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As a web designer you always think about the eCommerce web design process with all aspects like technical parts as well as wireframes of site, code, and content writing. You should keep in mind the great design is not to add social media buttons or any type of animation in a website. Great design is actually about you having some process to create a good looking website that navigation is good.

Well designed website looks awesome and it gives a better user experience. They attract visitors on first click and also help users to understand about the company and their services. This all happens with good visuals, text and interaction. Whenever you think of an eCommerce web design process then keep in mind every element of your site  is defined as a work goal.

Now you have a question in mind, how can you achieve all the things that are beneficial to design a website. Good looking websites give you more user attention and they believe in your businesses. In this article, we will give you a clear roadmap with steps for the eCommerce web design process.

Here are 10 Steps of The eCommerce Web Design Process :

For me to build a good looking website, we follow these 10 steps that are incredible and clients also like our eCommerce web design process. You can simply create a dream website by following these steps of eCommerce web design process;

1. Defining the goal
2. Find Competitor
3. Identify the scope
4. Create Sitemap and wireframes
5. Think about navigation
6. Create content
7. Project timeline
8. Visual elements
9. Testing
10. Launch

1. Defining The Goal :

Whenever you work with the client to build a website, firstly you have to determine what goals the website has and what the purpose is. In this stage you have to identify the end goals of website design. Here is the some questions that will help you in the stage of website development time;

• What is the purpose of the site ?
• What do they expect to build a website ?
• What competitor sites look like and how should they be different from those competitors ?
• What is the website branding strategy ?

This question is very important to build an attractive website. If you ignored these questions or not answered these questions in brief then the whole project will go in the wrong direction. Right directions are important in the journey of website building.

This is very useful to know about the goals. When you know your goals then you’re all steps in the right direction. Make sure you understand the website’s target audience clearly and also know about competitors.

Tools For define the goal steps

• Creative brief summary
• Audience Personas
• Brand attributes

2. Find Competitor :

To find a competitor is very important to build a website because you can give some inspiration through your competitors. You can easily find your competitor through going to these popular websites like moz, semrush or spyfu. Also searching top keywords of your website and get your competitors details.

You can analyze your competitors by looking at these things; Best features, product or services pricing, market share related, marketing overview, strength and weakness of competitors, culture, and testimonials or reviews. These points will help you to understand competitors in a better way.

3. Identify The Scope :

This is one of the most difficult problems that will occur in the design time of any website. The reason is your client set up one goal in their mind but this will expand from time to time and you have to change all the things in design time for eCommerce web design process.

Always keep in mind you are not only the designer of a website, you have to take care of all the things that are necessary for a website just like emails and push notifications. This is not a big problem for designers but these steps will give you more work. 

4. Create sitemaps and wireframes :

The sitemap gives the foundation of any well organized website. This helps the designer and gives a clear idea about website information architecture. Also explains the relation between different pages and content elements. This is paly a crucial role in eCommerce web design process so sitemap and wireframes is most important things.

Building a site without a sitemap is like building a hotel without the help of a blueprint. Thus, sitemap is very useful to build a website. Next we will learn some design inspiration and build a mockup with the help of wireframe.

Wireframes give a framework to storing site visuals design and contents, and also help to identify potential challenges and gaps with the sitemap. Anyway a wireframe never contains final design elements of a website. This is just a guide for how the site will overall look. Some web designers use sketch, Axure tools to create wireframes.

Tools for sitemaps and wireframes

• Writemaps
• Mindnode
• Pencil and paper
• Balsamiq
• Sketch
• Mockups
• Webflow
• Slickplan

5. Think about navigation :

Navigation is very useful for users, it allows visitors to access the most useful page. An accessible navigation gives a good user experience. You can improve navigation of the site by doing following practices;

• Alignment – Make sure your site alignment is good on different devices. You have to just check if the text, images, buttons, and content box is in the proper line.
• Readability – You have to check if the content of your site is easy to read or not. Readability is very important for improving user experience.
• Functionality – Website functionality means how a user can decide to purchase the products or get the information that they want.
• Accuracy – Your website content should be free of spelling mistakes, and grammar.

6. Create content :

Once your website’s goal, competitors, scope, sitemaps and wireframes, as well as navigation is in place. Now you have to think about the most important steps of content creations. Content creates on these purposes;

• Content for engagements and actions
• Content for SEO purposes

Content for engagement and actions – If your content engages customers then they take actions to fulfill website goals that are necessary. This content is not good for many reasons like visitors not staying for a long time on your web pages because the content is short.

Content for SEO Purposes – This type of content gives more traffic on your website. The process of creating and improving content to rank in search result pages is known as search engine optimization or SEO.

Knowing about your keywords and key phrases is essential for the success of any website. You have to use the tools Google Keyword Planner for ideas about search volume of target keywords and phrases. Your content strategies should be focused on SEO to get more traffic. Content should be well-written, informative, and search volume is good to rank on search engine results pages.

Tools for content creation

• Google Docs
• Quip
• Gather Content

Best SEO Tools 

• Google Keyword Planner
• Google Trends
• Google Frog’s SEO Spider

7. Project Timeline :

This point is very important for eCommerce web design process because your clients want a timeline and you have full confidence in when you can deliver projects. That is the reason to create a project timeline. 

We recommend firstly create this with your team members and then send it to your clients. You can use tools to create a project timeline for good communications.

Best Tools for project timeline

• Hubspot
• Zoho Projects
• Pipedrive

8. Visual Elements :

Finally, the time has come to create a visual design of your site. In these steps you will see branding elements, color choices and business logos. You have to choose the best suitable images for the site and optimize them. Whenever you choose the images keep in mind your images should be mobile friendly and there is some meaning to help in building trust.

Visual content is better for increased clicks, engagement and revenue. But many users want to see images on a website. You can use infographics or any types of images that connect with your messages. The visual design is the best way to connect with the site users. This will play an important role in site success.

Best Tools of visual elements

• Sketch, Illustrator, Photoshop
• Moodboards
• Visual styles guides

9. Testing :

Once all the things that are discussed above are ready then you are ready to test your projects. You have to check each page and all links that you inserted on the website. Make sure your website loading time is good and alignment in all devices and looks good in all browsers. Sometimes you have to see errors, do not worry, there will be mistakes in coding time. You have to fix all the things that are necessary. You can also use website testing tools to get better results of testing.

Tools for Website Testing

• W3C Link Checker
• Google Frog’s SEO Spider

10. Launch :

Now, that’s the time is coming for everyone who is waiting and excited for the launch of the website in the market. When all the steps have been tested and you are happy with the website then it’s the best time to launch in the market. 

Never expect this to go perfectly. Maybe some things need to be fixed after launching the site. Always keep in mind the web design process will never be stopped, it’s an ongoing process and you have some changes from time to time. This process will be known as maintenance of the website.

Conclusions

The last thing to remember in the steps of launch is that your eCommerce web design process job will never be stopped. The best things about a website that is never finished. Once the site is going live, you can continually check user testing on new content added and features. Always monitor analytics to improve site user experience.