Ah, the internet. You have to love it. It’s quick and easy and, dare I say, even  fun. Then again, it’s distracting, impulsive and temperamental (depending on your internet provider). All this said, however, it’s the greatest thing that has happened to shopping since, well, ever.  You can wear your pajamas to buy a luxury car, you can purchase take out food in the comfort of your bed, you can buy holiday presents without ever having to step in a crowded store and best of all, you can do this all at any given time on any given day. No store hours, no long lines and no so-so sales associates who don’t really want to be working with you anyway (sorry, retailers, but too many of you act this way). If it were only as easy as having an online presence to make shopping enjoyable, we’d all be doing it. But the truth is that there are many factors involved to successfully maintain an e-commerce site. Some tips to help your business thrive online include:

1. Show new products, products on sale or featured products on your homepage. These should be captivating images that lure your customer into the rest of the site and entice them to want to know more… and to buy. Don’t let this be the only image or information on your home page, but rather let it be part of a mix of information that will help attract them to your business and want to shop.

2. Avoid animation on your homepage and when possible, all pages. It slows your whole site down, period. This will then slow down your customer’s computer and in return, ramp up their impatience. You don’t want to lose them by giving them time to navigate to another website while waiting for your website to slowly load up.

3. Offer a strong search engine component on your website. If the customer knows exactly what they want, they can get to that page fast. If they know kind-of what they want, they can use key words to help them find what you have to offer. Consider this your “sales associate” of your site. Make sure it’s the best it can be – just as you would want any sales associate at a brick and mortar retail store to be.

4. Give payment options versus just one option. Even if you love Pay Pal, you need to offer more than just that.  Put yourself in your customer’s shoes… I’ll bet you will recognize then that one option is not enough.

5. Keep multiple clicks at a minimal to both find products and purchase products. The longer it takes to get to any point on your website, the harder it is for you to keep that customer on your website. Two or four clicks / pages in to find a product is the most they should have to do. As for checking out and purchasing something, you will want to keep this process quick and painless, as well. If there are any costs associated with purchasing their product choices, make sure you identify this very clearly, also. Shipping, tax and insurance are all possibilities and likely candidates for this scenario.

Essentially what you want your online experience to be for the customer is something they both enjoy visually and mentally. They should not be challenged while shopping – it should be easy. So whether their eyes are skimming the computer screen or their hands are skimming the keyboard, make sure their experience with your site is an enjoyable one. Even if you sell the best product, if your site doesn’t compliment this, you will lose online customers. Don’t fall victim to what can easily be corrected.