Designing an e-commerce site will let you sell products and services to customers online through a portal that you control. From growing your customer base to boosting brand recognition, this can be a brilliant step to take.

Of course newcomers to the world of web design will want to make their first project really pop while also avoiding common pitfalls. With that in mind, here are a handful of considerations that should improve your odds of success.

LightUp by Cosmin Capitanu

Your domain name is important

The domain name of your site is the element which will represent it not just to prospective customers, but also to the search engines that will ultimately be responsible for ensuring that people actually visit it in the first place.

Because of this, choosing the right domain name should be a priority. If you are starting a brand from scratch, you should consider the name and identity you choose in conjunction with selecting the domain for your site. It needs to be unique, memorable and also search optimized to avoid losing traffic to rivals.

Your choice of platform can change your fortunes

Today there is no need to build your own e-commerce site from the ground up; there are platforms dedicated to making it easy to create transactional sites quickly and affordably.

With the help of a web design company, you can turn generic templates from the likes of WordPress and WooCommerce into something alluring, individual and impactful that is still founded on tried and tested underpinnings.

There are a number of popular platforms to consider, each with its own pros and cons to weigh. If you have the opportunity, experimenting with more than one via the trial services they offer can be informative.

Mobile friendliness is a must

Today the majority of visitors to your site will be using a mobile device to access it, which means that your design needs to be tweaked and tuned with smartphone and tablet-owning customers in mind.

Making sure that your site design is responsive and capable of adapting to whatever device a visitor might be using is not just about keeping customers happy, but also about meeting the expectations of search engine algorithms. Mobile-friendliness has been an important ranking factor for some time and unless you want your site to fester in the lower levels of results pages, being attuned to this need is essential.

Summer Vibes by Cosmin Capitanu

Feedback matters

Never neglect to give your customers the opportunity to share their opinions and read the feedback left by other customers on your e-commerce site. This will help to generate engagement, trust and sales in quick succession.

Plugins to provide product reviews on the relevant pages are available on most e-commerce platforms, so you do not need to worry about designing these elements yourself.

You should also endeavor to integrate social media functionality with your store to make sure that it is sharable, since sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can generate a lot of traffic for you in their own right. With all of these tips together, your e-commerce web design efforts should be well rewarded!