Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:37:33 +0000

eCommerce web design is a lot more than just putting yourcompany brochure on the net or adding an internet shopping cartto your existing product catalog. There are some fundamentaldifferences between doing business online and doing business thetraditional way. Before you design your business web site, youmust know what specific goals you desire to achieve with yourbusiness web site, determine how best to meet your goals basedon your budget, and then determine what software and servicesyou will use to design your e-commerce web site.

Web Site Business Objectives

A small business web site can do many things. This can include:

- Generate Leads. Pre-sell your business services and productsto generate telephone, e-mail, or online form leads fromcustomers.

- Generate Sales Quotes. Solicit or generate automated quotesthat in turn generates a customer sale or lead.

- Generate Advertising Revenue. Display online content and freeservices with affiliate or ad network advertisements thatgenerates advertising revenue from your merchant partners.

- Provide A StoreFront. Host online catalog that fully automatesthe customer purchase and communications process.

- Generate Customer Traffic. Generate customer traffic fromsearch engines and business directories to pre-sell your productor service. Traffic is then re-directed to you main web site orproduct web pages.

Your e-Commerce web site design is greatly influenced by yourspecific web site objectives for your small business.

eCommerce Web Site Design Fundamentals

A web site is a lot more or even a lot less than a traditionalstore. There are more considerations with ecommerce web sitedesign versus a traditional store. Web design considerationsinclude:

Customer Friendly: Present a professional image, offer customerconvenience, have good sales copy, and just make it easy for thecustomer to make the desired response (click, lead, sale).

Search Engine Friendly. For most online businesses, mostcustomer traffic comes from search engines like Google, Yahoo!,or MSN. If part of your e-Commerce web site design strategy isto generate search engine traffic, you will need search engineoptimization expertise to succeed. Buy it or grow it.

Web Site Automation Tools. There are thousands of web site toolssuch as shopping carts, content management systems, e-mailauto-responders, payment processors, search engine optimizationtools, online bulletin boards, traffic analyzers, andadvertising management tools. Some of these tools are cheap andsome are expensive. If you do not have the expertise to evaluatethese products, it is probably best that you do not make anymajor investments in expensive web site tools. Wait until youbecome knowledgeable enough to evaluate web tools and add-onsfor your business web site and that you have a specific need.

Costs. Costs, of course, are a key consideration for anye-Commerce web site design solution. You can usually purchaseweb site tools and services up-front or by subscription.Subscriptions can help you with your cash flow up-front. Usuallyyou do not need to make any long-term commitments withsubscription software or services. Subscriptions are goodbecause as you become more knowledgeable of specific web sitesolutions you can add and drop web tools and services at will.Buying software up-front is good if you know that you willdefinitely use the software for a long time (1 to 3 years).

Web Site Design Options

eCommerce web site design options can range from doing ityourself with web design software such as Microsoft FrontPage oroutsourcing the entire web site development to a web designcompany. For a business, a free site with a free web sitebuilder is not the answer. A free solution will not generate thedesire response from the customer, is not search enginefriendly, and is limited in growth for web site add-ons. A freeaffiliate site can be OK for making a sale, but have anothermethod to generate traffic to your affiliate site as searchengines will rarely give high rankings to cloned, affiliatesites. Here are some e-Commerce web site design options:

Do-It-Yourself. Buy web design software and do it yourself. Goodoption if: technically inclined, marketing skills, part-time webpublisher, limited budget.

Do-It-Yourself Using Templates. Buy web site templates, webdesign software, and do it yourself. Good option if: technicallyinclined, marketing skills, supplement with low cost web designservices.

Do-It-Yourself Using Web Site Builder Solution. Buy business websolution service. Good option if: not technically inclined, havemarketing skills, and willing to make some investment. Do notwaste your time with a site builder that just clones a snazzyweb site. You will not get a web site that generates traffic orsales.

eCommerce Web Site Design Company or Consultant. Outsource yourweb design work. Good option if: not technically inclined,limited marketing skills, medium-to-large budget

As with any business there are risks. In evaluating an ecommerceweb design solution it is best to know your objectives, haveenough business knowledge to evaluate your web service suppliersas well as your business web tools, and maintain a positive cashflow. Visit our eCommerce Solutions Site for small business eCommercesolutions.

About the author:Randy McClure is an information technology consultant and website publisher of http://www.EasyAccessClub.com. Our EasyAccessClub web site offers shoppers and small businesses a guide fordiscount shopping online. We feature discount stores, pricecomparison, online security tips, eCommerce tips, internettools, and internet technology trends. Small Business Online -http://biz.easyaccessclub.com.

Professional web design goes along way. Although SynergyPro Solutions is based in Hamilton and perform services related to web design in Hamilton, we’ve gone global. Our client’s are stationed in places all over Canada, the U.S.  and of course the U.K.

For instance: Sandhill Consultants. They are a firm in the U.K. that focuses exclusively on “sales, services, support, and training with CA’s ERwin line of data modeling products and solutions.”

Sandhill Consultants Ltd. required a complete website redesign within a content management system. They needed both a European and North American version in order to target two separate audiences and markets.

Another requirement was a solid SEO campaign – not only off and on-page but SEO options added into their new CMS which enables them to publish fresh content which will be ready for the search engines – on demand.

The Canadian and American websites for Sandhill Consultants are directed towards both audiences. Sandhill Consultants has clients in Oakville, Toronto, New York and the U.K.

Locally: Burlington’s Halton Honda website.

Halton Honda had an old and tired website and came to us to rebrand and rethink their online marketing efforts. More than anything else they wanted to keep their new site fresh and current so that their customers could always find what they needed.

Their preowned vehicle inventory needed a management system so we integrated the inventory database with a Content Management System that allowed them access to each and every ‘module’ on the site.

They now have access to their new and used vehicles, their news & events, customer testimonials and everything else. After a brief training session their management team is comfortable and efficient with the new system

We were also required to help drive more targeted traffic to the site so we optimized it for organic searches and have assisted in a monthly newsletter marketing campaign that allows management to track their monthly user base and convert a high percentage of users to direct communication.

Yes SyngeryPro is does web design work in Hamilton, Oakville and the GTA Toronto, we’re truly global and always ready to take on your website, SEO and marketing projects and turn those projects into successes.