E-commerce Web design is an important part of e-commerce strategy. The e-commerce web site design must be built to incorporate the site functional requirements, branding, usability and search engine considerations. Sites that do not consider these important aspects can lose visitors and transactions which can be costly to a company’s e-commerce budget.

Here are some practical considerations for e-commerce web design:

Scope and Bound Functional Requirements: It is very important that adequate planning takes place to define the functional requirements of the project. The web interface needs to be constructed to accommodate a shopping cart or database interaction. The layout of the interface is essentially a virtual storefront for the e-commerce company. Building a layout that is attractive to end-users and functionally efficient is the hallmark of good web design. The planning phase of e-commerce projects requirements addresses these.

Branding and Interface Design: Companies spend a considerable amount of money developing the image for their product or company. The design of the web interface has to accommodate this. This includes correctly interpreting and applying demographic considerations to the design. Good e-commerce website design can assist with translating a company’s vision to the online environment.

Usability Requirements: Some companies have specialized usability requirements. Companies that comply with World Wide Web consortium standards have a set of criteria that is mandatory for implementation. Government departments are a prime example of this. If the web interface needs to cater for disability requirements, e-commerce web design often requires the development of two versions: one that is compliant with current browser platforms and another which is a text-based or the disability equivalent.

Search Engine Friendly: E-commerce website design that is built in a search engine friendly manner is very important to companies that rely on organic traffic to their sites. The use of tables and layout construction needs to be optimized to accommodate the functional requirements of search engine spider activity. Higher engine rankings are an important goal for e-commerce strategy. E-commerce website design needs to strike an important balance between functional, end-user and search engine design considerations.

E-commerce strategy encompasses the above important factors for effective e-commerce website design. Changes in a sites design can have a big effect on a site’s return on investment if conversion rates increases. Good web site design understands the importance of balancing all the necessary design elements to facilitate companies’ goals and objectives online. Best of Luck to All!