Designing an e-commerce website is no longer designing around an internet shopping cart and requires catering to an entirely different set of considerations. Before jumping in to design your business e-commerce site, understand what your site will do and what specific goals it sets to achieve. Your website will be designed around these goals, so take time with them.

Because this article's scope doesn't cover helping you with your corporate goals, I will assume you or your company is already familiar with this step and you're starting your website development after all considerations.

So let's jump right into this, shall we?

Because you are trying to emulate the same level of friendliness, expertise and professionalism found in brick and mortar stores, there are certain factors you will need to take into account. However, understand that your medium of communication is entirely different.

The following factors are some useful design tips for e-commerce websites:

Defining a USP
The first order of business is understanding a unique selling point ie what specific product or service are you providing, what benefits stand to differentiate you from your competitors. Understanding your "value proposition" and communicating it quickly (remember, you only have the first few seconds to attract visitors) is the first step.

Understand Your Target Audience
The next step is to understand your target market. Once you've pinpointed just who you're building the website for, you need to design the website around the market research.

Customer Friendly
Your website needs to look professional. The general concept of having a casual look to appeal to the "casual" customer is great...in theory. But casual customers aren't your only customers and your website needs to be designed around the majority. So professionality, customer convenience and easy to read sales copy with an easy follow-through (click, read, buy) are key.

Search Engine Friendly
Most of today's traffic is directed by search engines like Yahoo!, Google, Ask.com etc and any design stratgy needs to include a search engine optimisation plan. Even if you plan to buy it, e.g Google's AdWords.

Cash Flows
Costs are one of the most important factors to consider in any design plan. Many hosting packages include specific web site tools and services, which can either be bought by paying upfront or paying a subscription. Both methods have their advantages; the first method is a software-based solution, which can be used for a longer period. The second allows a test and evaluation period for the package before running it on your website.

Design Options
So what are your options? Well, can either do it yourself if you're technically aware, either by using existing templates (websites like Monster Templates offer pre-built and easily customisable templates for your design need) or with website builder tools often included in your hosting package.

Alternatively, you can outsource the design work to other organisations. For more information on help regarding selecting the right web development firm for you, please refer to the Related Articles section.

Concluding, if you take these factors into consideration not only will they help satisfy the one second rule, but will bring a consistent stream of traffic to your website.