As the holidays near there is invariable a focus on online shopping and how buyers can best protect themselves. In this months’ blog posting, we will be focusing on the ecommerce business and how they can best be prepared for the holiday online shopping season.
Make sure your website can be found
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a science but is an important component to making sure your web site is visible to the people your site is marketing to. There are many marketing organizations that will promise you that your site will be on the first page of Google searches if you contract them. Be wary. Google uses a number of metrics to determine placement and results are often accrued over time. If you want to immediately be visible, consider using Google AdWords. These are the sponsored links that you see when searching Google. We could dedicate an entire years’ worth of blog postings to Google AdWords, but the short take away is not to implement if you have not done your homework. The result could be a lot of wasted money. Know what your strategy will be before implementing, including where and when to advertise your site.
Also be sure to use accurate page descriptions when designing your web pages. This will help your site be found as Google uses this information in determining which sites to move up the list and which ones to move down. Many web developers do not take the time to fill this information out and it will affect your sites visibility. If you use a lot of product pictures, make sure they are tagged properly and have good descriptions as well.
Make your site eye-catching
There is a lot of competition out there on the Internet. Depending on which source you use, there are anywhere between half a billion and four billion web sites out there on the Internet. Customers have options for shopping. It is important to make your web site shopping experience eye-catching so that users stay and shop. Most users look at a site for a split second before deciding to stay and look around or move on. Using quality graphics is a must, use bullet points to make your text clear and readable.
Make your site easy to navigate and use
Customers want a positive experience on the web sites they use. Are your policies clear for things like returns or shipping policies? If possible have an easy to find “Chat” or “Help” button so users can get assistance if they need it. If your site does not have this, a hesitant customer will go to another website.
Use metrics
Capture as much information as you can from your customers shopping experiences. Use opt-in email for future marketing and be sure you have the ability to capture metrics for what sells and what does not, what verbiage is successful in capturing customers and what is not.
Make sure your site is secure
Security is often an afterthought for ecommerce companies. It needs to be a primary consideration. Are you using WordPress like 48% of the web sites out there? Are you aware of the vulnerabilities and do you keep your site patched? Are your plugins up to date? What do you know about the servers hosting your web site? Are you relying on someone else to understand and provide security? If so, you should realize that you are ultimately responsible for the security of your web site and the safety of your customers’ information.
Have questions? Call us at (888) 600-4560, email us, or see us on Facebook or Twitter and let our experts help your business.