I am part of the Meylah community. In contrast with most of the artisans and crafters there, I share my eguides and other resources in my own store. I love the community and the resources that are shared with the member sellers. (NOTE: If you are looking for a wonderful online marketing venue, check out Meylah!)
Chaitra Vedullapalli, Marketing Manager for Meylah published a articles on getting your store ready for the 
holidays. Although the information is pointed to sellers who have mini-stores on Meylah, I feel the tips will work for any web presence. Here are her suggestions:
Online Shopping Tips : How To See Your Online Store from a Customer’s Perspective
…here are the top eight things that we know from our research that customers want to experience when visiting a(online) store:
- They want a store to appear fresh and up to date with new products and new posts.
- They want to know what they are buying – what is the product and what are the product specifics?
- More than the product descriptions customers are attracted to top notch photos – so they don’t want fuzzy, grainy, out of focus or boring photographs of your products.
- They want to feel that they are buying from a real business – so they look for a variety of products which tells them that this is more than just someone’s hobby.
- They want to know if their order is secure – not only will their payment be secure but can they return an item if they are not happy with it?
- They want to know if there is customer service assistance with your store – so they look for contact information.
- They want to know if you have a following – so they look to see what type of social media activity you have going on.
- They want to know what other people’s experiences have been with a store and since many websites allow people to post reviews of their products people will look for customer testimonials.
Chaitra’s 8 tips are a great place to start evaluating your website ‘from a customer’s perspective’.
What do you think? As a shopper, what do you look for in a website that makes you feel comfortable enough to buy?