Looking to start an e-commerce website.

If you’re looking to start an e-commerce website, there are several components you’ll need to consider. Here’s a comprehensive list of what you’ll typically find in a start-up e-commerce website package:

1. Domain name: Choose and register a domain name that reflects your brand or business.
2. Web hosting: Select a reliable hosting provider to store your website’s files and make it accessible on the internet.
3. Content Management System (CMS): Consider using an e-commerce-focused CMS like Shopify, WooCommerce (WordPress plugin), Magento, or BigCommerce. These platforms provide ready-made templates and tools to build and manage your online store.
4. Design and customization: Customize the appearance of your website by selecting a theme or template that aligns with your brand. Modify colors, typography, layout, and add your logo and branding elements.
5. Product catalog: Set up categories, organize your products, and create detailed product pages with high-quality images, descriptions, pricing, and stock information.
6. Shopping cart functionality: Implement a shopping cart system that allows visitors to add products, review their order, and proceed to checkout.
7. Payment gateway integration: Integrate popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, or Square to securely process online payments. Ensure that your chosen payment gateway supports your target audience’s preferred payment methods.
8. SSL certificate: Install an SSL certificate to secure your website and encrypt customer data, especially during the checkout process. This is crucial for building trust and protecting sensitive information.
9. Order management: Implement a system to manage and fulfill orders efficiently. Track inventory, handle shipping options, and provide order status updates to customers.
10. Customer accounts: Allow customers to create accounts, save their shipping and payment details for faster checkouts, and view their order history.
11. SEO optimization: Optimize your website’s pages and product listings for search engines to improve your visibility and attract organic traffic. Ensure your CMS supports SEO features or install relevant plugins.
12. Analytics and reporting: Implement tracking tools like Google Analytics to monitor website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. Use these insights to make data-driven decisions and improve your online store.
13. Marketing and promotion: Include marketing features such as discount codes, email marketing integration, social media sharing, and abandoned cart recovery to engage with customers and drive sales.
14. Responsive and mobile-friendly design: Ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices, as a significant portion of online shopping occurs on smartphones and tablets.
15. Legal compliance: Comply with relevant laws and regulations, such as privacy policies, terms of service, and cookie consent, to protect your business and customers.

It’s worth noting that the specific components and features may vary depending on the e-Commerce Platform you choose and the specific needs of your business. Additionally, you may also need to consider additional services such as graphic design, content creation, and marketing campaigns to promote your e-commerce website effectively.

Remember to thoroughly research your options, compare different platforms, and choose the one that aligns with your business goals and budget.

Choosing keywords is the foundation of your search engine optimisation effort and you should take time to choose the most important and relevant keywords for your website.

A keyword is a word that a search engine user would enter to find your website. Most people enter search phrases that are between 2 to 5 words.

Good keyword phrases are specific and it is better to have a smaller number of targeted keywords rather than have many irrelevant users find your site listed under generic search terms, who will be unlikely to spend much time on your site. Your ultimate objective is to get targeted traffic to your site. There is no reward in being on the first page on google unless those visitors become paying customers.

The more targeted and specific your keywords are, the greater the chance that visitors to your site will find what they are looking for.

Research The Best Keywords To Use.

In order to determine which keywords are most important and relevant to your website where are free tools available such as Google Trends.

This tool will also give an indication as to the popularity of a keyword so that you may know how difficult it will be to rank for it. Less expensive keywords on pay per click will tend to be easier to rank in an organic search.

One way to go about choosing your site’s keywords is to make a list of all the possible words that your customer may use to find the products and services on your site remembering to think like your customers and avoid using words that your customer are unlikely to use.

Then use google’s keyword trends tool to help identify the keywords that you should be able to optimise which are not too popular or unpopular. Avoid generic keywords or keywords that are just a single word. So, for example, to get a top ranking for “bracelet” you would be competing with millions of other web pages.

Select Your Prime keyword.

After you have narrowed down your keywords to around 20, choose one that will be your most important keyword. Typically this will tend to be your company name. You should ensure that your most important keyword appears on most of the pages of your site. You should also have a number of variations of your primary keyword such as synonyms and alternate spellings and include these in your keywords list. So a primary keyphrase for the website “Health Store UK” should have the primary keywords “Health store UK”. Variations of this would be “UK Health Store”, “Healthstoreuk”, “healthstore UK” etc. Notice how the primary keyword is still present in the more specific pages.

Targeting keywords for conversions.

The more specialised and targeting your keyword is, the more targeted your visitors will be, and thus the more likely that they will purchase a product from your eCommerce website.

2 to 5-word phrases are much easier to rank well for because your competition is unlikely to use the same combination.

It is often a good idea to put a geographic modifier to your keyword such that “health store” becomes “health store UK”, provided that your eCommerce website focuses on a particular region or country.

Each page of your website should then contain your primary keyword. Where appropriate, your products pages should contain variations of your primary keyword or the remainder of your chosen keywords. To avoid being marked for spam, you should also use keywords that are appropriate on each individual page. So a page that contains contact details should not contain the keyword “Silver Bangles” for example but more appropriately include your shop’s full name and variations of it where appropriate. It is also important not to stuff webpages with keywords as keyword stuffing is also considered in contravention of google’s increasingly strict webmaster guidelines.

Coronavirus: 6 tips to help working from home

Many businesses are asking employees to work remotely as the COVID-19 outbreak spreads, but can they stay productive?

Here are six top tips to get you started:

1. The number one rule of working from home is… leave the house! You’ve got to get out at some point during the working day. I usually ‘walk to work’ – made easier by having a lively dog – which means I get some fresh air along with a punctuation mark before getting started. Similarly, on my most productive home working days, I’ll start off with an hour at a local cafe which gives me a boost before getting my head down for the rest of the day. And I’ll strive for a run twice a week, or in summer a swim at my local beach during the working day.

2. Move around the house. Even in a small apartment, if you can, mix up your space – from desk to kitchen table to sofa. Just as I advocate moving around the office building for different tasks, try out different environments at home. Each shift to a new zone gives you a new perspective and can re-energise you if you’re struggling with a task. At home I seldom do most of my work at my desk in the study, I move around.

3. Put some boundaries around work. You need to look after yourself and draw a line under the day so it doesn’t encroach into your home life. I know a freelancer who had a desk in her bedroom. She found it really hard to switch off. Home and work can blur together particularly when your office is the kitchen table. So have some rules about when you’ll finish, or have a door that you can shut on your work when 6 pm or 7 pm comes. It can be especially hard when the segue from work to the family can be 10 seconds instead of being able to decompress on a 60-minute commute. You might find it useful to go for a walk at the end of the day too, to give you a few minutes’ separation.

4. Stay focused and switch off distractions. At home, there’s the fridge, the aforementioned TV, other family members, a pet, chores and so on. To get the work done, you’re going to have put all those things out of mind. You can do house-stuff during your lunch break, right now the to-do list matters most so you’ll need to keep focused.

5. Have some social interaction. Working from home can be lonely. So make sure you have some calls with fellow team members where you not only catch up on the projects you’re working on but also can share some tips on how you’re getting on with remote working. Or starting the day in a busy cafe can help – chatting to like-minded souls over a coffee can give you that fix of social interaction.

6. Know what YOU need to have a good day. Remember that you are in control of the environment when you work from home. You might do your best work in shorts and t-shirt, or by listening to the new album by Caribou, or after you’ve done an hour of yoga. It’s really important to tune into what you need and then make time for it. Know what ingredients you need in order to have a good day at work and design your working day accordingly.