If you want to sell products or services online, you’ll need an ecommerce website. Naturally, you can create your own site, but this may require a lot of time and a certain level of technical knowledge. Plus, you might be limited to generic templates with limited customization options.
With custom WordPress development services, you can get a completely unique website that’s tailored to your business needs. On top of that, you’ll have access to a team of experts who will take care of essential security tasks, performance optimizations, and more.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at WordPress development for ecommerce sites. Then, we’ll discuss the benefits of using a professional service. Let’s jump right in!
WordPress development for ecommerce sites (6 main responsibilities)
With so many beginner-friendly platforms on the market, many people choose to build websites themselves. When it comes to WordPress sites, WooCommerce is the most popular ecommerce tool.
In fact, nearly 40 percent of online stores are built on WooCommerce, making it the leading ecommerce software worldwide. Since the plugin is completely free, you can install and activate it yourself through the WordPress dashboard.
That said, ecommerce sites are particularly complex. These websites usually require extra functionality to be added to the base platforms. Plus, there are additional considerations like payment processing and data encryption.
That’s why it can be easier to seek out WordPress development services to get a custom ecommerce site built from scratch. Here are some of the main tasks an ecommerce developer can do for you.
1. Set up payment gateways
Payment gateways authenticate and process transactions for in-person and online businesses. With these tools, you can accept, process, and manage payments through credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets. Payment gateways also incorporate security measures like fraud protection and data encryption.
The WooCommerce plugin comes with Woo Payments. This payment gateway supports Woo Pay and Apple Pay.
If you prefer to use well-known gateways like PayPal and Stripe, you’ll need to integrate them into your store. This requires some technical knowledge.
That’s why it can be better to hire WordPress development services to configure payment gateways for you. This is particularly useful for API-hosted or self-hosted gateways which can be tricky to set up.
A WordPress developer can also secure the transaction on your end, and maintain a compliant environment. Plus, they can integrate as many payment gateways as you want without relying on WooCommerce extensions.
2. Implement security measures
WordPress and WooCommerce are very secure platforms, but their popularity can make them a prime target for hackers. Therefore, it’s important to implement the right security measures. This way, you can protect customer data and prevent WordPress attacks like SQL injections and cross-site scripting (XSS) attempts.
You can use existing solutions (including plugins like Jetpack) to secure your site. However, with limited technical knowledge, it’s easy to make configuration errors. Plus, if you do run into problems, you may not know how to resolve them.
With WordPress development services, security is taken care of for you. By running a thorough security audit, developers can identify weaknesses in your website’s infrastructure. They can also find any problematic themes and plugins.
Plus, you’ll have access to an expert who can suggest the best fixes for your site. This might include daily monitoring, regular backups, automatic updates, malware scans, and more.
The best part is that most quality services offer 24/7 support. That way, issues can be resolved quickly to minimize downtime and disruption.
3. Create seamless checkouts
When browsing products online, shoppers often add items to the cart but leave the website before completing the purchase. In fact, the cart abandonment rate on mobile devices in the U.S. is currently at 85 percent.
Therefore, you’ll want to optimize the checkout process for conversions. You can start by removing any barriers that might stop or delay customers from completing orders, like lengthy forms or popups.
WordPress development services can further enhance the checkout experience on your store. For instance, they might implement a one-page or one-click checkout to speed up the process.
Alternatively, you might ask them to add, remove, or edit checkout fields for a more personalized experience. Of course, there are several extensions that can add this functionality to your store. However, developers can build these features into your site’s infrastructure so you won’t need to rely on third-party tools.
4. Design responsive web pages
Mobile traffic currently accounts for nearly 60 percent of global web traffic. So, it’s very important to ensure that your pages display nicely on small screen sizes.
You can find tons of ready-made WordPress themes that are completely mobile-friendly. But, there are other important factors to consider to make your site responsive, and with an expert developer on hand, you’ll have access to all the latest strategies.
For instance, an experienced professional will know how to set the viewport to enable the client’s browser to control dimensions and page scaling. Additionally, developers can apply custom CSS to make images scale up and down seamlessly.
They can even create a separate “overlay” or “hamburger” menu for mobile users. In this case, menu items only appear when visitors click on the hamburger icon (usually found in your website header). This is a great way to save space and improve the user experience (UX) on mobile devices.
5. Optimize websites for search engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) employs techniques and strategies that help you achieve higher search rankings. This way, you can boost visibility and gain more organic traffic from the search results pages.
Again, you can find existing WooCommerce extensions to help you improve your SEO. But the problem with this is that you can become too reliant on WordPress plugins. Plus, SEO doesn’t follow “set and forget” rules. Instead, it should be monitored and updated regularly to make sure that content is performing as well as it can.
That’s why WordPress development services can be a better (and more proactive) alternative. Developers can implement on-page technical SEO practices. And, they can optimize your site’s architecture to help search engines better crawl and index your content.
In many cases, they will also perform keyword research for you. Furthermore, WordPress professionals can handle speed optimization and keep track of your SEO performance to improve or update the current strategy.
6. Set up custom navigation menus
As we mentioned, WordPress development services are the ideal solution for building custom websites. This extends to every aspect of your site, including the navigation menu.
Typically, WordPress sites display your menu items in your theme’s header. However, you might also want to set up a sidebar menu. Or, as we discussed earlier, you might want a separate hamburger menu for mobile users. With existing solutions, you’ll be limited to the generic template of the theme you’re using.
But with WordPress development services, you can explore different ways to customize the navigation menu to improve the UX. For starters, you might want to make certain menu items more obvious, hide less relevant ones, or even display images and videos in the menu.
This can be particularly useful for large ecommerce sites with lots of products since you want to help customers find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible. That’s why you might even want a developer to design a mega menu (which would include every web page on your site).
The benefits of using a WordPress development service
If you want to set up an ecommerce website for your business, you typically have two options. You can install WordPress yourself (if you have the technical expertise), or purchase a web hosting package (and the web host will usually install the software for you).
The first option is only suitable if you’re comfortable configuring your own server. Meanwhile, the second is great for beginners, but you’ll find limited customization options.
Alternatively, you could hire a WordPress development service. Here are the primary benefits of this option:
- Unique and professional-looking designs
- Enhanced functionality built into the platform
- Improved performance and a highly customized UX
- Expert security measures to prevent WordPress attacks
- Ongoing support and maintenance
The only downside is that these services can seem expensive if you’re on a tight budget. However, in the long term, development services can be fairly cost-effective. That’s because you’re less likely to run into issues that might be costly to fix.
The best WordPress development service for ecommerce sites
As we have seen, there are many benefits of hiring a WordPress development service to build your ecommerce website. But, it’s important to make sure that you choose the right solution.
Freshy is an excellent option for all types of websites, including online stores:
Freshy consistently delivers top-notch designs and fully functional systems (with a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee). You’ll be paired with a dedicated project manager to understand and realize your business goals.
This means you have access to a qualified expert if you have any last-minute questions, or you run into website maintenance errors that you need help resolving. Besides building custom sites, Freshy also provides SEO services, website security, website migrations, and ongoing support.
Conclusion
Nowadays, it’s relatively straightforward to set up a website, even if you’re a complete beginner. But, ecommerce websites are more complex. Therefore, it can be better to hire a WordPress development service to set up a custom online store that looks like no other.
This way, you’ll get ecommerce functionality built into the platform (without needing to rely on third-party tools). Plus, with a team of experts on hand, you can improve WordPress performance, secure your website, and access ongoing support.
With Freshy, you’ll be paired with a project manager who can help you with your business goals and set up your unique WooCommerce site. Your online store will be mobile-ready, SEO-friendly, and secure. Get a quote for your project today!
Featured image: Pexels.
