subject: 3 Vital Things People Often Forget When Building An Online Shop [print this page] Your online shop is a storefront that is not just available to the people in your area, but is easily accessible to the entire world. It can bring in revenue at little to no upfront cost to you, and the products sold may even act as walking advertisements of your business out in the real world.
But there are a few things to be aware of when designing your own web store, and, if you leave any of them out, it could mean the difference between online shop success and not.
Design to Sell.
This one may seem a little obvious, but if your store is not well designed, or if customers have a lot of figuring out to when they go to place an order, chances are that you are not getting nearly as many of them to buy from you as you could be. Think of your web store as just as, if not as much "your store" as a real-life store. Shoppers want a pleasant experience, which usually consists of good ambiance, no chaos or confusion, no hassles. Don't just design a website: Build your (web) store.
Most web store hosts offer some sort of web design program, and there are tutorials all over the internet to help you push the customizability even further. If you aren't comfortable designing your store yourself, though, you can hire a professional web designer, or buy a pre designed theme. Whichever way you go, the design of your page should be creative, eye-catching and pleasant, with straight forward navigation and order placement.
Think feng shui. You want your store to have a good "flow", so why not let it flow straight to the shopping cart?
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Let's Talk Money.
Next to no one is 100% comfortable with entering their credit card number on the internet. That said, you, as an independent web store owner, need to prove to your shoppers that you are worthy of their trust. Obviously, you will want to be able to process as many credit and debit card carriers as possible (including Paypal). Open up a merchant account with your store host, in addition to providing non-virtual methods of payment, such as money orders or ordering over the phone.
Keeping your customers' information safe is not only beneficial to them, but will make them more likely to do business with you--and recommend you to other customers. Use the best security and encryption program you can find for your store, and make a clear link on your store's page to the a privacy/security statement that is readily available for shoppers to read.
Go Tell It On The...Everywhere!
You have your own online store and you're a little too excited that there is an "Add to Cart" button right next to your creations, as you should be! What better motivation do you have, then, to spread the word about your beautiful new boutique! Tell everyone you know. Hang fliers around your real life store, around town, in other businesses, or college campuses.
But the most important place to promote your web based storefront is online. Incorporate your store into your website (make sure the web design matches). Promoted on Facebook and other social networks; you can use a page that already exists for your business to promote the online store by posting products and links, and exciting "be sure to visit!" updates. Blog about your store and your products. If you use Blogger, your host will obviously better connect your content with potential customers' Google searches. If you use Tumblr, post your more unique products as photos, write a little blurb about them in the captions (and link to your store, of course), as Tumblr members have an option to "reblog" content with just a click, an easy stab at viral marketing. Some promoters use both Blogger and Tumblr for their separate set of benefits.
by: Bill Hogsworth
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