ECommerce Glasgow
Glasgow Web Designers, offer a wide range of online shop designs from budget E-Commerce applications to advanced online shop designs. Bellow we have detail some important startup information you should consider before an ecommerce web design company.
If your either starting a new online business or you are wanting to list your current shop products online via a ecommerce web design, they are many key points to understand before talking this big step.
Here at Glasgoweb we want all our new Clients to understand what lies ahead when considering an ecommerce web design project. To assist you in your decision we advise you read this helpful guide on the steps for setting up and maintaining an ecommerce online store.
Platform
All E-commerce Websites are built on top of a platform, this is an application very much like Window’s Vista , Once installed it would then be customised by a ecommerce web designer to your liking. They are many different platforms out there such as Joomla cart, OS-commerce, Word press and Magneto. Many of the platforms are know as Open Source and are free to use commercially , tho many website design company’s might not want you to know that little secret. By using an Open Source Platform this dramatically lowers the cost of a ecommerce project.
There is also licenced Platforms available too, but they often very expensive and mainly used bylarge Enterprise that have a budget to match such platforms.
Each platfrom is very similar to each other, but if you had to split them into categories , platforms such as OS-Commerce , Wordpress and Joomla Cart would be used from simple shops such as 50-100 products
Whilst a Magneto Design is geared towards 250+ products with rich features such as Cross-sells, Up-sells , Discount codes, features found on such sites as amazon.co.uk.
Design
Depending on which Platform suits your business needs , the overall front-end ecommerce website design can be almost anything. Most high standard designs will have a strong framework which includes navigation sidebar, catalog area, footer and header an example of such as design can be seen on our most latest E-Commerce Website Design www.eposcctv.com
Payment
Once your ecommerce site design is completed and your shop is up and running you will need some way of taking payment from customers, the most common way is via online payment merchants such as Paypal, Sagepay Google Checkout and Worldpay. Each option has benefits and drawbacks , the most important factor to consider when selecting a payment merchant is
- customers redirected to another site for payment
- customer payment processed via your ecommerce website
Security
Web ecommerce Security has become a big issue lately as banks attempt to fight online payment fraud, recently new legislation passed on the 30 September 2009 states that all existing and new web ecommerce designs will need to be PCI DSS compliant to a certain level. You should factor this into your decision when considering selling online. For more information on PCI DSS please fell free to call us on 0141 416 0234 or check out the following link.
Another area of security concerning online stores, that is detailed in the PCI DSS is shared hosting and Private Hosting, The difference between shared and private is about where the site is actually located. Most budget web designs will be hosted on whats called shared hosting Servers, along with many other websites. Private hosting is where one and only one site is stored on a Server, this lowers the risk of your site becoming compromised as only you will have access to the actual server.
Advertising
Selling online is completed different from selling on the high street, as when your site is launched there is a 99.9% chance know one will know your site exists. You should factor advertising costs into your budget web design project, the most common methods are pay per click (google sidebar adds), backlinks and Search Engine Optimisation, for more information on Glagoweb’s SEO products please check out our Search Engine Optimisation products and Price Charts.
Read more about glasgow web design’s E-Commerce packages
