There have recently been two new author additions to eCommerce Optimization (Jack & Slingshot). They each have been on a beginner eCommerce roll lately, posting about some of the basics, so I figured I would add in my beginner tips and tricks for both eCommerce design and SEO. The following two lists are not meant to be an exhaustive tutorial or guide into the world of search engine friendliness, they are primarily here for you to refer back to as you take on the task of building and optimizing your own eCommerce enabled site. Read through the lists, take mental notes and bookmark it for later review. I guarantee you will wish you had saved it when you find yourself working on your site thinking, “What was the next thing I am supposed to do?†Without further ado … here’s my top 25 beginner eCommerce tips and tricks in two parts. eCommerce Design Tips & Tricks Domain & Brand Name: Choose a domain name that describes what you sell, uses main keywords and is short and easy to brand. Many domains are chosen based on web site keywords and key phrases rather than for company branding purposes. It is a good idea to build your web site for the people that will be using it and this includes choosing your domain name. Some domains may already be registered or purchased for resale so do your homework before deciding on the perfect domain and brand idea. Preparing Content: Prepare content for homepage, sub-pages, categories, sub-categories and products using main keywords. Keyword rich content is important for search engine spiders to find once they come to crawl your site. With search-friendly content added to individual pages you will have a better chance of improving search engine ranking and increasing web site traffic. It is a good idea to plan and prepare for about 100 pages of keyword rich content. Remember, proper preparation prevents poor performance! Design Theme & Coding: Build your site layout and theme using cascading style sheets (CSS), valid code and easy to use interface. Using CSS will “clean-up†your source code giving search engines greater accessibility to your page content. This technique can also allow you to place your most important content closer to the top of your HTML documents and will make it easier for you to update the look and feel over time from a single file. Each page should be W3C validated and function well in all major browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari etc.). It is a good idea to keep the site clutter free with a professional appearance to the best of your ability. The faster the better, every second your users have to wait for a page to load could be loosing you traffic and sales. Naming Page Files: Name page files, categories, sub-categories and product pages using descriptive, accurate, keyword rich text. It is a good idea to use the most important keyword or phrase for the page you are naming. It is not a good idea to use long “keyword stuffed†page names. Nor more than one or two hyphens or underscores per file is ideal (-,_). Navigation & Search: Create simple and clean navigational elements and a site search that are easy to see and reside above the fold. It is important to “cross link†your topical content across your entire site so that search engines can pass along value to your other content rich pages and so users can easily find the content they are looking for. Google will pass PageRank (PR) along to other pages on a site if you link one page with PR to another page with related content. Other good navigation tips include linking all of your pages to your homepage, creating a site map, using a site search function and help pages (FAQ, forums, blog etc). SEF URLs: Use search engine friendly URLs so both users and crawlers can find the pages they want with ease. Many eCommerce platforms create product pages from a database that are not easily found or indexed by search engines and crawlers. Instead, it is best to use a platform that creates search engine optimized URLs (mod_rewrite) or pages (static urls) designed to be easier read by search engines and helps users see which page they are on more easily. Page Headings: Use keyword rich page headings, bold text and descriptive headlines at the top or near the top of all your pages. Headings should accurately describe and summarize the content beneath each tag in order for this technique to aid in your search engine ranking. In addition to using H-tags for search engine benefits they will also assist site users who read or scan your pages for information instead of reading each line. Page Size: Keep page sizes small so the majority of your content for each page can be seen in full above the fold. It is best to keep page size limited to 15-20k if possible. Smaller page size works well for search engines, and even better for users. It is estimated that half of your web site users will be at 56k or less. That number increases drastically if your target markets are outside of the US. File Size: Keep file sizes small so the pages will load in a reasonable amount of time no matter what ISP your visitor has. Some of the most common methods or techniques to create smaller file sizes ,without sacrificing the overall design, include reducing the amount of files on your web server, using fewer colors in GIF and JPG images, compressing of HTML coding and scripts, cut out any java applets, music, or other multimedia that is not absolutely needed on your site’s pages. IMG ALT & Anchor Text: Include keywords within text links, anchor text, alt tags, image titles, flash comments and product images. Search engines will assume the link anchor text will be descriptive of the page the link actually points to. In addition to helping the search engines sort out content and crawl easily from page to page, adding keywords to your link text will benefit users who will not have to guess where a text link like “click here†will take them. Adding ALT text to images will help search engines read them as well as users who are disabled or using text-based browsers. Robots.txt File: Use a robots.txt file to instruct crawlers, limit access to certain sections or to utilize site maps autodiscovery. Search engines will look in your root domain for the robots.txt file (http://www.domainname.com/robots.txt) to see which files it may crawl and index or to find special instructions. The technical term for the system is The Robots Exclusion Standard. The file should be created using Unix line ender mode. Most good text editors will have a Unix mode or your FTP client should do the conversion for you. Multimedia Files: Keep JavaScript, Flash and other multimedia file use limited and use as many text-based alternatives as possible. Although multimedia presentations and extravagant images or backgrounds make your site more appealing to the eye, it will not look very appealing to search engines. That is why it is a good idea to find a simple balance between your text components and your multimedia. Try to provide text-based alternatives for much of your content that cannot be read by search engines. Use text descriptions in image alt tags and titles for image recognition (do not stuff keywords in alt tags). It is a good idea to stay away from a flash homepage unless you plan on offering an HTML version as well. Framed Pages: Avoid using frames within site design as they are not easily accessible for crawlers or easily linkable for users. Generally even if a search engine indexes and regularly crawls a framed page they will not be able to navigate from frame to frame as easily as with a web site built with no frames. In addition to not working well with search engines, frames will have a poor effect on your users as there could be issues with using the back function, print function or similar browser functions. Round Out: Consider adding additional features like a blog or RSS that users will find useful and to add that special touch. By continually staying up-to-date and current in your industry you can better implement strategies that are successful. Try to do as much research as you can regarding your products, services, offerings and competitors. Use newsletters to attract a larger customer base and retain customers you already have. Continually add content pages to your site (use a blog or write articles). When you look at other sites similar to yours see if they are offering anything you aren’t, and try to tie it in if you can. Remember, the best way to get the rankings you desire is to create unique quality content people will want to link to and share with others. eCommerce SEO Tips & Tricks Strategic Analysis: Analyze your current site design and marketing strategy to see where you need to concentrate your efforts. It is better to take your time during this phase gathering any information, data, or ideas that may assist in the future web site ranking efforts. Without an initial analysis it may be more difficult to establish the results that your efforts are yielding presently and in the future. Market Analysis: Analyze your competitions site and design to see what other ideas you may want to implement within your site. It is important to know how competitive your niche is and the different keywords your main competitors are showing up under on the search engines. Knowing this will help you to determine where you do and do not want to be found, and may help with choosing additional keywords or phrases to market on the search engines. Keyword Research: Research different keywords and phrase combinations to include within your site copy and design elements. Many millions of keyword queries are done each day on the search engines. Typically, keyword data is gathered using industry keyword tools (Wordtracker, Overture Suggestions, Google Keywords etc.), site query statistics, and actual search engine queries that people are already finding the site under. Page Titles: Create unique page titles for homepage, sub-pages, categories, sub-categories and product pages. Web site Titles should be created for each content rich page using primary keywords and phrases in the correct order, density and character limits. Titles are simply elements in the HEAD section of an HTML document that tell search engines and users what you offer on your site. Your most important keywords should be used in this element in order to gain proper placement under your desired terms. Meta Descriptions: Create unique meta descriptions (optional keyword tag) for the entire site, including categories and products. Meta description and keyword tags are simply elements in the HEAD section of an HTML document that help search engines classify your page content and desired keywords and phrases and serves as a descriptive paragraph so users can see what you offer before visiting the site. It is best to use the meta keywords tag sparingly as it is not taken into consideration by all search engines. Creating a unique descriptions for each page will help increase click throughs and conversions of your natural listings as well as provide search engines with an overall theme for each page. HTML Site Map: Build an HTML site map for users to navigate and for any users who may be disabled or using text-based browsers. Site maps are web pages that contain all of your most important and content rich pages. A site map will also assist the search engines in finding all of your web site content so that they may scan it to include within their search results. Bigger eCommerce sites can really benefit from a site map as there are usually many pages to be indexed. XML Site Map: Build an XML site map for search engines to find updates to your content and products at regular intervals. XML site maps can be sent electronically to most major search engines. Dynamic site maps are optimal, but site maps you update manually can also be useful. XML site maps are special files that contain links to the most important sections and pages of your site. eCommerce stores that update catalogs often should definitely consider using an XML site map to help search engines find new products and update old ones. Linking Campaign: Consider ideas to build links to your site through offering promotions, coupons, press or media releases and more. As link building is becoming more popular with merchants, it is important to include a link building strategy into your store marketing plan. Finding quality links that are already popular in search engines is key to getting listed higher, however links from newer sites will eventually be popular and can also be beneficial. Sponsored Listings: Consider using Google AdWords or other sponsored search marketing services including comparison shopping engines. Whether you have purchased pay per click ads or not in the past, it’s definitely something you should consider as part of your strategic marketing campaign. Ad campaigns are becoming easier to control, are getting better results and are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to market Online. Google is the most popular out of all the companies out there. Start there, learn how to use AdWords and move on to any others if you feel they will continue generating a return. Build Brand: Brainstorm more unique advertising and marketing ideas to help with branding, word of mouth and more links. Building up your brand name will be an important step toward building your business and increasing sales. The more recognizable your brand, the more comfortable users will be buying from you. Growing your business means all kinds of new opportunities. It is a lot easier to gain a place in an niche if people recognize your name and know who you are. Continue Education: Continue learning about newer marketing trends or strategies and keep up with all the latest industry news. Learning something new is fun and exciting, especially if it can make you more money. Just like anything else that is taught or learned it is necessary to continue to move forward in your education. Read articles, visit discussion forums or blogs and talk to anyone you can that is considered an Online selling guru. Do not be afraid to ask questions, remember knowledge is power! credit :ecommerceoptimization.com My website : hahaitee.com ........Stardust234
great tips - I'm bookmarking this. I have four clients and I really want to get into affialiate marketing on the side.
Excellent tips. I especially like the multimedia ones. As a shopper and surfer, I immediately leave any site with flash or talking/music. It is sooooo annoying as well as slower to load. Cheers, Rowan
Great set of ecommerce tips for SEO. You could also add site speed (fast loading sites outrank slow loading sites) as one of the seo factors as google has said that it is considering adding it as one of the factor in ranking and determining page worth.