PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 08, 2022 eCommerce: Web Design Tips for Building An Online Store March 20, 2022 BY SARAH WHITNEY For the Keizertimes Here are five tips on how you can create the perfect conversion rate online to help you produce a profit. #1 The customer journey Be aware of how customers 'flow' through the website. Remove any barriers that prevent them from pur- chasing your product or signing up for your service. You don’t want your customers to ever wonder 'how do I purchase this?' It should be clear. Any moment of hesitation could mean the loss of a potential sale. #2 Online payments My absolute favorite eCommerce platform is Shopify because of the features and ease of use. Fast page load speed and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are included in the hosting plan. Credit card payments can be made directly through the Shopify store. As long as you have your business connected to a tax ID number, your bank account will receive funds transferred directly sudoku you have the budget, find a profes- sional photographer to take pictures for you. Having good photos will tre- mendously improve your website's performance. #4 Product research One of the first things people do when they search online for a new- product is look at customer reviews. What did other people think of the product? Is this a product they would purchase again? What was the overall purchasing experience with your online store like? This is the kind of information you want people to see. Reviews are really great shown with a specific product on a product page. Another way to gather an even greater response is to collect testimonials. The biggest difference between a testimonial vs review is that the testimonial is more in-depth. In a testimonial, the customer explains their experience with your product or service, why they chose it, and how it improved their lives. Testimonials should be made public on your site. Collecting testimonials and reviews should also be a part of the sales process so that you get into a good habit of always asking for feedback. #5 Product selection You will want to streamline your checkout process with as few clicks as possible. Each additional click to another page reduces the opportu- nity for a completed sale. You want to use very detailed product title descriptions. To help customers find what they are looking for much more quickly, give them the ability to fil- ter and search certain product cate- gories. About 30% of visitors use a site search tool. It’s a critical compo- nent for any eCommerce site. Sarah Whitney is a Business Adviser at the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center. Questions can be submitted to sbdc@chemeketa.edu or call (503) 399-5088. NEWS TIPS? If it's happening in Keizer, or to someone from Keizer — WE WANT TO KNOW. kt@keizertimes.com brainfood sudoku answers pg A23 Small Business Help from your Shopify website. No third party is involved. Other plat- forms include Wix, Squarespace and Woocommerce. Squarespace and Woocommerce payments can be made through Stripe and/or PayPal. There might be a fee with online payments, so be sure to read about all the fine print when signing up for a Stripe or PayPal account. #3 Page ranking on Google Everyone wants the same thing: to get their website on the first page of Google. While it is helpful to have Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the best way to improve your ranking is by having keywords appear in the first 100 words of a page's content. This means the first headline you use, the first paragraph you write, those words are super important. You want to make sure your content is both relevant and authoritative, meaning you want the customer to know what your business is about and also how they can take action towards making an online purchase. The other thing to consider is having the most up-to-date infor- mation and content. Make sure your products are shown with current information, including photogra- phy. I highly recommend research- ing product photography online and watching YouTube tutorials on proper lighting and backdrops. If Enter digits 1-9 into blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, & every 3x3 square. maze by Jonathan Graf of Keizer BRIAN & APRIL McVAY 503.510.6827 - Call or Text anytime As lifelong residents, we are your Keizer neighbor. We know this market and we are here to help! Enjoying real estate since 1998 3975 River Rd N • Suite 3 • Keizer Oregon Licensed Real Estate Brokers