Whats the Point? E-Commerce Websites

Last week we covered the features of a Lead Generation Website. This week, our focus is on E-commerce websites, otherwise known as sites you can buy stuff from! Of the three basic types of websites we’ve covered in this little mini-series, E-commerce sites are the Granddaddy of them all.

They are the easiest to track the return on your investment, the most complex to set up, and the most in-depth of the website types we’ve discussed.

Who you are, where your company is located, and the company’s history is far less important on an E-commerce site. Instead, the focus of your content should be to explain your products and why your visitors should buy them.

When planning for an E-commerce website there are several things to consider.

• How are you going to structure your store?
• Think of your E-commerce site like a grocery store, what departments should you have? How much space will each product need on the shelves, does it make sense for each variation to have its own space, or should they share a “shelf” for options like color, size, etc.?
• How are you going to calculate shipping costs?
• Will you offer free shipping on orders over a certain value?
• Do you need to integrate your site with a shipping company such as FedEx or UPS in order to provide accurate shipping rates?
• Will you be offering coupons?
• How will you be collecting payment?
• Will customers be sent to Paypal to pay or will you have a payment system integrated into your website such as Authorize.net, BluePay, Square, etc.?
• Does your website need to keep track of inventory?
• Do you offer reduced pricing for certain customers (for example, wholesale versus retail clients)?
• How will you get professional looking images for each of the products that you would like to offer?

These are just a few of the really important questions that you’ll need to answer before you can complete a profitable E-commerce website. The possibilities for an online store are endless nowadays, but they do depend on the platform that you choose to build your website on. Do your research, and be sure that whatever your answers were to the questions above your goals are able to be achieved with the platform you choose to use.

If you are considering working with a website design company to build your E-commerce site, they should be able to help steer you in the right direction based on your answers to the questions above.

If you don’t have a company in mind already, contact Buffalo Wired. We can develop your E-commerce, Brochure, or Lead Generation website for you efficiently and effectively.

We have a wide experience with many different styles of website, but we have also completed many high-profile E-Commerce websites. Please browse our portfolio for more information!