Sequel 3: About to Start your Ecommerce Store? Read This

Diving deep into the Ecommerce Development I have realized that following points are the most crucial steps involved in building a successful online shopping store.

1. It pays to have a business plan:

It is always better to plan things out. Your business plan should include almost everything that needs minor or major planning before you jump into the sea. It will help you systematize things and will give a good idea about what all you need to have in order to start your online mart. It should include your clearly defined goals and objective, type of products you want to sell, target consumers, your marketing strategies, competitive analysis (learn from the mistakes of your competitors!) and details about budgeting (how much you will invest and expected profit amount).

2. An impressive website generates high traffic:

If the website iswell-designed and user-friendly , it can drag a lot of browsers, which can be converted into buyers.

Few vital elements:

• Options should be self-explanatory.

• Logo should be bigger, relevant and should stand out.

• Website should be light weighted so that the pages do not take too long to open up.

• Add relevant and easy to understand content

• Use catchy graphics and visuals.

• Keep the font size and font type that is easily readable and contribute to the overall effectiveness of the page. Font size and font type should remain consistent through out the website.

• Colors you use should be in sync with the product you are selling and the theme of your website.

• Insert Product detail page along with product viewing option

• Keep the buying procedure as simple as possible

• Check out process should be simple and clear

• Clearly mention total cost of product, including taxes and shipping costs.

• Avoid asking personal details too soon.

• Guaranteed privacy would make the buyer feel secure. Before asking for credit card details, ensure the buyer that his details would be kept secure with the site.

3. Decide which CMS to use:

A wide range of Content Management Systems are available free of cost in the market. You can see the demos of various CMS available freely before deciding which one to choose. Few popular CMS are Drupal , Joomla , DNN CMS, WordPress , PHP , Magento. These all are robust and simple CMS and can be customized easily.

4. Add life to your business by effective marketing:

You can resort to social media marketing, specifically, email marketing. You can start by simply intiating your community on a good social networking site. Make sure to add information and experiences that can be useful for your followers of your community.

5. Legal matters

6. Chalk out your Budgeting plan

7. Select an appropriate payment gateway:

A payment gateway will authorize you to receive payments for any purchases made through your e-commerce website. It is equivalent to a physical point of purchase. Payment gateways are secure as they protect the credit card details and personal information of your buyers.