3 Mistakes to Avoid When Creating an Online Store

When opening a store, there are a number of reasons to opt for digital instead of brick-and-mortar. In addition to making your store accessible to a broader customer base, taking your business online means not having to rent store space or scout out locations. As is the case when opening any type of business, some rookie mistakes are unavoidable when creating your first online store. Fortunately, educating yourself on these blunders can provide you with the knowledge needed to avoid them altogether. In the interest of saving yourself a fair amount of hassle, make an effort to avoid the following mishaps when putting your store together.

1. Ignoring Mobile Optimization

There’s simply no way around it – any online store that wishes to succeed in this day and age needs to be optimized for mobile browsing. Although traditional desktop and laptop PCs are still widely used, over half of all web traffic now comes from smart phones, tablets and other popular mobile devices. That being the case, your store is in trouble if it lacks mobile optimization. This is why it’s important to make the right design choices when setting out to create a successful ecommerce website. If this is your first foray into web design, it pays to enlist the aid of a dependable company like Network Solutions. In addition to offering professional site-building services, N.S. provides top-of-the-line D.I.Y. web design software to clients who wish to create their own sites.

2. Emphasizing Design over Function

There’s no denying that it’s important for a site to look good. In fact, a sleek, professional aesthetic is liable to reel in quite a few customers. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that aesthetics should never take precedence over functionality. Even if your store looks great, customers will likely become frustrated and take their business elsewhere if it’s unstable, difficult to navigate or takes a long time to load. Of course, this isn’t to say that aesthetics should completely be put on the backburner – but they should always play second fiddle to functionality.

3. Choosing the Wrong Hosting Service

It’s important for online stores, particularly ones that receive a fair amount of traffic, to be backed by dependable hosting services. Although there are a seemingly endless number of hosting services from which to choose, not all of them are equally reliable. For best results, look for a hosting company that offers lightning-fast load speeds, around-the-clock support, reasonable rates and top-notch security. Security is of particular import, as no one wants to shop at a store that’s vulnerable to malware and hacker attacks.

You’d be hard-pressed to find an entrepreneur who hasn’t made his or her fair share of mistakes. However, this doesn’t mean that others are destined to repeat these blunders – particularly if they know what to watch for. To ensure that your first online store gets off to a smooth start, take care to optimize it for mobile browsing, emphasize function over design and select a dependable hosting service.