The purpose of all the websites is to attract maximum web traffic and to generate maximum leads from them. But designing for the different website types is entirely different from one another. Take for instance the designing of a shopping portal and a community website. Though both the websites are aiming at attracting more viewers and more interaction in the website, the outlook and the designing style of the two shall be quite different from one another.
Online shopping portals are a new face of our real time market hence must be designed in a creative but simple manner so that it is easy for the users to transact from it.
The main purpose of an online shopping portal is to make online purchase. Hence, the ecommerce website designs are constructed in such a manner that they lead the visitors to accomplish the simple task of making an online purchase. Thus, there are a few differences in a website that is created for ecommerce and that which is created for other purposes.
Shopping portals also need to be supported greatly with content which is written in simple and easy to comprehend language. Since, there is no flesh and blood salesman in your shopping portal, there must be content which will assist the visitor on every step.
Coming to the designing part, it is important that you design your website well so that the user is able to browse through your website freely. Shopping portal designing should not be too cluttered, neither should it be too scattered. Your website should have ample space to fit in your products with a wholesome description.
Navigation is a very important aspect of Online shopping portals. Just like a shopper is free to move around in a physical shopping mall, so should he be free to move around in a virtual mall. Give your visitor the freedom to browse through the website and look around other products too so that he can come back to buy them when he needs them. A way of retaining customers to shopping portals is by asking them to fill up a form containing their basic information, so that you can keep them in loop through mails and messages.