If you have an existing site, or if you are just getting your business onto the web, here are some simple steps you should take to ensure you have a successful e-Commerce website.

Tip 1:.

Get your content right. When a prospective customer goes to your website they are expecting to find expert information and useful content that will help them make a buying decision.

Think of it this way, if you ring up a business or walk into a shop to buy something, you expect the salesperson to know what they are talking about and to give you helpful information.

If the salesperson doesn't know their product and can't give you helpful advice, you are probably going to walk out and check the competition.

Did you know 80% of people surveyed use the web for comparative shopping, or to gather information that will help them make a buying decision. They do this prior to ordering online or visiting a bricks and mortar shop.

If your site doesn't give them the information they need they go to your competitor's website - its as simple as that.

When you design your site forget the hype, instead be information generous.

With an editable website you can upload new information and create informative web pages without any programming knowledge. This is extremely important if you want to get your site into the top listing on the major search engines, and it's even more important if you want to be seen as an expert in your field.

But remember, when writing content use short sentences and short paragraphs to keep your content scannable. Most web users scan copy - they don't read it.

Tip 2:

Keep your website simple and keep the ratio of text to HTML content high by staying away from too much Flash, DOM, Java, and JavaScript.

Moving icons, flying pigs, ding-dongs, and music drive most people crazy when they are browsing your website. It drives search engines away too because the robots ignore content utilising the above technology.

Flashy sites are great for some owner's ego, but you won't be able to count the sales lost because you drove your customers away.

The choice is yours - big head or more sales! Simple sites attract business; complicated, flash filled sites could drive business to your competitors.

Tip 3:

Make sure your site loads quickly - within 3-4 seconds - longer and you lose 10% of your viewers for every second it goes over 4 seconds (10% can mean the difference between profit and loss for many businesses).

Tip 4:

Spell-check your scripts and make sure your grammar is correct. You won't get any brownie points for mis-spelled words or bad sentence structure. In order to build trust with your audience you need to look and act professional at all times.