Released on: September 26, 2007, 9:12 am

Press Release Author: Andy Lomax

Industry: Internet & Online

Press Release Summary: Your ecommerce website is the interface with which you deal
with your customers so it\'s vital that you get it right. Success in web design for
ecommerce hinges on three factors - design, usability and search engine
optimization.

Press Release Body: If you\'re planning to sell goods or services online, you\'ll need
an ecommerce website. As this will be your shopfront, your showroom, your salesman
and your cashier, you\'ll appreciate how important it is. Essentially, the success of
you ecommerce website depends on getting three factors right - design, usability and
search engine optimization.

First, let\'s look at design. Design is important as it influences the impression
your visitor gets of you and your business. Your website should be attractive and
solidly professional. This assures the first time visitor that you are the right
company to do business with. In addition, your website should reflect your brand and
mission statement.

Next there\'s the matter of usability. This determines how easily your visitor can
navigate your site. The first thing you have to consider is the mechanics of your
business model. You have to decide what you want your visitor to do and then give
him clear means to do it.

One factor that promotes clear navigation is making sure all links are well
labelled. For example, \'Click here for more details on our refrigerators\' is much
more useful that just \'click here\' or \'more information\'. And your visitor should
always know his location and how to return to your home page. Remember if your
visitor gets lost on your website, he\'ll just click away, probably never to return.

The next factor in usability is the mechanics of your ecommerce model. If you\'re
selling online, you\'ll need a payment processor and an online shopping cart. Here
you have a host of commercial offerings to choose from. Or you can go for the open
source shopping cart system, Zen Cart, a favourite of developers and shoppers alike.

Ultimately, your beautiful and usable site will do you no good unless you get
visitors. For this, you have to get search engine optimization right. Your site
needs to be optimized so that when searchers enter relevant queries in the search
engines, your website appears high in the results. For this you need relevant text
optimised for the keywords that searchers use. Achieving this requires expert
keyword research and specialized writing skills. Your text must be not only readable
and informative, but also indexed by the search engines for the right words and
phrases.

When looking for a firm to handle your ecommerce needs, choose one which can handle
the whole project. Otherwise, there\'ll surely be coordination problems. So look for
one firm that has both the artistic skill to design engaging and user-friendly
website as well as the technical skills to handle the SEO requirements that will get
you listed high in the search engines.

Web Site: http://www.kudoswebdesign.co.uk

Contact Details: art@kudoswebdesign.co.uk