General:

1. Get the support and commitment of your senior management in your efforts to improve your website.

2. Identify the necessary changes and build a good operations team.

3. Always remember that your goal is to sell products through your website.

4. Set achievable goals for each web page.

5. Make sure you have an about us page with your company information.

6. Set a key performance indicator (KPI) for every online marketing campaign you run.

7. Never be totally dependent on technology.

8. Help users communicate with you by different means: email, phone, physical address, live chat, etc.

Retail Ecommerce Usability/Merchandising Tips:

9. Don’t use animation on your home page.

10. Showcase best sellers and newly released products on your home page.

11. Make sure all product pages are accessible in 2-3 clicks.

12. Recommend product accessories for items that have been added to a shopping cart. For example, if a customer buys a laptop, recommend laptop accessories such as a USB mouse or bags. I only recommend! Do not automatically add them to the shopping cart.

13. Add a buy button to your recommended list or wherever you display a product.

14. Also display product prices for each product on your recommended products list or anywhere else you display your products.

15. Make sure your content has a compelling call to action: buy now, limited offer, etc.

16. Surprise customers by offering surprise gifts, sales and price discounts.

17. Have good site search functionality within your site.

18. Also include advanced search functionality such as searching by color, size, etc.

19. Add breadcrumb navigation, which helps users understand the depth of their visit to your site.

20. Allow users to modify their shopping cart lists. They should be able to add or remove products and change the quantities they wish to purchase.

21. Avoid hidden costs: impose an additional cost on top of the total value of the purchase. Allow user to manually add associated products. Never automate it. Hidden costs lead to shopping cart abandonment.

22. Don’t force users to register, even to add items to their shopping cart.

23. Get only the necessary information during the registration process.

24. Clearly display safety badges.

25. Offer alternative payment options. About 74% of online merchants offer alternative payment options.

26. Offer free shipping for a certain price threshold.

27. Install an analysis program that helps you better understand user behavior.

28. Use a visual analysis program to facilitate interpretation.

29. Avoid having a long checkout process.

30. Please provide all necessary information such as shipping, privacy policy, return policy, delivery date and time, etc.

Retail Ecommerce Technology/Development/Design Tips:

31. Make sure that the html code of the site complies with web standards.

32. Minimize graphics like flash, scripts, etc.

33. Graphic links are useless. Make sure your links are text based.

34. Make sure your site loads fast.

35. Use files included in the secure server (ssi).

36. Get creative with your 404 page. You can market it, add site search functionality, or link to another section of your website.

SEO Tips for Retail Ecommerce:

37. Conduct SEO competitor analysis.

38. Do some keyword research.

39. Use around two keywords per page.

40. Focus on long tail keywords (eg canon power shot 4x digital camera).

41. Do not use the manufacturer’s product description. Use your own instead.

42. Use keyword-rich titles and meta tags, headers, etc. However, be sure not to spam. If you do it right, you do it right.

43. Use keywords in your product descriptions.

44. Get quality links to your product pages consistently, but not all of a sudden.

45. Recommend products and accessories on your product page. Smart and sophisticated interconnection helps in SEO (a good example is shopping.com).

46. ​​Ask customers to review the products they have purchased on your site. Unique content helps in SEO.

47. Allow customers to label the product.

48. Use keywords in internal links.

49. Do not have more than 100 outgoing links.

50. Optimize images for fast loading and search engines

51. Create a sitemap – It ensures that none of your web pages are left orphaned.

52. Create Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs that are easy for both users and crawlers. Opt for URL optimization like mod_rewrite for static URLs.

53. Write blog posts about the products you sell.

Ecommerce Email Marketing Tips:

54. Run an email opt-in campaign.

55. Invite users to subscribe to your newsletter after a sale.

56. Avoid spam words like free in the subject line.

57. Make sure you have an option to unsubscribe.

58. Please provide a proper mailing address.

59. Include tell-a-friend functionality.

60. Send emails constantly.

61. Offer exclusive discounts to customers who choose to participate.

62. Include compelling calls to action in your email.

63. Make sure your offer is visible at the top of the email fold.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Marketing Tips:

64. Start by advertising best sellers.

65. Bid on popular and relevant keywords.

66. Also use negative keywords.

67. Use keyword options like phrase and exact match.

68. Focus on improving your quality score.

69. Add keywords in your ad text.

70. Add a call to action in your ad text.

71. You don’t have to hold the highest position. Find a balance.

72. Make sure you give the right landing page, otherwise you will find yourself with a high bounce rate.

73. Turn off the content network.

74. Test your ad copy.

75. Test your PPC ad campaign.

76. Test your landing pages.

Comparison Price Engine (CSE) Marketing Tips:

77. Choose the comparison engines for your campaign and start slow and steady.

78. Pick your top-performing products to start with.

79. Prepare feeds according to the requirements of the shopping engine.

80. Use common product names or street names in feeds.

81. Don’t forget to use the recommended data input fields.

82. Try using optional input fields as well.

83. Make sure your feeds are located in the correct taxonomy for each shopping engine.

84. Use the exact MPN or SKU.

85. Update your data sources daily, weekly or monthly (daily is highly recommended).

86. Send feeds to the Google base.

87. Don’t advertise out-of-stock products.

88. Provide the right landing page.

89. Remove underperforming products.

90. Conduct CSE competitive analysis with other merchants in context with title, price, and other promotional offers within each CSE.

91. Keep track of your CSE rankings.

92. Track clicks and sales at the product level.

Ecommerce Customer Service Tips:

93. Provide exceptional service to repeat customers.

94. Provide good customer service to first time customers too.

95. Make sure you respond to customers in a timely manner.

96. Get a toll-free number.

97. Adequately train customer representatives. For example, offer product and sales training.

98. Make sure your contact information is available on all your pages.

99. Thank the customer either by calling or sending an email about the purchase they have made.

100. Instant messaging is very effective in serving frustrated customers.