If you’re designing your first online store, always think of conversion (for retail: sales) as your main goal. The usual elements of design and website usability must be consider. This includes the right color combination, use of a call to action for purchase, use of product photos and easy site navigation.

Once you’ve got the basic elements down pat and are satisfied with the look and feel of your site, complement it with good copywriting to establish a solid brand and a clear and unique selling proposition.

Finally, it’s time to consider adding special features to enhance your site and increase conversion.

•Item tagging, categorization and cross-selling. Creating the proper categories for your products is just one part of the equation. You can consider adding a tagging feature to your product pages. This way, you can design the site architecture such that products with similar tags may display as thumbnails in the product page. This will encourage cross-selling of similar items.

•Top-selling items and gift ideas page. Just like in a brick-and-mortar store, there will be visitors who enter your site simply to go shopping. Help them make that next purchase step by giving them suggestions on what to buy.

•Reviews section – Online shoppers today are smarter and have more time on their hands to check out other options (including your competition). A common trend in online shopping is for the site visitor to look for items they like, narrow down the choices to a specific brand and finally to check out review sites to find out what others are saying about the product. Having reviews readily available on your site prevents your visitor from leaving the page to go to another site just to look for those.

We hope you find these tips helpful in designing your first online store. There are eCommerce solutions available online that would help you build your online store without the hassle. Shopster.com is an example of a website that provides the full service for online merchants – it helps you connect with product suppliers and dropshippers and has add-on services for website customization and optimization.