Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Increasing Profits and Sales with osCommerce
Chapter 2: Advertising an Online Store
Chapter 3: Search Engine Optimization
Chapter 4: Dynamic Content to Improve Sales
Chapter 5: Building Customer Confidence
Chapter 6: Design to Sell
Chapter 7: Improving Product Catalog
Chapter 8: Increasing Order Value
Chapter 9: Increasing the Turnover via Promotions and Special Offers
Chapter 10: Improving Conversion Rates and Customer Experience
Chapter 11: Understanding and Using Reports
Chapter 12: Repeat Customers
Afterword
Index
- 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
- External SEO
- Hiring an SEO Specialist
- Tracking SEO Campaign Results
- Web Traffic Analysis
- Summary
- Why SEO?
- 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
- Reviews
- Summary
- Dynamic Content: What and Why?
- 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
- Web Browser 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
- Main Principles of E-Commerce Design
- 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
- Category Tree
- 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
- Making Navigation More Obvious
- 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
- Cross-Selling Products and Categories
- 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
- Which Products to Promote
- 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
- Tracking Visitors
- 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
