Your Auctiva Commerce store features a variety of Google integrations that you should consider enabling to help drive buyer traffic to your store. The Google Integration Boot Camp Series is just the foundation to a variety of tasks we’ll be encouraging you to complete this week. Completing this Boot Camp will be a critical milestone for you to move onto the more exciting topics we’ll be exploring on this blog.
This series is developed to do two very important things that will help you manage a successful store. The first thing we’ll want to do is enable Google Analytics to start tracking buyer traffic to your store. Then, we’ll establish a connection with Google’s product search so that you’ll start receiving buyer traffic to your store. In other words, it’s go time!
We recommend you follow the order to each of these items, unless you’re not ready to receive buyer traffic. If you’re still setting up your store, hold off on the Google Base Setup (Item #4 in the list below) until your store is ready to launch.
Let’s Get Google Integrated
Each day we’ll publish a new article in this series. We’ll update this post with links to each new article we release. Feel free to bookmark this and return to it each day or just follow our RSS feed to get the latest updates from us as they happen.
- Google Analytics Setup
- Webmaster Tools Setup
- SiteMap & Domain Submission
- Google Base Setup
Make sure to set aside some time to complete these integrations this week. We estimate that you won’t need more than an hour to complete all four of these integrations. Let us know if there’s something we can help you with and leave a comment on this post.
We Need Your Input!
We realize that many store owners have already integrated their store with Google’s various web tools. We hope to get to more advanced subjects as soon as possible. We’re still in the planning stages and we’d greatly appreciate your input on the topics of SEO, Google Analytics, Store Traffic, Conversion, Store Design, etc. Leave us a comment below and tell us what you’d like to see.
Add keyword and content description Meta Tags to your Auctiva Commerce Store’s Home page to provide useful information about your Store to search engines. This simple step helps to increase traffic from organic searches.
A content description Meta Tag for your Home page is a critical component to how Google indexes your Store. Here’s an example of a content description Meta Tag for a Home page:
<meta name=”description” content=”Shop Women’s Clothing, Jewelry, Earrings, Accessories, Handbags, Shoes ”>
A keyword Meta Tag is also important for search engine optimization. Here is an example of a keyword Meta Tag:
<meta name=”keywords” content=”Women’s Clothing, Designer, Gucci, Coach, Handbag, Jewelry”>
Check out our Meta Tag Tutorial for step-by-step instructions and tips on how to optimize your Store for increased search results.
Auctiva Pricing Plans
As you have most likely heard, Auctiva will be transitioning to a paid service effective July 1, 2009. All Auctiva users – including users with only an Auctiva Commerce store – will need to select an Auctiva pricing plan during the month of June.
Why Select a Plan
Billing for Auctiva Commerce is handled by Auctiva – therefore we need an active Auctiva account with valid contact and billing information on file.
Free Tools
If you do not use Auctiva’s listing services, but would like to maintain your Auctiva Commerce store you may want to choose the Free Tools plan for your Auctiva account. An overview of the plans and a pricing calculator to help you choose the best plan for you can be found
here. Note that if you do not actively select an Auctiva plan by the end of June, your Auctiva account will automatically be assigned to the Free Tools plan. Also note that several of the Auctiva pricing plan options offer discounted or free Auctiva Commerce stores. If you select one of these plans you will see the changes to your Auctiva Commerce monthly Store fee reflected on your monthly invoice.
An important note about images – Images in your Auctiva Commerce account are entirely separate and distinct from any images you may have stored with Auctiva. Image hosting for your Auctiva Commerce Store is included as part of your Auctiva Commerce monthly store fee.
Finally, don’t forget, we are going to provide a pro-rated credit to cover your June monthly Store fee for Auctiva Commerce. You will still be responsible for any applicable transaction fees during the month, but remember, your first $200 in sales is free of transaction fees! These charges will appear on your July 1 invoice.
Providing a good buyer experience is key for every Store. It will mean the difference between completing or missing a sale. That’s why it’s important to test your checkout process from a customer’s perspective to ensure you’re Store is set-up to handle the transactions. We’ve come up with guidelines to help you do just that.
To read the complete article, check out our Auctiva Education Section.
- Read your description – Double-check that descriptions are accurate, catchy and don’t have any glaring spelling mistakes—a sign of a less-than-serious seller.
- Test your shipping calculator – Not only will the calculator provide estimated shipping costs; it will also identify if you have a shipping method associated with the product you’re trying to buy. Try the calculator a few times, using different zip codes, to make sure all of your customers can order your goods, or at least those in the shipping zones where you wish to do business.
- Make a payment – If you offer more than one payment option, test all of them to make sure the methods are integrated properly. Most customers will expect you to accept credit cards, so you may want to offer that payment option and test it first.
- Capture the cash – When a customer places an order, you have to go through a process known as ‘payment capture’ in order to actually receive the funds. To do this go into the order’s Summary tab. Become familiar with this page. It tells you how much customers owe, their shipping and mailing addresses as well as the contents of their shipments and their preferred shipping method.
- Deliver goods – Shipping items is essential to good business. Be sure to use Auctiva Commerce’s automated e-mail feature to keep your customers informed about the status of their orders when you ship products. It’s important to test those messages to fully understand your buyers’ experience.
- Refund, cancel and void – After making sure payments work properly, you’ll want to give yourself a refund and cancel and void your order(s). A refund is straightforward: It’s simply the act of returning part or all of your buyer’s money after a transaction has been completed. Canceling, on the other hand, marks an order as having been called off. But it doesn’t prevent payment from being captured on that order. A voided order cancels the order and prevents a payment from being captured.
As a final confirmation, it’s helpful to go through the complete purchasing process a few times to test out every aspect and ensure you don’t miss anything that would leave customers in the lurch. If you don’t have any problems, neither should your buyers. The combination of quality products paired with a wholly functioning site will create a positive customer experience; driving sales and fostering long-term customer relationships and repeat business.
As you know, putting together a store requires a lot of attention to detail. We’ve come up with a checklist you can use to make sure you’ve got the bases covered, and that your buyers have a good shopping experience. Remember, a happy buyer is a loyal customer. Follow these guidelines and you should be all set to sell, sell, sell!
To read the complete article, check out our Auctiva Education Section.
- Select an appropriate Theme – Auctiva Commerce has 70 theme options in its growing Theme File Manager. Customize your theme and change it whenever you want.
- Check your categories and products – First select a category then add your products. Make sure your store has enough categories—and that it has the right ones.
- Select at least one payment method – Auctiva Commerce allows you to accept checks, credit cards, purchase orders and PayPal.
- Create a Warehouse – You need a warehouse to set up shipping methods for your goods. Forgetting to associate a warehouse with a product will mean restricted shipping methods for that product—and more important—it could mean customers can’t buy that item.
- Set up at least one Shipping Method – or integrate with at least one Integrated Shipping provider. Shipping is an essential part of any online business. This potentially complex aspect of your business is made easier with Commerce’s integrated shipping carriers.
- Provide your contact information – Make sure your customers can contact you. All stores come with default contact information to let you know where to input yours. Don’t forget to enter your actual information.
- Don’t forget about taxes. – Since tax laws vary from state to state, and change often, it’s best to consult a tax expert to determine the right approach for your business.
- Update your “About Me” pages – More than ever, customers want to know who they’re buying from. Offering your customers good prices is a good start to building buyer loyalty, but in this age of social networking, connecting with your customers on a more personal level could prove profitable.
- Set your e-mail templates – Auctiva Commerce provides automated e-mails that can keep buyers informed while you tend to other aspects of your business. At a minimum, you should have e-mail templates to notify buyers when an order has been placed, when their payment has been received and when an order has been shipped.
- Add products to Google Base – Google Base allows your products to be easily searchable by attaching attributes—or keywords or phrases—that describe your product.
- Set up Google Analytics – Making sales is about getting people to your store; it’s all about traffic. And it’s a good idea to know where that traffic is coming from, and how they’re interacting with your store, so you know where to devote your efforts. Utilize Google’s free Google Analytics to capture data.
- Be your own first customer – Finally, be sure to triple-check that everything is in place to provide a good buying experience. The best way to do this is to make a test purchase from your store. You can always go back into your dashboard and cancel your fake order later.
As a final confirmation it is helpful to go through the complete purchasing process, from start to finish. Repeat the process using several different addresses to make sure you get the expected results. If you don’t have any problems, neither will your buyers. And that will make buyers happy—and keep them coming back!
Remember, Auctiva Commerce has a complete Help Section, replete with step-by-step tutorials and video guides.
If you have questions or comments, please visit our Community Forums.
And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!
Welcome to the Auctiva Commerce blog. Our goal is to provide you with information re. your Auctiva Commerce Store; including tips and best practices, feature highlights and release dates, as well as the latest information about the world of e-commerce.
Auctiva has over 10 years of history working in e-Commerce. Launched in 1998 after our founder was in search of a more efficient way to sell on eBay. Since then, we have developed and released countless programs, features and tools that make selling on eBay easier and more profitable.
Our recent launch of Auctiva Commerce is our first off-eBay site. Our goal is to provide sellers with another option when building an online business.
Are you already an Auctiva Commerce Store owner? Check back often for special programs designed to help drive traffic to your Store. Interested in becoming a Store owner? Find out more!
