If you own an ecommerce business, or even just thinking of starting one up, there are some special tools you should consider for this venture. An ecommerce website owner has a lot more to worry about than someone who just manages a regular website. With that in mind, here are the five tools you should know about and utilize for ecommerce:

SSL Certificate

Getting an SSL certificate for your site guarantees the safety of your consumer’s information when they do ecommerce business with you. In the past, people were more skeptical about entering their information–such as their credit card info as a form of payment–but with SSL you can offer these consumers peace of mind and protection from theft.

A Call To Action (CTA) On Every Page

The goal of owning an ecommerce site is to make sales. Therefore, it is extremely important that you are always pushing the sale, or at least more information, on every page of your website. This should be done in a non-intrusive way, so that a visitor always has what they need available. Good examples of this are a “Buy Now” link or “Read More” link, which will push potential customers into making a purchase. The more information you can supply about a product the better, but it has to be presentable and keen to the eye. You can look at established websites (such as Apple.com) to see a great example of how this can be accomplished in an effective manner.

Offer Promotions

A business that offers promotions to customers on a consistent basis will usually perform better than a business that ignores this tactic. It’s not surprising that people just like saving. Think about how a $15 discount from your favorite department store could quite easily convince you to visit them. An ecommerce website can use similar tactics, including seasonal or holiday sales, deals of the day or free shipping. These types of promotions insinuate a limited-time value or just a good deal in general and encourage people to make a purchase.

Make The Checkout Experience Fast

No one likes waiting in line at the grocery store or the mall. The same applies to an ecommerce website. If the process is too slow due to long forms or numerous pages needing to load, it will be a major turn off to shoppers and many will bail on a potential purchase. Make the checkout and shopping cart experience as swift as possible to facilitate a smooth sale. Amazon is the shining example of this, as they have implemented a one-click purchase feature that encourages easy, quick sales.

Search Bar

Regardless of how great your website is, many consumers are on it for something they know they already want. These consumers would rather simply search for it on your website, rather than scroll through and browse. Make sure you have an optimized search bar feature to make this sect of consumer happy. How does a search bar get optimized? Give visitors options to filter the results, and offer both grid and list viewability.