osCommerce Webmaster’s Guide to Selling Online Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Increasing Profits and Sales with osCommerce
• Why osCommerce?
• What is the Book About?
• Profits First
• The Strategy to Profit
• Summary

• Chapter 2: Advertising an Online Store
• What can be Advertised?
• How to Advertise
• Tracking Efficiency of the Advertising Efforts
• Advertising in Search Engines
• Paid Advertisements
• Useful Tips and Best Practices
• Banners
• Banner Exchange
• Positioning in the Page
• osCommerce Banner Managements Facilities
• Pop Ups and Pop Unders
• Link Exchange
• Value the Links
• osCommerce Link Exchange Facilities
• Getting Backward Links
• Tracking Link Efficiency
• Affiliate Programs
• How it Works
• Getting Affiliates On Board
• osCommerce Affiliate Program Solutions
• Popular Third-Party Affiliate Program Solutions
• Newsletters
• Tips and Best Practices
• Designing and Sending a Newsletter
• Forums and Blogs
• Price Comparison Directories
• Export Data from osCommerce to Froogle
• Summary

• Chapter 3: Search Engine Optimization
• Why SEO?
• Balance between SEO and Usability
• Ethical SEO
• New Site SEO
• Expected Time Frame
• Page Rank
• Ageing Delay
• Plan Ahead for a New Online Store
• Google "Sandbox"
• What is a "Sandbox"?
• What is the "Sandbox" For?
• How the "Sandbox" can be Useful for Your Online Store
• What can be a Reason for My Store to be "Sandboxed"?
• Is My Online Store in the "Sandbox"?
• Google Supplemental Index
• What gets an Online Store into the Supplemental Index?
• How to Get Out of the Supplemental Index
• SEO When Switching to osCommerce from an Existing Website
• Preserving Good Page Rank
• Understanding External and Internal SEO
• External SEO
• Popularity—What it is and How to Measure It
• Listing in Online Directories
• Backward Links
• Internal SEO
• Content and Keywords
• How to Define Keywords?
• Avoiding Duplicate Product Page URLs
• HTML Validation and Page Structure Optimization
• Optimized URLs in osCommerce
• Page Title and META Tags in osCommerce
• Main Page URL and Redirects
• Internal Linking between the Pages
• Site Maps
• The robots.txt and .htaccess Files
• Navigation gets Optimized
• Contexts
• Hiring an SEO Specialist
• Tracking SEO Campaign Results
• Web Traffic Analysis
• Summary

• Chapter 4: Dynamic Content to Improve Sales
• Dynamic Content: What and Why?
• How Can We Make Users Participate?
• Different Types of Dynamic Content in osCommerce
• Reviews
• Third-Party Reviews Solutions
• Testimonials
• Attracting Customers to Read and Write Reviews and Testimonials
• Polls and Lotteries (Surveys)
• Attracting Customers to Vote in Polls and Participate in the Surveys
• News and Newsletter Archives
• Newsletters
• Text versus HTML
• Attracting Customers to Subscribe and Read Newsletters
• CMS, Blogs, and Online Magazines
• Existing Content Management Solutions
• Attracting Customers Read and Write Articles
• Forums and Galleries
• Integration with Third-Party Forums
• Integration with Built-In Forums
• Photo Galleries
• Summary

• Chapter 5: Building Customer Confidence
• Ensuring Server and Database Safety
• Information about the Business
• Information on the Main Page and Landing Pages
• Business Information—About Us Page
• Contacts (Addresses and Phones)—Contact Us Page
• Visual Image behind the Business Name
• Memberships and Regulating Authorities
• Seals and Awards
• Security (SSL) and Business Identity
• Where Should We Place the Images?
• What Makes the Difference?
• Multilingual Aspect
• Customer Information
• Terms and Conditions, and Policies
• Policies: Privacy Policy, Billing Policy, and Shipping Policy
• Help and Assistance
• Buying Guides
• FAQ
• Live Support
• Product Catalog
• Category Tree
• Page Load Speed Issues
• Search and Search Results
• Information in Product Listing
• Products Per Page
• Product Information in the Listing
• Product Comparison
• Individual Product Page
• Name, Price, Descriptions, and Attributes
• Images
• Product Reviews
• Placing Orders
• Security and Confidence
• Registration and Checkout Process
• Simplifying osCommerce Checkout Procedure
• Order Processing
• Charging Practices in osCommerce
• Notifications, Order and Dispatch Statuses
• Printable Documents
• Summary

• Chapter 6: Design to Sell
• Main Principles of E-Commerce Design
• Main Principle: Design for Sales
• Design Accompanies Products
• Page Load Speed Optimized Design
• Multiple Platforms and Browser Compatibility
• Design that Helps Sales
• "osCommerce" Design—Pros and Cons
• General Recommendations for osCommerce Design
• Product Information Presentation
• Prices and Purchase Facilities
• Design Matches Products
• Choosing Style
• Layout of Product Listing and Information Pages
• Design Matches Target Audience
• Design Compatibility
• Web Browser Compatibility
• How to Ensure Web Browser Compatibility
• Screen Resolution Compatibility
• Multicultural and Multilingual Designs
• International Sales
• Benefiting from Cultural Diversity
• Design Recommendations
• Main Page
• Category and Search Results Pages
• Product Listing
• Product Information Pages
• Variants of the Shopping Cart Page Design
• Checkout Pages
• User Account and Order History Pages
• Important Design Elements
• Logo
• Font Styles and Sizes and Colors
• Quick Search Box
• Shopping Cart Box
• Currency and Language Boxes
• Breadcrumbs and Navigation Panels
• Filter Box
• Login and Account History Links
• Control Button Colors and Positions
• Standard osCommerce Images
• Messages (Information, Warnings, and Errors)
• Fast Design
• Why Speed is Important
• How to Measure Page Load Speed in osCommerce
• How to Optimize Page Load Speed
• Branding
• Email Templates and Newsletters
• Downloadable and Printable Documents
• Downloadable Product Catalog and Brochures
• What to Include
• How to Generate Product Brochures
• Banners
• Updating osCommerce Design
• Why Change a Design
• Design Templates
• Summary

• Chapter 7: Improving Product Catalog
• Making Navigation More Obvious
• Category Tree
• Tree Levels
• Online Sales without the Category Tree
• Products in Multiple Categories
• Alternative Categories
• Shop by Brand
• Additional Filters
• Filters by Price
• Filter by Free Stock
• Filters by Additional Properties
• Product Listing
• Top Offers
• New Products
• Expected Products and Pre-Order
• Sorting Options
• Search
• Quick Search and Advanced Search
• Relevancy of Search Results
• Found Nothing—What Should We Do?
• Product Information
• Product Name and Description
• Additional Images and Image Galleries
• Associated Video Clips
• Manufacturer Information (Brochures) and Category Information (Buying Guides)
• Product Reviews
• Product Price
• Stock Levels
• Additional Features
• Recently Viewed Products
• Report Better Price
• Price Monitoring Feature
• Going International
• Auto-Detection
• Descriptions
• Currencies and Prices
• Shipping and Payment Methods
• Summary

• Chapter 8: Increasing Order Value
• Increasing Order Values for Customers
• Increasing Order Values for Store Owners
• Offers Being Reasonable
• Increasing Profits and Not Necessarily Order Totals
• Determine the most Profitable Products
• Determine the Best-Selling Products
• Selling Related Products Together
• Cross-Selling Products and Categories
• Cross-Selling Product to Product
• Cross-Selling Categories
• Cross-Selling Based on Customers' Choices
• Cross-Sell by Email
• Minimum Order Amount Strategy
• For Payment Methods
• For Shipping Methods
• Giveaways
• Freebies
• Complex Products
• Configurable Products
• Product Bundles
• Design of the Bundled Product Page
• Stock Control
• Design of the Shopping Cart Page
• Summary

• Chapter 9: Increasing the Turnover via Promotions and Special Offers
• Which Products to Promote
• New Products
• Best-Selling Products
• The Most Profitable Products
• All Clearance Stock Must Go!
• Special Purchase Price
• Product Bundles
• Products That are Too Expensive
• Recommended Retail Price and Purchase Price
• Special Prices
• Sale Manager Contribution
• Quantity Discounts
• "Buy One Get One Free" Discounts
• Discounts Based on Order Value
• Special Shipping Offers
• Giveaways
• Discount Coupons and Gift Vouchers
• Effective Use of Discount Coupons
• Making Customers Aware of Discounts
• Rebates
• Avoiding an Addiction to Discounts
• Winning Market Share
• Affiliate Program
• B2B Program for Trade Customers
• Making a Difference for Trade Customers
• Multiple Front Ends (Online Mall Solution)
• Summary

• Chapter 10: Improving Conversion Rates and Customer Experience
• Why Improve Conversion Rates?
• Conversion Rates in osCommerce
• Visitors to Customers Conversion Rate
• Customers to Repeat Customers Conversion Rate
• Conversion of Referring Sources, Media Types, and Advertising Campaigns
• Conversion of Certain Categories, Brands, and Individual Products
• Conversion of Pages and Page Elements
• Conversion of Website Navigation and Search Facility
• Paths that Convert Visitors into Customers
• Conversion Rate Drop during the Checkout Process
• Conversion Based on Browsing History
• Page Elements that Improve Conversion Rates
• Main Page/Landing Page
• Banners, Special Offers, and Featured Products Announcements
• Product Listing Page
• Product Information Page
• Shopping Cart and Checkout Pages
• Checkout Confirmation Page
• Checkout without an Account
• Wish Lists and Quotations
• Discontinued Products and Changed Prices
• Payment Methods
• Error Handling and Confirmations
• Customer Registration
• Payment and Shipping
• Order Confirmation
• Customer Account
• Back End Improvements
• Search Features
• Order Management
• Live Chat Support and Answer Phone
• Summary

• Chapter 11: Understanding and Using Reports
• Tracking Visitors
• Using Day-of-Week and Time-of-Day Statistics
• Using Statistics by Page Popularity
• Using Third-Party Solutions to Track Visitors
• Monitoring Day-to-Day Conversion Rates
• Reports on Referring Sources
• Reports on Keywords
• Tracking Sales
• Sales Forecast Reports
• Bestselling Products
• Bestselling Brands and Categories
• Most Profitable Products
• Report on Sales by Region
• Report on Best-Buying Customers
• Report by Net Profit
• Tracking Stock
• Report by Stock
• Turnaround Report
• Tracking Customers
• Report by Customers Who ...
• Using Reports when Sending Newsletters
• Summary

• Chapter 12: Repeat Customers
• Why Repeat Customers?
• Customers and Repeat Customers
• How to Keep in Touch with Customers
• Gathering and Using Personal Information
• Using Order History Information—Cross-Selling
• Using Order History Information—Re-Ordering and Subscriptions
• Unfinished Orders
• Loyal Customers
• Summary

• Afterword

• Index