How to develop and build e-commerce websites professionally 2023

How to develop and build e-commerce websites professionally

More than 2.14 billion individuals are anticipated to shop online by 2021. With statistics like these, creating an ecommerce website can assist you in utilising the benefits of online shopping as a means of generating cash for your company.

Your web development is crucial to ensuring that your site stands out from competitors given that there are currently up to 24 million ecommerce websites.

But what exactly is e-commerce web development, and how can you create an effective e-commerce site that can benefit your company's bottom line? Keep reading to learn more as we go through that and other topics!

Were we clear that WebFX was a top-tier e-commerce web development firm?

What are ecommerce websites?

An e-commerce website is one that enables online purchasing and selling of goods and services.

Ecommerce websites are ideal for allowing customers to explore, research, and buy their preferred products from the convenience of their homes using a computer, tablet, or mobile device.

Ecommerce websites fall into one of two categories:

1. websites targeted to vendors

The most typical kind of e-commerce website is vendor-specific.

They were created for and are operated by the sole seller on the website. You may have your own branded space to market and advertise your goods and services by building and maintaining your own website.

Additionally, you may promote and improve your website using digital marketing techniques like search engine optimization (SEO), which will help you rank highly in search results and increase the success of both your website and your company.

2. Several-vendor online markets

Multiple merchants' goods and services are available in multi-vendor online marketplaces. Popular examples of multi-vendor internet markets include Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba.

However, third-party sellers will provide their goods and services through the website and occasionally set up their own profiles and pages. The website will still be built and managed by a single person who also occasionally sells stuff on it.

What is ecommerce web development?

Let's address your main query now that you are more knowledgeable about e-commerce websites: What is e-commerce web development?

The process of creating and constructing an online store for users to buy goods is known as ecommerce web development.

Creating an ecommerce website can help you increase conversions and income for your business because ecommerce websites are so well-liked by customers.

Making a website's design prototype come to life and perform as a website as a whole is the main duty of an e-commerce web developer. Web development, then, is the process of making a website's design work as it should.

A web developer would, for instance, make sure that all navigational buttons, contact forms, calls to action (CTAs), and hyperlinks work as they should.

Why is ecommerce web development important?

Laying the groundwork for your company's success requires ecommerce web development that makes it simple for consumers to explore pages, select their preferred products, and make payments without any hassle.

Additional justifications for why e-commerce web development is crucial for your company include the following:

• creates the initial impression: A potential buyer will probably interact with your brand for the first time through your website. A strong brand image can be created through web development to retain people on your site longer.
• It improves user experience: Creating a positive visitor experience is crucial to converting leads and boosting sales. Good web development methods may guarantee that your website functions correctly, allowing users to explore it and locate what they're searching for with ease.
• It can aid your SEO strategy: Any SEO campaign needs a strong web development component. How high your site will rank on a search engine's results page might depend on a variety of factors, including page speed, coding, URLs, and hyperlinks.
• It can help you stand out from the competition: Web development is a terrific approach to make your website stand out from that of your rivals. Your e-commerce web development may assist you in creating a fresh, modern, and high-quality website that will outperform your rivals and increase traffic and leads to your site.

Ecommerce web development is, in the end, a tool you may use to increase the success of your organisation. You may create a website with the aid of ecommerce web development that will generate leads, raise traffic, and increase sales and revenue for your company.

The 6-step ecommerce web development process

Now that you know the answer to the question, “What is ecommerce web development?” Let’s start the process of developing your e-commerce website professionally.

Here is your step-by-step guide to developing an e-commerce website that will help you increase your website's revenue:

1. Start with a plan

Any web development process must begin with a plan as its first step. You should have a plan and goals for what you want your website to achieve before you start building the layout for it.

Consider these possibilities:

• goals for your customer service.
• How you want to present and market your goods.
• Your company's objectives, such boosting revenue and brand recognition

The structure and appearance of your site will be determined by your business objectives and plans, therefore establishing these ahead of time is crucial.

2. Pick a platform and a domain.

The next step is to select a platform and domain for your e-commerce website once you have a plan in place. You should be careful when choosing your domain name or website address. Your domain name need to be brief, memorable, and indicative of your brand.

The name of your business is usually the finest choice. Additionally, you can choose from a variety of domain tools, like Dot-o-mator, which can guide your domain name selection by providing choices based on the keywords you provide.

Another option is to decide to design and develop your website with the aid of an e-commerce platform. Ecommerce platforms may assist you in building your website from the ground up and offer customisable choices to make sure your website presents your business in the best possible light.

A few options you can choose from are Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify.

3. Create the layout

It's time to start planning the layout of your website now that you've selected your primary domain and e-commerce platform. A sitemap or brief outline of the pages on your website can serve as a good place to start.

You should think about the pages and content you want to include, such as:

1. Product listings
2. Customer reviews
3. Checkout process
4. Videos
5. Customer wish lists

The next two steps of the ecommerce web development process will be a little simpler once you've created your sitemap.

4. Code your website

Your web coding, also known as back-end development, is arguably the most important component of your website development. Coding guarantees that your website performs as it should. You have the option of using a content management system or manually coding your website (CMS).

You won't need to interface much with code because a CMS will already have many of the coding and back-end development components in place. If you choose to manually code, you can effectively create your e-commerce website with the aid of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

5. Optimize your design

Once the back-end development is finished, you can concentrate on some of the website's design components or front-end development.

Creating your website's appearance and feel, as well as personalising the pages that visitors will see and engage with, are all part of optimising your design.

You should think about the colours and themes you want to use, if you want to include photographs and videos, whether your visitors will find it easy to navigate through your website, and other things.

The first time a customer interacts with your brand is frequently through your website, so you want to make sure you leave a good first impression so they will stay on your site until they are ready to make a purchase.

6. Get ready to launch

After completing the aforementioned stages, your website will be prepared to go live and begin bringing in new visitors and boosting your sales.

However, before you publish your website, you might want to test it and make sure all of its features, particularly those that involve making purchases, are operating as they should.

If all goes according to plan, it's time to launch your website, start bringing in visitors, and start generating revenue. This is a great moment to start promoting your website and items so that you can increase sales.

In order to make sure users can find your new website, you can:

• Use pay-per-click (PPC) ads: PPC ads are a great approach to start bringing in traffic to your website. You can bid on keywords using PPC advertisements so that your website will show up at the top of the search results whenever a customer searches for terms associated with your brand.
• Implement an SEO strategy: One of the best strategies to help your website rank higher in search results and outrank rival sites is to implement an SEO strategy. Additionally, it's best to begin your approach as soon as possible because SEO might take three to six months to begin producing benefits.
• Promote your website on social media:Social media is a fantastic tool for online business promotion and advertising. You can think about setting up a social media presence for your company to promote your items and urge your followers to visit your website.

Promoting your website after it has been launched is crucial if you want to increase traffic and sales for your company.

eCommerce website development checklist

Are you interested in learning how to guarantee that your website will generate income for your company? To ensure that your website will generate more leads and sales, look over this checklist for revenue-driving ecommerce web development:

1. Did you factor in user experience?

For customers to easily locate the information they need, contact your company, and ultimately become paying customers, the user experience must be incorporated into your online design and development.

This isn't something you want to overlook, especially because 89% of consumers purchase with a rival following a bad user experience.

In order to produce the optimal user experience, you should make sure that:

1. You convey the benefits of your goods and services.
2. You attend to your consumers' needs
3. Your website's navigation is straightforward and quick to use, requiring a few clicks to access a page.
4. Your website's layout draws visitors in and encourages them to stay there.

When building your website, keep these factors in mind to give your visitors the greatest possible experience, increasing the number of leads and conversions for your company.

2. Did you plan for SEO?

In order for potential customers to find your products when they search for pertinent keywords, SEO can help your website rank higher on search results pages.

There are a few things you can do to optimise your e-commerce website for search engines when designing it, such as:

• A mobile-friendly website is a must
• Utilizing evocative URLs to help search engines comprehend your sites
• Making certain that your pages load quickly
• Incorporating keywords

You can make your website rank higher on search engine results pages by including these SEO factors in the web development process.

Additionally, you can assist customers in finding your goods and services online, which will ultimately boost your earnings.

3. Did you employ digital marketing techniques to market your website and company?

For your eCommerce website and business to be successful over the long run, you must develop powerful digital marketing techniques.

When your website is operational, you should think about implementing some of these digital marketing techniques to help your company succeed even more:

1. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
2. Content marketing
3. Email marketing
4. Social media marketing

One of the best methods to improve your online presence and the profitability of your company is to implement revenue-driving marketing strategies.