E-commerce stores can be incredibly profitable online businesses, but they don’t make money all by themselves. To succeed with an online store, you need to manage the business well and market it wisely. I know from experience how many well intentioned decisions can have disastrous results. When I first got into e-commerce I had to learn as I went and make a number of mistakes as a result. The good news is that you can learn from my mistakes and avoid making them entirely.

Before you do anything to get your e commerce store running, you need to decide which platform you’re going to host it on. There are many of them out there, but Shopify is the one that I recommend the most. While the platform has a number of advantages, the biggest reason to opt for Shopify over the competition is that it is really simple to use. You won’t end up wasting time trying to master the platform, so you can focus on your business.

Now that we have that out of the way, it’s time to reveal the biggest mistake that you need to avoid making if you want your store to work well. What is it?

Not making a store that converts!

I talk to people who are getting ready to launch e-commerce stores all the time who want to know how they can make their site look cool or how to add fancy features. Right away, I stop them and ask “how is this going to help you get sales?”

In the end, it doesn’t matter how pretty or fancy your site is if no one buys. The most important thing for you to think about when you’re creating your store is “What can I do to get people who come to this website to buy?”

To get started designing a site that will give you a conversion rate, follow these tips:

1. Check out your competitors. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling. There is likely at least one other website selling the same thing as you. Take some time to hunt them down and then browse through their pages. What have they done to encourage customers to buy? What things about their site do you hate? By seeing what other people are doing, you can get inspiration from your ideas and see what not to do to ensure that your site is a success.

2. Look at the big names. Think about your ideal customer. What big name stores are they likely to purchase from? For example, my main online store sells dance clothing. Before I created my site, I thought about what other kinds of stores mothers who are buying dance clothing would be likely to shop. Victoria’s Secret and Macy’s came up high on the list, so I spent a lot of time looking at their websites to get information about how I should set up mine. The big name stores invest a lot of resources into researching how to get customers in their key demographics to buy, and by just browsing them for awhile, you can reap the benefits of that market information.

Now, here are my tips for increasing conversions:

1. Don’t Make Customers Think. Online shopping is meant to be quick and easy. When a customer gets to your site, they want to find what they’re looking for, make the selections necessary, put it in their shopping cart and then check out. When you’re designing your site, keep simplicity in mind. Always look for the easiest way to complete the transaction to encourage conversions.

2. Build Trust with Customers. Even though online shopping is common now, people still have some concerns about the reputation of online stores. You want to make sure your site looks professional, even if it’s simple. Make sure you have contact information for people to get a hold of you.

3. Have Informative Product Pages. Lastly, make sure that all of your product pages provide enough information to help people learn enough about the items and find what’s right for them.

For more in-depth information on these tips, check out my video!