Mistakes People Make When Building an Ecommerce Site On Their Own

What’s the most important aspect of growing an ecommerce business?

Of course, you need an impressive assortment of products to entice potential customers. You have to build a robust marketing strategy to drive traffic to your ecommerce website. Also, you need excellent logistics support to ensure the timely delivery of products to each customer.

But if your ecommerce website is poorly designed, all these efforts won’t result in a ton of sales and revenue. That’s why creating a visually attractive and easy-to-use online store is crucial for the success of your ecommerce business.

Indeed, a well-designed website plays a key role in transforming your ecommerce business into a respectable and trusted brand. It helps you target new demographics and expand your reach across the globe, even when you don’t have the resources to launch brick-and-mortar outlets.

Creating an Ecommerce Website: The Real Picture

You should keep in mind that building an ecommerce website isn’t simply about adding a plethora of products to a database. Nor is it as straightforward as implementing shopping cart functionalities on your existing website.

You must have a clear understanding of your objectives and target audience before you set out to build an ecommerce website.

Let’s outline a few common mistakes that could be fatal to your ecommerce site.

1. Building on the Wrong Platform

The choice of ecommerce platform can make or break your website. But not all website builders are created equal. The last thing you want to do is move forward with any random free ecommerce website builder you come across on the internet.

Considering that a simple Google search for “online store builder” will return a cornucopia of results, it’s going to be a tough decision.

So, how do you find the right ecommerce website builder for your online store? The key is to thoroughly compare the features and integrations available on different platforms. Utilize free demos and trials to get a hang of each platform, and evaluate its ease of use.

Also, you need to find the answers to the following questions:

  • Are you looking to build a successful online business, or is it simply a way to earn passive income?
  • What level of customization do you want on your ecommerce website?
  • Will you need extensive handholding while building your website?
  • What kind of digital marketing tools do you need to promote your website?
  • How much are you willing to spend to build an ecommerce website?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you can choose among various open-source, SaaS, and headless ecommerce platforms available in the market.

2. Ignoring SEO

One of the main objectives of your ecommerce website is to attract organic traffic from search engines. In the absence of high search engine rankings, you’ll struggle to compete with other online stores.

That’s why creating an ecommerce website without implementing search engine optimization (SEO) best practices could be catastrophic for your business.

Identify the best-performing keywords that are relevant to your products and industry. Next, optimize your website’s content using these keywords. Add them to product descriptions, FAQs, company profiles, and other sections on your website.

Find ways to improve the speed, security, and mobile friendliness of your website. Also, publish well-researched, valuable, and insightful blog posts to further boost your website’s search engine visibility.

3. Incomplete Product Descriptions

How many times have you abandoned an online store because of scrappy product pages? Chances are it happens more often than you can remember.

Product descriptions play a key role in building trust and driving purchase decisions. If they feature inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete information, you’ll fail to acquire new customers.

That emphasizes the importance of crafting detailed descriptions that give a clear idea of a product’s use cases, dimensions, materials, pricing, shipping, etc.

Don’t forget to include product images, taken from different angles, to further help customers.

4. Inadequate Customer Support Channels

Does your website provide customers with multiple ways to clarify their queries before, during, and after purchase? If that isn’t the case, you’ll have a hard time earning their trust.

Your website is the digital equivalent of a physical storefront. Finding the right answers to any query shouldn’t be more than a few clicks away.

Make sure your ecommerce website lets customers reach out to you in multiple ways, including contact forms, live chat, and a ticketing system.

Create a detailed Contact Us page with an official phone number and email address. Make sure the page is easily accessible from anywhere on your website. Also, add your contact details to the header, footer, or sidebar of your website.

5. Lack of Branding

If you’re launching your first ecommerce business, building a strong brand identity may not be your primary focus. You’ll likely be caught up with other crucial aspects, such as customer acquisition and retention.

But in the absence of proper branding, growing your business will become painstakingly difficult.

That’s why it is important to use your website to create an impressive and easily recognizable brand image. Use a consistent color palette and font style throughout your website. Make sure your company logo is present on all key web pages.

Craft your brand persona further by maintaining a consistent style and tone across all your content assets. Make sure it aligns with your brand identity on other channels, such as social media platforms.

In Conclusion

From choosing the right ecommerce website builder to writing lucid product descriptions – building an online store requires research and planning. Provide customers with multiple communication channels to reach out to your team. Also, make sure you follow SEO best practices to improve your website’s online presence.