More than half of my clients are entrepreneurs who ordered the creation and promotion of an online store in various web studios and did not receive the expected result. Despite all the efforts of SEOs, Internet marketers and the owners themselves, their sites do not go to the TOP. When I take on a project and begin to analyze the work done, I often see that the problem lies not in the SEO strategy of the online store , but in the fact that the preparatory work on setting up the portal has not been carried out.

Therefore, I have developed a checklist, using which you can avoid common mistakes for online sales sites. Go!

Step 1: technical test of the online store

The first thing that I advise customers to do is try to go through the procedure for purchasing goods in their online store themselves. You don't need to be a programmer to spot basic technical errors:

• Pages take longer than 1-3 seconds to load.
• Inconvenient or broken search.
• Lack of filters with a large number of dissimilar products.

For example, the main page of Ozon.ru takes 8.5 seconds to load, and it becomes obvious that it is too "heavy":

But Amazon.com loads in just 1.34 seconds, although it contains no less information and ads:

Both online stores were tested using the Pingdom service - you can use it right now to understand how good and convenient your resource is.

Slow loading of pages creates another technical problem: if a large number of users enter the online store at the same time (and this is exactly what its owner is striving for when ordering a promotion), the portal will simply "lie down".

Also make sure that your online store works well:

• Order form: letters are sent and delivered, there are not too many fields to fill out, ideally - full name and contact phone number.
• Delivery calculation: does not slow down, displays real terms and cost. If you do not have a shipping calculation form or an online price calculator, add it, otherwise your online store will never be in the TOP of those sites that have such blocks (this is the principle of ranking modern search engines).
• Payment systems: Offer customers a choice and make sure all connected systems are working correctly. Plus, the site must send an online check to the buyer's e-mail.

Bonus tip: I often noticed that contact numbers are incorrectly specified in online stores - they remain from the template. Make sure you don't make this mistake and that you can be easily contacted.

Step 2: visual design and responsiveness

After eliminating all technical faults, when you are sure that the online store is working flawlessly and is able to withstand the influx of customers, evaluate its visual components. If everything looks good from a PC, open the site from a phone - most of your potential buyers use smartphones to surf the Internet.

What should you pay attention to?

• General view from a mobile device - the site must adapt, look good.
• No restrictions: basic functions (catalog, search, communication with a consultant, ordering) work correctly. Check each service separately.

Simply put, an online store should work from a mobile device in the same way as from a PC. The user is given the opportunity to enter the "Personal Account", correct data, use filters when searching for goods, pay for the order. If some function does not work, the buyer will not switch to a computer, but simply go to competitors.

Step 3: check the commercial component

It is best to do this together with a general technical and visual assessment, since commercial metrics affect both the structure of the site and its design.

The first place to start is to evaluate the catalog. It should be clearly structured according to the principle "from general to specific", that is, for example: household appliances - TVs - Samsung TVs.

Violation of this principle will not only make it difficult for buyers to find, but also affect ranking positions: a well-built catalog is one of the key requirements of search engines to promoted online stores.

Other important commercial components:

• Relevance of ads and banners on the home page. Optimal if they reflect current stocks. Check them once a month or more often (for example, when the next advertising campaign ends). In addition to advertising banners, you can display the headings “product of the month”, “seasonal products” and similar blocks on the main page.

• Separate page for payment and shipping information. Check its correctness and completeness, easy access: a link to it can be placed in the header of an online store, and you should definitely not hide it “in the basement”.
• Having credible reviews. It is optimal to add answers from real buyers. But if the online store is at the launch stage, and there are no reviews about its work yet, you can order copywriters to write them. Quality and believability are important here. Search robots will also appreciate the presence of a block with reviews and improve the position of your online store in the TOP.
• Detailed filling of the product card. The more useful information you provide to the user, the better. I recommend combining this point with SEO promotion and checking the content for compliance with key queries. It is necessary that the description text contains the main request, it is important to correctly write commercial meta tags.
• Block with news, articles and reviews. Some online store owners consider this section superfluous. But not the search engines (and not the buyers themselves). Periodic publication of news, reviews, expert articles improves the position in the search results, allows you to form a recognizable brand, and reduces the cost of promotion.

Step 4: SEO-promotion of the online store

After you have made sure that it is easy and convenient to buy goods from a PC and a smartphone in your online store, you can invest in its SEO promotion. Optimally combine search engine optimization with other promotion strategies: contextual advertising, SMM work on a brand, email newsletters. An integrated approach allows you to achieve big goals in a short time.

The peculiarity of SEO promotion of an online store is a large number of heterogeneous keywords. Therefore, the first task of the optimizer is to correctly compose the semantic core and perform its clustering. I have already covered this topic in more detail in the video Semantic Core: Clustering

results

Search bots evaluate not only the number of links, content and meta tags (what SEO works with). First of all, they rely on functionality, usability, technical parameters of online stores. Therefore, for a quick and successful SEO, it is necessary to conduct a preliminary audit of the resource. This will help you save up to 40-60% of your budget on promotion and get tangible results in the first month after the start of sales.

Then launch contextual advertising and customize SMM using the recommendations.