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            Research by Datamonitor shows that for all shopping and banking related online transactions, over 80% of consumers access the Internet from home. Thus an eCommerce website with such a large target audience of home users must design the website with this in mind. Surpass consumer expectations and a site will be sticky is the advice given by Mark Read, managing director of Webrewards.co.uk (eBusiness, April 2000). The very first thing eCommerce website designers have to keep in mind is their target audience and their needs.

            Internet marketing through the presentation of all images on the website will ensure a complete brand image. In the communication of the marketing message online, integration of media should always consider how the brand perception is impacted. All pages should carry the brand logo/name/stamp so that they are streamlined toward a singular business plan and consumer promise.

            Another key area is to ensure that the website is ‘prominent’ on web and search engines. The value of domain names have been declining as browsers increasingly access sites through portals rather than direct typing of URLs.  Also when a specific site is not entered, major search engines will list a considerable amount of incidental traffic. Metatagging, which is the practice of loading the source code underlying a web address with particular names while invisible to a user, are visible to search engines. The metatag is one of the fields that will appear in a search engine field, so a metatag loaded with words which have a high potential to be searched by visitors (such as category names, promotional straplines, or competitors’ brand names) stands the website in good stead to rank high on a search engine listing. Stuffing is another practice used to smoke search engines and is when particular words on a web page are the same color as the background. So these catch-phrases are invisible to visitors but visible to search engines.

            Individual service can be provided through the use of personal email campaigns and personal accounts offered through the website. Mass email may generate a negative backlash, so emails must be direct and target specific with motives succinctly outlined. They would be used to inform the recipients of new products or updates to the website in order to encourage repeat visits. A website that enables the creation of a personal account within can lead to a feeling of ownership can comfort to a user. At the very least an effective design will come across to a consumer as if each is being treated as an important individual.

            Site design is responsible for the first impression that a website makes on visitors and so is the key to attracting and retaining an online audience. There is no one cookie-cutter design especially as each has a different target audience. For example if the target is younger children, bright colors, large fonts, sprites and graphics, with a central character acting as a guide, and animation will work well. Conversely, a teen oriented site must have a clear layout, well-formatted text, quick and easy access to information, little animation and clutter, as well as not be patronizing or overly keen to promote the product.

            Spending time to conduct market research, and on the planning of a web site will keep redesigning to a minimum and thus the website with a clean and customer-oriented design in mind will lead to a successful online business.

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Tags: eCommerce Portal, ecommerce website design, web design key factors, web design principles, web design tips

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 5:37 am and is filed under Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.