E-Commerce for All

Google Anchor Links

If you have doubted the need for fresh, related content on your store pages…. You better rethink your position! Google has improved the search results snippets to include “jump to” links to the page’s specific area containing the related content.

We have seen Google recently making huge and innovative changes in sitelinks and snippets, but in fact this most recent innovation may be the most valuable yet. We have discussed here many times, Google’s “full text” indexing and ranking ability… Now Google has sought to put that very ability to work for searchers.

Imagine that a shopper is searching for the specs on a gadget they wish to buy, with this type of anchor linking you have a unique opportunity to grab and better convert these topical and information seeking searches. Let’s face it, even if you rank for these type of searches, your product pages are designed to sell… Thus very likely the information for this type of search is buried. So much so, that even if they land on the page, they leave never finding the information they are seeking. While this is for good reason, and I do not suggest clouding the ability to shop with this type of information… Now you can include it in a less obtrusive manner, link to it with anchors and discover a entirely fresh conversion opportunity in information gathering searches.

Let’s say for example you search Google for “good cholesterol level”. You are met with a very unique opportunity in the search results…..

Google Jump to Sitelink

This content or sitelink as we say, not only takes you to the most relevant page… But the most relevant location on that page too!

I know, how can I do that? Well, Google has posted the means to get your site coded and correct anchors set in place for these type of results in a recent post on Webmaster Central Blog. Essentially you will need to relearn a bit of html in order to help Google index you in this manner. Creating page anchors for static pages is really not difficult, but including them in your dynamic pages can be a far greater challenge. Here is a really easy tutorial from W3Schools to get you started.

Melanie E-Commerce Design, E-Commerce SEO, Zen Cart

Eye tracking? Heard of that? Know how it affects you and your store’s sales?

Eye Tracking

Eye tracking is defined as  research to track where a user’s eyes look while reading, then analyze the data to reveal behavioral patterns. In essence eye tracking is a core part of usability & accessibility.

So we know that you can drive thousands of visitors to your website a day and not make a dime…. These issues related to the usability of your store are the most common reasons for poor conversions and sales.

We are going to specifically go over some big issues for shop owners in the realm of eye tracking today. I promise to revisit the full usability side when I finish Steve Krug’s, “Don’t Make Me Think” 2cnd Edition.

Recent behavioral eye tracking studies have identified some very useful metrics regarding eye tracking and how user’s navigate your online store. We learn more and more everyday about the user interaction and emotional responses to our content and pages. What I’m covering here are just some basic, fairly unconsidered facts, to help you gain some insight in to your shoppers habits and needs.

Eye Tracking Tips for Ecommerce

• Heading Tags – I have said this before and I’ll say it again… Visitors read text first upon hitting your page about 1 second is spent scanning for text to identify the page as relevant or irrelevant to the visitor’s query or need. Yes, that’s right you have about 1 second to get them interested! Heading tags are a perfect way to grab the attention of these text scanning machines we call visitors. Keep your heading tags, short, logical and highly relevant to engage shoppers more quickly.
• Eye Movement Patterns – Your visitors will averagely read/scan your pages in a particular order (shown below from Eyetrack III). Notice where the user starts his quest to determine if your page is useful… Top Left. Ask any search marketing professional and they will tell you this is one of the most highly effective advertisement areas of a page. While I certainly don’t want to see you with PPC ads in your store, utilizing this space properly is key to visitor engagement.

Basic Eye Tracking Path of Average Visitors

• People scan the first few words of a paragraph and then quickly make a decision to read it or move one. Back to high school with this one. Remember that English teacher teaching you to use a power sentence to start your paragraphs. Creative and visual writing skills have never been more important…. The first sentence is the hook.
• Keep it short! We know from that same high school English teacher that a paragraph is a container for a single thought. In keeping with that shorter paragraphs actually are less daunting and encourage better reading.
• People naturally seem to migrate top and left when seeking navigation. Right hand navigation has its place indeed, many blog surfers have come to expect right hand navigation from the reading they do… This has not yet, however, transferred in to the general reading and shopping ranks. Topside navigation while interestingly more effective according to the study can be a real nightmare for shoppers to navigate in ecommerce applications. In essence the top navigation is only going to work for your simpler menu options… Not 50 categories and children fly outs. So, standard left hand navigation is still going to be more effective and engaging in your online store.
• Categories are the key to every store’s navigation, but also the biggest area of confusion and bottlenecks for shoppers as well. On one hand we know that the fewest number of clicks to get to paying you is most effective, we also know that logical and clearly categorized navigation will yield a better average order value. The biggest issue is when  a shopper is forced to browse through page after page of product index. Most times these products, say numbering 80 can be just 4 pages. However, we also know that the click through drops about 50% from page 1 to page 2 and by the time we get to page 4 only about 3% of the shoppers remain… The rest bailed. So shorter product indexes, ideally one page with your most popular products first will keep the shopper more engaged and on track.
• This I found most interesting, smaller fonts seem to engage readers. So those of you running those 14px fonts are actually encouraging scanning as opposed to reading! The standard is a 10px font, and I would recommend never larger than a 12px. If your visitor profile demands it, then get a text sizer tool for your pages.
• Textual ads within your store will be far more effective than graphics. Aside from the entire banner blindness issue, people are just more willing to click text ads. So just having a neat and crisp “Free Shipping” heading tag will do the trick nicely.
• I have been telling shop owners about the power of color psychology for a while now….. But here you go. In this study a HUGE contrasting red font containing information was completely missed 86% of the users tracked! BAM@!
• How about product pricing? This can really be a heated topic…. But here we see the nuts and bolts of how those numbers came to be .99 and what they should more effectively be .47 or .49 to catch price scanning eyes.

The basic point of this is to establish one thing in your mind… You have no idea what your shoppers need until you ask them. Doing a simple usability study with friends will reveal problems you would have easily missed.

Never stop improving your store, solicit the feedback of your shoppers. Most importantly whether you pay for a usability study, conduct a small usability study on your own or ask for feedback… YOU MUST LISTEN!

Remember, it’s not about what you think… It’s about making a living.

Melanie E-Commerce Design, E-Commerce Marketing

Google Gadgets

More Google tools and Gadgets…. We know you love them! Our main focus here at PRO-Webs is of course ecommerce. Product reviews have always been such a challenge… But no more as Google Friend Connect has a gadget for that! You can see the new gadget installed directly to your right… Pretty cool, flexible and definitely beginner level installation and configuration.

Let me just walk you through adding Google Connect Reviews to your Zen Cart

1. Go to Google Friend Connect and login with your Google user account
2. Top left click the blue link “Set up a new site“
3. Now choose “Friend Connect for standard web sites” link from the main content section.
4. Select “Continue“
5. Enter the name of your site and its url (EG PRO-Webs Store & http://pro-webs.net/store/)
6. Download 2 files and upload them to the root of the directory in your url (EG /store/)
7. Click “Continue“
8. Click the “Test to finalize setup” button
9. Left had side menu choose “Social gadgets“
10. Scroll down the list for “Ratings and reviews” & Click “Get this gadget“
11. In the drop down labeled “Scope” choose page
12. Customize text in the “start with this text” review area field if you like
13. Customize Ratings header if you like
14. You have the ability to allow anonymous posts, your choice…. But I recommend you do not.
15. Customize gadget size options including number of ratings and width
16. Customize color scheme as you like
17. #4 Generate code & select and copy it all from the box
18. Put it in a dynamic element in your Zen Cart. Mine is in the “Editable Sidebox” a simple to use module from the Zen Cart addon repository.

Nice and easy… Just like we like it! Check out or review gadget!

Melanie E-Commerce Design, E-Commerce Marketing

Got Usability?

A great long explanation here is really not necessary… Usability is a simple concept. Web pages should be accessible to all. It’s like handicap parking spaces, or the volume control at the drive in…. Wider seats. No matter the issue, brick and mortar businesses have accessibility requirements (laws even) and you have a responsibility with your online store too!

Navigation Usability Tips

• Logical category navigation which is most if not all above the fold (No scrolling)
• Vertical navigation such as “Shop by Application”
• Mouse overs for links and menu items to help shoppers navigate
• Consistent menu locations, site wide
• Search in top right
• Breadcrumbs to show the user where they are
• Clear navigation back to your main page
• TEXT… Averagely, users will spend 25 to 30 seconds on a page and most of that time they READ!
• Shopping cart link and contents top right (VERY easy to find)
• Short well documented checkout steps
• Contact or Live Help easy to find

Layout Usability Tips

• Logo top left ( Web users have just come to expect it )
• NO left and right scrolling, 1024 by 768 pixels is still as big as you want to go
• Important information and navigation above the fold
• Good contrast of text to background, but not blinding contrast
• Avoid loud or moving backgrounds
• Drop down & fly out menus should be short, as many shoppers still have short screens
• Simple sells!
• Use proper visited and active link styles
• Use common navigation locations (Top & Top Left) for best results and click through
• You can encourage vertical scrolling by straddling an image in the fold area
• Add to cart buttons should be very easily identified, not blended in with the rest of the page & buttons
• Do not require account creation or login to add to cart or check shipping
• Easy to use shopping cart options >> Add, remove, refresh etc.
• Offer product list sorting options
• Limit the distractions in your checkout, turn some stuff off and make the sale
• Offer similar or related items on product pages

Content Usability Tips

• Introduce your site on your main page
• Write copy for a high school educational level
• Have the most important information just a click away from your landing pages
• Use bulleted or number list over run-in list when you use 4 or more items
• Have a clear descriptive lead-in, opening paragraph  sentence
• Use a True Type font
• Limit extravagant styles and colored text
• Use a clear and easy to detect style format to identify links
• Use fonts 10 pts and above only
• NEVER use moving text
• Don’t type in all capitol letters
• Limit text in graphics as screen readers do not see this
• Use descriptive link text and the link title attribute
• Properly map your text with correct & descriptive heading tags
• Great detailed product images and even greater accompanying descriptive text
• Use proper “alt” tags for your images, screen readers need this as well
• Bold text is NOT necessarily easier to read
• Most important content is at the top of the page

Other Usability Tips

• Have others navigate your site and buy things– Hard part, LISTEN to what they say and react
• No auto starting music, talking customer service or videos
• Be very cautious of your page’s load time and limit graphics accordingly
• No pop ups, not ever
• Customize your 404 page, help users find their way back and feel like the site isn’t a mess
• Phone number VERY easy to find, no exceptions
• Test your site in other browsers, including mobile devices and screen readers

Interesting Facts

• Shoppers will spend less and less time on your homepage after each visit
• Only 23% will scroll on your homepage
• Shoppers will will spend 45 to 60 seconds on interior pages
• Most time is spent reading
• Shoppers spend 25 to 30 seconds on your main page
• Studies showed vertical lists can improve usability by 47% over run-in

Melanie E-Commerce Design