20 Tips to Build A Better e-com Site

Actually, the Internet is a very different sales medium, with a mix of characteristics of both direct and retail sales. Developers and Webmasters have to learn new skills and attitudes to be successful. So, while designing your own website (especially, if it is a B2B/B2C site) or for your client, you need to take care of a number of issues that will make a world of difference to the site. We are mentioning some of them, which should help you become a successful Webmaster.

1. Choose the Right Domain Name: Let's get basics right straightaway! Everyone is recognized by their name, and so is every business entity. Hence, it is important that you choose a domain name close to the name of your company or to the concept/product you are trying to sell. Of course, it is difficult to get the exact name of yourself or your company as the domain name now, as it is likely that that name has already been registered by someone else. That's why we are saying choose a name that's closest. Never try altering the spelling, unless you are an Indya.com and can spend a few crore rupees just to let the world know you spell your name differently. The best option, then, is to add something to your name. 'India' or a word like 'group' or the name of a city, or even an adjective. For example, www.ralcoindia.com, www.thebestindia.com, www.allindia.com etc. Always remember to make it as easy as possible for people to find your site by picking an easy-to-remember URL.

2. Avoid Ads: According to Gartner group, one of the biggest reasons for the failure of many dotcoms is that they tried mixing businesses together. Making money from advertisements on the web is a good idea, but leave that to the content web sites. If e-commerce or B2B revenues are your goal, then avoid ads totally. Remember that a banner ad on your web site could make your web page heavier by 10 K. For an E-com site, that's certain death at the hands of a competing site. If you need to use a banner ad to attract a customer to a particular product or product line, do so, but avoid pop-ups, at least.

3. Have Clear Idea About the 3Ps: The details of the product, prices and payment must be very clear. And it must be presented very crisply. Don't make him search. Remember, also, the user values time and that's why is on the Net to buy, not to spend half-an-hour to find what he wants and then be told he has to buy it from a brick-and-mortar shop. Of course, this is not true for all products and services, but is a general rule of thumb. Check the Amazon web site, and see how well every possible piece of info is presented.

4. Start Only When You are Really Ready : A very big mistake that many e-com vendors made was they started fairly early in their own plans, believing that the so-called 'first mover advantage' is real and will offset other issues that contribute to failure. "Do something quickly, even mistakes!" was the motto. Sure, the first mover advantage works, but not if in the hurry you mess up your site, its functionality and the strategies. Remember, Internet is a place where competition is intense even when a dozen dot coms are dying a day all around! 

5. No Broken Links, Please! The biggest nuisance to an active surfer is boken links. When it comes to commerce on the Net, no user will take a website with broken links seriously. Try using web-based software like www.hitbox.com. 

6. Integrate Your Promotional Campaigns: We assume that you are entering the business on the web to either add value to your existing brick-and-mortar business or to complement your existing business line. Unless you have struck upon a path-breaking idea, having a 'dot-com only' business does not make sense. So, suppose you are running a campaign in a newspaper or a magazine, give the name of the website or point your readers to a hyper link of the website. Try this with other media too.

7. The Transport Mode: Go to the Amazon website. Amazon offers a number of ways in which it can delivery goods bought on its site to the buyer's address. Base shipping cost on the actual size of the item being purchased, and don't restrict your choice of shipping company.Strike some special deals with courier companies. In the B2C space, it's already known that many a time, margins made on the courier cost is more than that made on the product.

8. Lure Repeat Traffic : At least 80 per cent of people who bought this magazine last month had bought it before too. We add on a base of about 20 per cent buyers every month. Thus, it is important that readers come back again and again. The same applies to websites. So a Webmaster or the key Internet strategist should evolve methods to lure repeat readers to the website. Some simple tricks involve using cookies, and even more complex ones involve traffic analysis.

9. If You don't Have it, don't Sell it: When Amazon was launched, marketing gurus said that one of the biggest advantages of doing commer-ce on the Internet is that no real stocks and infrastructure was required. That school of thought, or rather school of thoughtlessness, has since disappear-ed! So it is apparent that even on the Internet one has to sell products that are in stock or are expected to come into stock soon enough.

10. Get the Flow Correct: Some of the best websites we have seen are good not because of the design or content, but in terms of smooth navigation, which is almost intuitive. Remember the e-commerce place is not a Bollywood potboiler. There is no time for climaxes and anti-climaxes.

11. Make Search Easy: Some of the best websites have great search engines within the site. It is very important to have an excellent search engine if your website has a large number of products or has diverse information or has an archive. The search should be complete and the methodology simple, and should relate to the same principles that are used in a popular Internet search engine like Google. 

12. Your Website Must be Secure: No one will trust a website which is known to have been hacked. Since in an e-commerce website some amount of data — like credit card numbers —will be interchanged, security must be top priority. Remember, security happens at two levels: One at the server and possibly at your client's end. So invest into a server, which ships with the right firewalls, intrusion detection tools and the right antivirus tools! 

13. Get the Right Technology for Tomorrow's Web Services: It is clear that web services will take off some day in the near future. So make sure that your website is ready for tomorrow's web services. But how do you do that? First step: go to page 130, and order our Web Services Special issue?

14. Answer User Queries Properly: It is likely that customers will ask some questions before they buy a product or service. Make sure that these are answered properly. In case your service is global, and you are offering deliveries across the world, look at having 24-hour customer support centers.

15. Hook Your Site onto Online Exchanges: Online exchanges are a booming business. Check whether there is an online exchange for your web site's vertical and see whether you can spot suppliers and customers there. Please note that the market projections point that online exchanges especially in B2B spaces will break even the fastest among all B2B businesses.

16. Try Multiple Languages: This helps in tapping global markets and, in a language-divided country like India, even local populations too. Foreign languages can give a true international image to the site and the company!

17. Have Clear Privacy Rules: First of all, have a privacy statement on the website. Make sure that users of the site are assured of privacy and that they know it. In case you are using cookies or other such programs, it is better to tell your users about them.

18. Smooth and Multiple Payment Modes: Internet users at least in India are not comfortable using their credit cards on the Net. Hence, payment methods have to be of a wide range if the business has to be successful.In India try the VPP and other regular COD methods too.

19. Googlyfy your web site –  Simply enroll  yourself in each and every Google project. Try for example a simple blog on things you sell on blogspot. This is a Black Hat SEO technique. But it works, if you are sincere about the blog. Similarly register for Google analytics. Check the reports, this gives you some idea. In addition either have adsense in some inner pages ( avoid banners as mentioned earlier) or Google Search.

20. Remember the 30 second rule- We had visited web site earlier today and fhad to wait 2 minutes for the entire page to load up. We were upset and distracted and by the same time had opened another three windows to search for something else. This means several customers have walked away by now. Remember every five second more than the thirty seconds within which a site should load will mean 10% less traffic.

So what are you waiting for? Get cracking on your E-com site.