WEBSITE DESIGN - STEP-BY-STEP SECRETS TO STARTING AN E-COMMERCE STORE

26. Website Design
 
The message on your ‘Home’ page of your website must be a compelling one. Describe clearly your unique selling proposition.
Discuss how you can solve your customer’s problem. Describe your area of expertise.
Make sure the customer’s path around your website is easy to navigate.
Make sure you have high quality cut out and lifestyle images and video.
Your website should have a fast loading time. People will not tolerate and wait around for very slow loading websites. Images that are inviting, visually intriguing and memorable are key. These should be good quality and optimised for the web to allow your website to remain fast loading. Keep them around 1500px wide and under 500Kb and save as optimised for the web.
Keep them around 1500px wide and under 500Kb and save as optimised for the web.
 
You can build a website easily with HubSpot. Link here.

You can find freelancers to help you with your webdesign and other design skills at
fiverr.
 
Software as a Service - SaaS
You may not need a website designer if you use a SaaS platform. Often known as web-based software or on-demand software.
The advantages are that it is free from software and hardware management. Applications are delivered to you over the internet. All updating, security and hosting usually included.
You may have to pay extra for cart abandonment software, limited time coupons and reviews.
 
Fees – usually monthly. Often a good discount if you pay yearly, up front.
Included: different currencies; translate to local language where visitor is from.
Saas e-commerce Platforms:

• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• WooCommerce
• Weebly / SquareUp
• Wix

 
Later when your online store is growing use:

• Shopify Plus
• Magento
• BigCommerce
• Volusion
• Elysium (THG Ingenuity)

 
These websites offer payment gateways included in their offering:
Payment gateways include:

• Paypal
• Braintree
• Stripe
• Square up
• Shopify payments
• Digital gateways
• Google pay
• Apple pay

 
SaaS will have free and paid for theme templates. These latest themes are responsive for reading on mobile phones, which is now a requirement to be found on Google search.
 
Make sure the following Policies are included on your website. Links in the Footer is the norm:

• Delivery / Shipping
  
• Returns
  
• Terms and Conditions. These are generally quite standard for e-commerce but speak to a solicitor to check your T&C’s.
• Trade Terms and Conditions
  
• Privacy Policy
• Sustainability
• About Us - Talk about yourself. How you started. What your ethos is. Your sustainability principles.
• Contact Us – keep this easy to fill with not too much required information that may put your customer off.

 
The following helps to build your customer’s trust:

• Reviews and testimonials.
• An SSL Certificate protects the data going to and from your site — from personal info to credit card numbers. And when visitors feel safe, they're more likely to buy from you.
• FAQs
• Site map
• Products filtering and sorting and breadcrumbs
• Wish list recently viewed special offers
• Optimise for mobile

 
Collect subscribers with a pop up or a form in the Footer of the website.