You are ready to start your e-commerce business, but there are still many things to figure out. Since your website is a vital part of your success, you need to make sure you ask the right questions. No matter if you hired a company or a freelancer to take care of this part for you, don’t hesitate to discuss every single detail. By the time you have your business up and running, you need to understand how it works and what you need to pay attention to. Here are some points to discuss:
Who owns the domain?
You can build your online store on a targeted platform that offers this service, or you can buy a domain and do it from scratch, independent of any service. For this, you will have to buy a domain (the address of your shop). Most of the web developers will be happy to help you choose and purchase your domain, but you have to make sure you own it, not them. If they do own it, they can simply delete your website without warning and there isn’t much that you can do about it.
How safe is the website against a cyber-attack?
Depending on how it’s built and what features it has, your website can be more (or less) vulnerable for a cyber-attack. Of course, we all want to think that this will never happen, but in reality the online world can be quite a risky place, especially for businesses. From a good antivirus that you can use to an intermediate certificate, it is important to choose the right options for you together with your developer. If you don’t know much about digital certificates, it’s definitely something to look into.
How many visitors does it handle?
Imagine this: you promote your product, you let everyone know about the grand opening, you build a nice inventory waiting for your clients and many people are excited to see what you have to offer. On the big day, your website goes live and it crashes. Yes, it is more common than you think. Your website needs to be optimized to receive a big number of visitors at the same time. Take into consideration that during promotions or holidays, you will most likely get more visitors than you expect.
How often does it need maintenance?
As your store develops and you get more products and/or more customers, it may need maintenance or new features added. It is better for you to discuss this aspect from the start, so you know what expenses this will bring. When you negotiate a long-term collaboration, most of the time you can ask for a better price, not to mention that you will trust them and they will already know your activity. Even if everything seems to work just fine, it is always good to ask for a check before high-traffic days, like Black Friday or Christmas. Also, remember to pay your subscription for the domain or for the platform that you are using if that’s the case.
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