5 Things to Check Before Launching Your New Online Store

So, your new online store is ready to launch and you are on the mark ready to get, set go!

You have done a lot of juggling to create your own e-commerce website, haven’t you? Launching a webstore to sell your product or services online is a challenging task for sure.

Whether you are launching the online portal for your startup or an established business, you have to do meticulous planning and have an eye for detail. For the perfect launch, you need to sync up so many tasks and activities before the D-day. With so much on your palette, it is highly likely that you happen to miss out on some important aspects when you create your own e-commerce website.

So, along with all the excitement, anxiety and enthusiasm, you should have a checklist that ensures that your launch goes without hiccups. StoreHippo team has gone through this exercise numerous times for our clients who build a site to sell products online.

Based on our experience we have compiled the ultimate checklist that will ensure a smooth and flawless launch of your webstore:

1. Go through all the Integrations

To complete a functional order cycle on any webstore, you need to integrate various tools, plugins, apps etc. Prepare an excel sheet with a detailed list of all your integrations. Then when you ready, do the final thorough testing to ensure all your integrations are running smoothly. If you really want to make the whole thing foolproof, place a real order as a customer to check your payment gateway, logistics, Email and SMS notifications, mailer software, apps, or any other integrations.

Additionally, when you create your own e-commerce website you can also have social logins, Google analytics, live traffic checker tools etc. to understand the customer behaviour right from the first day.

2. Quality Check your website design

We have already discussed that engaging web design can contribute immensely to the success of your online venture. A neat and beautifully done store design can help you retain and convert your visitors better.

Along with a good design you need to ensure that the design is tested for cross-browser functionality and mobile responsiveness. StoreHippo’s E-commerce platform with responsive design ensures that when you create your own e-commerce website it runs seamlessly on all mobile devices and desktop.

To avoid any surprises, test your store design and functionality on mobile, tablet, desktop and using various popular browsers.

3. Navigation and Link Testing

The first thing to ensure about your website is that all its links and navigation paths are without error. There should be no broken links which might increase the bounce rate of your site.

Once the process to create your own e-commerce website is completed, make sure to run a test through free link checker tools to ensure there are no missing or dead links on your website.

4. Audit and check your Content

Content is the king- and to make a positive impact on your visitors you should have unique and engaging content on your online portal. If written effectively, your content can drive your conversions and can help you rank on top of Google. SEO optimized can do wonders for your business by bringing steady organic traffic to your store.

So when you create your own e-commerce website, use free grammar and plagiarism checker tools to ensure you have the best quality content posted across your site. For the catchiness and engagement value, you should ask your friends, family and team to review the content and use polling to choose and use the most liked web content copy.

Ensure the product descriptions on your new online store have engaging content as they help to boost sales. Also make sure that content for your various pages gives clear information about your policies, your address, origin, brand value etc.

5. Check server stability and SSL

Many a time, we have heard stories of a successful store launch or ad campaign gone haywire due to the server crash. Your server works as the backbone for your store and its complete functioning depends on the server’s stability.
Therefore, before launching your store, thoroughly check the server configuration and ensure that it is ready to take the expected load.

Also when you create your own e-commerce website, take care that you have SSL in place which ensures data security and safe transaction when you sell products online. SSL also goes a long way in winning your customer’s trust. Google also gives higher SERP ranking to sites that are HTTPS and secure.

Conclusion

Once you have tested your website on these parameters and find everything running smoothly you can lift the curtains and roll out your brand new online store.

StoreHippo platform takes care of many of the above-listed items for your store and offers affordable plans to launch your webstore. To know more drop a mail at [email protected] or book a demo.