Having your own website is a great way to tell your brand story in as much or as little detail as you like. It gives you the opportunity to showcase your products however you like and is also a great place for you to connect with buyers and direct them to whatever information they need.
It’s also is a great place to sell, free from listing charges and competition. But what if you have your products for sale on your website but they’re not selling as well as you’d like? Here are 5 simple things to include on your home page to make sure you really are being found by customers and directing them to where they need to go to make a purchase.
1. A link to your shop
Sounds obvious but is sometimes forgotten. Make sure the link is easy to see and completely obvious. If it’s not in your header then make sure you put it there asap. Also add another link somewhere else on the page such as a clickable image or in any text.
And if you have any images or text of a product make sure that links to the product in the shop so a customer can easily find it and buy it.
If you offer wholesale and sell to retail outlets don’t forget to include really easy-to-find links to both those sections on your homepage. Don’t make wholesale customers search for your wholesale page or expect shoppers to know you have products in shops if it’s not obvious to them.
Make it super obvious.
This should be in text, not within an image or in Flash/PDF. The text is there for the benefit of Google so it can place you in search queries so make sure there are plenty of references to your keywords. Keywords are words customers use when searching for your products. They are sometimes very obvious (your name, what you sell) and sometimes a little less easy to think of (a description or feeling of your brand). Below is the text you can find on my website homepage. All keywords I used have been bolded to make them easy for you to see.
Sounds obvious but is sometimes forgotten. Make sure the link is easy to see and completely obvious. If it’s not in your header then make sure you put it there asap. Also add another link somewhere else on the page such as a clickable image or in any text.
And if you have any images or text of a product make sure that links to the product in the shop so a customer can easily find it and buy it.
If you offer wholesale and sell to retail outlets don’t forget to include really easy-to-find links to both those sections on your homepage. Don’t make wholesale customers search for your wholesale page or expect shoppers to know you have products in shops if it’s not obvious to them.
Make it super obvious.
2. At least one paragraph of text on your page that includes several keywords.
This should be in text, not within an image or in Flash/PDF. The text is there for the benefit of Google so it can place you in search queries so make sure there are plenty of references to your keywords. Keywords are words customers use when searching for your products. They are sometimes very obvious (your name, what you sell) and sometimes a little less easy to think of (a description or feeling of your brand). Below is the text you can find on my website homepage. All keywords I used have been bolded to make them easy for you to see.
Delight Society is an artisan soap company which stays very close to the simply natural while being a long walk and two bus trips from the frankly artificial. Using only natural ingredients Delight Society produces bath and body products which are free from Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, Synthetics, Parabens and Palm Oil. Hand crafted in Western Australia each product is carefully prepared to be gentle and nourishing on your skin such as handmade soaps, decadent body scrubs, skin loving body oils and kid friendly bubble baths. Delight Society also sells to wholesale clients; providing handmade products of high quality to companies who are looking for unique and luxurious items.
Buy Delight Society products straight from the source or from these retailers.
These aren’t my only keywords throughout the website but they the major ones for what I sell. The first step is to make a list of keywords that shoppers will use when searching for products that you sell. Then build a paragraph around those keywords and add it to your home page. Include inbound links when necessary.
Buy Delight Society products straight from the source or from these retailers.
These aren’t my only keywords throughout the website but they the major ones for what I sell. The first step is to make a list of keywords that shoppers will use when searching for products that you sell. Then build a paragraph around those keywords and add it to your home page. Include inbound links when necessary.
3. Social media links
This encourages customer interaction and by making it easy for customers to “Like” your Facebook page they will be more likely to do so. Put them in an easy-to-see spot, such as the header, footer, a side bar or wherever they will be easily seen.
4. Constant new content
By constantly changing some information on your homepage you become increasingly attractive to search engines. Content is king when it comes to being found on the internet so make sure your changes are positive and contain your keywords. The easiest way to do this is to have a blog/Facebook/Twitter feed directly on your home page. Then every time you update your social media it immediately updates on your homepage. Wordpress and other open source platforms have widgets for this but if your website was made by a professional developer then it will not be difficult for them to add this feature in.
5. Amazing photography
This can’t be emphasised enough. My photography skills are really not as good as I’d like them to be so I stick to simple product shots and am slowly building up a collection of “behind the scenes/lifestyle” shots that I can add in as I go.
If you don’t have a lot of great photographs, start with your very best images and put only them on your home page. Keep updating them as you go, this is also great for SEO. Don’t put any poor quality photos on your home page...ever.
Also name and tag your images correctly. This increases you being found in searches.
These five additions to your home page will help increase traffic and get sellers exactly where you want them...at your website.
4. Constant new content
By constantly changing some information on your homepage you become increasingly attractive to search engines. Content is king when it comes to being found on the internet so make sure your changes are positive and contain your keywords. The easiest way to do this is to have a blog/Facebook/Twitter feed directly on your home page. Then every time you update your social media it immediately updates on your homepage. Wordpress and other open source platforms have widgets for this but if your website was made by a professional developer then it will not be difficult for them to add this feature in.
5. Amazing photography
This can’t be emphasised enough. My photography skills are really not as good as I’d like them to be so I stick to simple product shots and am slowly building up a collection of “behind the scenes/lifestyle” shots that I can add in as I go.
If you don’t have a lot of great photographs, start with your very best images and put only them on your home page. Keep updating them as you go, this is also great for SEO. Don’t put any poor quality photos on your home page...ever.
Also name and tag your images correctly. This increases you being found in searches.
These five additions to your home page will help increase traffic and get sellers exactly where you want them...at your website.
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