In today’s digital age, developing and curating an e-commerce service is a crucial part of managing your small business. Consumers demand convenience and enjoy shopping online so they don’t have to drive to the store every time they want to make a purchase. Additionally, allowing people to buy merchandise through your website allows you to expand your reach into new markets. If you’re only selling goods in your brick-and-mortar establishment, you’d limit your customer base to a specific region.
Making mistakes when designing your e-commerce site is relatively common, but you need to fix them as soon as possible. Here’s some issues that are common to many business pages and how they can be fixed.
A slow crawl
Consumers don’t want to wait for your site to load. The faster your e-commerce page opens, the better, according to Mashable. This is a technical issue, so you must ensure that you’re using the latest tools to keep your site running as fast as possible.
The news source points out that if you use a cloud service, speed will diminish when there are server issues. Additionally, adding too many plugins and advertisements can noticeably slow your website, so you should limit content to important features only. Superfluous banners and graphics shouldn’t be included.
A single browser
Microsoft Business notes that another common issue is that companies only optimize their sites for one specific browser. This is a massive issue because some features that work in Firefox won’t work in Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari or any other program. As a result, customers will have to download another application, but they’ll likely skip this step and simply avoid a business’ site altogether.
As a result, you’ll likely lose traffic because only consumers with one browser can visit your page. Ensure that your e-commerce service is compatible with every browser so customers can always access your business. This will ensure that anyone can make purchases from your web store, regardless of what application they’re using.
No security
The biggest mistake you can make is not installing proper security protocols on your site. Customers want to know that their information is protected and that it can’t be accessed by identity thieves and other cyber criminals. If you leave data unprotected and your site is frequently hacked, you’ll earn a negative reputation and quickly start to lose clients. You must ensure that your security is cutting edge and is constantly updated to avoid potential risks.
The Search Engine Journal recommends buying an SSL certificate to encrypt data and make consumers feel secure. This is the least you can do for your website. Consider going the extra mile by installing a firewall or hiring a security firm.
These are only a few of the most common mistakes small business owners make when designing their e-commerce services. What do mistakes do you frequently see on company websites, and how do you think they can be fixed?
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