Category and Product Page Efficiencies

Why can’t web categories be as good as the online experience, why are some sites a nightmare when other sites are a pleasure to deal with? Here is some advice.

Product Category Pages

  • Allow for multiple ways to get to your products – Divide your products into easy to understand categories. Allow users to click on these product categories to view product category pages.
  • Have nice clean photos – Your product photos should be nice and clean, and be easy to understand what the product is.
  • Have minimal amount of description text – On the product category pages have minimal if any product description text. The cleaner you can keep this page the easier it will be for users to click through to the product page. bear in mind that this is contary to SEO best practice so consider an alternate way to accomplish product category relevant content for Google.
  • Have a Buy Now button – Make sure each product has a “Buy Now” button. Make the button big enough that users can see it, but not too big that it competes with the product photo.
  • Have a Get More Details button or link – Make sure each product has a “Get More Details” button or link. Make the button big enough that users can see it, but not too big that it competes with the product photo.

Product Pages

  • Create compelling product copy – Be sure that your product copy is interesting enough that a shopper is going to want to read it. Make sure it’s not too long. Be sure to include your targeted keywords in the copy for SEO. have the copy emotive – not dull and boring, remember its sales copy first then techniocal details. BE AWARE – Google will penalise for duplicate content so don’t just copy and paste from the manufacturers website.
  • Clear inventory indicator (“in stock” or “out of stock”) – Be sure to include an easy to see inventory indicator. Either show “in stock” or “out of stock”, or show an actual number of items currently in stock. This can be difficult if your site is not connected to your stock control system.
  • Show several product photos – The more quality photos that you can show of your product the more opportunities your shopper will have to better understand the product. Include as many quality photos as you can. Make sure the quality and resolution is of an acceptable standard.
  • Include a photo zoom feature – Allow shoppers to easily zoom into your photos to see product details.
  • Include a photo gallery to display all photos for a product – If you are showing a lot of photos be sure to include a photo gallery so shoppers can quickly see the photos.
  • Show people using your products – Some of your photos should include people. Of course this depends on your products, but in most cases showing people with your products will help the sale.
  • Have a large “Add to Cart” button – This is huge. Be sure that your “Add to Cart” button is very visible. Test different sizes and different colors to see which works best for your site. Make sure it is place toward the top of your product page and not at the bottom.
  • Suggest related products – At the bottom of your product page it is a good idea to suggest other related products. This will give the shopper an opportunity to see other similar products that you offer.
  • Tabbed product details (Features, videos, reviews, specifications, warranty, etc.) – On the product page include tabbed product details functionality. This will condense the length of the page so shoppers don’t have to scroll through a long page.
  • Product reviews – Including product reviews is a very strong way to convert shoppers. Allowing shoppers to read other shoppers experience with your store and products will give them an addition comfort level to purchase.
  • Product videos – Demonstrate your products using short videos. This will help shoppers better understand your products by seeing them in action.
  • Product demonstrations – Showing videos or slide shows of how to use your products will help sell your products.
  • Product reviews by media – Add credibility by having the media or bloggers review your products. Include a link to these product reviews and be sure to include the media logos to add more credibility.
  • Warranty information – Including a strong warranty program will put shoppers at ease. Warranties such as a limited lifetime warranty are very beneficial.
  • Product Category Pages– Be sure to include links to “like” functionality for sites like Facebook and Digg.

Where is the best place to start? get some examples, do not, I repeat, do not expect your designer or programmer to do this. Get lots of great examples and be very clear on what will work for your ideal clients.

 

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