What is eCommerce?

Many years ago when the world wide web was beginning to unfold and become popular the letter “e” became the trend to describe anything web. E is short for electronic. Now that the digital world has expanded and there are new discoveries and breakthroughs every day the old “e” isn’t used as much as it was back then. In fact, “electronic” sounds kind of old anyway.

E-commerce is short for electronic commerce, meaning the commerce is done electronically as opposed to directly. You may also be familiar with the term “e-mail” which is electronic mail.

Many aspects of the way the web operates have changed over the years and artificial intelligence is starting to become widely used. However, the concept is still the same. You sell thingslisting them on a website that allows people to pay for the transactions.

The Secret of Design

Since there are so many people that search for things and buy them online, the internet has turned into a dynamic sea of choices that houses literally trillions of websites. One of the most important factors when it comes to an eCommerce website is that it has to attract the attention of the people that happen to land on the pages.

Some websites get much of their business from word of mouth, however, most of the time when somebody lands on the pages of a website they do so because the site came up in a search result.

It is within those search results that the design of the site begins to work its magic. In the very beginning stages of the design phase of the site, the designer will hopefully have done the research necessary for optimum results. If so, the title of the page and the meta description will be enticing and inviting little tidbits that show what the site has to offer.

As soon as the visitor clicks the link and visits the website they should gaze upon a finely honed creation of excellence that will not only invite them to look deeper into the site but inspire them to go to the next level and make a purchase.

With competition such as Amazon and Walmart fiercely holding their positions at the top of the search engines, it is important to have a landing page for people that immediately shows them that you are a trustworthy operation and that you are equipped to handle their needs.

In addition to having a trustworthy appearance, the site must allow visitors to flawlessly explore the content that is available to them and be able to swiftly move through the financial transaction process without any hiccups.

The secret of design is to know and understand what your target market likes to see when they visit a website. If you know how to speak the language of your audience, you have an upper hand over your competition. The overall look, feel, and functionality of the website will determine whether or not people choose to do business on it.

Attraction vs. Engagement

One of the best things you can do when you design a site is to create it in a way that catches the attention of the user and holds it. It is one thing to be able to attract somebody and get their attention, but to go a step further and engage them is when the rubber meets the road. 

A good example is when a person is attracted to another person at a party or at some public event. They can stand in the background and simply look at the person they are attracted to, or they can walk up and start a conversation with them.

Engaging a potential customer is a lot like starting a conversation with them. Attractive headings followedshort phrases that suggest the user takes action to move forward are types of engagement. 

Other types of engaging content are videos or interactive content such as a slideshow story that requires the user to click a link to learn more.

Attraction and engagement are both important components when it comes to the design of an eCommerce website. You have a little bit of room at the top of the landing pages to get things started, so use this space to the best of your advantage.

When it comes to the success of an online business, conversion rates are what separate the sitting ducks from the goldmines.

The Top of the Page

If you have ever spent any time surfing the internet you may have noticed that when you land on web pages there is an area that your eyes automatically go to when the page loads. Most people in the US look straight forward, towards the top as they look at web pages because we have all been taught to read from the top to the bottom, from the left to the right.

It is in this particular area that it counts. If your content is strong enough to make the visitor scroll down or navigate the menu looking for more, you have won a rather large victory. 

The very top center of the page is where most people will look when they land on the page. If you get their attention from the start, you have an opportunity to keep that attention all the way through to the end of the transaction.

Once people are interested, and you have their attention you can lead them toward buying whatever it is that your’re selling. Through interesting headings, content, and prompts you will be able to get the most out of every visitor to your website.

Many people looking to purchase items on the internet are always looking for a good deal. One of the quickest ways to get the attention of a shopper is to offer them a discount or a free item. When your designer puts a great-looking image with a hard-to-resist deal front and center for all to see they are creating a path for customers to travel through and make a purchase.

In Conclusion

Here’s the deal, though. If your website is a unique niche where there is not much competition you may feel like you don’t have to put as much energy into design in order to get results. Remember…with a unique niche you will have fewer people looking for your items. The competition factor can be just as fierce, or even more fierce than if you were offering a popular item. Design counts.

As people land on the pages of your site they are on a journey where you take the lead. If that journey is pleasant and convenient people will more likely stay. If it isn’t, they will probably go somewhere else.

The design of an eCommerce website makes a world of difference. The reason why is that most people would rather not give their credit card number to a site that looks untrustworthy. If your site is good-looking, smooth, and functional you have a bigger chance of getting more customers that tell their friends how awesome you are and come back again and again.

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More Than Meets the Eye

If you ever get the chance to right-click anywhere on the text of your favorite website then choose the “view source” or “view page source” option from the menu, you should do it just to see what happens. You will be presented with the back end of the website and you will get to feast your eyes upon the source code that makes the website possible to view through a browser.

This is what a website really looks like. If you take a moment to try and decipher what it all means, you might notice that some of the content on the backend is the same as some on the front.

In any event, that code in the back of the web page is only a portion of the entire structure of the website. When it comes to eCommerce sites and the mechanics that make them work we are talking about several files, folders, databases, and external sources that come together to make it all work together smoothly and quickly for shoppers.

An eCommerce website has to function properly at all times while adhering to the strongest of security specifications. If anything is out of line as a customer is making a purchase, they will probably leave and never come back.

Skillful Structure of the Site

Thankfully not all of the eCommerce developers of today have to start from scratch and write all of their own code. Although they surely can if they feel the need, there are several quality platforms that developers can use to build on. Woo Commerce, Shopify, and Magento are just a few of the many platforms that are available.

Now it may be tempting to believe that all one has to do is get a platform and start selling things…however, this is not the typical case.

The platform of the sales end of the site is only a portion of the whole website. While there are many platforms that you can build on, the identity and foundation of the site have to be kept in mind when the site is developed into a working piece of art.

Each item that is to be showcased and sold in the store has to be accounted for and given the proper attention.

The menu of the site, the pages of the site, the content, and the wording of the site all have to come together in a nice package that not only gives items their best look but also engages potential customers and urges people to convert from simply visitors to paying customers.

• Content
• Titles
• Headings
• Menu
• Landing pages

Everything has to work together on the site in order to show up in search results and for people to understand what is before them while navigating the pages.

In addition to what is available on the site, the user has to be able to find other opportunities that they might be interested in so that they buy more and spend more money…

The User Experience

In addition to brilliant web design and the overall look of the site, there is the aspect of the experience that a person has as they land on the pages and search for what they are wanting to find.

In simple terms, the user experience boils down to whether or not a user can find their way around the site and be engaged as they look. A good experience for a user could be summed up as a flawless transaction or a compelling journey from the first encounter with the page through to the end where the transaction is finalized.

A good example of a positive user experience is when a person first lands on a web page that they have never visited before. What do they first see? Does it scare them away, or does it invite them to stay on the site and learn more?

Some of the most important factors of the initial user experience are:

• Images
• Words
• Calls to action
• Navigation route

If a person lands on a page and is greeted with inviting images and clear pathways through the site they are more prone to stick around.

If a person visits a site and it is:

• Slow to load
• Inundated with low-quality images
• Is not clearly labeled
• Has no useful information

They are prone to leave the site and go to another one that has what they need.

Understanding the Target Audience

Believe it or not, there is a science behind web marketing. Effective eCommerce websites are not merely slapped together as the business owner sees fit. In order to get the most out of an eCommerce website the developer must understand the target market before they design the look of the pages.

What appeals to one person may be very unappealing to the next. A teenager who loves to ride skateboards will not see things the same as an older person that would rather go fishing. As the old adage goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder…” and this is very true when it comes to what people want to see when they land on a website.

While many companies hire outside marketing agencies to figure out the best way to determine the demographics of the best potential customers, an eCommerce developer will have an understanding of who will want to visit the site before they even start buying.

Keyword research and analytical data that matches the keywords are all part of the early stages of the development of a successful eCommerce website. Why wait until after the website is launched to get a head start on maximizing conversion rates? This is where the true skill lies within the great developers and where the mediocrity stops. 

Once the development team understands the target audience they can implement a structure and a style to the site that talks directly to that audience.

Pillar keywords, keyword variations, long-string keywords, and placement of these phrases all come together into the ultimate plan for the success of the website. It all boils down to whether the website should sit on the internet and look pretty, or it should attract people that want to buy stuff and get them to make purchases.

Building for Success

In addition to the site working great, looking great, and being awesome there is the foundation of the site that has to be established before the site is ever built. Some of the things that a developer has to ponder in order to make sure the site has a solid foundation are:

• How many people are expected to visit the site?
• What kinds of products will be available on the site?
• How many people will be on the site at one time?

If the developer has a good idea of how much to expect from the site they will be able to make sure that the site is hosted on a server solution that can accommodate a lot of users at one time.

As the web developer gathers all of the information about the site, how big it will be, how much traffic it will have, what kind of payment portals will be in place, what kind of content will be available and where on the site it will be…and so on…they will be able to generate a successful plan for the site that will have a sturdy foundation. A strong hosting provider and a well-informed team of professionals will always produce great results.

Conclusion

The skills that it takes to build and maintain an effective eCommerce website are vast and wide. A little bit of design skills mixed up with some coding and development skills, a couple of dashes of digital marketing, SEO skills, and conversion rate skills are in there as well. In a nutshell, it takes a great deal of skill to make an eCommerce site work and produce results. If you ain’t got ‘em, you should hire somebody that does…or waste a bunch of time.

The post The Skill It Takes for Effective eCommerce Website Design appeared first on Tech Duple.