When someone turns to an eCommerce professional without knowing the field, they often hear lots of jargon that sounds like Greek to them. Sometimes they just nod along, thinking: what on earth is this person telling me? We’ll try to explain six concepts you need to be clear on to understand the most basic aspects to consider when you decide to invest in an online store.
Basic concepts for building your online store:
- Usability
Make the store usable: this means that new users will interact effectively with the online store ; in other words, it will be predictable, and from their very first visit they will almost know where to click to find products quickly without much browsing. In addition, it will be easy to learn , so that the next time the same user comes back to buy another item, they remember how they made their previous purchase.
- Accessibility
Make the store accessible : this concept is aimed at people with some kind of disability that prevents them, for example, from seeing content properly. The goal is to make web pages usable by as many people as possible. Here is more information.
- Social
Make the store social: information should be shared across as many channels as possible, starting from the concept of Web 2.0, where the social environment is essential. These channels, such as social media, are there so you can showcase your products, answer questions and serve your customers just as you would through any other device or communication channel, like the phone or email.
- Indexable
Make the store indexable : indexability matters so much that a large share of an online store’s sales depends on it. By indexability we mean how easily search engines can crawl a website, categorize it in their index and then show its pages in the results list when someone searches. To achieve this, you need to hire an SEO specialist. What should you keep in mind? You can read more in this post.
- Responsive
Make the store compatible with all devices (responsive): the use of smartphones and tablets has grown at an incredible pace. Browsing on these devices is very common, so designs need to adapt to these formats. Here, the user experience should be as close as possible to the one on a computer screen. When you decide to create your online store, it is important to keep this in mind, because sales don’t come only from a computer , whether desktop or laptop.
- Content
Make sure the store has relevant, fresh content: this is where having a blog built into your eCommerce comes in. Search engines rank online stores that refresh their content and create new content more favorably. You need to write posts or articles related to your business model. Imagine you run an online costume store: you can write posts about carnival, Halloween, the latest in the costume world or its historical evolution, or focus on the customs and traditions of certain regions or countries… In short, with a bit of imagination there are always ideas for a post of at least 500 words.
As always, we hope we have clarified some eCommerce concepts for those of you who are new to this world and want to get started. We can expand the list with your questions or suggestions.
