6 Questions to Ask Before Creating an E-Commerce Website

What’s not to love about shopping online? The Australian online market has grown significantly in recent years and many consumers now opt to shop from the comfort of home. It’s convenient, it’s 24/7, it gives you access to a vast range of products, and online prices are often cheaper. An Ecommerce-enabled website means business needn’t end when you close your doors at 5pm. Customers can access your services online at any hour of the day, from anywhere in the world. Your website should be much more than just a brochure, treat it like your best sales person who never sleeps and never asks for a pay rise. Through your website you can engage and educate your customer. Use flash animation and interactive applications to differentiate your website and make it one that customers — both existing and potential — will want to revisit and purchase from.

There are a number of questions that you’ll need to answer before you launch your E-Commerce website:

Do you plan to sell internationally?
Have you researched competitors' websites?
Have you registered your domain name?
Is your URL short and memorable?
Do you know what sort of content your target audience would want from your site?
What appeals to them stylistically?

Your website designer should talk with you at all stages of design to make sure that your site meets both your needs and those of your customers. If your website has been up and running for some time, try navigating through it as a customer would.

Does it have all the information you need?
Is it easy to use and understand?
Is the design inviting, or is it tired and in need of a spruce-up?

You could also examine ‘traffic logs’ to see which keyword searches turned up your business. To increase the number of clicks through to your site, consider using pay-per-click advertising such as Google Adwords. You can also target your advertisements to be placed on other websites that you think your target customers might visit.

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