eCommerce - Ventura Web Design & Marketing

The Importance of Online Reviews

March 14, 2016/in eCommerce, Marketing, Social Media /by Kevin Richards

If you’ve ever shopped online, chances are that you’ve seen and considered reviews for merchants you shop with and products that you’ve browsed. Customers prefer real testimonials to marketing fluff, so it’s no surprise that reviews are the fastest growing social marketing tool for online stores. According to a 2012 study, almost 33% of shoppers trust reviews over a particular brand or its marketing. If you’re considering adding reviews to your website or online store, there are a few things you should know.

Online reviews are a becoming a big factor in determining your placement in search and shopping results. Total number of reviews, review quality and length, and trust of your review platform all play a big role. A 2013 study reported that almost 85% of users considered reviews before visiting a new restaurant, hiring a contractor, or making a major purchase, so it’s no wonder that search engines take reviews into account more than in the past.

In general, there are 3 different types of reviews.

Merchant reviews are a measure of trust in your business in general. When someone fills out a merchant review, they’re reviewing your customer service, shipping time, and overall quality of shopping experience. Merchant reviews are powerful incentives to trust your brand.

Product reviews rate the quality of individual products. Product reviews help build trust in the particular brand of a product, and allow customers to read personal stories from other buyers who’ve used that product, as well as share those reviews on social media. In fact, 42% of all Amazon customers have left product reviews, and products with postiive review have sold 200% more than those with no ratings. The best and most trusted review programs only allow reviews from someone who has actually bought that product.

Local Reviews are reviews you collect either in your physical business location or on the go (using a tablet or phone, for instance). You can then syndicate that review to many online lists and social media platforms to get you the most exposure available when someone searches your business.

While you can always install a simple review plugin or use whatever comes built-in with your e-commerce platform of choice, it’s far better to have reviews collected by a Google and/or Microsoft approved third-party review company. Those reviews are guaranteed to be from actual customers, which means they can’t be faked. Depending on who is collecting your reviews, can be used to boost your visibility and attractiveness in Google Adwords, Google Shopping, Yahoo and Bing ad networks.

We’ve found Shopper Approved to be the best review company overall. Their prices are highly competitive and their customer service is top notch. Their review management tools are easy to use, and they’re one of the most trusted names in the business. Shopper Approved collected 70% more review and are historically more visible on search engines than their competitors. Most importantly, their ratings are fed to Google so shoppers will see your review stars when browsing Google shopping.

Want to get started with reviews for your website or online store today? Ventura can set you up with a 30-day free trial of Shopper Approved. For more information, contact us today.

How Can I Make My Store a Google Trusted Store

February 17, 2016/in eCommerce, Google, Marketing /by Kevin Richards

Having the trust of consumers is very important for online retailers. There are a number of different ways to build trust for your store. Becoming a Google Trusted Store and displaying the Trusted Stores badge on your site goes a long way towards building trust with your potential customers.

Being accepted in the Google Trusted Store program and displaying the badge on your site lets consumers know that their orders are protected by Google for up to $1000, and they know Google will help in resolving any issues they have with your store.

Google doesn’t just let any online retailer display the Trusted Store badge; There are several requirements you will need to meet to earn that badge:

Currently, the program is only available to US merchants
The site’s content and customer support must be in English
Merchants must process 600 orders on a 90-day rolling basis
90% of orders must be delivered on-time
The Merchant must maintain a minimum 4 star rating on Google Trusted Stores customer survey and seller ratings over a 90-day rolling basis
No more than 1 in 300 protected orders shall be escalated on a 90-day rolling basis
It shall take on average no more than 4 calendar days for a merchant to resolve any issues
If the annual payout of refunds paid by Google exceeds $5000 the client’s participation in the program may be suspended or terminated.

If you believe your store qualifies, head over to Google Trusted Stores to sign up for an account. Google will ask you several questions about your business. Once you answer all the questions you are ready to integrate the Google Trusted Store code into your site. Depending on the platform you use this could be relatively easy, both Yahoo! Stores and BigCommerce have built the code into their platforms, or may require more technical knowledge to integrate the code with your site.

Once the Trusted Store code is in place you need to test the code to make sure it is working correctly, Google gives you a special URL to test the code. If the code is working correctly, your store will enter the Trusted Stores qualification period. The qualification period can last anywhere from 30 – 90 days, depending on your order volume. During this time Google will monitor your store and the badge will not appear on your site. After the qualification Google will notify you whether your store passed and was accepted into the program. If it was the badge will automatically appear on the site.

5 Tips for Properly Merchandising Your Online Store

February 8, 2016/in Design, eCommerce, Marketing, SEO /by Kevin Richards

Properly merchandising your online store is just as important as merchandising a brick-and-mortar store. Having a well-merchandised store can lead to increased conversion rates and higher average ticket sizes.

Online merchandising is, at its most basic, a way of displaying your products that entices your customers to make a purchase. There are a myriad of different ways and methods to properly merchandise your store. We will take a look at some of the most important.

Make sure people can easily find what they are looking for. This includes proper categorization of your inventory. A store with poor categorization can be a nightmare for your potential customers to navigate through. Make sure your navigation is clear and easy to follow. The fewer steps a customer needs to take to get to the product the better. Make sure your store has a search function.
Provide unique product descriptions. Writing your own product descriptions is more important than having your own product photography. Using the same generic product description is going to hurt your SEO as Google will see it as duplicate content, and you will be lucky to make it on page one of the search results. Writing your own compelling product descriptions will give you the opportunity to include any important keywords that the manufacturer may have missed. It also allows you to optimize the content to your customers and fit within your store’s culture.
Use high quality photos and product descriptions not provided by the manufacturer. This may seem like a no-brainer, but many stores just use the product descriptions and photos provided by the manufacturer. Using the same photos and descriptions as your competitors will not set you apart from the crowd. If possible, hire a professional photographer to take product photos for you.If professional photography is out of the budget, take your own photographs. You should only take your own photographs if you can match or exceed the quality of the photos that the manufacturer supplies. Poor photography shows a lack of attention to detail and makes your business look like an amateur operation. Make use of alternate images by showing different angles of the products or a close-up of important details.
Make sure any promotions you are running are prominently featured. Use attractive banners with compelling graphics on the home page to draw attention to your promotions. If you run promotions that are category specific ,don’t forget to add banners to the category page as well. Feature your best selling products or newest items on your home page. And don’t miss the opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell by adding related / alternative products and accessories on your product pages.
Make it easy for your customers to make a purchase from you. You have done a good job of merchandising your store, you have killer photos and product descriptions, cross-sell and up-sell is properly set-up, and promotions are prominently featured. All this hard work could be wasted if it is difficult for your customers to make a purchase. Make sure your buy button is prominently featured and easy for customers to see.The checkout process should be as streamlined as possible. Do you force customers to sign up for an account before they can buy from you, or can they check out as a guest? Remove any obstacles that may prevent a guest from completing the checkout steps. Do you offer PayPal as a checkout option? Many consumers are reluctant to give credit card information to merchants they are unfamiliar with, but they will use PayPal since that information isn’t passed on to the merchant and it gives the customer a degree of better security.

Merchandising your entire store can be a difficult and time-consuming task, but it’s certainly worth the boost in conversions and customer engagement. Ventura offers professional, personalized assistance in merchandising your online store. Contact us today to see how we can help you.

Migrating from Amazon Webstore

February 8, 2016/in eCommerce /by Kevin Richards

The Amazon Webstore is closing its doors in June of 2016. The platform is already unavailable to new merchants, and will soon be shutting down its offering to existing merchants. If your online store currently uses the Amazon Webstore platform, you don’t have long to migrate your store and all its products to a new platform. There’s still time to choose a new platform and complete your store migration to online store platforms like BigCommerce and Shopify.

Top Ten Reasons Why Ventura Web Design is the Best Web Design Company Ever

November 13, 2015/in eCommerce /by Kevin Richards

Matt O’Donnell
Owner of North Shore Commercial Door

Ventura Web Design has been working with NorthShoreCommercialDoor.com for many years. They handle website design & development, marketing, and technical support for us daily. Here are the top ten reasons why we love Ventura Web Design and have done business with them for so long:
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Get Your E-Commerce Store Ready for the 2015 Holiday Season

August 11, 2015/0 Comments/in eCommerce /by Kevin Richards

With the Summer slowly coming to an end, that means one thing for merchants… Christmas is almost here.

One of the key things that merchants can do to get ready for this holiday season is to make sure that their website is fully mobile ready.

I know, you’ve heard it all before… You have to be mobile, you get it… But your stats don’t show that you have a lot of mobile visitors. Maybe being mobile is just a thing for the big guys like Amazon.com.

Going mobile is something that everyone should have done by now. But if you’re not mobile yet, don’t worry, because you’re not alone.

But here’s why you need to be mobile. First, we’ve already surpassed the threshold in web traffic. More than 50% of all internet traffic originates on a mobile device.

Second, have you spent time with anyone 25 or younger lately? Chances are they don’t even own a computer. Most likely they do most, if not all, of their communication via a single device… Their smart phone.

Think back to when the internet first started. Yes, getting orders online in 1994 was less frequent than people walking into a brick and mortar store. But fast forward to today, can you imagine doing business without a website?

The same feeling that you had about getting online 5, 10, or 15 years ago is the same feeling that you should have today about making sure that mobile customers have a good experience when shopping with you.

So what are some things that you should think about when going mobile? The key thing to think about is making sure that your final product is user friendly. The click areas should be large and easy to touch, and the most important information, such as the buy button, should be near the top. You no longer need to worry about your page being too long and requiring scrolling. Today, most people are able to easily scroll through websites using their finger or scroll wheel.

Give us a call today so we can help you make your website mobile friendly and compliant with Google. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and YouTube or give us a call at 866-515-2057. As always, thank you for choosing Ventura Web Design.

Let’s get started today!