So you’ve finally signed up for the BigCommerce shopping cart and e-commerce platform. Chances are, you’re probably scratching your head now. Yes, you may have wanted to connect your online store to your brick-and-mortar business, or you may have wanted to try out a solely online store.
Whatever the case may be, it looks like you’ll need help – even if you read all the help files, you might still be a bit lost on how to properly launch an e-commerce site
About BigCommerce
But first, some details about BigCommerce. BigCommerce e is one of the most successful e-commerce software and platform companies right now. It offers a well-rounded package – it can host your site, set up a back end to make it run right, and then give you design templates that can be your front end. They can also take care of links for dropshipping, inventory, and customer tracking, and, of course, shopping cart and financial connections to payment sites and banks.
Nevertheless, even with all that ready-made for you, coming up with a site can be daunting! And that’s where specialists come in.
Importance of Site Design
Your site’s web design is the most important part of your business, as it pertains to getting customers. It is what they will see first, and because of that, finding the right BigCommerce-compatible template is extremely important. The problem, however, is that all the nice templates will cost you an arm and a leg. Even worse, if you’re going to add more apps that will extend the functionality of your site (more on that later), then you’ll end up spending for important apps as well. And that’s why you need BigCommerce specialists and e-commerce experts to help you – rather than make mistakes off trying to do everything yourself, why not convert clicks to customers as soon as possible with a little more investment before launching your BigCommerce store?
Functionality
One reason why e-commerce platform software is so important is the functionality. It’s no joke to come up with a site and server back end that can route financial transactions, keep track of inventory and give a satisfying visual and navigational experience for the customers. However, even with ready-made templates, the issue here is not just visual design, but maximized functions that you need for your site. Functionality can be expanded with the use of apps (which you have to pay for) or by tweaking the basic BigCommerce template design. In the end, the idea is to make the functions streamlined, to give users a hassle-free online shopping experience with your shopping cart site.
SEO
With Google, Bing, and Yahoo algorithms and filters constantly changing, it’s important that the specialists and e-commerce experts who are working with you on your site be aware of the latest in search engine optimization. Even if you have to change your store name from your original idea, it might mean better conversions for your online shopping cart. And it’s not just that. Your site should be easily adaptable to any change in SEO algorithms – a matter of restraint and focused SEO management.
There is also search engine marketing to consider. Whether it is buying ad spots related to search engine results or simply properly tagging and applying the right keywords to all texts, photos, and products on your site.
Compatibility
Compatibility and modularity is an important part of e-commerce web design. Yes, you may have a great looking site, but what if a few months down the line, you may have to redesign or build a whole new site from scratch, just because it couldn’t be reworked anymore without massive changes? It’s one pitfall of custom-design sites, and something that you should be specific about when you are considering affordable web design packages. If you do get a great design, but it will only be so good for so many months, then you should do the calculations to see if it’s worth it, given your estimated profit. Ironically, if you are making a lot of profit, then you can go for extremely modified designs that you’ll just have to change every so often. Otherwise, do aim for an affordable website design process that will come out with a site that can upgrade periodically.
Social Media
It’s one of the most important considerations now: Does your site have a social media presence? Better yet, does it have functions for social media? You may have to ask for web design elements that you can use for graphics in social media sites, but the standard additions are for adding links to social media sites, or the ability to post info from your site to a customer’s social media site. This could be in the form of an update telling the customer’s friends of a purchase, for example.
Mobile Concerns
You also have to consider how your site will translate to a mobile platform. Web marketing being what it is, a site should be able to switch over to a mobile template, so people can view the site comfortable from a mobile device. In such a case, what you need is an alternate custom mobile website that will work well in the cramped space of a mobile screen.
All the concerns above are the reasons why professional web design services exist. If a person is already going to invest in a BigCommerce online shopping cart website, then it makes more sense to go all the way and seek professional and affordable website design specialists and ecommerce experts to maximize the chances for success.