Getting started with your e-commerce business website, you may feel pressure to get it right the first time. After all, your website is your business. If it doesn’t perform, you’re in trouble. The reality is that you probably won’t get everything right the first time. That said, there are some beginner website mistakes you can make sure to avoid from the start.
A Clunky Checkout Process
If your website visitors make it to your checkout page, the last thing you want is that they get frustrated with the process and abandon their carts. Your checkout process should be quick, clean, and simple. If your checkout page takes too long to load, or if the process is unnecessarily complicated, you’re likely to see an increase in cart abandonment. If you’ve optimized your website for computer users, Don’t think you’re done. A lot of web traffic happens on smartphones, and it’s only expected to increase. To take advantage of that traffic, make sure your checkout process is user friendly on smartphones too.
Too Much Text
Just because content is critically important to your site’s performance doesn’t mean that you should overload it with text. Really long pages and huge blocks of text can be overwhelming to visitors and could end up turning them away from your site. Make sure that images accompany your written content to maintain the interest of visitors. Videos can also be a nice way to capture interest and convey information without the excessive use of text. That not to say that you shouldn’t have any text or very little text. Written information is still important. You just need to make it balanced.
Not Making It User Friendly
One of the most important things is to ensure that your site is user friendly. Over 90 percent of people say that how easy it is to navigate a site is an important feature to prioritize. If your site is difficult to navigate or not intuitive, visitors will leave and you’ll lose out on business. If you’re not sure if your site is user friendly, have people who aren’t involved in its design or creation beta test it for you. Pay attention to the feedback you get. If you notice consistency in problems brought to your attention, make sure you address those.
No website is going to be perfect, especially in the beginning stages. That said, make sure your checkout process isn’t clunky, don’t overdo it with text, and don’t forget to test it to make sure it’s user friendly. Avoiding these beginner website mistakes can help your e-commerce business get off on the right foot.
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