If there is one type of internet entrepreneurship that is exactly what it says on the tin - then it is definitely e-commerce. It is the weirdest type of business all over Internet because there are no particular secrets of the craft. It is just that.  

You can read as many tips and tricks as you want but they all boil down to some general principles. All you really need is to do is follow the rules and collect cream of the crop. Sounds too simple? But that is the reality. It is baffling and unbelievable to some.

E-Commerce is the realm where “work hard” means you are missing the point. The name of the game in E-Commerce is “work smart”. It is reasonable to use web calculator to exact price tag for the whole affair. You need to cover all bases and take into account all possibilities - before you start doing.

Here are ten things that make a successful e-commerce website.

Establish your Brand

First things first - you need to make sure that people know your marketplace well enough and had developed strong sense of trust in its service and customer support. In order to achieve that you need to establish your brand identity and present it to the customers in an engaging way. You need to come up with really snappy memorable logo. It serves a role of reassuring symbol - a trustworthy, recognizable sign. The rest is made through ad campaigns.

This is gradual process of planting into the customer’s mind a notion of credibility and mutual respect. This creates a link between the concept of commodities in the customers head and your brand.

Over time this can be expanded into brand products. Usually such things are not in competition with other products and displayed in separate sections. Basically it is glorified souvenirs. In cases of solid audience - that is additional source of revenue.

2. Marks of trust

In order to boost credibility of your service - you need to find approval from the various related services - such as payment and security services. Not only that is guarantee that everything is nice and clean - it is serves as a reassuring element for the customers. It might e-commerce usual suspects, such as PayPal, McAfee, BBB and Verisign.

3. Design is the law

Another important element of building trust is user experience. Design scheme of your website must be functional. Think about it this way - website must be understood without looking into help page.

The most important elements of e-Commerce website is holy trinity of Login, Cart and Search. They must be designed to a tee.

Website design must be understood on a level of instinct without second guessing where is what. In order to secure maximum effectiveness of website design - you need to test it from a user’s standpoint.

There are three major elements:

• Menu needs to be convenient.
• Product descriptions must be detailed and not ambiguous.
• User reviews must be real.

Aside from that you need to make the whole payment process easy to understand. The icons of available payment systems must be visible and payment menu scheme must be clear-cut.

All this adds up to your reputation and builds real trust between service and customer.

4. Giveaways

There is one tricky thing in human consciousness - it is always nice to get something for free once in a while. Even if it is just a trifle - it is still very-very nice. In terms of e-commerce - that is weapon of mass engagement, no less.

Such things as free shipping, brand loyalty merchandise or discount deals - work miracles if delivered correctly. It must be positioned as a reward for using a service or helping to improve it.

The most common way of presenting such things is through banners and occasional (not overbearing) pop-up or push notifications. The message is “We’ve got something special for you!”

5. News and lists

Once you have captured customer’s attention - you need to keep yourself relevant in the zone. You can do it by adding informative features to your website. Selections of news articles, lists of popular products for certain categories and press-releases on upcoming events.

Lists are particularly important as they help customers to navigate through the database. News can be used as a place to inform customers about exclusive deal, giveaways or hot prices.

General newsfeed can be secured with a little help of affiliated resources. Lists of popular products can be composed based off collected data on the customer’s activity.

Conclusion

These are essential elements of your website’s success. Keep them in minds upon making an e-Commerce website. They may seem basic and simple - but that is the nature of the business. There are really no secrets - just very strict principles you need to follow in order to get through.