Web Store Design

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Guide to Web Store Design

A successful online store design is both user- and search engine-friendly
By Matt Alderton

	Webstore Design Strategies Online store builders should focus not only on category and product pages, but also on effective homepage design. Robust shopping cart software can strengthen a sales-driven webstore design. To increase sales, consider adding one-click technology to your online store design.

Everyone's got a website. If you intend to take the ecommerce plunge, however, you'll actually need two websites, one of which should be a distinct online store with a distinct online store design. That's because webstore design has fundamentally different goals, requires fundamentally different features and uses fundamentally different functions than typical website design.

Indeed, online store builders must learn an entirely different philosophy of web design that's optimized not only for driving traffic, but also for making sales. After all, a successful webstore design isn't just pretty; more than anything else, it's convenient and easy to use. For the builder, webstore construction is therefore about balancing search engine optimization with usability; it's about making sure products are both easy to find and easy to buy.

To serve both search engines and shoppers, keep the following pointers top-of-mind when you're building a webstore:

1. The goal of smart webstore design is to entirely automate the online shopping experience.
2. Simple navigation and logical categorization are crucial within successful webstore design.
3. Because search is so important to ecommerce, webstore builder products should include search tools for consumers as well as SEO functions with which to attract search engines.
4. Most essential to an online store builder is strong, versatile shopping cart software.
5. The best online store builders can join your ecommerce storefront with your existing website; store builder solutions can even integrate your accounting and CRM software.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Customize your online store design according to your business type Retailers, wholesalers and auction-based businesses have different webstore design requirements. Before you begin building a web store, then, be sure to define both your needs and your customers' desires.

I recommend:  If you'll be building a webstore of the retail variety, consider vendors such as MonsterCommerce, which offers webstore design services especially for online retailers. If you're a wholesaler, look for vendors like Nexternal, which have solutions designed with BtoB companies in mind. Finally, if you're building a webstore that's auction based, look for vendors such as Proimpulse, which specialize in eBay Stores design.

Elevate your webstore design with a user-friendly homepage While category pages and product pages are most important within online store design, the homepage is an equally important piece of every ecommerce website, store builder pros suggest. Make sure your homepage effectively communicates your brand, therefore -- that it doesn't communicate 'luxury,' for instance, to a thrifty target audience-and that it includes simple navigation to help visitors find easily and immediately the products they want.

I recommend:  The best way to produce both an effective homepage in particular and a successful ecommerce site in general is to hire an all-in-one, turnkey ecommerce webstore builder that can handle everything from your website hosting to your online store design and subsequent analytics. Such providers include Yahoo!, Affinity, NetSuite and Volusion.

Choose a webstore builder that's capable of designing effective category pages Categories are king in webstore design. As such, make sure your webstore builder, whether it's a hired web designer, a third-party vendor or a full-time staff member, understands your products well enough to organize them within a system of pages that makes sense to your customers. After all, if they don't know where to look for a product, they'll never find it.

I recommend:  Credible online store builders like MarketLive, Venda and MainStreet Commerce charge expensive monthly fees, but are a good solution for companies that need a dynamic, successful webstore design via a reliable builder. Webstore solutions that are more affordable include eBay's ProStores, NetworkSolutions' E-Commerce and LaGarde's Storefront.

Consider only online store builders with which you can build perfect product pages Because successful product pages are integral to strong webstore design, every online store builder should look for an online store design solution that allows online retailers to create information rich pages that include everything from product descriptions and prices to shipping and sales tax calculators. The more data you can include, the better.

I recommend:  Crucial to effective product page design are solutions with which to expedite purchases. For every ecommerce webstore builder, webstore design therefore mandates purchasing strong shopping cart software. Consider ShopSite and 1ShoppingCart, which offer simple shopping cart setup complete with merchant account creation.

Improve online store design, sales with a robust search tool An important part of any webstore design is the search function. Make sure your search tool can return relevant results to consumers, even if they misspell or incorrectly classify their search target.

I recommend:  Use tools from PicoSearch, Nextopia and Dieselpoint to build a custom, hosted search engine within your online store. Meanwhile, browse Business.com's directory of Search Engine Optimization Services for a partner who can help you optimize your webstore design for marketing via search engines outside your site.

Embrace one-click shopping, the future of online store design Because successful webstore design exploits the convenience factor, one-click shopping is an attractive tool for progressive online store builders. One-click purchasing technology allows consumers to store their data online, and therefore makes it possible for them to charge their credit cards with a single click of their mouse.

I recommend:  Google Checkout is emerging as the new standard in one-click purchasing among online store builders; consider signing up so that your customers can make more purchases from you more quickly.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Every online store builder should take webstore design solutions for a test drive; ask for a free trial before you buy online store design software and ask for references before you recruit webstore design vendors.
• A prominent feature in every webstore design should be the online retailer's guarantee, return and privacy policies. Be sure to link to each at every opportunity in order to build trust and credibility with your customers.
• Keep in mind that perhaps the simplest element within an online store design is also the most effective: a big, bold, bright 'Buy' button.
• Strong webstore design makes shopping both easy and efficient. In order to make more sales, then, consider the number of steps your online store design includes between point A and point B in the purchase process; the fewer the steps the better.
• Like typical website design, webstore design must consider technology as well as commerce. Make sure images are loading quickly, for instance, and that your online store is functional on all operating systems and within most web browsers.
• As both an art and a science, webstore design is rapidly evolving; setup prices can therefore vary from a few hundred bucks to several thousand dollars.
• A successful webstore design will drive massive growth for your company; when you're building a web store, therefore, make sure your solutions can grow with you.
• Essential to smart online store design is smart copywriting; every webstore builder should partner with a copywriter who can write informative yet persuasive product descriptions.