Getting started with E-commerce sites

[Martin_S]

Happy new year, Mozzers

We are about to take on our first E-commerce client which will be something new for us as we expand in 2014. Being a small outfit, we've never taken on a type of site like this before, which is great for new experiences and challenges.

Do you have any advice, recommendations, suggestions, things to look out for etc, etc when working with E-commerce sites for the first time ever?

thanks

M

[S_Curtis]

There's lots but some key pointers. First set up Google Analytics to capture orders and revenue. Then monitor the conversion rate (orders/visits) for SEO, if is goes down when you optimise for new keywords it might be that these are not good at driving orders and others keywords should be focused on.

Previously you could get conversion rates for each keyword but Google are not providing this data anymore. One way of understanding conversion rates of keywords is to do a trial paid search campaign to figure out highly converting keywords to go for in Organic search.

Hope that's of some help

[Martin_S]

Thanks!

Any advice on the SEO technicalities of working with an E-commerce site? That's probably where we need to most help and advice...

[S_Curtis]

Ok one is to get user reviews and questions/answers for products. With lost of products it can be hard to get enough content for each one, but getting buyers to add content saves time and helps with keywords you would never have thought of. There are a few software vendors that can help with reviews, bazaarvoice is one.

[GregB123]

Hi Martin. It will help everybody to give you good suggestions if you will tell us...

1. How many products? Dozens, hundreds, or thousands?

2. What ecommerce system are they using? Magento, Woocommerce, Yahoo, OpenCart, or _____ ?

[Martin_S]

Hi Gregory,

We're talking thousands (mostly clothing/accessories within a sport-specific field) of products, and they're using magento I believe.

[BeattieGroup]

Hi Martin,

First of all, as mentioned previously, you need to spend time ensuring that your tracking software (Google Analytic's or equivalent) is set up correctly in order to accurately track, eCommerce/revenue as well as any other important goal conversions such as contact forms, enquiry forms and CTA's. Having this data tracked precisely will open up a whole world of data that you can use to identify, problems relating to how the website is designed, structured and optimised which will help you and your client in terms of improving user experience and CRO.

Get your products listed in Google Shopping.

In terms of optimisation of your products a lot of people will tell you to focus on product descriptions, copy between 250 - 500 words ect. I'd advise you to focus on creating a strong listing so as to create the best user experience:

• Clear product and page titles
• Compelling Meta Descriptions
• Clear pricing
• Strong and appealing images and videos
• Bold CTA's "Order Now", "Add to Cart", "Buy"
• Focused descriptions that highlight the products USP's/attraction and specifications (use short text and bullet points as these are easier for users to quickly scan and absorb than lengthy descriptions.)
• Visible social share options with CTA's ("Have a friend that may be interested in these jeans?" or "Show off your new jeans with friends") - let your customers help with the marketing!

Push for customer reviews and ratings.

As mentioned there are many many more things to focus on, an ecommerce site is an ever growing thing and new problems and challenges occur frequently, therefore my top tip is to monitor analytics and site performance like a hawk!

Hoep thsi helps get you started!

Adam Holt

OnlyW3b.com

www.linkedin.com/company/only-web

[Martin_S]

That's great Adam,

Thanks so much for taking the time elaborate like this.

[BeattieGroup]

Glad to help out.

Adam