There are many things you can do to optimise your eCommerce website such as optimising SEO for your eCommerce website, whether it’s trying to draw in more traffic or boost your conversion rate. There are a few eCommerce examples that may be worth looking at to get an idea of what they are: Amazon, Shopify and eBay. 

So here are the 10 most important things to consider when building a successful eCommerce website:

Easy Navigation

Simple to use navigation throughout your eCommerce website will pay off in the long run as this will aid user experience, making it easier for users to find your products and services throughout the website. This could be the difference between a user converting or leaving your website and not returning. Users may leave your site unsatisfied for many reasons there was no search bar so they couldn’t search specifically what they wanted and had to go from page to page, or the pages were hidden and they had to work hard to find what they want, after all, no one wants to work hard for something they might not even buy.

So making the navigation user friendly and simple may lead to the user buying the product and returning to the site next time they need something similar as they had a positive previous experience. You can find out if the website is easy to navigate by asking the customer to leave a review on the website after they have made a product purchase or leave it on your homepage either at the bottom or as an alert at the top. This will help you find out what you need to fix and why it needs fixing.

Domain Name 

A domain name is more important than you would think. A domain name is a string of text that maps to a numeric IP address, used to access a website. A domain name should remain simple, easy to spell and pronounce as you want the user to tell their friends and family about it so it has to be easy to remember and pronounceable so when they say it to their friends it sticks in their heads. 

Also, avoid generic names as the industry you are in may have a similar name and rank higher in the SERPs so the user will go to them instead, and also people will forget your name easy if it is generic. The shorter the domain name the better as it is easier to remember and quicker to enter into the search bar on the search engine.

Web Developers 

Finding a highly rated and reliable website developer will be beneficial to your company’s development of online presence. A good website developer will be able to provide your company with the technical abilities to get your website functioning correctly and possibly highly ranked within the search results. As well as teaching you how to maintain your website on the technical side of things. The developer should also work with you through the first few weeks of the website being live to make sure it is up to standard and any faults are fixed. 

Website Design 

This step is essential when creating your eCommerce website as you don’t want your website to look out of place in your industry and look unprofessional or over the top. Your web developer should help you and advise you on this. You want the style of the website to blend in with your products and what your company aspires to be, if you were a funeral company you wouldn’t want your website to be bright colours, a darker tone and simple design might be better suited.  Look at the higher ranking websites in your sector to get an idea of what is suitable for your business. 

Remember to make sure your website looks professional and keep it simple, you don’t want to overwhelm the user and cause the website to load slowly. 

Product Details 

Online shopping in many ways is better than in-person shopping because it is faster and requires minimal effort. These customers don’t get the same experiences as try before you buy, so product descriptions in detail are really important. In your description you should have the right information, for example, if you’re a furniture store you will need:

• Measurements
• General product description.
• Type of product.
• Cost
• Customer rating.
• The pros of having it.
• What you need to do to maintain the condition of the furniture.

Website Design 

This step is essential when creating your eCommerce website as you don’t want your website to look out of place in your industry and look unprofessional or over the top. You want the style of the website to blend in with your products and what your company aspires to be, if you were a funeral company you wouldn’t want your website to be bright colours, a darker tone and simple design might be better suited.  Look at the higher ranking websites in your sector to get an idea of what is suitable for your business. Remember to make sure your website looks professional and keep it simple, you don’t want to overwhelm the user and cause the website to load slowly. 

Checkout

It has happened to us all when buying a product online a randomly added fee comes about or we have to fill out many unnecessary forms before we checkout. Often there are lots m of stages during the checkout process, which could result in the customer leaving the website and looking elsewhere. Don’t give the customer time to debate buying the product, make the checkout process simple and fast so they can get what they want and go without thinking too much about it and end up leaving the website. This is an eCommerce basic concept as the checkout process is the make or break part of the user’s experience.

Avoid implementing hidden fees, this is the main factor why people take part in cart abandonment as no one appreciates seeing an added fee come out of nowhere when checking out, make sure to disclose any extra fees and why you charge that to them before they enter the checkout stage such as shipping costs.

Payment Options

This links to the checkout stage, you want them to come back so it is a good idea to offer a variety of payment options to cater for everyone’s needs.  Common options include Apply Pay, Google Pay, the majority of recognised bank and credit cards as well as finance options. Remember to keep the checkout stage secure so users aren’t at risk when entering their payment details.  

However, try to encourage making an account on your website so users can save these payment options in that account meaning when they next purchase on your website the process is much quicker and easier. 

Related Products Features:

Having a related products feature on all products can lead to a significant increase in your conversion rate as people might think the product will work well with a product on the related products page and add that to their shopping cart and purchase it. On this page, you should make it roughly three-five products with; a rating of the product, the price, and a small image of the product, and then a link to its product description so the user sees how they link together. This should be placed at the checkout period so they can just quickly add it to their cart.

Features can communicate the capability of a product or service. But they are only valuable if customers see those particular features as valuable so be considerate of that when writing content for those products.

CTA Buttons: 

A CTA (call to action button) is a very crucial part of an eCommerce website because it allows the user to decide what to do next and whether they want to go to another page or go to the checkout stage or even just simply view the basket they have put together.

Adding in a call to action button is a great way of guiding the user to their next steps and nurturing them through their journey on the website. A user is likely to leave the site if there are no relevant call to action buttons as they won’t know what to do to get to the next stage of their journey on your website. Call to action also provides a perfect connection point for the readers to see more similar products or read more about a certain topic you’ve written about.

In summary, there are many things you should be able to take away with things such as what a web developer is and what they do for you and what a call to action is, and hopefully some solutions to issues you may be experiencing on your website. We hope you can use these tips to boost your traffic and conversions online.