Getting started with E-commerce sites
-
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
-
Glad to help out.
Adam
-
That's great Adam,
Thanks so much for taking the time elaborate like this.
-
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
-
Hi Gregory,
We're talking thousands (mostly clothing/accessories within a sport-specific field) of products, and they're using magento I believe.
-
Hi Martin. It will help everybody to give you good suggestions if you will tell us...
-
How many products? Dozens, hundreds, or thousands?
-
What ecommerce system are they using? Magento, Woocommerce, Yahoo, OpenCart, or _____ ?
-
-
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.
-
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...
-
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
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
If someone was brand new at all of marketing, where would you send them to get educated?
If someone had no marketing education, where would you send them to get a thorough education covering all aspects of marketing/advertising? Would you say you have to go to school for that? Would you recommend an online course set from CMI or MarketingProfs? If so, which one? Thank you 🙂
Industry News | | Crystalline_151 -
What is the best way to become a published writer / blogger for bigger industry sites?
I'm a younger SEO manager and wanted to started establishing my name throughout the industry through well written blogs, expert articles, and any advice that is needed. I know a lot of answers will be to start my own blog and establish that and I'll get noticed, but is there a good way to make the first contact with industry sites to get an article or blog post published to their site? Or is it a pretty tight "gotta know someone" inner circle?
Industry News | | MERGE-Chicago0 -
Subdomain initials vs full city name(s) for a multi city subdomain site?
Helping with a multi-city non-profit magazine/news blog. Subdomain options; sf.domain.com, ny.domain.com, la.domain.com sanfrancisco.domain.com, newyork.domain.com, ... Some cities added, will as an example seol.domain.com a city that doesnt have a recognizable initlals, like NYC for example. For brand, recognition, seo benefit, what have you used and why? Thanks
Industry News | | vmialik0 -
Google Will Penalize Sites Repeatedly Accused Of Copyright Infringement
Has someone filed a large number of DMCA “takedown” requests against your site? If so, look out. That’s the latest penalty that may cause you to rank lower in Google’s search results. It joins other penalties such as “Panda” and “Penguin.” We’re dubbing it the “Emanuel Update” in honor of Hollywood mogul Ari Emanuel, who helped prompt it. Read more here: http://searchengineland.com/dmca-requests-now-used-in-googles-ranking-algorithm-130118 What do you guys think MOZERS?
Industry News | | Chenzo0 -
Chrome blocked sites used by Googles Panda update
Google's Panda update said it used Chrome users blocked sites lists as a benchmark for what they now term poor quality content. They said the Panda update effectively took about 85% of them out of the search results. This got me thinking, it would be very nice to discover what are the exact sites they don't like. Does anyone know if there is an archive of what these sites might be? Or if none exists, maybe if people could share their Chrome blocked sites on here we might get an idea?
Industry News | | SpecialCase0 -
Starting an SEO Business - Stuff you need - HELP
When you started your SEO Business what software do you use to give information to your clients? How did you decide what to charge for your services? What services do you offer? Best tools to use? Any other information you think might be relevant? Thanks ahead
Industry News | | paulbaguley0 -
What is the best site-map software?
I am in the beginning stages of building a website and would like to know the site-mapping software for organizing my company's ideas. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Industry News | | canadianplum0 -
How does recent Google update affect e-commerce sites:
Most ecommerce sites use the original manufacturer product descriptions in their content. The product features and specifications are the content made by the manufacturer. Sometimes manufacturers insist that the ecommerce sites should use their original content and it is impossible to change what available in the original content and rewrite it.
Industry News | | IM_Learner1