But just getting people to visit your website is not enough. You need to reassure them you are a safe place to buy from – and that isn’t always easy.

Many consumers are still too scared to shop online – and the lack of a big-name brand behind your business can add to the customer fear factor.

It is all very well having access to a global market, but if potential customers feel unsafe transacting with you, your e-commerce strategy is not worth the paper it’s written on.

Customer security concerns

Small firms can do just as good a job online as bigger brands, but you have to demonstrate that you are fully up-to-date with security measures. First, though, you need to understand customers’ concerns.

These typically include the risk of identity theft and financial fraud stemming from the unauthorised release of personal information, receiving viruses or other malicious software from you, and the legitimacy of your business.

Strengthening your business’ e-commerce security is the most important thing you can do to quell customer fears. To do this, you should carry out a risk analysis of your e-commerce site. It’s also worth looking at sites you respect to see what they offer in terms of security. If in doubt, bring in a third-party consultant to check your site.

Essential security precautions

To keep hackers and malicious software from attacking your system, you need security software like a firewall and regularly updated anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

You also need to restrict access to consumer information to those who strictly need it, and then ensure that access is controlled, for example through password-activated application controls. Make sure that staff know of the importance of strong passwords (which use non-obvious combinations of numbers and letters) as well as the need to change them frequently.

If you take payments online, ensure your site is payment card industry compliant and use encryption on all areas of the site which take personal information.

Reassure potential customers

Even if your site is secure, you need to demonstrate it to potential customers before they are likely to buy from you. Most internet shoppers will recognise the signs of secure web pages – the https:// page prefix and the padlock symbol in their web browser – but these only appear once a customer has reached the transaction stage.

Demonstrate you take customer security fears seriously by addressing them early on in their ‘shopping trip’. Provide clear contact details, including your full postal address and a phone number – it helps demonstrate that you are a genuine business and have nothing to hide.

Be upfront about your delivery and returns policy. Concerns over returning goods are one of the main things that stop people from buying online.

Adding background about your business’ trading history along with customer testimonials will further endorse your credibility. You should also list any professional or trade bodies which you belong to. Membership of any accredited body will help reassure visitors that you are trustworthy.

By addressing online shoppers’ security concerns you will increase the chance that they make a purchase – and when they’ve bought from you once and had a secure experience, they are more likely to return.

If your objective is simply to get customers to visit your premises or telephone you, stopping at the homepage might not be a problem. Your homepage could simply give details of what your business offers, along with your contact details and a clear call to action — for example, “Visit our store on 1 High Street”.

However, if you want to get customers to convert — whether it’s to buy through your website, register their contact details, or sign up for a newsletter — they must find your homepage interesting enough to want to explore further. To help them do so, they will need clear directions towards their (and your) goals.Analyse web traffic

Start by monitoring how your web visitors behave. Use a free web analytics tool such as Google Analytics or Clicky to find out where visitors arrive from and whether they go beyond your homepage.

If you see them bouncing off the site at the homepage, it may be because they can’t find the information they want, are not drawn in by the content or have to wait too long for a page to load.

Alternatively, the problem could be as simple as a broken hyperlink. Check your site’s basic usability every few days. A slow-loading page can be off-putting, so speak to your web hosting provider if you have regular technical problems.

Review your website

Crucially, your whole website — not just your home page — needs to be clear about what your business offers, so that visitors can quickly decide if it is relevant to them.

If they have found your site through a search engine, ensure that you have information relating to their search terms on the landing page, whether this is the home page or another page. Failing that, make sure you include hyperlinks and tabs leading to specifics. If they don’t quickly find what they need, they are likely to leave your site within seconds.

Alternatively, you might want to divert groups of visitors to a landing page, when they enter specific terms into a search engine, leading them to relevant information faster. Always include a relevant call to action on your landing page, such as “Register here for our newsletter”.

Update content

Content should be fresh and topical, drawing attention to particular products or offers. User-generated content is one way of ensuring that your site remains engaging. Internet tools that enable people to interact with each other via the web — such as blogs, podcasts and discussion forums — can help you do this.

Design is also important, although a basic, easily navigable site is generally preferable to cluttered pages with expensive images.

You should also bear in mind that bombarding your visitors with advertising can be off-putting. So review any sponsorship to ensure it’s relevant, profitable and fits with your brand.

Monitor your changes

Once you have reviewed your website, monitor it regularly. Customers can give you valuable feedback, so ask them to complete an online survey or email them asking for their thoughts.

Schedule time each month to study your web analytics data, and act on it. Remember, your whole website is your virtual shop window and increasingly, it might be the first impression a customer gets of your business and what you offer