Negosentro.com | A guide to creating a successful digital shop window for your small business | Long gone are the days when businesses needed physical premises for customers to browse their products in person; now, you can save on rent and overheads by moving your shop entirely online. Furthermore, an online store means that you can sell to customers from all over the world, rather than being limited to those in your local area. However, there are certain considerations you should make in order to ensure that your digital shop window is as inviting and easily – and securely – accessible as possible for customers. Here is a guide to creating a successful digital shop window for your small business.
Hire professionals to build your online presence
From developing a value-rich social media presence to ensuring that all content is maximized for SEO, creating and establishing your online presence is a full-time task that you may not have either have the time for if you are focused on other aspects of your business. Furthermore, you may lack the expert knowledge needed to make the most of your online presence. Online marketing professionals, such as Local Insights, will work with you to help you build your online profile so that it is easier for customers to find you online.
Online security
An online shop means that your customers could come from anywhere in the world. However, with the ever-growing prevalence of cyber crime, customers want to be reassured that they are shopping from a secure vendor and that their confidential information will be safe. It is therefore important that you invest in good online security for your shop. For instance, set up a merchant account on a tried-and-tested secure online payment system, such as PayPal or WorldPay. By using well-known online vendors, customers will be reassured that their payment information will be well-protected. Alternatively, you could set up a shop on an established online marketplace like Etsy, and redirect your customers here from your main website.
Communicate with customers
Most customers prefer to shop with vendors with whom it is easy to communicate. This makes it easy to quickly resolve queries before they have the chance to become larger issues, and demonstrate to customers that you are an approachable company. For instance, regularly engage with customers over social media, for instance, question and answer sessions on Twitter, and provide contact information on your website for more direct questions and feedback.
Attractive, easily navigable design
With the internet being home to many millions of websites, it is essential that your own website provides customers with as pleasant a browsing experience as possible. Key to this is spending time on your website design, ensuring that it is attractive and easy for visitors to navigate, as doing so will encourage customers to spend longer on your website and demonstrate a stress-free shopping experience. A poorly designed website, on the other hand, will appear amateurish, particularly if it is hard to navigate.
