At this moment in time there are around 90,000,000 active .com domain names out there on the internet. That's a lot! The figure, courtesy of a monitoring service provided by IntelligentEye, also does no take into account .co.uk, .net, .org domains and so on.

 

Of those 90 million .com domains, 374,579 active domains also contain the word "store". While that doesn't necessarily mean that those domains are ecommerce stores, and while this figure does in no way account for all of those ecommerce stores that don't use the work "store" in their domain, the point I'm making is that there are incredibly high numbers of websites out there, and a fair number of these are ecommerce websites.

 

So what can you do to make yourself stand out in this ocean of ecommerce websites? Well, you can start by understanding what makes a successful ecommerce website and making sure that yours fits the bill. The following are a few of our suggestions as to what makes a good ecommerce website:

 

Have you ever visited a website where there was so much information that you didn't know where to click first, or whether you should click at all? Chances are you didn't stay on the website very long and you didn't take anything away from the site when you left.

 

Keep your ecommerce store simple and straightforward. Make important information easy to find and keep your click paths as short as possible. If people have to click more than 2 times to reach a particular goal, they tend to take their clicks elsewhere. 

 

This fits in well with keeping things simple. Know who you are selling to and what they would want to see. It isn't always easy to know what your audience wants, but if you're in the right market, you've done your research and you're confident in your product or products, then you should have a good idea about how to sell to your target buyers.

 

Categorise your site according to what will capture your audiences attention and make on-site decisions as easy as possible for the site visitor. Make use of opportunities to cross or up-sell and with all of your site content and ask yourself if it is relevant; will my audience care?

 

It's well known that when people look at website on the internet, they browse. They don't read, they simply skim for things that might capture their attention. Therefore it makes sense to try and use images and graphics to convey who you are and what you sell. 

 

Of course that doesn't mean that text should be neglected, text is just as important, but it's knowing when to use it and how to use it. For example, you should have clear headings and use emotive words. If these are well placed on the page and can help visitors find exactly what they're looking for then your site will be far more successful than a website that has a lot of small descriptive text that gives far more information than necessary at that stage.

 

A call to action is a feature of your website that asks your customer to perform a function. Examples of these are buy now buttons, contact us buttons, newsletter sign up forms and free trial sign up forms. 

 

Calls to action are very important and should be used in prominent places on every page of your site. Some websites make the mistake of placing all of their calls to action on their homepage, but visitors doesn't necessarily enter your site at the homepage. The whole purpose of having a website at all is that you can connect with your audience. You need them to click to buy or to sign up to your newsletter. You need your visitors to try your free trial or to get in touch with you. Do yourself a favour, and give your visitors every opportunity.

 

A lot of activity online is supported by the fact that people are able to feel safe and secure on a website. If a visitor doesn't feel safe or secure then they will not interact with your website. There are various things that you can do to make your visitors feel safe and reassured such as, displaying your safety certifications on your site, including safe payment logos. You should make sure that you give your visitors enough information about shipping and delivery so that they feel well informed on the situation when dealing with you, and you should offer ways for people to get in touch with you if they need to. 

 

Overall, making a success of any ecommerce website is to know your audience and understand what it is that encourages them to buy online. With this understanding you can choose the right images and text, you can answer any potential concerns they may have before the even have them and you can encourage the visitor to perform certain actions on your website. If you are able to take these points into consideration, and you are not afraid to test out different approaches, you can be guaranteed that your website will more successful than a large number of those that are currently out there.