The most important first steps in online shop development

The establishment of an internet shop can cost as little as couple of hundred euro if you will develop the major part of the website yourself or hire an inexpensive employee, for instance an IT student, who wants to make some extra money. However, if you want more complex e-commerce website, which will require highly skilled web designers and programmers, it can cost you from couple of thousands to tens of thousands of euro. The final cost of e-shop development depends on many factors.

If the website is operating in “Linux” (PHP programming language) operational system with free database control system (e.g. MySQL), then you do not need to purchase anything in addition.  In that case you just need to establish an e-shop system or to utilize one of the free ones. The cheapest way to create an online store is by using free open source programs, like “Prestashop” (www.prestashop.com). Such type of systems provides not only main functions of an e-shop, but the major design as well. Moreover, you are able to purchase or freely download additional functions, various e-shop templates as well as easily install them without any programming knowledge.

Another way is to acquire an already developed e-shop in: http://www.prestabox.com/en/ system. You will just need to choose an avatar and e-shop design, while all other features will be automatically configured for you.

Have you just created a website or an e-commerce system and thinking what is next? Are you also considering how to synchronize it with “Google”, “Bing” (SEO- search engine optimization) online search systems?

First of all, you need to choose a proper internet address for your e-shop or website (e.g. www. my-product.com). The right website address will strengthen its position in “Google”, “Bing” search engine results by keywords. Additionally, try not to use sign “_” in the links and use “-“, instead.  Another important step is to fill Title, meta keywords and meta description separately in each page. Do not hesitate in creating separate pages, especially product meta descriptions.  If you are not sure how to do that, use this link for instructions:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=79812

Use keywords <h1>, <h2>, <h3>. This will help you to get better results in SEO.  Utilize .htaccsess opportunities and content control systems as well as generate correct SEO links, which contain right keywords and not symbols. For example, instead of www.website.com?product_id=1, use www.website.com/music-ipods/ipod-shuffle.html. Furthermore, use alt=”” and title=”” attributes on pictures.

Very important step is to create a well considered content for each webpage. Such content should have right keywords in connection with website name, meta data and address. Highlight the most important keywords by using Bold, Italic and Underline properties as well as insert certain links in the keywords. Google system is able to determine the quality of the content, therefore, try to avoid grammar or syntax mistakes. High quality content can be found higher in the search results than the one with loads of grammar mistakes.

Another essential part is the establishment of web links net, which will dramatically increase the rating of your website. As many high quality links will be made to your website, as higher rating it will get. As higher rating your website will have as better results it will get in “Google” search system. Moreover, you should register your e-shop in all possible online business and website catalogs. Nevertheless, establish as original content as possible. Search engines are able to rapidly detect plagiarized content.

Finally, constantly update, review and expand the content on your website. Sometimes, after entering a website, we notice that last content was entered two years ago. It raises the suspicions if the company and its website still exist. However, when we call them to find out, everything seems to be in order. Have in mind, that “Google” does not call anybody, but only checks the last website update time and compares the content. Even if the content on the website is of high quality, without any updates it signals that the website is probably not in operation. “Google” prefers websites that are lively and fresh. Therefore, try to update the content as often as possible, preferably even once a week. This will demonstrate your determination towards the high quality webpage and increase the chances for being noticed by others.