SSL Certified Secure Website Hosting

Quick Summary:

  • SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption industry standard
  • Online users look for HTTPS URL’s
  • Web Design Phoenix e-commerce sites come standard with SSL security
  • All modern e-commerce websites need to be concerned with information protection

Don’t ever shortcut security

Don’t share private information on any website that is not SSL encrypted. Your customers will feel the same.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is the industry standard for ensuring appropriate encryption and security between website servers. SSL secures connections between machines using a combination of symmetric key and public key encryption as mail and web servers communicate via the internet.

SSL certificate encryption is standard practice to insure against hacking or malicious online activity, not to mention your customer’s private information and credit card data.

In layman’s terms, once two systems have been authenticated through SSL connection, cipher settings are established as well as a shared “key” used to encrypt any exchanged information for the duration of the session. This process maximizes the integrity of the system and confidentiality. This process is invisible to the user with the exception of a change in URL from HTTP to HTTPS.

Savvy users look for this whenever an exchange of private information is taking place. Any modern day e-commerce website solution must have proper SSL encryption in place or run the risk of security breach.

Analytics & Web Traffic Reporting

Quick Summary:

  • Quantifiable analytic data
  • Marketing decisions based on numerical analysis, not theory
  • Understand where customers are coming from
  • Know what may be driving customers away, and fix it
  • Learn what your competition is doing, and how to beat them

Analytic Data for Decisions

A major perk of doing business online is the ability to lean heavily on data. You have the ability to track analytics, traffic referral patterns, bounce trends, and generally to learn much more about the behavior of your target audience than ever before. When you keep an accurate pulse on what pages and layout structures are attracting business, you can quickly change any items which may be costing your company opportunity.

How are your customers finding you?

Analytic data allows our search engine optimization team to track keywords and website standing among your competitors in every major search engine. You come to understand exactly where your customers are coming from, where they’re going, what they’re buying, and what we might do to attract more business to your website. Keyword research shows exactly what your target market is interested in so that you can offer solutions or answers to their questions.

Tools of the Trade

Marketing strategies nowadays are not estimates on based on theory. E-commerce websites serve to gather quantifiable data, becoming the basis of many informed business decisions. Google Analytics, Google Adwords and Hubspot track everything and integrate with your CRM. Running website search engine audits where appropriate will help refine SEO strategies.

Fulfillment Process Integration

Quick Summary:

  • Order notifications via email, text, web portals, etc.
  • Streamline fulfillment processes
  • Minimize support requirements and staffing
  • Grow top line sales, reduce costs and expand profit margins

Integrate with current fulfillment processes

Your e-commerce website solution needs to streamline your order acquisition and fulfillment processes. To accomplish this, you’ll need to set up integrations with existing systems:

  • Tracking Inventory
  • Product Updates, Additions, Deletions
  • New Offers or Promotions
  • Customer Specific Pricing or Contractual Arrangements
  • Order Submission and Notifications
  • Payments – Online or Otherwise

Streamlining your operation and boosting profits

Order notifications can be emailed to anyone in the company, distributed to teams via text message, synchronized with website portals and tracking data presented to customers. Your e-commerce website has to make the buying process simple and clean for the customer, and could simultaneously reduce staffing and support requirements, and ensure that orders are packed and shipped expeditiously and economically.

Boosting top line revenues in combination with trimming costs and fulfillment expenses means bigger margins and more profitability for your firm.

Mobile Responsive E-Commerce

Quick Summary:

  • Up to 50% mobile users
  • Attract and retain mobile/tablet shoppers
  • Manage website operations from mobile environment
  • Track data and fulfill orders with your phone

Nowadays, nearly 50% of e-commerce transactions are conducting from a mobile environment: smart phones, tablets, and reduced screen sizes. Mobile responsive web design is imperative if your company seeks to attract and retain these users. In some industries, particularly wholesalers or business to business transactions, there’s an even higher likelihood that your customers are operating in a mobile capacity…perhaps in a warehouse or on the road.

Mobile responsiveness is a requirement

If your website is not mobile responsive, there’s nearly an 80% chance that first time users will bounce from your site to your competitor. Your e-commerce website must accommodate mobile users in order to maximize revenues. This is no longer the exception, but the norm.

  • Highly functional mobile interfaces
  • Intelligent design and navigation
  • Finger friendly layout structures
  • Fastest refresh rates
  • More scrolling and less clicking
  • App development or home screen buttons

Mobile helps website operators

Mobile functionality is great for website operators as well. As the owner of your e-commerce website, you need to have the ability to manage inventories, review analytics and traffic data, fulfill orders, and operate your business on the fly.

Our world is getting smaller and both customers and website operators are constantly on the move. Your e-commerce website needs to allow for this trend.

Unlimited Server Bandwidth

Quick Summary:

  • Unlimited simultaneous users
  • Unlimited products and product categories
  • 99.99% up time
  • 24/7 website monitoring

Can you handle the traffic?

Unlimited bandwidth means that the largest e-commerce stores can support unlimited simultaneous traffic and the site will not slow or fail under the strain of exceedingly high web traffic.

Your website should be guaranteed to be up and running 99.99% of the time and  monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. This means your e-commerce business will never close and you can rest assured that someone is paying close attention to the performance of your website.

Many web and e-commerce developers overlook this factor, particularly as companies scale up and grow their online commerce operations. Find a group that will provide all the resources you need to grow exponentially, and stands prepared to support you and your website when you get there.

E-Commerce Consultation

Quick Summary:

  • Investigate before providing recommendation
  • We learn all we can about your company and competition
  • Draw on past experience and similar work
  • Provide insights into online marketing strategy
  • Deliver results with emphasis on profitability and ROI
  • Online presence integrates with existing marketing strategic plan

 

In most fundamental terms, find somebody that understands e-commerce.

Your online presence and e-commerce solution must integrate into the overall strategic marketing plan and existing processes. This requires some investigating into how you are conducting business presently, and how changes to your online strategy can yield best possible results.

Asking the right questions

Think about going to the doctor…they should never be prescribing anything until they completely understand what is ailing you. Your developer needs to be asking you questions that go well beyond simple website aesthetics and functionality before providing recommendation:

  • How are you currently acquiring customers?
  • How are you differentiating yourself from your competition?
  • What are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and possible Threats?
  • Is there a sales force or are you relying on Search Engine Optimization?
  • Who are your customers and what do they care about most?
  • What technologies do you have in place? …will you have in place?
  • What is your strategic plan for the next year, 3 years, 5 years and beyond?
  • Are there new markets or opportunities we should be considering?

Spending time on the front end

You developer must learn about your competitive set and what they are doing. While they’ll never understand your business as well as you do, there is a fair chance a good design firm has worked with comparable groups in the past and may have insights which may not have been considered.

Spend extra time communicating on the front end before making any decisions. This will go a long way toward minimizing surprises, delays and extra costs. Your developer should welcome lots of communication as well…because it accomplishes the very same thing for them.

 

E-Commerce Search Engine Optimization

Quick Summary:

  • SEO considerations begin before the site is developed
  • Analytics and keyword research
  • Search engine strategy based on data, not conjecture
  • Understand SEO and compete favorably
  • Manage budgets and maximize ROI

I suspect you found this website online through some kind of search engine. This alone justifies our claim as search engine optimization experts. Additionally, we are competing in an environment with literally all other website developers showcasing SEO prowess. We understand search engine ranking, keyword strategy, and driving traffic to your website.

Most organizations (although not all) place a high value on driving organic search engine traffic to their e-commerce website. Depending on the industry you are in, this is likely a highly competitive game, and one which must be carefully navigated to achieve best possible returns. Everyone would like to be #1 in every search result, driving valuable web traffic to their sites…by definition, not everyone can win.

Web Design Phoenix employs Certified Search Engine Optimization specialists to help companies achieve desired standing in search results. Right from the beginning, SEO needs to be considered. When it comes to navigation structures, domain or URL selection, product naming conventions and handles, product descriptions, meta tags and information, image naming conventions, image alt tags, product specifications, and a wide array of other considerations must be understood to succeed.

Our team will assist and provide SEO guidance right from the outset, and develop and strategy suited to your budget and search engine optimization goals. We perform details analytic searches and keyword analysis in order to understand and more importantly, to quantify the strategic recommendations we are making. Our SEO services are not based on conjecture or theories, but grounded in proven search data and actual performance results.

Call any time to discuss how we might help your e-commerce drive traffic and deliver dollars to your bottom line.

Custom Programming & Website Functionality

Quick Summary:

  • Any design or programming requirement is possible
  • Alignment with strategic planning and branding requirements
  • Always emphasize return on investment
  • Understand all benefits and risks…in writing
  • Make the most informed business decisions

While return on investment is usually the goal, standardized website solutions are not always sufficient. Consider customizing your website to add value or deliver a memorable user experience:

• Enhanced design aesthetics or branding requirements

• Product categorization or configuration filter menus

• Product displays, presentation of specifications or product showcases

• Order handling and tracking

• Unique payment gateway configurations

• Website menus and purchase navigation

• Mobile responsiveness

• Custom functionality specific to your industry, product lines, or otherwise

Custom website development is typically more expensive, however, seek to value engineer projects with a focus on cost containment and return on investment. Discuss all possible alternatives, allow your developer to provide insight into benefits and concerns, and they should provide you with a detailed, written proposal for any work to be completed.

Abandoned Checkout Recovery

Quick Summary:

  • Consider Shopping Cart Abandonment strategy
  • Notifications and email reminders
  • Up Selling opportunities and related products
  • Maximize online sales and return on investment

Capture those missed opportunities

While implementing an e-commerce shopping cart solution ideally suited to your customer base is imperative, the inevitability of abandoned shopping carts warrants significant consideration. E-commerce analytics suggest that over 50% of abandoned shopping carts can be recovered within the first few hours, and dropping to 10% within the next 48 hours. People change their mind, for whatever reason. It’s vital to enact a strategy to capture these missed or lost revenues.

Data also suggests that a proper e-commerce shopping cart abandonment strategy can recover up to 80% of would-be business.

Typically, a reminder email will be sent within a couple hours, with follow-up emails or notifications again in a matter of days or weeks depending on the industry and client demographics. Whatever the strategy, it is important to understand that when a customer is at the shopping cart stage of the online purchasing process, they are the closest thing possible to a sale.