6 Tips on Building your eCommerce Website

eCommerce web design isn't just about how the website looks but how it works. Successful e-commerce store design merges conversion strategy, visual design, and technical engineering to create a simple and smooth shopping experience.

Choose the Right Platform

The first step in the process is to choose a website building platform. Also known as content management systems (CMS), these are the engines that allow websites to run. The three most popular platforms are WordPress (which has an incredible 50.07 percent market penetration rate), Drupal and Joomla. Source: Business

Make branding a priority

When it comes to shopping online, people want to buy from established brands—not faceless ecommerce sites that look like a front for trying to steal your credit card information.

If you want to build the trust you need to drive serious sales with your ecommerce business, you need to put some serious thought into your branding. Your branding is like the DNA of your ecommerce business; it’s who you are as a company, what you’re about, and how you’re different from your competitors—and it plays a huge part in building a connection with your audience and driving sales. Source: 99designs

Get all the paperwork you need for a legitimate business.

Register your business, get a vendor's License and start looking into legal business issues. You should contact a local attorney to assist in the creation of your business. While it is an upfront cost, it likely will save you significant headache and expense in the future. Source: entrepreneur

Finding a product to sell

The first step to building an ecommerce business is to know what products you want to sell. This is often the most challenging part of starting a new online business. In this section, we’ll highlight strategies you can use to find product opportunities, explore the best places to look for product ideas, and finally, we’ll look at trending products to consider. Source: Shopify

Know the Competition

Prior to developing an Ecommerce business, you need to make certain whether your potential brand name has been used. You should be conscious about the competition present in the market that you are targeting. You need to divide the market, target a specific client base with similar. Source: Quora

Utilize simple website design

Minimalist websites are consistently rated as more visually appealing and more trustworthy than visually complex websites. If you want to optimize your ecommerce web design for conversions, you should consider simplifying it. Source: LyfMarketing

And this is all for now..

Keep checking this blog as we will be adding more tips and guide to building your eCommerce website!

Ways to make your workplace more flexible

Flexibility in the workplace allows employers and employees to decide about working conditions that suit them. This helps employees maintain a work / life balance and can help employers improve the productivity and efficiency of their business.  Flexible working arrangements have traditionally been viewed as a special privilege for employees. Here are some of the way’s flexibility can benefit your business and strategies you can employ to make a flexible workplace a reality.

Start with a Plan

Freedom and flexibility will make your employees feel well-treated and respected but maintaining productivity and keeping track of your bottom line really come down to effective management and personal accountability. Don’t start implementing more flexible workplace policy or design elements without establishing a plan to manage how different spaces are to be used, how flex-time will be managed and who will approve it. Be sure to include communication as a cornerstone to your flex strategy. Remember, Flexible doesn’t equal lenient. If you aim to be a truly flexible organization, how and where your team work should be left up to them, but accountability and deliverables should be well-defined and well communicated from the get-go. Source: apexfacility

Think creatively

Your team should be encouraged to explore different avenues for fostering creativity and accomplishing work goals with a new mindset. Those who tend to stick to the same tried-and-true methods are likely to have decreased flexibility and will resist change. Be prepared to give your team a little extra effort. Source: bizjournals

Be Open-Minded

You'll likely find it easier to understand and manage a situation if you look at it from different perspectives. For example, if you're looking to launch a new product, you might first like to analyze it from different viewpoints.

How will it fit into the marketplace, for instance? What will the impact be on your production process, and your sales and marketing teams? How do you think your customers will react to it?

Make it a priority to listen to and understand the views of the other people involved. If your manager asks you to help out on an urgent project, for example, consider how it will benefit the team or your career, rather than simply thinking, "Oh no, not more work!" Source: mindtools

A better work-life balance

The biggest reason most workers want a flexible workplace is to spend more time with their families. Cutting out the commute, cutting down hours (job share) and flexi-hours all help to facilitate more quality family time. If your family’s happy, then you’re happy and usually better equipped to deal with work demands. Source: cpacareermentor

Give employees time to think

Allowing your employees to go for runs may also have more benefits than just making them happy. While we are engaged in aerobic exercise, our brains convert to alpha waves, indicating our brains are in a default-state typically connected to daydreaming or meditation. Research shows that alpha waves reduce stress and boost creativity and innovation — supporting the proverbial “I got my idea while in the shower” notion.

Giving your employees time away from drilling down into email, communicating in meetings or marathon-ing through a project -- the activities associated with beta and gamma brain waves -- allows them the mental energy to individually brainstorm, internalize information and devise some of their best action plans. This means managers should encourage breaks, whether it's a stroll around the block or a face-to-face interaction. Source: entrepreneur

Consider Culture

Organisational and team cultures are critical to the success of workplaces where employees can access flexibility for all roles and for any reason, and can have successful, engaged careers. Source: flexibleworkingday

Establish Good Communication

Communication plays a huge role in flexible work arrangements. One of the main reasons flex work programs fail is because of lack of communication. There’s no excuse for miscommunication, especially with all the available online team collaboration programs. Slack, Yammer, and numerous instant messenger programs are just some examples of software tools that promote consistent and solid communication among telecommuting employees.

Additionally, a regularly scheduled ‘check-in’ via weekly or monthly group meetings can aid managers and leaders in monitoring telework. During the planning phase, institute both formal and informal systems for ensuring that flexible work arrangements are productive. Be sure to include fail safes that end the ability to work flexibly for employees who don’t meet productivity goals. It’s important to communicate to everyone involved that the flexible work schedule is predicated on meeting certain goals and completing assigned tasks. Source: risesmart

Know that not everyone will be a good flexible worker

Telecommuting and working flexible schedules require specific traits that not everyone has. But don't shut down the entire flex-work program just because a few people aren't cut out for it. Instead, consider other perks that can be offered to employees for whom flex work isn't a good option, while continuing to let the majority of employees take advantage of work flexibility. Source: businessnewsdaily

Tips on Choosing the Best Business Location

Location can also have a big impact on costs and revenue and can affect the perception your potential clients have of your company and your work, so it’s important to get it right. Here are some key Tips to consider in your business location choice.

Population Demographics

Find out if the majority of the human traffic in the area falls under your targeted consumer base. For a fee, you can make use of location analysis tools, such as Locate, Grow and Optimize that can give you information like traffic patterns and lifestyle data of those who come and go in the area. Such demographics include age, professions and household income. By figuring out the nearby demographics, you’ll be able to know how well your product will sell in that vicinity. Source: canon

Know your business          

Understanding the needs of your business is the first step in finding a location. Will customers visit your location? Do you anticipate walk-in business, or will customers call for appointments? Does your business make use of natural resources? How are your goods delivered? Does your business involve chemicals or excessive noise that might fall under the zoning restrictions? Make a list of your business-specific needs. Source: allbusiness

Foot traffic

For most retail businesses, foot traffic is extremely important. You don't want to be tucked away in a corner where shoppers are likely to bypass you, and even the best retail areas have dead spots. By contrast, if your business requires confidentiality, you may not want to be located in a high-traffic area. Monitor the traffic outside a potential location at different times of the day and on different days of the week to make sure the volume of pedestrian traffic meets your needs. Source: entrepreneur

Proximity to Your Competitors

While it may seem counter-intuitive, operating a business close to your competitors is often very beneficial. This is especially true if you have a retail business that relies heavily on foot traffic. Shopping malls are a good example of why proximity to your competitors is an important factor. Most major pedestrian malls are chocked full clothing shops, and cost of retail space is often very high. The reason for this is that the number of potential customers increases exponentially on a per-store basis around a concentration of similar businesses. For example, while one store might attract 50 customers, two stories might attract 200 customers, and three stories might attract 1,000 customers. Source: saleshq.monster

Consider local taxes and infrastructure

Taxes vary between municipalities, with some towns offering preferential rates in the hopes of attracting businesses. Your commercial real estate agent should know what the taxes will be, as well as the infrastructure and utilities—including Internet access, garbage pickup, roads, electricity and natural gas—that are available at the sites you're considering. Source: bd.ca

Safety

Having that sense of security should be a big factor for you, and will be a big factor for your potential customers. If they don’t feel safe leaving their car in the parking lot, they likely won’t enter your store. Not only that, but it should be weighed heavily on your part as well because the higher the crime rate in the area, the more susceptible your business is to break-ins and theft.

If it’s in a part of town where the windows and doors of all nearby stores are barred at night, that’s probably not a good sign. Running a business is tough enough as it is. Don’t add to your stress by placing yourself in a dangerous part of town that is known to have a higher than average crime rate. Source: lendio

Legal considerations for commercial property

There are a number of legal considerations when choosing business property including planning permission, health, safety and fire regulations, insurances, accessibility and licences. You will probably need to pay stamp duty if you purchase the property or if you rent commercial property you will need to comply with the terms of the lease. Ensure you get advice from a solicitor when buying or leasing business premises. Source: nibusinessinfo

Consider possible plans for expansion

This may not be an immediate concern, but optimistically thinking about business expansion helps in determining the potential of your desired location.

Moving your business to another location is not an easy task. That’s why you have to consider the options available if ever your business would grow and require more space.

If it’s not possible to rent out the adjacent lots or do a reconstruction of the place, then at least go around the area to see if there are bigger and better spaces you can move into when the time comes. Source: fitzvilla