As a part-time freelance web designer my first opportunity to design an ecommerce site came about in late 2006. After nine months of work the site finally went live in July of 2007. I've read as many articles on succeeding at ecommerce as humanly possible, SEO, niche-marketing, ad-words, even articles on color trends and eye-tracking. And somehow, this being my first ecommerce design, I feel strangely responsible for the success of my clients site.

It's as if I were opening a business online as well, perhaps my design, or my advice given to a "less than knowledgable client", will somehow cause the store to fail.

The site sells Body Jewelry and Designer Inspired Handbags, two huge markets on the internet already. My client owns mall kiosks already and hosts purse parties, which can lead to direct offline marketing opportunities, but what about the random internet shopper who stumbles upon the site. What will that potential customer think? As a designer (a self-taught one) who happens to take a bit of pride and joy in my work, am i the defining factor in the success of Expressionbodyjewelry.com or does that responsibility fall squarely on the shoulders of the business owner?

As designers I feel it's important to push our skills and knowledge to a point where our designs can help lead an ecommerce site towards success. As with any business venture many factors come into play, I only hope that my decisions and consultation are both effective and have laid a foundation for a successful ecommerce site to grow.

Source: www.isnare.com