Choosing the Right E-Commerce Service for SEO

Most retail businesses want to create as large of a customer base as possible to strengthen and continue growth of their business. For online retailers, one of the first steps involves creating an e-commerce website to sell their products/services online. Once their website is built and online, the next critical step involves working on a strategy to attract online visitors to the website. One of the common channels used by companies today is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a cost effective way of producing targeted traffic to an e-commerce website.

Benefits of SEO to an E-Commerce website

Typically, when people want information on a product or service, they will type it on their browsers and look it up from the search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing. E-commerce websites on the other hand, strive to match the queries being searched to ensure that customers get the best information about the product or service and persuade people to buy from them versus a competitor. With good SEO, e-commerce websites are also able to experience better marketing capabilities which is relatively cheaper as compared to other options such as Pay Per Click (PPC). The success of this, however, depends on factors such as proper on-page and off-page optimization of the website in accordance with the algorithm of a search engine. This means that once a site is up on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) for certain business keywords, the free traffic is all it needs for successful business.

How to Choose an SEO Friendly E-Commerce Platform

Assuming the e-commerce website now has the traffic that SEO targeted in the first place, the next thing is ensuring that the site has the relevant features that will help convert the traffic to create revenue from the products or services being offered here. There are various factors to consider in optimizing the experience of the website’s targeted users. These factors include:

• Good e-commerce website design – The use of appealing and easily navigable website templates and efficient plugins. A well designed website provides a pleasant experience to users and may be a factor in enhancing increased return businesses.
• Reliable Website Hosting – Choosing the hosting services of a fast and reliable provider will ensure your website runs smoothly, stays online during heavier traffic situations and handles the demands of your visitors and customers.
• Good e-commerce software – The most important feature of any e-commerce website, it provides a convenient way for consumers to purchase products from a site. There are numerous e-commerce software programs on the market today.

Factor in the following considerations before making a decision on which one to settle on:

1. Flexibility in design and customization including mobile responsiveness
2. Provides secure payment processing through SSL and is PCI compliant
3. Search engine optimization (SEO) for custom URLs, dynamic meta tags, titles and more
4. Social and mobile commerce solutions for added customer engagement
5. 24/7 and 365 Day support when you need assistance
6. Order management, processing and reporting
7. Product management, inventory tracking and reports
8. MOST importantly….. Ease of use

Why You Should Choose 3dcart for E-Commerce

As mentioned earlier, there are various options for e-commerce software available, some which offer these services and other inherent benefits. Our preference and recommendation for one of the most advanced e-commerce solutions used in the market today is 3dcart. 3dcart has been used by more 17,000 customers (23,000 online stores) since its inception in 2001, and is currently ranked among the fastest growing companies in America.No transaction fees – No setup costs – Advanced marketing features – Unlimited image storage – Offering a 15% discount on yearly prepayments and up to $225 in advertising credits. 3dcart offers plans to fit any store scale starting at $19.99/month.

3dcart Features Include:

• Gift Registry – allows the customers to use website’s store for weddings, parties and shower gifts.
• Loyalty program – customers are able to receive and accumulate points for every purchase they make on the site. The points can be used to make future purchases.
• Drag n’ Drop editor – The software has one of the easiest design editors which enable users to customize their store in real time.
• Integrated blog – all plans of 3dcart software come with an integrated blogging platform. This is especially helpful in search engine rankings providing SEO friendly links, alt tags, XML sitemaps, RSS feeds and page titles among others. Store owners are able to manipulate most of the optimization settings for their homepage and for individual products.
• Hosting and securing store – the software guarantees an uptime of 99.9% with daily backups, intrusion and firewall protection, PCI compliant servers and IP blocking features are also offered.
• Templates – 3dcart software offers tons of free and premium templates with most of them easily customizeable using HTML, CSS or using their popular Drag n’ Drop editor.

With the variety of features being offered by 3dcart, it is easy to recommend their e-commerce software to anyone who needs a reliable shopping cart solution. Any individual can test its suitability through their 15 day free trial before committing to their services. Take it for a test drive now!