5 Common Mistakes That May Prevent Your Ecommerce Success Creating an eCommerce site is easier than it has ever

been. New plat orms pop up every !ay to make selling online as painless an! turnkey as possible. These plat orms rely on e"cellent marketing to convince entrepreneurs that having an eCommerce business is as simple as setting up a website an! letting the or!ers start pouring in. #t$s true that anyone can setup an eCommerce business to!ay% but the reality is that to have a success ul one it re&uires har! work an! attention to !etail. # you make sure to avoi! these 5 common mistakes while setting up your website% you$ll have a much higher chance o success than the ma'ority o new eCommerce sites.

1. Choosing the wrong host and platform

(ne o the irst steps in setting up your ecommerce site is buying a !omain name an! then setting up a hosting account. The hosting package is one o irst big e"penses an! it$s un!erstan!able that most people look or the cheapest hosting plan to save on costs. # you think about it however this is not an area you shoul! cut corners on because its the oun!ation o your business. # you pick a cheap host you may have to !eal with more server !owntime% security issues% ba! customer service an! tech support . More importantly however cheap hosting plans give you limite! space so your website will not be able to han!le many pro!ucts or too many visitors an! as a result it wil cause the site to loa! slowly an! you will lose visitors. The ecommerce plat orm you choose is e&ually important an! it$s important that you take into account your technical ability when choosing. # you$re not technical at all% it may be wise to use a hoste! solution like Shopi y to avoi! hea!aches. # you want more le"ibility an! customi)ation you$ll want to go with a plat orm like *or!Press or Magento. Steer clear o any plat orm that is out!ate! or one that ew people use as they won$t have &uality support when issues arise. +lso% !on$t go or the most robust plat orm with the most bells an! whistles i you !on$t nee! them.

2. Poorly design
,irst impressions matter in every aspect o li e an! your site is no e"ception. # your website is not aesthetically pleasing it comes o as unpro essional an! shoppers will be reluctant to buy rom you. Pick a template that represents your bran! well an! puts your best oot orwar!. -ser e"perience is one o the most critical elements in your control% so you shoul! make sure that the site is very logical an! easy to navigate. Shoppers have an i!ea o where things like the shopping cart an! buy buttons shoul! be on an eCommerce site% an! straying rom these in!ustry stan!ar!s may con use users.

Navigating your website shoul! be as straight orwar! as possible so that users navigate the site instinctually an! ocus on shopping. (ne o the biggest mistakes we see is a beauti ully !esigne! site with ugly pro!uct pictures. *ithout a store ront% pro!uct images are all the user has to make a buying !ecision. There is no sense in spen!ing time an! money !esigning a beauti ul site i you$re pro!uct pictures have low resolution or ba! lighting. +sk a photographer rien! to help you take pictures% or even hire one i nee! be. #t makes that much o a !i erence.

3. Complicated Checkout Process

This is similar to having a &uality !esign. +s people shop online more an! more they e"pect the checkout process to be as straight orwar! as possible. # your checkout process is unnecessarily complicate! or i you !on$t accept the most common payment options% most shoppers will change their min!s about buying rom you. .ook at other websites checkout process an! try to mimic it as much as possible. This is not the time to be uni&ue an! creative. Try to implement the little !etails that will make your user happier. # someone inputs the wrong in ormation% !o they have to start all over or !oes your site save the in o they a!!e!/ 0o you have to type the billing an! shipping a!!ress separately or is there an option to use one a!!ress or both/

4. Ignoring Security
The closest thing to an eCommerce worst nightmare is a hacker messing with your website or worse% stealing your customers cre!it car! in ormation. To sell online you$ll nee! an SS. certi icate which encrypts in ormation an! helps prevent hackers rom stealing in ormation but there are other steps you can take to make purchasing rom you as secure as possible. Choosing a well1known reliable plat orm is one o the best things you can !o to help this. # you stick with *or!Press or Magento you shoul! be ine as long as you remember to up!ate your theme an! plugins whenever one is available. #nternet security can get very technical an! is beyon! the scope o this article. 2owever% it$s crucial that you research what steps you nee! to take to secure your website on your speci ic plat orm.

5. o marketing plan or analytics

So you$ve create! a beauti ul an! secure website with a great user e"perience. Time to kick your eet up an! let the sales pour in% right/ *rong. 2ow will you know how your site is per orming/ You can$t rely only on sales numbers because there$s some very important things happening be ore customers press buy. The irst thing you nee! to !o is install an analytics program like 3oogle +nalytics.

This will provi!e the type o in ormation you nee! to make business !ecisions% such as% what percentage o visitors are making purchases/ 2ow many people are leaving my site in the irst 5 secon!s/ *hich are my most popular pro!ucts/ 2ow are visitors in!ing my website/ Making business !ecisions without this type o in ormation is a recipe or un!erper ormance. # you are serious about buil!ing your eCommerce business you also nee! to get serious about internet marketing. -n ortunately% 'ust because you buil! it !oesn$t mean they will come. You nee! a strategy or how people will in! out about your website. Can you use SE( to attract organic tra ic/ Maybe 3oogle an! ,acebook a!s are a better it. *hich social me!ia plat orms will you use an! how/ 2ow can you attract me!ia coverage to your business/ # you haven$t even consi!ere! these things% it$s time to e!ucate yoursel an! create a marketing plan to e"plo!e your business. !uthor "io4 #ssa +sa! is a web entrepreneur with over 56 years o e"perience in creating success ul online an! o line businesses. You can rea! more rom him on his blog where he talks about the telecom in!ustry an! entrepreneurship topics. ,eel ree to connect with him on ,acebook.