So you’ve recently got a new online store built on WordPress? Great. You’ve made the right choice. WordPress is really a great option for developing an eCommerce website.
Now, what next?
Have you already uploaded all the products and content on your website? Have you planned how you will organize your eCommerce website to get more sales from it? Or you are still thinking about it.
In this blog post, I will be sharing 8 tips for you to populate or re-organize your WordPress eCommerce website to get the most out of it. Even if you don’t have a website yet, this information will still help you to plan for your new eCommerce website.
Points #1, #6, #7, and #8 are my favorites & always on my top list while developing any eCommerce website.
#1 Images
Online buyers don’t really touch and feel the products that they are going to buy from an eCommerce website. Therefore, it becomes very important for webmasters to make sure that all the product images must be of high resolution.
Several types of research have shown that an eCommerce website with poor-quality of product images ends up with low conversion/sales however the one with high-resolution images always grabs the bigger share.
If required, hire a professional photographer at an affordable price but don’t compromise on the picture quality of your products.
#2 Product Description
The description of products is another element that encourages or discourages potential customers to buy from an online store. As I already mentioned, online buyers are not going to experience a feeling of products, and therefore, a detailed product description always helps them to make a decision.
What you could include in your product description?
- Product features
- Product benefits
- Product differentiators (how its better than the competition)
- Product history
- Product usage (if it’s a unique/new product)
The more you write about each product, the more likely they would be sold on your website.
#3 Secured Shopping
In the age of cybercrime, security has always been a concern for online buyers and at the same time, it’s a challenge to overcome for webmasters.
What’s the solution?
If you are running an eCommerce store, it would be an added advantage (rather mandatory) for you to secure your website through SSL. It’s a security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server & a browser. SSL ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private & integral.
If you are not sure about it, contact your web hosting company to know more about their packages.
Read some more tips to secure your WordPress eCommerce website
#4 Social Sharing
You will agree with me that most internet users are on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. We also know that internet users are the potential customers for every eCommerce website. So, it simply implies that the more an eCommerce website is visible on social media websites, the higher would be the chances of more conversions.
Integrating social sharing widgets with product pages and blog posts is a great idea to get more traction on the website. Because when users tag/share your web pages on their social pages/timelines, their friends could also get to know about your brand and may visit your website too.
Again, if you are fortunate enough to have a WordPress eCommerce website, there are several easy-to-use plugins available free of cost to use on your eCommerce website and make your webpages shareable.
#5 Blogging
Does your eCommerce website have a blog? If not, get one.
Before we talk about blogging, let me explain why it’s so important for an eCommerce website’s success.
- A blog helps eCommerce websites to get updated regularly and therefore helps to rank higher on search engines.
- A blog helps your company to get engaged with your customers.
- A blog helps your important product pages to get more inbound links through your blog.
- A blog helps you to announce or talk about your new products and helps your audience learn more about your products.
Considering the above benefits of having a blog for an eCommerce website, there is no second thought about having it. If your eCommerce website has been developed using WordPress, it should be pretty easy to have a blog in place because WordPress is primarily a blogging platform.
#6 Checkout Refinement
The checkout process is the backbone of any eCommerce website and believe it or not, the success of an eCommerce website depends, to a large extent, on its checkout process. As an eCommerce consultant, I’ve experienced that most webmasters and web developers miss out on several important aspects of an ideal checkout process. As a result, more abandoned orders.
What to do?
Ok, once your web developer has finished his job, your job starts. You must check, as a user, how convenient it is to complete the checkout process and buy products from your website.
To do this job, you must ask yourself a few questions:
- Is the whole checkout process convenient and easier to complete?
- Are you asking for too much information from the buyers?
- Have you kept your buyers informed about their purchases, throughout the whole checkout process?
- Does your buyer have the option to checkout as a guest, if he doesn’t want to register an account with your website?
- Is the loading speed of your checkout process fine?
- Is the design of your checkout process compatible with all devices and mobiles? In other words, is it responsive?
If the answer to these questions (of any of these questions) is ‘No’, its the time for you to recheck, analyze and improve your checkout process. It doesn’t require any special skills to check the checkout process. Rather, you need to put yourself in your buyers’ shoes.
You may also like to check out my blog on fixing your eCommerce website for a high abandoned orders rate.
#7 Loading Speed
The loading speed of an eCommerce website is as important as its existence. There is no point to have an eCommerce website with great design, great features, great products, and superb graphics. These things are not going to help your business to survive and grow unless your website has great speed.
Why loading speed is so important for eCommerce websites?
Considering the fact that your eCommerce website is the virtual face of your company, it becomes even more important than ever to ensure that your potential buyers get engaged with your online store. When talking about engagement, loading speed comes first.
Another fact is that today’s buyers have plenty of options for them to buy products online. If your website doesn’t serve them well and on time too, they can easily hop over to your competitors’ websites.
Who has got the time to wait and watch your website load? Yes, it’s a straight question that you may not like but that’s the truth. So, let’s face it. Several studies have shown that websites that have a loading speed of more than 7 seconds have suffered from higher bounce rates. For an eCommerce website, a high bounce rate is a curse.
Read how you can enhance the loading speed of your WordPress eCommerce website.
#8 Responsive Web Design
In the year 2017, I don’t think that I even need to emphasize this point. Having a responsive website is no fancier now, it’s actually a necessity. For me, the importance of responsive web design for any eCommerce website is as important as its existence.
Given the fact that most internet users today use their mobile phones or tablets to access information online, there is no question that you must not have a responsive website.
Here are some reasons to have a responsive eCommerce website:
- Most internet users access online information through their devices.
- Search engines like Google consider responsive web design as an important factor while determining the ranking of a website.
- Social media can send a good amount of traffic to an eCommerce website & the majority of social media users access these websites through their devices.
Final Words
The real work on an eCommerce website starts after the completion of its development. But most of webmasters don’t understand this. As a result, they either re-invest their time and money when they face low sales problems or they stop relying on their websites to grow their business. But I really want you to read and implement these points for your website to get more sales and revenue from it.