osCommerce Webmaster’s Guide to Selling Online电子书

osCommerce Webmaster's Guide to Selling Online

Table of Contents

osCommerce Webmaster's Guide to Selling Online

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewer

Preface

What This Book Covers

Conventions

Reader Feedback

Customer Support

Errata

Questions

1. Increasing Profits and Sales with osCommerce

Why osCommerce?

What is the Book About?

Profits First

The Strategy to Profit

Summary

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

Commission Junction

Newsletters

Tips and Best Practices

Designing and Sending a Newsletter

Forums and Blogs

Price Comparison Directories

Export Data from osCommerce to Froogle

Summary

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

Same Product in Multiple Categories

Product Listing and Product Information Pages with the Same Content

Multiple Front Ends Linked to the Same Back End, Even when Using Different Domain Names

osCommerce Online Stores Using Product Feed Coming from Suppliers

Other Websites Using osCommerce Store's Product Feed

HTML Validation and Page Structure Optimization

What should be Validated in osCommerce?

How do we Validate and What are the Most Common Issues?

Optimized URLs in osCommerce

Page Title and META Tags in osCommerce

Main Page

Category Listing Page

Product Information Page

How to Do It in osCommerce?

Main Page URL and Redirects

Internal Linking between the Pages

Site Maps

osCommerce site map

Google and Yahoo! Site Maps

The robots.txt and .htaccess Files

Navigation gets Optimized

Contexts

How to Write Context that Works

osCommerce Contexts Authoring

SEO for Contexts

Hiring an SEO Specialist

Tracking SEO Campaign Results

Web Traffic Analysis

Summary

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

osCommerce Information System and News Desk

Third-Party Content Management Systems

Built-In and Third-Party Blog Solutions

Attracting Customers Read and Write Articles

Forums and Galleries

Integration with Third-Party Forums

Integration with Built-In Forums

Photo Galleries

Summary

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

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

Unity of Design throughout the Online Store

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

Technical Aspects of Multicultural Design in osCommerce

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

Category Tree

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13. Afterword

Index