimize shopper queries and maximize impact on customers.

Product Description
Effective item descriptions can considerably improve product sales. For greatest impact, include all important details and answers to possible shopper queries.

Privacy and Security
If you want shoppers to do business with you, then assure them that their private information is secure and will never be misused. Ensure that sensitive data is always encrypted. Additionally, make sure your privacy and security policies are easily visible and clearly defined.

Multiple Payment and Shipping Options
Customers usually prefer variety in payment methods. Open a merchant account to enable customers to pay through credit cards. Integrate it with PayPal, another popular payment method. Provide multiple shipping options to your customers. Tie up with reputed shipping providers to automatically calculate and project shipping costs for products. Make sure you comply with tax laws. If unsure about tax regulations, get in touch with an e-commerce consultant.

Great Customer Service
Excellent customer service is central to the success of your online store. Ensure timely response to product queries, preferably within 24 hours. Online chat is another option you can offer your customers to get in touch with you. To maintain and build your client base, offer discounts and special coupons to customers. Keep your customers updated by asking them to sign up for monthly e-mails on new products and special deals.

Combine the above mentioned strategies with attractive web design and clear navigation to build an excellent reputation and beat the competition.

If you hire a website design vendor, compare price quote from multiple professional web design firms at a Business Network. For further information, read our web design and development advice.
About Author:
Daljeet Sidhu is at TradeSeam. Read our