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Creating an Online store: Pitfalls and Development Stages
Online trading is a popular niche in business today, and the current situation in the world makes it particularly popular. Due to quarantine restrictions, entrepreneurs can not sell their products in offline outlets, and the only option to cope with the situation and not become bankrupt is the decision to create an online store.
The creation of online stores is gaining popularity not only in Ukraine, but also around the world. Quarantine restrictions are one of the main reasons, but they are not the only ones. The fact is that the offline business is becoming less profitable every year, giving way to its Internet counterparts. The same thing happened with advertising, because few entrepreneurs still use street billboards. They were replaced by contextual advertising, which is able to attract hundreds of times more customers, while requiring much lower costs.
Thanks to the development of the Internet and the interest of users, the creation of online stores has now reached the first place in the ranking of the most popular services, but many entrepreneurs are asking the question - " is it possible to create an online store with your own hands?The answer to this question is positive, but for the sake of completeness, before you start creating online stores, you should familiarize yourself with all the stages that will wait for you on the difficult path of the developer. In this article, we will talk in detail about the creation of online stores, their development and launch. In addition to creating online stores, we will also tell you what tools you can use to attract users to the created online store, and what should be done to make your resource popular, let's get started!
Creating online stores: A list of stages and their task
Creating online stores is a long process, divided into several stages. Thanks to this separation, during the creation of an online store, it will be easier for you to navigate what actions and manipulations need to be carried out in a particular period of time. Also, the division into stages will simplify your task if you are creating online stores for your company or new business not alone, but with a team of specialists. The list of stages that you have to go through is as follows:
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Choosing a niche for creating an online store
At this stage, you need to decide what products will be engaged in the online store you are creating. A lot will depend on your choice, since each niche has its own requirements, and the audience's interest is different in the case of each individual product group.
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Work plan for creating an online store
This plan will include all aspects of development that require your special attention. Take the development of the work plan very seriously, because it will help you not to forget about anything important. It will also help you control the work of your subordinates, if you are creating an online store not alone, but with a team of specialists
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Development of the site structure
The structure is one of the most important elements of the resource, affecting both the loyalty of your customers and the reaction of the system's search robots. If you want to create a successful online store, pay special attention to the intuitive and logical structure, because the success of your business will depend on it.
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Creating a design for a website
When developing a design for a resource, first of all pay attention to what designs and designs are trending. Web design trends change on average once a year, but by choosing the design style that is currently most popular, you can achieve more attention and interest from customers who have visited the online store you created.
This is a short list of actions that you will need to do to launch your online store. Next, we will look in more detail at each individual point of creating online stores, but first we will find out whether it is worth taking on the creation of an online store yourself.
Developing an online store with your own hands
In fact, every user can create an online store. The only problem is how effectively the created online store will work and how many problems the user will face when developing such a resource. It should be remembered that high-quality development of an online store can take a fairly long amount of time. Therefore, if you want to start creating an online store yourself, we recommend that you allocate as much time as possible in advance. In addition to the time to create the online store itself, you should also leave time for making edits. If you have never had experience in creating online resources, you are unlikely to be able to create a high-quality online store the first time. Be prepared for edits and changes.
If you do not want to spend time studying the issue of creating online stores, but want to order the creation of an online store from professionals — we are always happy to help. Web studio Glyanec has been creating online stores for more than ten years. Our company is a leader in the market of creating an online store and other online resources in Ukraine. If you want to order a high-quality online store, as well as launch its competent promotion-leave a request on our website and our specialist will contact you.
If you decide to create an online store on your own — in the next section, we will look in detail at all aspects of the development, and at the end we will sum up the results, let's start!
Stages of creating an online store: How the process of creating commercial resources looks like
Creating an online store is a time-consuming process that will require a lot of patience and a lot of time. Each individual stage of creating an online store can affect the success of your business, so it is very important that you devote the maximum amount of time, effort and skills to each stage.
Choosing a niche for creating an online store
A niche in online commerce can affect many factors, including how easy or difficult it will be to promote an online store you have created. In order to choose the most profitable niche, you should pay attention to several factors at once, namely:
- Niche Competition
Competition is the engine of progress and a real holiday for consumers, but not for entrepreneurs. Given the boom in the creation of online stores, as well as the fact that now every entrepreneur is trying to move their business to the Internet-competition in all niches of online commerce is slowly but surely moving to its peak. The more resources in your niche are created every day, the more difficult it will be for you to bring your site to a leading position in search results in the future.
On the other hand, if there is almost no competition in your chosen niche — this may mean that the products you want to sell in your online store are not popular with consumers. In order to understand whether this is true or not, you need to conduct a study of your CA.
- Business feasibility
Do not forget that a good business is a profitable business. Before you start creating an online store, you need to analyze the profitability of your chosen niche and the products that you plan to sell in it. If the purchase price of goods is only slightly different from the market value — such a business is more likely to be unprofitable. In order to create an online store, and then not go bankrupt, you need to carefully study the demand for your chosen products and investigate the profitability of this enterprise by creating a business plan.
- Search for suppliers
Sometimes it happens that the product is very popular, there is no competition, and it would seem that the ideal niche for creating an online store, but it does not seem so. The reason for the lack of competition may be that certain groups of products that are most popular among consumers are very difficult to get. If you want to occupy this niche as long as the level of competition is still low — you should seriously think about finding suppliers who are willing to work with you. If you find such a niche and can find reliable suppliers, then profit, as well as business development, will not have to wait long. The main thing, when starting to create an online store in such a niche, is to carefully check the demand and its consistency.
Paying attention to these parameters, you can choose a profitable niche for your business and become one step closer to the cherished start of the resource. When choosing a niche for your online store and simultaneously creating a business plan, it is important to remember that the situation in the online trading market can change every second, which means that you need to be prepared for the fact that some decisions will have to be abandoned. As for mistakes, making a mistake in choosing a niche of trade can cause irreparable damage to the budget or even go bankrupt. When choosing a niche and analyzing the market situation, we recommend contacting specialists.
Development of a work plan for the creation of an online store
Many entrepreneurs miss this stage, although it could help them a lot in the development process. The fact is that the development of a detailed plan for creating an online store can not only protect you from mistakes, but also allow you to look at the created online store as a full-fledged project. It often happens that the idea looks much more successful in the head-than when it is on paper, so it is very important to work out every moment of the created online store on paper even before the start of the development itself. Also, thanks to a detailed plan, you will be able to carefully track the actions of each individual employee of your team, unless of course you create an online store yourself.
Creating the structure of the future online store
The structure of any web resource is its skeleton, which helps the entire system to work correctly. The intuitiveness and quality of the structure you have created for an online store can significantly affect both the profit of your resource and the efficiency of its work. The fact is that the level of loyalty and clarity of the structure depends not only on the turnover and customer interest, but also on the evaluation of search robots, which, after scanning the structure of the online store you created, can lower its ranking due to mistakes made during creation. In order to avoid such situations, we recommend that you very carefully approach the issue of developing the structure.
Creating a high-quality structure of an online store naturally begins with a drawing and a plan. You need to work through all the main pages of the created online store. After that, you can start creating secondary pages, product categories, their filters, and other elements of a high-quality online store.
In order to get the best results from the created structure, you can follow the four-click rule. The essence of this rule is that in the online store created by you, the client being on any page of the site should be able to get to any target page with 4 clicks. The number of clicks may be lower, which will make your online store even better, but exceeding this limit may affect the speed of promotion.
The fewer clicks the client needs to make in order to visit the landing pages, the better for your resource. Do not forget that the search robots are very carefully scan the structure of the site. If the structure of the online store you created is qualitatively optimized, then the speed of its promotion and its position in the search results will be much better.
Design development for the website of an online store
In addition to the intuitive structure for a high level of turnover, the online store you created should attract customers with its appearance. Do not forget that consumers first of all buy with their eyes, and only after reading the characteristics and specifications of the product they like. If your website design meets the latest trends in web design, you will definitely be able to attract potential customers, which in the end can lead to an increase in turnover and profit from your business.
Do not forget about the subject of the resource. If your online store sells products related to specific user interest groups — you can take advantage of this and further improve your design. When creating an online store, it is important that you not only blindly follow the current trends, but also try to make the design of the created online store as unique as possible. This way you will be able to attract customers and increase the value of the created online store in the eyes of the search robots of the system.
Is it worth taking up the creation of an online store yourself
As we said earlier, creating online stores is a time-consuming process that only a team of experienced developers can quickly cope with. If you want to try your hand, and you have the opportunity to allocate time to study all aspects of creating online stores — you can try to master this skill. If you need a high-quality online store in the shortest possible time — you can order the creation of an online store from the specialists of the web studio Gloss.
Web studio Gloss has been creating online stores for more than ten years and during this time we have collected an extensive portfolio of projects, which you can get acquainted with by visiting the corresponding tab in the site menu. Order the creation of an online store in our agency and get a high-quality website in the shortest possible time. Create a successful and popular online store in 2021 together with the specialists of the Gloss web studio.
Website autotesting: bug control and system stability
Maintenance of a Drupal website. Automatic testing of website functions
Website testing is a tool that allows you to detect errors in the work of the site before they are noticed by the visitor. This is especially important for online stores and corporate websites, because even one failure in the order form can cost you a lead or a sale.
As part of Drupal website maintenance, Glyanec implements automatic testing of key functions. The program regularly simulates the behavior of a real user - for example, adding a product to the cart, proceeding to checkout, submitting a form. In case of errors, we receive notifications and respond promptly.
This allows us to maintain a stable website, especially after updates or the launch of new modules.
Website autotesting: checking the order form, shopping cart, performance
In Drupal, autotesting is customized for the key stages of the user journey. We check:
- the availability and operability of buttons, forms, filters;
- the logic of the shopping cart and checkout;
- the speed of page loading.
The autotest can cover standard and advanced scenarios - it all depends on the specifics of the project. It is an ideal solution for eCommerce websites where every click counts.
Autotests for Drupal website: a flexible solution within the framework of technical support
Drupal allows you to flexibly customize autotests for any functionality. If you have complex logic, a non-standard form, or deep integration, we can add customized test scripts:
- testing document generation;
- checking authorization or accounts;
- data integrity control after integration with CRM;
- checking multi-level forms or API requests.
This increases reliability and avoids failures at important moments: during an advertising campaign, promotion, or content change.
Do you want to know if autotesting is right for your website? Leave a request on the contact page, and we will tell you about the possibilities of Drupal maintenance with customized solutions.
Website development for the Polish market!
We are your reliable partner in setting up and developing your business in Poland. Our company offers a full range of services for the launch and successful operation of your company in this country. We specialize in the development of websites in Polish, adapted to the needs of the local audience. Our web development professionals have many years of experience in designing and optimizing websites for the Polish market, which will allow your business to compete effectively and attract customers.
Our services include:
- Polish website development: Our website development professionals will create an effective and attractive Polish-language website for you that will attract the attention of local customers.
- Marketing services in Poland: We will develop a marketing strategy for you that will allow you to set up effective advertising campaigns and attract your target audience.
- Rebranding your business: Our rebranding experts will help you update your company's image and emphasize your strengths to attract new customers.
Cooperation with us covers a wide range of services for entrepreneurs and companies expanding their activities in the international market. We offer professional translation of documents and information, advice on local banks and financial procedures, assistance in registering a business and opening a branch, as well as support in choosing a payment and delivery system. In addition, we can provide you with contacts for registering a legal entity in Poland, office selection, accountant contacts and other services. We make sure that your business initiatives are successfully implemented in the new market conditions.
Address of the office in Poland: Biuro 315, Regus Equal Park 3rd Floor, Wielicka 28, 30-552 Kraków
Don't waste time - choose our company for a successful start in Poland. We know how to make your business competitive in this market!
For a successful start in Poland, please contact us:
📞 Phone: 0 (800) 750-751
📧 E-mail: [email protected]
How a website audit can transform your business
A website audit is not a simple check, it is a necessity that allows you to deeply understand both the technical and marketing aspects of your site. Is your website optimized for search engines? Does it communicate effectively with your potential customers? The answers to these questions can radically change your approaches and strategies. Ordering a website analysis can reveal hidden issues that are holding back your site's lead generation and customer acquisition potential. Whether you're looking to improve your site's search engine rankings or increase user satisfaction, an audit can provide you with the tools and guidance you need.
We will look at how a carefully prepared audit can significantly improve your website and make it more competitive. We will discuss what aspects of a website are checked during an audit, what benefits it can bring to your business, and how you can order a website audit from professionals to ensure the best results.
Why does your business need a website audit?
Excellent website usability is not just a nice bonus, but a critical condition for ensuring online success. A website audit allows you to analyze in detail how conveniently and efficiently users interact with your site, and how this affects your business's ability to achieve its goals. Here are some reasons why it is important:
- Increase user satisfaction: An audit reveals navigation and interface issues that may prevent users from easily and intuitively finding the information they need or performing the actions they want on your site. Improving these aspects can significantly increase your visitors' satisfaction.
- Reduce bounce rate: When users find it difficult to navigate the site or perform the necessary actions, they are more likely to leave the site without converting. An audit helps to identify and fix design elements that can lead to a high bounce rate.
- Increase conversions: Website optimization can have a direct impact on your conversions. For example, simplifying the checkout process or improving the visibility of a call-to-action button can significantly increase the number of successful transactions.
- Search engine optimization: SEO audit and optimization is part of the overall website audit and focuses on aspects that affect your website's visibility in search engines. Analyzing keywords, meta tags, URL structure, and other SEO practices will help to push your website higher in search results.
- Improving accessibility: The audit also assesses how accessible your site is to people with disabilities. Ensuring accessibility not only expands your target audience, but also emphasizes your responsibility as a business.
- Optimization for mobile devices: Nowadays, it's important that your website is optimized for mobile users. An audit will help ensure that your website works efficiently on all types of devices, improving the overall user experience.
Ensuring a high quality website is an investment in customer satisfaction and the efficiency of your online space. Ordering a professional audit can help you identify critical issues and resolve them before they negatively affect your business. You can read more about SEO promotion in the article "Features of SEO optimization of an online store"
How the audit is conducted and what we offer
Website audit is a complex process that includes several key stages. Each stage has its own specifics and requires a detailed approach. Our team of specialists uses advanced technologies and techniques to ensure the highest quality of services. This is how we work:
- Audit planning: First of all, we identify your business goals and website features. This helps us to prepare a personalized audit plan that takes into account all the necessary aspects: from technical analysis to user experience assessment.
- Technical audit: At this stage, we check the technical component of the website: coding, information architecture, compliance with SEO and web accessibility standards. We identify technical errors that may prevent the site from being indexed by search engines or impair overall performance.
- User experience (UX) audit: We analyze how visitors interact with your website and evaluate the usability of the interface. In this context, we can also put a heatmap on the site. Heatmaps allow you to visualize where users click most often, how long they stay on certain segments of the page, and how they scroll through the page. This is very useful for improving page structure and content.
- Report and recommendations: At the final stage, we compile a detailed report that includes all the issues we found and specific recommendations for fixing them. We provide practical advice that can be implemented quickly to improve your website.
- Support and optimization: After the audit, we also offer website maintenance and optimization services. This can include regular updates, monitoring of website performance, and additional checks for compliance with changed requirements or technologies.
Our goal is not just to identify problems, but to provide you with the tools and knowledge to solve them effectively, so that your website not only works at full capacity, but also helps you grow your business.
Glyanec provides professional website audit services that include technical audit, usability testing, SEO optimization, and analysis of your website's accessibility and security. We use advanced tools, such as heatmaps, to analyze user behavior in depth, allowing us to offer targeted and effective solutions for each client.
If you want to ensure that your website functions at the highest level, meets all modern requirements, and works as a powerful tool for your business, contact us. Order a website audit in Glyanec today and take the first step towards improving your online space. We guarantee a professional approach and dedication to achieving your business goals.
What are the advantages of websites over mobile apps?
Different companies are faced with the choice between developing mobile apps and websites every day. While mobile apps may seem convenient and innovative, it's important not to ignore the numerous advantages of websites. Ordering a website is not just an investment in an online presence, but a strategic decision that can significantly reduce development and maintenance costs, provide a wider audience reach, and improve search engine rankings.
We'll take a closer look at why websites compare favorably to mobile apps, analyzing their functionality, accessibility, and maintenance costs. The importance of websites in today's digitalized landscape cannot be underestimated, as they play a key role in attracting customers, expanding the market, and optimizing the user experience.
What is a website and a mobile application?
Websites and mobile apps play vital roles in promoting a business, but they have significant differences. A mobile app is a program downloaded and installed on a mobile device that can use the phone's system capabilities, such as a camera, GPS, or gyroscope. They can offer a more personalized experience, but they require significant investment to develop and maintain.
Therefore, choosing between website development and in-house development usually turns out to be a more profitable and effective solution.
Main advantages of websites
Websites offer a number of benefits that make them an attractive choice for businesses of all sizes. Let's take a look at a few of the key benefits you should consider when considering a website for your business.
- Universal access: One of the main advantages of websites is their accessibility. Visitors can access your site from any device that has an Internet connection, regardless of the operating system. This provides a wide audience reach and the ability to attract more potential customers.
- Cost-effectiveness: Ordering a website is often much cheaper than developing a mobile app. The cost of developing and maintaining a website is lower because you don't need to create separate versions for different platforms, such as iOS and Android. In addition, updates and changes to the site can be implemented faster and easier, which reduces overall maintenance costs.
- SEO and marketing benefits: Websites provide better opportunities for search engine optimization (SEO). This means that your website can rank higher in search engines, increasing the chances of being discovered by potential customers. Optimizing your website for search engines helps to increase its visibility and attract more organic traffic.
- Improving the user experience: Websites can offer a rich and user-friendly user interface that is adapted for different devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. With a responsive design, users can easily navigate the site, which improves the overall user experience and can increase conversion rates.
With these benefits in mind, building a website is a rational choice for businesses looking to maximize the benefits of their online presence. Not only do websites save money and resources, but they also provide ample opportunities to scale and grow your business.
Why do users abandon mobile apps?
Despite the significant development of mobile technology and the increase in the number of available apps, many users still prefer websites. This is due to a number of reasons that point to certain disadvantages of mobile apps and limitations that can affect the user experience.
Most users do not see the need to install mobile applications when they can easily access the same services or information through a website on their laptop or smartphone via a browser. This is especially true for those services that users use infrequently or sporadically.
Additionally, users emphasize that mobile apps often take up too much space on their devices, which can be critical for those with limited storage space. There are also concerns about battery and mobile data consumption, especially when apps are running in the background or transferring large amounts of data.
Privacy and security issues
One of the biggest concerns that pushes users away from mobile apps is the issue of privacy and security. Many apps require extensive permissions to access personal information such as contacts, location, social media data, and even personal files, which raises concerns among users about how this data is collected, stored, and used. There is also a fear that mobile apps may be vulnerable to hacking, especially those that store sensitive financial data or personal information. Data breaches at large companies that have made headlines only reinforce these concerns.
These factors contribute to the fact that many users prefer to use websites that do not require a download and provide quick access to services without the need to install resource-consuming applications. This confirms that websites can be a more convenient and secure solution for many users. However, for many companies, creating a website will prove to be the most optimal solution to effectively attract customers and provide high quality service with minimal costs and complexity.
To summarize, a careful choice between website and mobile app development should be based on the specific needs of the business, its target audience, and available resources. However, for many companies, ordering a website will prove to be the most optimal solution that allows them to effectively attract customers and provide high quality service with minimal costs and complexity.
What are progressive web applications and what are their advantages
Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) are changing the way we think about what websites can do. This technology combines the best of the web and mobile applications, offering speed and usability that was previously only possible in apps. In this article, we'll take a closer look at what progressive web apps are, what technologies are behind them, their benefits, and key implementation considerations. We will pay special attention to how progressive web applications can transform your business by providing a better user experience and increasing productivity.
What are progressive web applications?
Progressive web applications are a type of software that is split into a website and a mobile application. This allows users to install web applications on their devices and use them in a similar way to regular mobile applications. An important feature of PWAs is that they use web browser technologies but offer functionality that is usually associated only with mobile applications.
The PWA concept was first introduced by Google in 2015. The goal was to make the web experience as convenient and fast as possible. Since then, the technology has gained significant development and support, especially from companies seeking to improve the mobile user experience without losing the versatility and accessibility of the web.
Technologies used in advanced web applications
Progressive web applications use a number of modern web technologies to provide users with an experience that is as close as possible to mobile applications. The most important of these technologies are:
- Service Workers - scripts that run in the background, independently of the web page, and allow you to manage network requests, cache resources, and use push notifications.
- Manifest file - a JSON file that allows developers to install a web application on the home screen, set the icon and the start screen.
- Using HTTPS - ensuring the security of user data and the reliable operation of web applications.
Why progressive web applications are better than traditional sites
Improving the user experience
Progressive web applications are characterized by extremely fast loading speeds and high responsiveness, which is ensured by data caching and intelligent management of network requests. This means that users are able to access content instantly, regardless of the quality of their Internet connection, which significantly improves the overall user experience.
Offline access and support for push notifications
One of the defining features of PWA is the ability to work offline. This is achieved thanks to Service Workers technology, which allows web applications to cache important content and provide access to it without the need for an Internet connection. In addition, PWAs can use push notifications to inform users about news, updates, or special offers even when they are not using the web application.
Increase engagement and conversion rates
Thanks to better user experience and offline capabilities, PWAs demonstrate high rates of user engagement and increased conversions. The ability to load quickly and run smoothly on any device ensures higher customer loyalty and a higher likelihood of completing targeted actions, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form.
Steps to implement progressive web applications in your business
Implementing progressive web applications may seem daunting, but with the right approach, the process can be efficient and smooth. Here are the basic steps to integrate PWA into your business:
- Audit the current state of the website - check if your site is ready for conversion to PWA. This includes ensuring HTTPS compatibility, site responsiveness on different devices, and the availability of all necessary technical aspects.
- Developing and configuring Service Workers is a key component of PWA that allows the website to work offline and use push notifications.
- Creating a web app manifest - a manifest allows users to add your app to the home screen of their devices, providing easier access and a more native experience.
- PWA testing - ensure that your PWA works properly across all devices and browsers, with special attention to offline mode and loading speed.
- Monitoring and updating - once your PWA is up and running, it's important to keep it up to date and make updates to resolve any issues or improve functionality.
To illustrate how easily and quickly users can install a progressive web application on their devices, we have prepared an animated GIF. This GIF shows the process from the moment a user visits a website to the moment they install the web application on the home screen of their mobile device. This demonstrates the simplicity and ease of use of PWAs, as well as their ability to offer a native experience through a web browser.
Progressive web apps are a powerful tool for business development, offering speed, convenience, and an enhanced user experience comparable to native mobile apps. They allow you to achieve a high level of customer engagement, provide the ability to work offline and send push notifications, which is critical in today's dynamic market. Thanks to their ease of installation and efficiency, PWAs can significantly increase conversion rates and improve the overall user experience.
If you're looking for a way to make your web experience more efficient and engaging, progressive web applications can be a great solution. Remember that proper implementation and ongoing updates are essential to the success of any technology solution. Don't hesitate to bring in professionals to help you optimize your website to turn it into a responsive web app and take full advantage of its capabilities.
Just one step to your perfect website
