The Basics of Ecommerce Web Site Design

Ecommerce web site design is similar to traditional web design, but requires a few more bells and whistles to handle financial transactions. This doesn't mean that you should be intimidated by the process and not build web sites that are capable of ecommerce transactions; it simply means that you may need to study this aspect of site development before getting started.

To begin, it is a good idea to read up on ecommerce web site design. This will help you understand how ecommerce site development differs from regular web site development, and will also help you to build web sites that accomplish their desired purpose.

Ecommerce Security
One of the most important aspects of ecommerce web site design is security. You need to make sure that your visitors can safely and securely input their most sensitive information into your payment system. To build web sites that are secure, you will need to protect pages with the encryption of SSL or Secure Socket Layer. Your web site host should be able to help you with this portion of site development and will most likely be able to sell you a digital certificate.

Visual Appeal
Visual appeal is another important aspect of ecommerce web site design. Competition is fierce on the Internet. If you want to build web sites that stand out from the crowd, they must be visually appealing. An attractive site will be more likely to draw customers, and is much more likely to encourage repeat business than a site that has been poorly developed. To get an idea of what looks good and what doesn't, you should visit competing and non-competing ecommerce sites around the web. You can also look into purchasing a book or another product that focuses on the visual aspect of ecommerce web site design.

Payment Processors
To build web sites that accept online payments, you will need to incorporate payment processors into your ecommerce web site design. You can choose to accept various credit cards, and other online payment methods like PayPal. This is something that should be arranged early in the site development process so that you can begin doing business immediately once your site has launched.

Software and Applications
There are many different software products and ecommerce applications that can be purchased to help you with your ecommerce web site design project. Some of these products will be helpful when you build web sites, and others will be helpful when you have launched the site and want to track orders, monitor your internal database, or enable features like email notification.

Professional Ecommerce Web Site Design Services
If you want to build websites that are ecommerce ready, but don't have the ecommerce web site design experience needed to accomplish the task, you can hire an ecommerce web site design professional to help you with the trickier portions of site development. With a minimal amount of help from you, a professional designer can build web sites that are visually appealing and then incorporate the features you need to complete ecommerce transactions.

About the author: Cliff Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses and his continual research into further business improvements. This Blog is for discussion about web sites and web site traffic therefore your feedback is welcome.

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