Here Is What You Should Do For Your eCommerce Website Development

With the advent of online shopping, many businesses have taken their products online in an attempt to expand their brand exposure and increase lead generation. The good news is it worked! 63% of shopping initiations begin online and the rate of growth is three times higher than offline shopping rates.

Let us discuss several steps that one can take to develop their website

1. Purchase domain name

This should be pretty straightforward. Just take your website name and integrate it with the main components a URL should contain and voila! The key is to keep your domain name simple and short to ensure it is easily accessible and memorable to an extent. You can get yourself a domain name for under $10 on GoDaddy, Hostinger or other domain providers.

2. Web Developer

There are a significant number of technical factors that you must have in the bag to be able to run a fully functioning website. Therefore, it is advised to get a seasoned web developer to do the technical part for you while you still have entire control over the ideas and creativity that goes into it. The selection process should be extensive as the better the web developer, the more advanced your website. Hence, conduct thorough research and link up with an accomplished web developer company.

3. Paperwork and Documentation

Ensure you know all the rules of the game before playing, especially since money is involved. Get yourself a vendor’s license or a worker’s permit and all the documents needed to start an online business. This prevents any legal disputes further down the road. You can refer to this link on more detailed information on how to go about with the paperwork.

4. Hosting Platform

Your hosting platform is of utmost importance as it stores the files needed to launch your website and determines the loading speed as well. These platforms not only get you the best deal for a reliable host but also provide you with plugins and extensions that can be used to enhance your website.

5. The theme of your website

Next, you have to choose an aesthetic yet practical theme for your website. Your theme determines the look and feels of your website, hence you need to make sure it is in line with the objectives of your eCommerce website. There are millions of themes available on theme repositories such as ThemeForest, MojoThemes, InkThemes, etc that you can choose to use for your website.

6. SEO Implementation

For your website to get organic traffic coming it's way, SEO guidelines and rules should be followed. Be ready to make all the small changes that will result in increased turnovers. This includes the right identification of keywords, the customization how the advert for your products shows up on search engines when searched for, providing accurate alt text for the images you use to display your products and getting other reputed websites to link back to your website. This way your eCommerce website will show up at the top when similar searches are made.

7. Personalized outreach

Consumers prefer personalized attention when they shop for items online. Personalization is a great marketing technique as it appeals to a huge majority of the public. It can be as simple as making them create an account with your website and addressing them by their name every time they come onto your website. You can also keep track of the products they view and prefer and suggest similar products to make their shopping experience more comfortable. 

8. Payment Gateway

Many consumers come all the way up to the payment stage and end up abandoning their carts because they could not find a compatible payment method. To avoid this mishap you need to ensure you provide multiple payment methods and in-house currency conversion. You need to choose gateways that can support recurring billing and mobile payments as well. Most of the time, your hosting platform also provides payment gateway options. Try and find a platform that strikes a balance between the two factors.

9. Order packaging and shipping options

Last, but definitely not the least, you need to discover how you are going to handle managing inventory, packing your products and sending them out to the right addresses. You need to make arrangements with vendors to figure out a foolproof way to automate this process. You can have your own dropshipping or coordinate with third-party vendors such as UPS, FedEx, etc.

Before jumping into developing your website, ensure you have a solid plan for each of the points mentioned above. For you to be fully functional, these criteria have to be met. All the best with your eCommerce website!