{"id":19894,"date":"2018-11-05T09:02:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=19894"},"modified":"2019-02-05T12:56:10","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T17:56:10","slug":"building-ecommerce-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/building-ecommerce-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Design an eCommerce Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

When<\/span> building an eCommerce website<\/span><\/a>, you know that the ultimate goal of the site is to get people to make purchases.<\/span>
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You can\u2019t just focus on building an e-commerce site that looks great (although that\u2019s worth doing too) you have to make sure every element of the web design guides people toward the point of buying something from you.<\/span>
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Fortunately,<\/span> building an eC<\/span>ommerce<\/span> website<\/span> is easier than it\u2019s ever been. You don\u2019t have to hire an expensive designer or learn coding from scratch. If you don\u2019t have much money to spend or time to work with, you can use a <\/span>eCommerce website<\/span> builder to<\/span> create an eCommerce site<\/span><\/a> that\u2019s professional and geared toward achieving your goals.<\/span>
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Whether you build the website yourself or hire someone to do the legwork, there are a few important steps you should take to make sure your <\/span>eCommerce website<\/span> will do its job.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. Organize Your eCommerce Website Based On How People Shop.<\/h2>\n

One of the first steps to building an <\/span>eCommerce website<\/span> is figuring out what pages and categories to include. You\u2019ll obviously want a home page and pages for each of your different products. But how will you organize all those product pages so that people can find what they\u2019re looking for?<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about how your potential customers are likely to shop and browse and<\/span> build out the site architecture<\/span><\/a> that makes the most sense based on that.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, if you sell pet food and supplies, you might organize your website based on the type of pet your visitors have (dog, cat, fish, mouse, etc.) with subcategories under each for product types (toys, treats, food, etc.). Anyone visiting the site can pretty quickly figure out how to narrow down their search based on their particular needs. \u00a0And by visiting a page that groups a lot of similar products together, they can browse all the dog treats or cat toys available and pick the one they most want.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Make Your eCommerce Site Responsive.<\/h2>\n

According to <\/span>mobile shopping trends<\/span><\/a>, almost a third of all shopping online now happens on mobile devices. If your <\/span>eCommerce website<\/span> doesn\u2019t work well on mobile, you\u2019ll be missing out on a lot of potential sales (and it will hurt your SEO to boot). For most <\/span>eCommerce websites<\/span>, the best way to <\/span>make your website mobile friendly<\/span><\/a> is to make it responsive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Responsive websites provide the same information and images on each page no matter what device they\u2019re on, but they position them differently in order to make the page fit the screen. An image that shows up next to text on the desktop will show up below it, for instance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Luckily, responsive websites have become enough of a norm that a good website builder or designer will offer a responsive option as a matter of course.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Include a Search Bar.<\/h2>\n

Many of your visitors will be content to browse the site to find items they like, but some will know exactly what they\u2019re looking for. A search bar gives them a way to get directly to the page they need and is, therefore, one of those<\/span> features that every eCommerce site should have<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Have a Shopping Cart.<\/h2>\n

Your ideal customer isn\u2019t going to see one item they like and go straight to the purchase process. They\u2019ll spend some time browsing and choosing several items they want.<\/span><\/p>\n

A shopping cart is another standard feature of eCommerce stores because it allows visitors to save the items they want to purchase while they continue browsing, and then go through the purchasing process once for all of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

And for visitors that add items to a shopping cart but don\u2019t buy right away, you can follow up with a<\/span> reminder email to your customers<\/span><\/a> to help nudge them back to the site toward a purchase. <\/span><\/p>\n

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5. Include Wish List Functionality.<\/h2>\n

Including wish list functionality accomplishes a few different things:<\/span><\/p>\n