If your business constantly depends upon their e-commerce website, then you already know that it’s much like a brick and mortar store. Thinking of it in terms of needing the same sort of things in order to be successful can helpfully reframe your site so that you can make sure it has everything necessary for success. What are the features that you need in order to make sure your website is successful?
A Blog Page
Just as you’d give customers an ever changing reason to come into your brick and mortar store, a blog gives good reason for your online customers to return to your website. It offers you a chance to show customers what you can do, and what you know. This can include snippets of info of what items go together for a fresh new year, or what common grammar mistakes occur in manuscripts you see. Whatever your expertise is, from plumbing to flying, you want customer eyes to be on your site. This means that clients get accustomed to turning to you for your wisdom as well as your products, and drives up your search engine optimization ratings on the big metric sites.
A FAQ Page
A FAQ page includes facts and frequently asked questions that your customers need to know. This is information that most of your clients need to know before coming into your office or making other contact. It might include things like manuals for products which previous customers might be looking for, intake paperwork for your offices that customers might need in advance, or even the process or procedures you might follow or they might expect on a medical visit. This is where you put all of the questions you really don’t want to answer again, or that you might have to answer, over and over.
Contact Information
Just like it would be silly in a brick and mortar store to have no answers to questions, or reasons to bring a customer into the door, it would be silly if there was no way to call or contact team members on your website. You need to have your mailing address, directions on how to go to your brick and mortar store if applicable, and email contacts for those team members who work directly with the public. This can include phone numbers as well, of course. You want customers to be able to find you if needed!
Chatbots
Chatbots are a necessary evil in today’s commerce driven society. They can help take care of initial problems and funnel customers to which department of your business they need. Chatbots can also take care of initial problems and returns, so that customers can be more satisfied with your response time. Best of all, chatbots do not care if it’s the middle of the night, or if your business is otherwise not open for the day. They can help any time, and funnel complications to you only if needed.
An E-Commerce Store
And now, the main event: if you are selling products, of course you need a storefront in which to sell them. Just like in a brick and mortar store, of course, you need your products displayed beautifully, with crisp images and beautiful backgrounds. You want images to load quickly, so that they can be easily scrolled through, even in a mobile setting. You want customers to be able to find you, regardless of which arena you are using. Unlike having a brick and mortar store, you’re not locked into one sale channel, however. Many e-commerce platforms allow you to add additional sales channels. If you intend to be able to sell on several different platforms, look into the options you need.
Mobile Friendly
You already know how often people are using their cell phones to shop, rather than sitting at a desktop. To maximize your ability to get those shopping dollars, you need your website to be mobile friendly. This means that all images need to be sized so they load quickly on a mobile platform, and that all the nice words you’re writing on your blog also show up in pleasant paragraphs, and not in garbled messes. Having your storefront be accessible in mobile format means that people can not only find you on the go, but that they can always get the information they need without annoyance, which brings them back over and over.
Order Management
If your website already has order management built into it, this gives you the equivalent of an extra brain working 24-7 to keep you nicely organized. This can help organize everything from returns, cancellations, and duplicate orders, and makes sure that inventory and orders match up nicely as well. Basically, having this service built into your website means that you get to work smarter instead of harder.
Domain Name Matters
You want your domain name to make sense with what you’re selling, and also to be easy to remember and brand. Ideally, less than twelve characters and a .com site, the most commonly remembered website service. As an example, Genie.com would be easy to remember. Genieediting.com, still within easy memory. GenieCaliforniaeditinganddesign.com would be harder to type and remember. Customers prefer shorter, easier to remember choices.
Logo
Part of your website design and ongoing branding is having an excellent logo which not only suits your site, but your brand, and which is simple enough to be recognizable. Nobody wants to be “that one brand that has a monkey but they do clothes and their name has nothing to do with a monkey.” You want your branding to be memorable, which means your logo must suit all things you are! This is a really difficult thing to do within a small space, and especially in a tiny social media bubble. Hiring a professional brand designer is a great plan, to help make your vision a reality.
Security
If you plan on using your website for sales, data involving customer names and addresses, and other data, you must have good, updated security to protect that data. Having a cyber security specialist is a great plan, and as many have clients from all types of websites, finding a contractor isn’t that difficult. You want to avoid malware and ransomware that can take down your website, or steal your data. You absolutely must protect the security of credit card numbers of customers.
Many hosting services lead you through these steps, and there are lots of options available for security add ons. Protect your data and all of your hard work on your site from those who like to sneak and steal your data and hard work! Make sure customers can purchase at home and on the go, and see all the great things you have as options. Use your domain name and branding to establish yourself as unique and important in the marketplace, and feature it on all of your sites, social media, and blog. Most of all, don’t be afraid to ask for help! Nobody knows how to run a business alone, when they’re first beginning. Talk to those who are in your network, and ask them what things work best for their sites!
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