Regardless of which online shopping cart software you are using for your website whether it Wix, Shopify, or Woo Commerce just to name a few, having an online presence is essential in today’s business environment. For almost two decades, I posted products when I owned a brick and motor store that had a click and mortar component. I took the skills that I learned and combined them with the best practices that were part of my Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce certification. Combining my real world knowledge and my classwork, I complied a list of the 11 best practices to boost your online sales and help grow your business.

Best practice list:

Webpage best practices

-1- SEO and Content Creation:  This should be part of the content creation from keywords, meta descriptions, headers, and ALT Text.  Alt text is a brief, description of an image.  It is especially important because search engines search for tags on images, specifically designed to aid individuals with visual impairments.

-2- Navigation: Helping visitors find what they need when they need it. Using layered navigation with categories like price and color. Adding an on-site search feature can also be a useful tool for the end user.

-3- Photography: Show off your products at their best with high resolution images. Adding an interactive zoom or a 360-degree view can be useful. Additionally, having photos that demonstrate the product in use is very helpful, and even better is showing demonstration videos.

-4- Product comparisons: Offering users the ability to compare and contrast products is also very helpful and improves the
user experience.

-5- Words Matter: Give detailed description that include size, color, weight when relevant. Structured data, like tables with headings, makes it easier for both visitors and web crawlers to find your product.

-6- Call-to-action buttons: Make your “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” button irresistible.

-7- Easy Checkout: Keep it simple! Customers tend to abandon their shopping cart if the checkout process is too long or complicated. Consider letting customers complete a transaction without creating an account and try to reduce the data points required to collect data, for example have a checkbox if billing and shipping address are the same.

-8- Trust is a Must: Build trust with honest reviews, and endorsements from reputable organizations. Be sure that your SSL certificate is up to date.

Digital Marketing Best Practices

-9- Everyone loves a deal: Create excitement with time-limited promotions. “Offer ends tomorrow” or “Only two in stock” can help a potential sale turn into a sale.

-10- Re-marketing emails: Don’t let abandoned carts go unnoticed if you already have a customer’s email, reach out and try to complete the process. A promotional offer could be useful at this time.

-11- Analytics Magic: Use tools like Google Analytics (e.g., Site Kit) to uncover and fix any points of customer drop off.

Ideally a business would implement all of the above best practices, but if you have a website with hundreds of SKU’s the process of updating the site can be daunting. A few suggestions to make the process less stressful are:

• Start implementing best practices to all new items going forward.
• Update your best-selling items first to incorporate the best practices. 
• Pick a category a week to make changes to update.

As the Gatorade ad said. “There is a moment in every race. A moment where you can either quit, fold, or say to yourself, I can do this.'”  The same goes for your business and your website, yes you can do it and I would be happy to help you do it.