EBizInsider

Is your site finished? Really? When your newly designed store is turned over from your designer or developer, there is no doubt that you are excited to go live with it. The design is hot. The navigation is great. Overall, the site is amazing. But not so fast. Don’t hit publish yet. Why, you ask?

Not too long ago I was going through a bunch of newly-launched eCommerce stores and was astonished at the amount of incomplete pages and information. Before you go live with your new site, here are some areas which you should pay close attention:

1. Privacy Policy Page

I saw many sites that still had the default Yahoo! privacy policy being used. While the default Yahoo! privacy policy gives you a good guideline, every business is different. Be sure that your privacy policy page reflects your actual policies.

2. About Us Page

The amount of About Us pages that simply had ‘coming soon’ alarmed me. Don’t publish your site without some content here. Sure, you can always come back later to add more content or images. However, you are somebody! Let the world know who you are, even if it’s a few sentences. It doesn’t take that much time to create a little tidbit about your store. Take some pride in what you do and tell your story. If you are already an established merchant, whether on or offline, there should be no excuse to leave this page blank — chances are you have something readily available such as a mission statement, copy from your previous online store (if this is a redesign), a business profile or something else. If you are a new business opening a store for the first time, it’s almost even more important to show us who you are. So, before you publish your store for the first time, add something about your store or your company in there. A ‘coming soon’ blurb looks unprofessional and looks like you really don’t care to tell your story.

Also, one of my pet peeves is an About Us page that is nothing more than customer service information. That’s ‘About Your Services and Policies’ not about your business. Try to keep these separate by creating a customer service page that contains information about returns, shipping, and more while the About Us page focuses on your company bio.

3. Phone Number

You’d be surprised how many sites I saw that still have the 555-555-5555 as the contact number in the footer or contact us page. This fictional number is just a placeholder meant to be replaced by the store owner with a real phone number. Be sure you fill it in so customers can reach you. Chances are your correct phone number is in your header design and having a placeholder number in other spots on your site can confuse people.

4. Sections Not Populated

I’ve seen several instances where sites had a section in the left navigation for a category, but when clicked, there were no items in the category. This makes the site look incomplete. Be sure to populate all categories that have navigation pointing to them; otherwise, remove the main category navigation. When items become available to you or you get to the point of finishing uploading products to your store, add in the menu categories then.

5. Informational Pages & Other Content Areas

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.”

“Put your FAQ here.”

“This is where you will put some information about your section page.”

Like the About Us page and phone number, these are some additional examples of placeholder text a developer may place on an informational page as a guide to what you can add, before publishing, go through and replace this placeholder text with relevant content. Not only does this help with your SEO long-term, but it makes you look polished and professional from the start.

6. Image Coming Soon image

I noticed on a few sites many items had an “image coming soon” image on the section and item pages. The case here was that all the item information was available, but the merchant was probably waiting on the product images from a supplier. Everyone knows that having images is crucial to conversions. Be sure all item information is complete before listing them. If you are still awaiting images on certain items, save those items for later inclusion.

Remember that little details can make a huge difference. You’ve waited for your new store or redesigned store to be complete for weeks, maybe months. You’ve invested good money into the redesign. Don’t let the excitement cause you to publish too soon. Use the checklist above to be sure all the little things are covered.

Senior Account Mananger at Solid Cactus

All posts by Donna Talarico | E-Mail the author