Whether you’re an established business building a website to compliment your offline sales, or you are embarking on an entirely new Internet based venture, you need to ensure that the developer you choose to work on the project is right for your needs.

Design and Development Skills

First and foremost, you should check out the portfolio of any web designers you are sounding out for the project.

A good web designer can be the difference between your online store looking like a local pound shop or a high end Jewellers. With competitors often just a few clicks away, a good first impression is always a great idea.

Your designer should also be proficient in the latest development techniques such as CSS, accessibility and cross-browser display issues; you don’t want to instantly lose potential customers due to problems on your new site.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Any developer which doesn’t take into account SEO when building your new site should be dropped immediately.

Good search engine placement can make or break an online business, and time spent on this aspect in the beginning will reap benefits in the future.

An ecommerce site which neglects SEO can be left with a large bill if the owner chooses to employee a dedicated SEO team, sometimes this can even lead to a complete site rebuild so it really is crucial that the basics are covered initially.

Basic items a developer should be covering are:

• Page titles and meta descriptions
• Proper use of H1 and H2 tags
• Not using images or Flash to convey search worthy information

Usability / Conversion Experience

This aspect of ecommerce development is what sets apart good and great designers.

A good designer can create a website that is visually appealing. A great designer not only creates a good looking site, they also ensure that the online store is easy for customers to use and make purchases from.

The ever increasing costs of online marketing only reiterate the need for a high performing website. If you can make greater use of your visitors than your competitors can, then you are well on the way to enhanced profitability and financial success.

Further information on conversion rate optimisation can be found by following the link.

Ecommerce Platform Customisation Experience

Many businesses new to the online arena go down the route of using a prebuilt ecommerce platform which they then pay somebody to customise based on their needs. The benefits of this approach include:

• Low initial rollout cost
• Possibility of existing online support resources
• Prebuilt features to add required functionality
• You are not tied to any specific development company

If you’re considering this route then choosing a developer with previous experience of different prebuilt ecommerce templates is essential.

Making a Decision

At some point you will have to decide on a developer to use, and if you have no personal recommendations to go on then the decision can feel daunting.

Remember the key points above, speak with potential candidates, ask to see portfolios, and even speak to previous clients if you can. With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, your new online store can become a great success for many years to come.

This was a guest post by Darren Atkinson as part of my Internet business opportunities series.

About the Author

Darren Atkinson is an Internet Consultant based in Hull, Yorkshire, UK. Offering clients web design, Internet marketing and conversion rate optimisation services. Further business, SEO and web design articles can be found on his blog.

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