E-Commerce for All

We very frequently do site reports for ecommerce stores and while we see a host of SEO issues and other problems in these sites, there is one problem that will create checkout abandonment like no other….. Have you seen this in your store?

This page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items?

This error is an error referring to an unsecured element within your store’s secured pages…. This is generally going to be most damaging in Internet Explorer which presents the pop up warning shown below.

This page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items

While FireFox and other browsers indeed note this same error… The delivery method is far less daunting. Most recently W3SCHOOLS presented browser usage stats indicating that while FireFox usage is clearly on the rise, over 39% of users still use a version of Internet Explorer.

The greatest issue with this checkout error is that many webmasters miss it. I would comfortably say that most site owners will be using FireFox or another more capable web browser…. So many times this error goes completely unnoticed. Add the fact that shoppers using other browsers will likely miss the very subtle errors delivered by FireFox and similar and still checkout…. Essentially making this the “hidden” error so to speak. It’s tough to see the error in your stats and such as many other shoppers will checkout completely oblivious of the error.

This error is really a simple matter of a unsecured element attempting to be displayed on a SSL/secured page. In truth the problem is that the unsecured element causes the connection to be only partially encrypted with your SSL.

The easiest way to check if your online store has this error is to open it up in IE and go to a checkout or other secured page. Note that checking your main page or other page which is not intended to be secure will likely present a false positive for the error… If for no other reason than the base url being http:

Commonly we see this error caused by images. Images displayed from another website (hot linked) must be either using a secured https: url or you must download them and display them from your own site. Even your own images can present this error if the are using an absolute link which is not secured (http://domain.com/images/image.jpg). These image issues are quickly remedied by changing the link to a relative path (images/image.jpg). If for some reason your web hosting or you have issues with being able to code your image sources in this way you can also try the fix below.

<img src=”//www.domain.com/images/image.jpg” alt=”" />

The second most common time we see this error is running scripts. Let me start by noting that *most scripts have no place on your checkout pages… Checkout pages should be designed “in a tunnel”, most effectively they should be quite simple and completely without distractions which prevent checkout.

For example, we see shop owners with this error caused by a social media button.. Honestly, do you really want anyone to bookmark your checkout? In any case, we also see this in shopping feed button image scripts and even the Google Analytics script as well.

To fix this, any script which is calling out to display an element in the secured pages must also be secured. Scripts for buttons and such will need to have these elements provided from a secured site or removed from checkout. While many of these third party scripts will not outright offer you a secured script, they may have one which you can use by altering the http:// links to be https://… If no SSL is present then you will have to remove these scripts from checkout pages.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://somescript.com/js/widget.js>

Google Analytics is a much simpler fix, as Google provides a properly secured script. To fix this you have only to grab the correct version of the script from Google and replace it.

The hardest part is determining which or what element is causing the issue. Most commonly it will be an image, so searching the source of the page for something like src=”http:// will grab image source and some scripts and other elements as well. Note that you will want to check the <head> of the page as well…. CSS stylesheets and scripts in the head must be secured as well.

Avoid this bit of checkout suicide and check your cart… It only takes a moment and can change your business dramatically. While it may be on your tongue begging to be said that IE is a pain… Realize that for your shoppers unsecured items on these page’s endanger their privacy and security of their online transaction.

Melanie Checkout Improvement

Many strange things really turn in to great things. Web pages all have a unique ability….. Even if its ability is nauseating the visitor. Anyone who has built a few websites knows that these little freak happenings of the Internet are happening everywhere.

A great example is a site we have which serves up free content in exchange for clicks on our Adsense Ads. This being its only source of income, you can certainly imagine a great deal of thought went into add placement and landing page optimization. After a few weeks of putting our heads together we came up with a layout for the ads on every landing page. These ads all perform well, but the most effective one is the one we stuck in to simply fill a void! This ad was bringing in an excellent amount of click, so I set out to find out why. I tracked analytics, click thrus, times of day and location only to find that indeed the ad performed well simply because it was rather close to a VERY popular link. So you never really know when the next great thing or hidden success you will find in your website.

My personal opinion is that, if you own an online store and you are not spending 20 minutes a day per site in Analytics, doing frequent usability click thrus (including checkout) have used the heat maps to optimize your site’s flow… Then you will likely suffer from failure to thrive in your web business. Fact is, it’s hard work…. Sure some have made fortunes overnight, and you might hit the lottery too! Nope, really it’s hard work and the same level or more of dedication and work ethic is needed to run an online business as a brick & mortar business.

So after you’ve started your business and your website is built…. Then what?

Then you must decide to be successful. Make a daily schedule of things to DO to build your business and succeed. Things like link building and adding fresh content are like the electricity bill for your website. Very likely starting out there will be many things you aren’t skilled enough YET to complete. Don’t let that be a crutch…. In time you can learn all of these things. So let’s make a new shop owner maintenance plan for success.

Things to do to make your web store successful

1. Get in to your site’s stats and analytical information. Really study your traffic, flow conversion opportunities and keywords to start. Just a note that the really valuable keywords are at the bottom of your list… Look in to longtails.
2. Study… This is your business. Learn how to promote your store, how to make small edits and how to convert visitors to start.
3. Shop at your website. Seriously…. Do this alot and have your friends do it to! You will NEVER get every single bug worked out… But finding them brings you one bug, mistake or misspelling closer!
4. Keep control of your own business. Make sure you have full access and control of  your website, your hosting, your domain and any accounts related to your business at all times.
5. Deliver customer service and build trust. Believe it or not, word of mouth on the Internet is even bigger on the web than in our daily lives. Our fingers now have hundreds of ways to share thoughts and links worldwide, don’t miss this.
6. Build links every week, optimize a page every week, build a new page every week and update your products everyday.
7. Look and explore marketing opportunities within your budget. Pay per Click or Pay per Lead are usually very good to get started with … I prefer the latter for shopping carts as the shopper has already seen, read about and knows the price of the product before you pay for the click.

Most importantly, plan to wok hard and build your business… No free bus rides on the net either.

Melanie E-Commerce SEO, So you want to be a Shop Owner Series

Starting an online business, specifically a shopping cart, has become a very popular thing to do recently. However, most new store owners are misguided in their thoughts of how the process works, make rash decisions and lack the essential understanding and research necessary to be successful in their new online business. This series of 5 posts is designed to serve as a guide for developing your own online store/shopping cart as painlessly and successfully as possible. Welcome to Part 4 Shop Necessities, Integration and Functionality!

So you want to be a Shop Owner Part 4

Every business will have specific integration or custom function they need or want.  This is the stickiest part of developing your online store.  In Part 1 of this series, we had you look at the saleability of you products, in doing so you probably came across some quirks or specific needs you have to effectively sell your wares. Whether its special information passed in orders on checkout, a specific sales report needed to manage your inventory or accounting, a software integration or a different payment method… You will need to accomplish these things to be successful.  A plan is only as good as the execution.

I sincerely hope you identified the custom features and integration you need and measured your shopping cart software against it by this stage of development… Lets assume you have =-)

Most developers will get $50 to $150 and hours to make customizations and functionality changes to your website.  If you have chosen a shopping cart that has packaged or developed modifications which you can install to change the functionality, look and feel then this cost is likely to be lessened quite a bit.  If you have need for all out custom programming, and it will increase your ability to sell products or rank better in organic search… Then make the investment.

We discussed early on some features that historically we know you will need to sell your products effectively and decrease abandonment.  Let dig in to a few of these things that shop owners commonly require from their shopping carts to succeed.

1. You will absolutely need a good search function for shoppers to find your products quickly and easily and reduce shopper frustration. You search function needs to be very near the top of your website, top left is optimum.  A search function is NO replacement for great navigation.
2. You will need a category menu to assist shoppers in navigating your products in a logical manner. While I can appreciate the desire to “stand out” or “be different” this menu is best suited on the top or top left.  Right hand menus just aren’t as effective, as we have long trained visitors to look in “normal” places for the menu options.  Does your menu need moved?
3. Does your store have the ability to properly apply sales tax in your region/state and any distributors zone as well?  There is no headache like the IRS if you do not handle your sales tax collection properly.
4. Is your coupon and discount functionality suited for your products or do you need additional tools like quantity pricing or special prices for special shoppers?  This is likely to be a job for your shopping cart developer.
5. Does your store and checkout contain language that leads shoppers to believe they “have to” create an account to shop with you? Fix this now, trust me.  You see, even if the fact is they must create and account, the language does not have to scream the fact at them.  Use terminology like “shipping information” or “billing information” to reduce your shoppers anxiety about creating yet another web account.
6. How many pages or clicks does it take for a shopper to checkout with a product? This needs to be a few pages as possible, and you development money is well spent on optimizing your checkout.
7. Are your product pages laid out correctly? Is there a proper “call to action”? Can shopper easily locate the “add to cart” button?
8. Will you be able to integrate your payment processing yourself, or does your developer need to do this for you?  Do not settle for accepting JUST Google Checkout or PayPal, proper credit card processing will greatly increase your sales and rate of conversion.  Honestly, don be scared, its not that difficult to get a merchant account & gateway going for your shop.  In many cases you can additionally process all or certain credit cards types cheaper than PayPal or Google Checkout. You web developer should be able to advise you on your options for credit cards processing and the integration involved for your shopping cart software.
9. Is you shipping functionality going to do the job or does it need “tweaked”?  Remember, shoppers have been long burned on pumped up shipping charges on eBay and other similar shopping platforms, so you need to get this right to convert shoppers in to sales.
10. Are the systems in place for order and inventory management going to be effective enough for your business, or do you need added functionality here?
11. Do you have effective statistical software installed to tracks sales, conversions, visitors and other site metrics? You absolutely NEED a proper Analytics Solution for your web store… Not optional if you intend to be successful.  It doesn’t have to cost a great deal of money at all… Google Analytics is not only free, but highly effective statistical and conversion tracking software.

All in all, I hope your are feeling pretty confident at this point that your choices thus far have been well informed and good decisions.  I have one piece of additional advice to pass on at this point…

You will NOT be successful in your web store, JUST because you have one.  Your shopping cart, like any other business, requires a high level of commitment and maintenance from you.  You must have your finger on the “pulse” of your business at all times, no matter who is managing it.  Lastly, you must be prepared to make a proper reinvestment of funds to your website for technology improvements, maintenance, proper hosting and many other marketing opportunities as well.

Stop by Monday (8/18/2008) for the final part of “So You Want to be a Shop Owner” series wrap up called “Got My Store in Development, Now What?” See you there!

Melanie So you want to be a Shop Owner Series