If you want to sell products online, you will need to create an effective Ecommerce site. On first thoughts, the process to develop an internet store to sell goods is difficult; but it doesn’t have to be if you are willing to give up some time and research.

What you will need is a shopping cart solution that will be used for purchases through your website. Once you have your Ecommerce site completed, you can focus on marketing your products and making sales – increasing your chances of a good profit margin. Moving on, here is a guide to help you when you begin creating your very own Ecommerce site:

Choosing Ecommerce Software

There is a lot of Ecommerce software to choose from, but the features you will benefit from the most is a shopping cart solution, automatic shipping modules and payment gateways such as Google Checkout or Paypal. You will need to do some research by reading reviews from technology websites or publications and asking others with a successful Ecommerce site. Once you have chosen a software package, make sure to save all of the components to your computer’s hard drive.

Personal Touches

If your business is relatively small, then you could use that to your advantage with making your Ecommerce site more personal. Customers will have a greater bond with you and feel more confident that they are receiving high levels of customer service. To add personal touches to your site you could try the following:

About Us – Adding an ‘about us’ section to your site will be beneficial when clients want to know a little about the founders and the management team. You could write a brief overview of your experience in a certain field or even make it more personal with a couple of photographs. Don’t go overboard though as this can have the opposite effect and seem false.

Blog – You can easily update customers on special offers or new products/product ranges through your blog. Blog posts should steer more towards informal and sound personal and approachable. You could even set up a comments box so that customers feel more involved.

FAQ and Contact Information – Try to use names of you or your team to enhance on the personal touches of your Ecommerce site. Potential customers will also have more trust if they know there is a way to contact you should a problem occur with an order or if they need a special request.

Product Search

When designing your Ecommerce site you need to think about how people will be searching for products. For example, one might know exactly the product they want and wish to type it in a search box. Another customer may be a browser and what to look through categories or price ranges. Provide different search options to keep everyone happy! Showcase new arrivals, upcoming products and special offers on the homepage. If you set up a community through a forum or feedback page, customers can further research the products and add useful content to your page while they are at it.

Gift Wrapping Service and Other Extras

Once you have a basic Ecommerce site up and running, with a smooth interface and simple checkout system, you can add some extras to boost interest and sales. One of those extras is gift-wrapping. Many look to the web for buying gifts and discovering gift ideas – you could go one step further and offer to gift wrap their purchases.

Be Up Front About Policies

It can be a real drag to get near the end of a purchase, only to realise all of the hidden costs. It is best to be up front to customers if you want them to come back. Security and privacy policies, return policies and additional charges are the three main things that customers will want to know about before they go through with the transaction. Get this up front and save all parties a lot of wasted time.

Author Bio: Vincent Rogers is a freelance writer who represents a number of UK businesses. For the very best in professional Ecommerce Services he recommends Winchester-based Studio Republic.

Category: Business
Keywords: Ecommerce,Ecommerce Website,Online Store,Effective Ecommerce Website,Website development