SEO For ECommerce Websites: How To Design Your Site

It is a popular belief that the first impression is everything and you don’t get a second chance as the attention span has decreased. The first impression quote is not relevant only to people, but in other areas like web design as well. (Image source: Pexels)

According to research, 75% of all visitors will judge your website based on its design. Whether it is an eCommerce store, blog, or any other web portal, people will judge it based on their visual impression.

When it comes to websites, visitor’s impression is important, but there is also another important moment. Your website needs to be appealing to search engines as well. Put plainly, your website needs to be SEO friendly so that search engines can recommend it to potential visitors. The more your website is appealing to search engines, the more visitors they can send towards it.

To make your journey into the highly competitive world of eCommerce, we will present you with several practical tips on how to build an e-commerce website that will be both visually appealing and SEO-friendly.

Consider the Visual Hierarchy

Your web pages’ visual hierarchy describes their layout and strategy. This will make it easy for your visitors to digest your content. Human nature is to read from top to down and from left to right. When designing an eCommerce website, it’s important to consider how visitors will use your content.

The visual hierarchy is also about presenting the business name, logo, unique value proposition, and call to action properly. It goes beyond saying that both the logo and the business name need to be at the very top of your eCommerce website, slightly bigger than the font of your website.

The unique value proposition should be placed above the fold. That way the visitors won’t forget what your brand offers. Then there is the call-to-action button that needs to be either next to the products or in the center of your landing page.

One-page checkout, readable fonts, sticky navigation, consistent branding across all pages, are just some of the other elements to consider when designing your eCommerce website. Each of them will keep your visitors more engaged and are there to serve the end goal – sell your products.

A well-designed eCommerce site will attract visitors on its own. If visitors like to spend time on your website, they keep coming back. The search engines will take note of that and will reward you even with more internet traffic.

Mobile-first Design

Mobile-first design is a basic requirement nowadays. It goes without saying how many of your visits will come from mobile devices or tablets. Plus, search engines value mobile-friendly designs over those that are not.

Pay Attention to On-page SEO

On-site SEO optimization is as important as off-site, but very often is overlooked. It is a process in which both the HTML source code and content are optimized so that search engines can understand what your website is about. Without a proper on-site SEO, search engines can’t understand what a human would see on your website. If the search engine can’t understand what your website is about, they won’t recommend it to human searchers.

Consequently, you can expect little to zero traffic coming your way from search engines. So, on-page SEO is quite important and something that must be taken into consideration when designing any website.

Content is King

Just because this is everyone’s favorite mantra, it doesn’t mean that it is not true. You need compelling content, not just to appeal to search engines, but because people rely on it. You need a content strategy, backed by relevant keywords that will draw more and more traffic as time goes by. Running a blog on your eCommerce website can be a great boost to your SEO efforts and a sure way to increase the appeal with all search engines and people.

To Hire SEO Company vs DIY SEO Approach

This is not a question that you can answer with yes or no, rather one that depends on other factors. First of all, are you running a big eCommerce website in which you’ve invested a ton of money? If yes, then hiring an internet marketing Denver SEO service is a step in the right direction.

On the other hand, if your eCommerce website is not that massive and you don’t have enough funds at your disposal, a DIY approach might be your only choice. Things might go slower, but if you follow some basic rules of SEO, you can earn a decent ranking after a while. If you don’t know much about the world of SEO, you should head to Neil Patel’s blog, Moz.com, or even check out some of Google’s websites. Furthermore, there is a ton of excellent YouTube videos on SEO for eCommerce which can also help you get started.

Best SEO-Friendly eCommerce Platforms

If you can’t afford to have an eCommerce website built from scratch, that’s alright. There are plenty of CMSs that are SEO-friendly and can help you get a good ranking after a while. Some of the most popular ones in 2021 are:
● Shopify
● Magento
● 3dcart
● Squarespace
● Bigcommerce

Each one of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. So you will have to decide on one considering your needs.

With that said, your next step is to apply what you’ve learned here and get to work.