The Essential Features Of a Successfull Ecommerce Web Site

There are essential features that every successful ecommerce web site must have. Make sure your website has them when you are setting it up. Do this now and you will save yourself a lot of pain and expense further down the line.

Unlimited products and unlimited categories

You want to be able to easily add your own products and menu categories to your website without having to call your Web designer every the time you need something changed. Check there aren't any restrictions on the number of products you can add too, as there may be hidden costs if you go over the maximum number - or worse, the system may not be able to handle it and you may need an expensive upgrade. Content management

Ideally you want to be able to change text on your website -- such as information about shipping charges, terms of business etc -- without having to rely on your Web designer to do it, who will probably charge you each time.

To achieve this you need a built-in content management system which will allow you to edit text based pages without technical knowledge.

Easy-to-use admin area

An easy-to-use admin area is a must as you will be using it every day. You need to easily be able to see new orders, view customer details, add new stock etc and this should all be easy to do via your admin area or control panel.

Comprehensive reporting

You need to see reports on visitor information such as what products have been viewed etc so that you can make informed decisions on new product to stock, what products you should drop etc. Comprehensive reporting gives you valuable market intelligence that you can use to really grow your business.

Newsletter and e-mail functions

It is absolutely essential that your ecommerce site has the ability to stay in touch with your customers, through email. You need to encourage repeat purchases, which you can do by sending email newsletters, special offer, details of new products etc. When choosing your ecommerce system or web designer, make sure you get all these features.

Link manager

You need to be able to add links to other sites without relying on your web designer every time you need a link added. Establishing link partnerships is vital ingredientl in obtaining good search engine rankings so ensure this feature is provided.

Search engine optimisation

On the subject of search engines, another important feature involves the ability to add and change search engine Meta tags. These are the behind the scenes code that tells the search engines what your pages are about, and by putting relevant keywords in the right places, you can help your site in the search results.

Other features

There are many other features that you can get in an e-commerce website, such as specials, bestsellers section, recommended items etc, so think ahead as to what you may need in the future and ask any web designer to include it now as it will be a lot cheaper than to get it put in at a later date.

Article Source: http://www.inpop.net

Robin Porter is CEO of Arpey Internet which provides ecommerce web site design for small to medium sized businesses.

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