STEP 5: THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

All too often, when designing a website, amateur designers look to what is already out there as a base for their own site. But why would you want your hard work, and your superior product, to look like someone else’s? Shouldn’t you be trying to think of ways to beat the competition, not repeat them?

• Make the sale simple – far too many websites make their users go through eight screens to buy something, only to then send them away with a "thank you, order processed" page. Why not make that sale on one single page, so the user can put all their info in and hit 'submit' before they've had a chance to back out? And when the sale is made, don't send them packing – ask them if they want extras. Accessories, add-ons, similar products, or maybe something on sale.
• Gifts are huge business – So you sell shoes online? Fine, but why should every sale be a shoe? Why not add a gift card option, or a wedding registry, or a wrapping service to grab a few more dollars out of each sale? And remember, any gift card not cashed in is money for nothing...!
• Audit your existing ecommerce website – so you're not bringing in the sales but you have plenty of traffic. So where are you going wrong? Which page serves as the primary 'jumping off' point for your customers? What search phrases are bringing in the most customers? What search engine are they coming from? Should you be advertising? Are people looking for something on your site that you don't provide?

CONCLUSION: FIND A GOOD WEB DESIGN COMPANY

In the end, it just doesn't matter whether you think you can do all of the above yourself or not - you simply shouldn't try unless you really know what you're doing, because screwing up your search engine optimization or misspelling a word or making the page too hard to load on older computers may well be something you don't pick up on until your business is in the toilet.

A professional ecommerce-oriented web design company, on the other hand, doesn’t just know these rules, they test for them as they build your ecommerce site, ensuring compliance on multiple computer platforms and browsers (Explorer, Netscape, Firefox), optimizing search engine keywords, and making the customer sit up and take notice. A good web developer creates a shopping cart system that is bulletproof, immune to viruses and hackers, simple to use, and database driven, which instills customer confidence and ramps up the sales. They create a striking look for your website without going overboard, write the perfect sales text, establish marketing strategies, and basically invigorate your online presence so that it just screams "buy from me."

And for that, maybe you'll pay $2000... Maybe.

Look hard for web designers with established portfolios, and let them show you what they can do. At the very least, they'll discuss ideas with you, and if you don't like the ideas, you're not duty bound to use them.

You’d spend $10,000 renovating that damn cafe... isn't it time you spent a little on the decor of your online ecommerce business?

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