Avoid Common Mistakes In Online Store Set Up

By: Deam Rass

One mistake that many make is trying to incorporate a flashy design in your store. The fact is that keeping your online store simple is one of the best tools for you and for your customers. When you have too many graphics, the end result is that you confuse and overwhelm your visitors. They are also too heavy meaning that the visitor has to wait longer to see your page. Instead, keep it simple.

To help you to do that, use ready to use templates and be sure that the ecommerce solutions that you use are ones that are able to be integrated properly. Design integration is essential here. You will either need to have a set of templates that are specially created for your ecommerce solution or you will have to change the html code in your store to match that which you have in your graphics file.

When having these features is too costly, do consider a free design or even a low cost template. Put more of your money towards marketing now and later you can make changes if you need to. The bottom line is that great custom design means expensive money but not necessarily more customers.

To find a good design for your store, consider TemplateMonster. Whatever you do, do not consider flash templates as they take a long time to load, they are very expensive and they also can decrease your search engine ranking. By far it is important to consider only software and programs that you know you can trust such as XCart for your ecommerce shopping cart.

Display Your Information

Many make the mistake of not providing enough of their contact information to their visitors. If you just want to leave an email address, do not expect customers to be placing many orders. You need to create a sense of professionalism by providing your visitors with your full contact information including your company address and phone numbers. This builds trust. When they trust you, you will increase your visitor to order ratio considerably.

For those that do not have an office and do not want to use their home address, there are solutions you can use. One of them is to sign up for a Post Office Box or even a UPS Store box. With the UPS Store, you will even get a suite number and avoid the PO Box problem. You should also supply a phone number on every page of your site. Ecommerce shopping carts are not the only place to provide this information. If you do not have a number, use a service like GotVmail as a virtual phone system.

The fact is that you need to consider this for improving your level of customer service. Respond to each and every phone inquiry and email that you receive within 24 hours. You can also consider having a live chat feature or live support button on your website. This is helpful with any software program including XCart because it allows your customers to ask questions and for you to offer help as you monitor their actions on your site. Due carefully consider the offline button though. You may not want to have it shown at all because this often is a drawback when a customer can not find a time when you are actually online. For those that have a busy store, consider an online support board to help. This allows you to track a ticket history, solve any unresolved problems and it helps you to hand inquiries quickly.
More Products More Orders

Another potential problem that many face is the belief that having more products helps to increase the orders that you have. The problem is that this is simply not the case but an unfortunate costly problem. A store that has ten items that are well priced and that are targeted to a specific group well is likely to have more orders and a better customer to order ratio. Using your XCart or ECommerce solutions software, do your best to organize and display your products, too.

For example, consider using several ways to get the best images including thumbnail images, product images, and then detailed images. You want to avoid small and images that are not clear. Not only does this hinder customers from placing an order, but it will also hurt your search engine rankings as well. You should invest the time in finding the best organization for your products as well. Your XCart software can help you to do this.

Terms And Conditions

Another error that people make with their ecommerce solution is not providing a terms and conditions element on their store. You should also provide detailed shipping information as well. Customers want to know what they are getting and that the company they are working with is a professional trusted one. This comes in the form of offering and honoring guarantees and return policies. In addition, give customers an approximate cost of the shipping. Even when this is displayed without a discount, you are likely to get a better result.

Marketing Well

Yet another mistake happens by those that believe that if they will simply get the website up and running that people will simply come and take advantage of it. Even with the best XCart program or ecommerce solution, the end result is the same. You need marketing. Actively promote your store to see the results you need. Do not focus on just one type of advertising either. More so, be sure to invest in onsite search engine optimization until you are ready for a full scale search engine company.

Learn about your company by watching the elements used. For example, be sure to use follow up marketing and analyze your data from each sale. XCart can help you to accomplish this.

Not The Right Hosting

Finally, a problem that many have is not having the right hosting. For your eCommerce solution, invest in good hosting! Anything less will just cause problems such as slow speed and the dreaded time outs. You will likely not be using a secured server and you may even have a shared SSL certificate which does not do well with customers that notice the difference in the domain name during the checkout process.

For all of these mistakes, be sure that every decision that you make for your ecommerce shopping cart is a smart one. Consider what XCart can offer to you as an exciting ecommerce solution.