If you are starting an online retail business, you will need to give plenty of thought to how you are going to display your products on the website. Being unable to view and touch a physical product puts online customers at a distinct disadvantage over high street shoppers, so you need to help them feel confident that the item you are selling is the one they want.

You can do this by thinking like a customer, and deciding which elements you should include on the page, that will help you sell your products. For example, if you visited a clothing website and there was no facility to view the clothes in different colours, and no zoom facility to see the design detail on the clothes, you would probably be disappointed and move on to the next website in the list.

Professional web design

Hiring a professional web design company does not need to be expensive, but whatever the cost, it will be an investment in your business that will reap dividends year after year. By portraying a professional online image, you will encourage visitors to make a purchase, giving them confidence in your ability to provide a top-class service.

This is where a professional web design company can use industry knowledge to guide and advise you as to what works best for your type of retail site. If you are a clothes retailer, for example, by using a gallery of images to display the clothes from different angles, you will give customers an opportunity to examine them in more detail and make a decision based on those images, and a good product description.

The ability to order multiple items and different colours facilitates a smooth purchasing process, as does a well-optimised product description. Many online retailers merely download item descriptions from the manufacturer’s website, but there are many gains to be made from taking the time to format your own product descriptions.

Don’t forget SEO

By including search-engine friendly descriptions, you can give your entire business a boost by attracting visitors who are looking for exactly the items that you sell. Effective use and placement of the right keywords can help to elevate your listings up the search results.

By having a cohesive design plan for your website, which brings together several different elements to improve the shopping experience for your visitors, you have the opportunity to increase sales and boost profits. By hiring an experienced web design company, you can rest assured that they will work hard to bring your plan to fruition.

David Hamer is an expert on the benefits of professional web design. If you live north of the border and are looking for help with web design Scotland offers many companies that provide professional services at reasonable rates. To take advantage of this expertise in web design Scotland residents should look online for further details.