Ok, so you are planning to start your own e-commerce business? Great!
You need a great eCommerce website to run your online business successfully.
But wait.
Before launching or working on your eCommerce website, take care of these 8 checkpoints.
#1 Have you chosen the appropriate domain name?
Choosing an appropriate domain name is perhaps the first and foremost step to starting an e-commerce store.
How do you choose a proper domain name?
Here are a few short tips to choose the perfect domain name for your eCommerce store:
a. Use short names.
b. If possible, use keywords in the domain name.
c. Your domain name must be accessible for remembering
. d. Adding the area name would be good if you sell your products locally.
e. Do not use numbers and hyphens.
f. Use an appropriate name extension with your domain name. If your business is global, a ‘.com’ domain would be good; however, if you sell to the local market only, a domain extension like ‘.sg’ or ‘.com.sg’ is advisable.
#2 Have you taken care of security of your website?
Before launching your eCommerce website, ensure your web developer has ensured its security.
Website security is as important as its existence, especially in the case of an eCommerce website.
Securing your website is not difficult if you are using WordPress for your eCommerce website development. Below are a few short tips for you to secure your WordPress eCommerce website:
a. Ensure that your website runs on HTTPS.
b. Choose a reliable web hosting company.
c. Choose secured login credentials. Don’t use easy-to-crack login credentials.
d. Don’t use the login username as ‘admin,’ which most WordPress websites have. It’s easy to crack.
e. Enable Two-Factor Authentication with the help of a plugin.
f. Keep upgrading your plugins and themes.
h. Remove useless files, themes, plugins, or database tables from your server. They are prone to malicious code injections.
#3 Have you ensured that your website’s being backed-up regularly?
Even if you have taken all the necessary steps to secure your WordPress eCommerce website, you must remember to back it up regularly.
Again, if you use WordPress for your eCommerce store, several free and paid plugins help you back up your website regularly.
#4 Have you chosen a reliable web hosting company?
Web hosting plays a vital role in the security of a website.
Several startup web hosting companies offer cheap web hosting plans but don’t provide a secure and stable server. No, I don’t mean cheap is not good. You will also find some web hosting companies that charge pretty low prices for hosting your website, but they do take care of their server’s security.
You may find reviews of some of the best web hosting companies here.
#5 Is your Woocommerce theme stable?
Choosing a reliable and stable WordPress theme for your eCommerce website is crucial. You can’t simply choose a theme based on its design and colors.
While choosing a theme for your WordPress eCommerce website, you must ensure that:
a. Your theme is compatible with all the major browsers.
b. Your theme has a responsive view for mobiles and tablets.
c. Your theme must have its ‘Last updated’ version in the recent date.
d. You must contact their support and observe their turnaround time and ability to resolve your queries.
e. Check the loading speed of your theme before you purchase it.
f. Check the recent reviews of existing users.
#6 Is your ecommerce store compatible with all the major browsers?
It is very likely that when you purchase the theme for your WordPress eCommerce website, it renders fine on all the major browsers. However, when you launch it (after the customizations and updates), the design or features may be disturbed for some browsers.
So, before you launch your eCommerce store for the public, you must ensure that it shows well on all the major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and IE.
#7 Is your ecommerce website responsive?
A responsive web design is crucial for any eCommerce website. Since most users nowadays use their smart devices to browse information and products online, ensuring that your website has a responsive version becomes essential. In other words, your website must look good on mobiles and tablets.
If your eCommerce website is not responsive and you get traffic, you may lose a significant sales volume.
#8 Have you done appropriate testing related to accepting payments?
Another vital checkpoint to ensure before you launch your eCommerce website.
Try making a few payments and buying the products before making your online store available to the public.
Conclusion:
An eCommerce website can definitely increase your business revenue, but it is crucial to ensure that it doesn’t have any leakage or leak points. By following the above checkpoints, you can be assured that your eCommerce store is ready to launch and that you won’t lose sales because of any major errors on the website.