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The Importance of UX Design in E-Commerce Websites

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, The Importance of UX Design in E-Commerce WebsitesIf you’re thinking about making your e-commerce website’s user experience better, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll be exploring the importance of UX design and how you can leverage it to boost your online sales.

A good UI and UX design can increase visitors’ time on your site, increase their trust, and convert them into customers. To help you understand the value of this service, we’ve asked a few reputable UX design agencies for their insights.

User-Friendly Design

A well-designed e-commerce website makes it easy for visitors to find their desired products. This is essential to boosting conversions and building trust and credibility with customers.

If your website is hard to navigate or needs to meet users’ expectations, they’ll leave quickly. This could be a massive loss to your business.

User-friendly design also makes it easier for you to attract new customers and increase your search engine optimization (SEO) ranking. This helps to build brand loyalty and keep your online store competitive.

Another reason you should consider a user-friendly design is that it will make your website more accessible to people with disabilities. An estimated one billion people worldwide have some disability, and they deserve a website that is easy to use.

Convenience

Convenience is a critical factor in customer satisfaction and loyalty. As a result, all brands must ensure their services are convenient and easy to use.

Customers value convenience because it saves them time and effort. With this being said it is we can see why most shoppers will admit convenience influences their purchasing decisions.

The recent growth of online shopping has been fueled by the convenience that allows buyers to shop whenever they want, from wherever they want, and pay however they choose.

While it may seem difficult for retailers to compete with the ease of Internet shopping, it’s essential to understand that convenience is changing how consumers perceive specific buying alternatives. This means e-commerce companies must put consumer convenience at the forefront of their marketing strategies and objectives.

Time-Saving

UX design is a crucial part of a company’s strategy, and it’s not just about creating an aesthetically pleasing experience. It’s also about ensuring that the user can efficiently accomplish their goals.

In the digital age, UX design is more critical than ever before. It’s a discipline that affects everything from the design of an ATM to the pages of your favorite shopping website.

To improve a website’s UX, a UX agency starts with user research and testing. Often, they will interview users to determine their motivations and frustrations. They will then conduct wireframes and skeletal layouts indicating what content each screen will contain as a user navigates through the site.


Convenience for Mobile Users

One of the most critical factors that e-commerce websites must consider is convenience. Whether shopping for groceries or personal care items, consumers are willing to pay more for the convenience of online purchases.

UX design agencies understand the importance of convenience for their client’s brands and products. They help design websites and mobile apps that are both user-friendly and attractive.

A well-designed e-commerce website attracts visitors and converts them into customers. It also provides a good experience for all devices, ensuring users are happy with the overall user experience.

Convenience for All Devices

Consumers expect a seamless experience that transfers between devices as they move further into their shopping journeys. This is important when it comes to e-commerce websites.

Consumers are also willing to pay more for convenience in some product categories, including groceries and clothing. These services could include shipping options, online sizing, and free returns.

As a result, businesses that offer convenience are poised for growth in the e-commerce market. These businesses must have a comprehensive understanding of the customer shopping flow, which involves all of the elements of the user experience that contribute to conversion and sales.

Is it Easy to Open my Online Store?

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Open Online Store|Is it Easy to Open my Online Store?There’s a lot happening online; from the purchase of clothes, accessories and groceries, buying and sending of gift items, flowers and audiobooks to booking plumbing services and many more, the eCommerce industry is taking over brick-and-mortar business models.

If you are hoping to tap into the many benefits of eCommerce by setting up an online store but don’t know where to begin, then you are in luck, as this article proves that setting up an eCommerce website is not as difficult as you were made to believe.

What Is an Online Store?

An eCommerce website or online store is a site that allows people to buy and sell digital or physical products and services over the internet. Rather than use a physical location, business transactions occur over the internet. Online stores accept payments and manage orders, logistics, shipping, and another aspect that enable efficient buying and selling.

Types of Online Stores

While the sole purpose of every eCommerce website is to buy and sell products and services, the type of eCommerce website varies and is dependent on the site’s business model. These models include:

  • Business-to-business (B2B): This involves the purchase and sales of goods and services between two businesses. It could involve selling to a retailer, distributor, or wholesaler.
  • Business-to-consumer (B2C): Businesses sell their products andservices directly to consumers.
  • Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C): This is also known as a marketplace and involves buying and selling from other consumers.
  • Consumer-to-Business (C2B): Here, a consumer sells directly to a business

How to Open an eCommerce Website in 5 Easy Steps

The steps outlined below will help you set up your online store:

1. Determine your Target Audience

Your target audience is those your products will interest. Knowing who your ideal customers are is important for every business as it helps you discover new customers and attract them to your site, thus leading to a higher conversion rate and increased sales.
While various attributions can help determine your ideal audience, here are three main categories every new eCommerce business should focus on:

  • Location: If your product is location specific, you want to focus your marketing strategies on that location. Focusing your website on geographic location will help serve a particular location better.
  • Interests: Build your website around the attitude and psychographics, opinions, personality, and lifestyle of your target audience.
  • Demographics: When building your website, include characteristics such as occupation, education, income, age, and gender.

Determining your target audience is much easier if you already have a product. You only need to ask pertinent questions such as, who my products are for? What’s their age range? What are their interests? The answers to these and more will help you create the right online store.

2. Choose an Ecommerce Platform

An eCommerce platform is more than a website builder where you list products and accept payments. It’s the control center for the business as it controls everything from inventory to marketing. It also provides the required tool for online sales and client support.

Some features to consider when choosing an eCommerce platform include:

  • Web hosting: This stores data and content in a server database. With a web host, your customers can access your online store. While some eCommerce software comes inbuilt, some require the services of a third-party solution.
  • Usability: Your eCommerce website should be easy to use. Search for an intuitive tool that features a drop-down and drag builder, as this will enhance the efficiency and navigation of the eCommerce site. Also, you can schedule a free trial to test the features before going live.
  • Great Customer Support: Consider an eCommerce platform with excellent customer support. Great customer support will offer round-the-clock services, including 24/7 live chat, phone, and email, and should be available in several languages.
  • Easy Checkout: Look for a platform with streamlined checkout, as this will make it easy for the customer to purchase your products and make payments.

In setting up an online store, consider your future and present needs. Although some platforms are best suited for the present day, more is needed for the future.

3. Determine what to sell

Carefully consider the products to sell. This requires thinking beyond what your customers will like. It requires you to do more competitive critical thinking and ask questions. For instance, what are the popular brands doing? What’s your unique selling point? What solution are you providing?

In determining what to sell, here are some tips to consider:

  • Leverage your popular products
  • Delve into an untapped market
  • Follow the trends
  • Provide easy-to-ship goods and products
  • Consider the choice of location
  • Consider the profitability of the product
  • Consider how the product will be manufactured
  • Consider if there are regulations or restrictions around the products


4. Design your website

In designing your website, aim for an online store optimized for conversions and well-rounded branding. Your website should be fun, have a great look and feel, and should enable users locate products, place orders and make payments easily.
Here are tips for designing a perfect website:

  • Make use of an eCommerce template
  • Think through the structure of your online store
  • Design a website that meets the three-click rule (easy to access within three clicks or less)
  • The site should communicate the products available
  • Create clear-cut calls-to-action (CTAs)
  • Write a detailed product description
  • Upload intentional pictures and images

5. Link a Payment Provider

Now that you have designed the perfect website, it’s time to decide how you get paid. One way to offer efficient services to your customers is to provide multiple payment options, including:
Debit/credit cards

6. Bank transfers

You can also choose from the various payment gateways available. These ensure a safe, secure, and successful transfer of funds from the customer to the merchant’s account. However, some gateways are better than others, depending on your location. However, your gate provider will confirm the payment before crediting you whatever option is chosen.

Final Thought

While a challenging feat, creating an online store is not impossible and can be easily achieved within days. The best eCommerce platform will provide you with the tools, including navigation, inventory management, purchase, payment, and more.
With these, your online store can be up and running in no time, and you can provide those great products and services that will elevate your business.

The Right Way to Do Dropshipping

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article|Dropshipping|The Right Way to Do DropshippingDropshipping can be a lucrative business, if you know how to do it right. Instead of fumbling in the dark trying to make sense of it, here are some essential tips to getting your dropshipping business started, and started right.

1. Choose a Dropshipping Business Idea

You can’t just jump into the business thinking that you can do anything and everything. You need to pick a market to fulfill, whether it’s clothing, electronics, or any other kind of market that might interest you. Or you could broaden your horizons and be a fulfillment service shopify to cover several small markets at once. Focus on the top-selling and trendiest products to ensure that you’re always seeing product flow.

2. Do Research

Now that you’ve decided what you’re going to sell in your store, it’s important that you look at who your competitors are and how they operate. By seeing their methods, you might be able to come up with a method of your own that works a lot better and make you more successful. Finding your competitors can be as easy as the results of a search engine or browsing social media to see who the big players are.


3. Choosing A Supplier

This is a big important step in having a successful dropshipping business. Without a supplier, you have no products to move around, and you want a supplier that is going to be reliable as well. There are e-commerce platforms out there that can help connect potential supplies with your online store. Be sure that you also choose a supplier that has affordable international shipping as well so that customers can receive their products in time without having to spend a fortune.

4. Build Your E-Commerce Store

Now it’s time to put in the effort to build a store that is not only functional but also looks great. Pick a domain name that is an accurate reflection of what your online store is selling and also sounds attractive. You can choose from a variety of sales plug-ins to take care of the commerce side of your website so that you don’t have to do every transaction manually yourself.

5. Market Your Dropshipping Store

Now that everything is put together, you need to get the word out there about your store. There are several ways to do it, including having paid ads on social media sites like Facebook. They’re a great way to get the word out if you’re particularly new to advertising.
Another option is influencer marketing, which is finding influencers you trust to reach your target audience through their promotional videos and content. Of course, this requires you staying up to date with the influencers that are out there so that you know which ones are in good standing with the general public.

A lot of time and effort are required to build a dropshipping business on your own from the ground up. At times it can feel like an impossible uphill climb, but if you stick with it and put in the work, your dropshipping business can start to pay off in no time.

Want to Start a Successful Dropshipping Business? Here’s What You’ll Need to Do

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Dropshipping Business|Want to Start a Successful Dropshipping Business? Here’s What You’ll Need to DoDropshipping is a very popular business model for beginners in e-commerce for many reasons. It allows them to start a business on pennies with no inventory. They can also fail without too many risks.

With that being said, many people get burned with this model because of false expectations. One of them is that managing this type of business is easy or that you can grow one without spending money on marketing. In this article, we’ll look at some of the things you should know and do if you want to be truly successful with dropshipping.

Some Niches are Toxic

Many people will look at niches and assume they’re good without actually knowing if they are or not. They might go into a niche like clothing for instance, not realizing how much of a pain returns can be. Or they choose to sell in a niche where people are prone to asking questions and get overwhelmed by all the customer service work they have to do.

This is why you need to start with simple niches with items that are not too personalized. Kitchenware is one example. Pet toys are another. Don’t pick a niche where minor discrepancies with images could cause problems, and don’t pick technical products unless you know about them inside and out.


You Need to Learn about Online Marketing

You cannot use the build it and they’ll come mentality when it comes to ecommerce. You also can’t expect to see people come flocking to your site because you posted a few product pics on Pinterest or Instagram. You will need to learn about things like SEO, PPC, email marketing, content marketing, and inbound marketing if you want a chance at succeeding.

SEO is the first technique you need to focus on. If you want to make things easy for you, then it could be a good idea to work from an SEO-friendly platform like Spotify. Then, consider hiring an expert to help you increase your visibility on search engines by using various techniques like link building through content marketing. If you want to learn more about the benefits of hiring a Shopify SEO expert, you can check out https://renaissancedm.com/shopify-seo-expert/.

Automation is Key

You may be able to manage your dropshipping site with an excel sheet at the beginning, but you can expect to get overwhelmed with all the orders and customer interactions after a while. You may also start struggling with invoices and tax reporting.
This is why you will need to look at and learn automation tools before you even get started. You’ll need to use a CRM to manage conversations and queries from clients. You’ll need automation to send confirmation after payments and after items have been shipped. You’ll also need to operate your back office to facilitate bookkeeping and accounting.

Dropshipping can be a great sector for people with little to no experience doing business online. You do have to know that it comes with very specific challenges, and you have to be thoroughly prepared for them if you want to succeed.

7 Tips to Build a Scalable Enterprise SEO Content Juggernaut that Yields Lasting Results

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |enterprise SEO|7 Tips to Build a Scalable Enterprise SEO Content Juggernaut that Yields Lasting ResultsWhether you are B2B, eCommerce, manufacturing, SaaS, a university, or any other large enterprise, one of the main benefits of SEO is its ability to build a self-sustaining flywheel of traffic by using more and more evergreen content.

Once you reach the point where more of your content ranks on page 1 of Google, you can start celebrating, especially since it will be easier to rank future pages. But that doesn’t mean that you can just coast – your competitors are always nipping at your heels.

Enterprise SEO efforts need to be consistently applied in order to exponentially grow traffic, leads, and sales.

That’s why I’ve put together 7 tips for creating enterprise SEO rockstar content that educates, converts, and scales.

1. SEO Quick Wins (Striking Distance Keywords)

It’s no secret that SEO takes some time to gain traction. It’s common to break even on your investment around 12 months. While it takes time, it’s worth sticking with it due to all the long-term benefits it provides.

SEO will yield results for you well into the future, and you’ll depend less on paid ads. It will also boost your other marketing channels by generating more email subscriptions.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait an entire year to start seeing some results.

That’s where SEO ‘Quick Wins’ come into play. These are some quick tweaks you do to your existing content for speedy boosts in traffic.

My favorite quick win is to identify ‘striking distance’ keywords.

The chances are high that you have a lot of your content ranking on pages 2 and 3 of Google. That’s quite common for my new clients, and they often see little to no traffic from those pages.

I view these pages as within striking distance of SEO traffic.

You’ll need to identify the 1 keyword that each page can use to gain more traction to rise to page 1 (or higher on page 1). Use a keyword research tool to find these striking distance keywords. Next, you’ll need to hit your content with what I call the SEO ‘one-two punch’:

1. First, inject the exact top keyword into five content fields:

  • Meta title
  • Meta description
  • H1 tag
  • The copy below your H1
  • The URL slug

2. Next, boost your page’s authority by linking high-authority internal pages to it

NOTE: Don’t forget to 301 redirect the old url to the new one (since you changed it).

Implementing this one-two punch can provide a quick boost to your rankings on Google. Within a couple of months, you’ll start generating higher ranking and additional traffic from content that was hiding from searchers.

2. Competitor Research (Direct + Indirect)

Next, you’ll need to look at what your competitors are doing with their SEO. If you never pay attention to the competition, you won’t know how you compare to them.

Also, analyzing competitors can give you valuable insights to incorporate into your strategy. For example, you may find that competitors are doing certain things that you aren’t. Here are a few things to pay attention to when looking at your competitors:

  • Their UI & UX since this is becoming more of an SEO focus
  1. Url folder/directory structure
  2. Main and footer menu links
  • From what sites are they getting quality links (where you aren’t)
  1. Highlights relevant sites you could reach out to get a quality link
  2. Highlights relevant sites you could build industry relationships with
  • From what keywords they are successfully getting SEO traffic (where you aren’t)
  1. Informs new content article creation
  2. Informs different keyword targets for existing pages

A lot of clients make the mistake of only analyzing their direct competitors. If you want to cover all your bases, you should look at your indirect competitors, too.

A direct competitor sells a product similar to yours. An indirect competitor doesn’t sell what you do, but they’re in the same industry. Many indirect competitors are media sites and publications. It’s essential to pay attention to them because they may rank for similar keywords.

3. Site Organization Recommendations

You’ll want to make sure that Google has visibility of all your web pages – or it’s all for naught. That’s why you’ll need to organize your site in a way that makes sense to Google. Otherwise, you’ll confuse the algorithm and won’t show up in search results.

That’s the last thing that you want, so here’s how to organize your website:

  • Sitemap.XML File. Your sitemap lets search engines know about all the pages on your website. It lets Google know the order of importance of your pages, recent updates, and more. To ensure Google has visibility of you, upload your sitemap to Google Search Console. Bonus points for creating an HTML version as well.
  • URL Directories/Folders. You’ll need to have your URL structure immaculate so that Google can crawl your site with ease. Order everything hierarchically to keep everything in place. Also, use crucial SEO keywords in your URL folders. Also, it’s best not to split your site into subdomains – as that can spread your authority too thin (rather than aggregating it on one site: better for SEO).
  • Site Navigation. It should be effortless to navigate your site for users but also for Google. Ensure that your main navigation bar has a nice layout with About and Contact pages. Also, use linked breadcrumbs to improve navigation. Breadcrumbs keep track of each page a user visits. It looks like this: Home > About Us > Our Mission.
  • Internal Linking. You’ll want to find areas where you can link to your other blog articles. That creates a spider web of interrelated content on your website. That’s great for SEO and encourages readers to click on related articles.

If you have all your ducks in a row here, you won’t run into issues with confusing search engine algorithms.

4. “Local” Landing Page Keyword Strategy

If you have multiple physical locations, you’ll want to use some “local SEO” techniques in your strategy for quality traffic. Local SEO refers to targeting local search queries in your area.

For enterprise-level companies, you’ll want to separately target each of your locations. That will increase your chances of being locally relevant and gaining more traffic. For local SEO keywords, you’ll want to include the location. An example would be, “car rental Green Bay WI.”

In that query, it’s evident that the user needs to rent a car in the Green Bay area. What’s great about local SEO is keywords often have more purchase intent than others. The fact that they include the location in their search shows that they are likely lower in the sales funnel.

5. Technical SEO Site Audit

Next on the list is a thorough technical SEO audit of your website. It’s where you take a look at key technical aspects that affect your search engine visibility.

Here are some of the factors that you need to audit:

  • Fixing broken links, images, and JavaScript. “Broken anything” means bad news for your SEO. Broken links and lines of code confuse the algorithm, so you need to fix them ASAP. If you find any broken links, know that broken internal links hurt more than external ones. Strive to fix your internal links first for this reason.
  • Images that are missing alt tags. Every image needs an ‘alt tag’ describing the image’s content. Google can’t see pictures, so it needs a description of what you’re trying to show.
  • Page speed issues. Your page needs to load quicker than it takes you to blink. Not only will slow websites frustrate customers, but Google ignores them. If you don’t pass the Core Web Vitals test, you’ll get overlooked.
  • 404 Pages and 302 redirects. Every time you see a 404 Not Found or 302 (temporary) redirect, use a 301 (permanent) redirect. Google prefers 301 redirects because they pass the domain/page authority test.
    Among others…

Fixing crucial technical errors can provide a quick boost to your SEO.

6. Article Keyword Research + Editorial Calendar

Playing the SEO game is all about releasing stellar content. You also need to remain consistent with your release schedule. That’s why you’ll need to develop an editorial calendar to keep you on track.

Regularly releasing blogs is a great way to see continuous boosts in traffic. Just make sure that you base these articles on solid keyword research (popular, relevant keywords that aren’t too hard to rank for).

Use your competitor keyword research, and supplement with others you think of along the way. Also, don’t neglect your content from the past; updating old articles (that are already getting some SEO traffic) can give you a new boost.

7. Backlink Outreach Strategy

Lastly, you’ll want to include link-building as a core part of your strategy. In addition to finding spots for internal links, you’ll need external links (other sites linking to you), too.

Adding links from high authority sites is a great way to give your content a power boost. If your content is linked from pages that Google views as trustworthy, it will boost your authority too.

For me, the first place to start link-building is with email outreach. I use the ‘skyscraper’ technique for email outreach. That’s where you find high-ranking pages in your niche with desirable backlinks.

Your goal is to acquire these backlinks for yourself. How do you do that?

To outdo their content, provide more value. Dive into more detail, offer new insights, and include images and videos. Once it’s evident that your content is superior, it’s time to email the owner of the website you want to link. Politely let them know that your content adds more value and that you’d like to link to their page.

Enterprise SEO That Scales

Those are the 7 core components of a successful enterprise SEO strategy. Remember, it’s about quality over quantity. A few solid backlinks will do more good for you than 1,000 poor ones.

The same is valid with your content. Focus on releasing SEO optimized articles that aim to educate and convert above all else. You want to be intentional and consistent with your SEO tactics to achieve the best results.

Bio/byline: Miles Anthony Smith, a tech keynote speaker and SEO consultant, delights in delivering invaluable content to people hungry for answers to their most vexing questions or challenges.