If you have recently built your online store with BigCommerce, or are about to get started, there are a few ecommerce tips to keep in mind when creating the perfect BigCommerce design. For those who haven't yet begun the process of creating your online store, I will walk you through the basics of setting up a BigCommerce store, and then discuss how you can use an ecommerce website developer to begin attracting customers to your newly created shop .

Building Your Ecommerce Store
Setting up your ecommerce website is made simple with BigCommerce. It is extremely user-friendly, yet still looks professionally-made. Online tutorials and a 24-hour support team will walk you through each step of the process and answer whatever questions you have along the way. If you're even the slightest bit skeptical, you can just test it out for yourself with the free 15-day trial website. When you're happy with the results, you can keep the site live and begin attracting customers. If you do not want to take the time to work on the small details of your website, you can trust a BigCommerce developer to set up your online shop as well.

Gaining Customers
No matter how much you have perfected the style and content of your website, you won't be making sales unless customers are actually visiting your store. So, how do you make that happen? There are plenty of different ways to attract customers. Personally, I have boiled it down to three main components: 1) Actively engaging customers via social networks, 2) Employing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to gain popularity and 3) Creating a BigCommerce design that encourages the visitor to make a purchase. Any BigCommerce developer will be able to help you with these tools more than I can, but for getting started here are a few basic guidelines.

Social Media
Today, everyone and their grandmother is a part of some social network. If your company hasn't yet jumped on that bandwagon, this is the first thing you should do (especially if your target market includes teenagers and young adults). But it isn't about just being present; it's about actively engaging potential customers. This can be done by searching relevant topics and commenting on other people's blogs, tweets and Facebook posts. People on social networks connect with others who take an interest in what they post. Once you are actively present, make sure to keep your pages relevant and interesting to attract more fans. Again, an ecommerce website developer can help you to set this up and give you more advice about engaging your customers.

Search Engine Optimization
The best SEO results often involve the help of an ecommerce website developer or a company that specializes in the area. However, there are still a few basic steps that you can take to drive more traffic to your website by increasing your rank on the different search engines. Here are three important and easy-to-implement tips:

1. Be aware of relevant keywords and include them in your website's content. The page header and title tag are the most important places to include keywords.
2. Use internal links within your ecommerce website that point to another section of the site.
3. Include captions or descriptions (with keywords) for each image on your website because the web crawlers will only register text, not images.

Ecommerce website design & development

Some BigCommerce design partners are very knowledgeable about how to design an ecommerce website in a way that will bring in more customers. The number one tip when designing your online shop is to look at it from the perspective of a customer who does not know what your company is. With that in mind, be sure that you clearly state not only the company name, but a clear description on the home page of who you are, what you do, and the unique value proposition that you have to offer. Three easy ecommerce tips that I have gathered over the years that make shopping on your site a better experience for the customer are:

1. Make the search box easy to find on all pages of the website, so a customer can easily search for what he wants.
2. Show the tax and shipping charges on the pre-checkout price. "Sticker shock" is one of the top reasons that a customer will abandon their online cart before completing checkout. (Be sure that the whole checkout process is as painless and simple as possible!)
3. Make sure that the layout of the website is appealing, yet not overwhelming. Use simple colors and don't overload with too many words or too many pictures on any given page.

Designing the perfect website may be difficult for those of us who have a clear image of what we want but are unfortunately not technically savvy enough to get it done. Lucky for us, BigCommerce has several website development and design partners ready to help. Their offerings and prices range greatly, so you are sure to find exactly what you need within your budget. They can help you with everything from social media links, search engine optimization and of course the design and development of your dream ecommerce shop!