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Website Design & Development
Did you know that, in 2021, an estimated 2.14 billion people shopped digitally? This is over 27% of the world’s population.  Are you looking to improve website usability on your Shopify site? If so, you’ve come to the right place.  This article covers everything you need to know about the user experience, so you can create the best website possible. You’ll learn how to implement SEO, utilize headers, increase loading times, and more.  Let’s begin!

Improve Page Loading Times

You don’t want to detract visitors from your site before they even load your page in its entirety. Part of the user experience is a website with a fast loading time, especially a Shopify website. You can test website performance by using things such as Google’s performance tool. You can also perform an audit using Google’s PageSpeed Insights.  If your site is slow to load, you may lose your visitors to competitor sites. To reduce page loading times, you can optimize images. Once you reduce the file size and scale them to the appropriate size before re-uploading them to your site, you’ll find that they load faster, along with the rest of your pages.  You can also optimize CSS files along and cache your browser to assist with page speed. 

Focus On Your Call to Action

Your call to action (CTA) is an integral part of SEO. It tells your customers to take action and helps show them what content is the most important. When you have clear action words, your visitors can navigate your page easier so they know how to get what they want, faster.  You can use buttons to aid in your CTA, but remember to use words that encourage your visitors to take the next step forward with their purchase. Aim for words with emotional tethers. Your words should be bold, stand out, and be time-sensitive so they know to take action immediately to take advantage of savings, a sale, a promotion, etc.  “Sign Up Today” and “Get Started” are great CTA words to use. 

Create a Uniform Website

You want your website to have a sense of consistency and uniformity. This is a vital factor and crucial for your website’s usability. When each page has a similarity to it, your visitors become more easily acquainted with your brand and product.  Stick to similar fonts and colors to keep a sense of cohesion from page to page.

Use Bullet Points

Bullet points are essential for any type of ecommerce UX. They help your visitors understand the key benefits of your product, how you can solve their problems, and key features. Bullet points help them determine this in a short amount of time. Don’t bombard your visitors with walls of text— make everything scannable and easy for them to read and quickly navigate.  There’s no shortage of neat icons available to use, so you can get creative when using bullet points and integrate your brand into them. You can also use images so your reader can visualize each bullet point (more on that shortly).  A mix of bullet points and scannable text sets your website apart from the competition. 

Incorporate Images

Images (in moderation) are your friend. You can even add alt tags to your images to help your website rank higher in Google Images. Plus, alt tags are a great way to help the visually impaired navigate your website, and if your images fail to load, your alt tags will keep visitors engaged.  When looking for images, avoid stock photos when possible. Use pictures of your product or services to help build trust with prospective customers. This isn’t to say that stock images don’t have a time and place. But it’s still a great idea to showcase your work whenever possible.  You can even create infographics to help visitors better understand your products and services. 

Use a Simple Layout

To avoid confusion on your website, it’s best to stick to a recognizable layout. Site visitors rely on a conventional navigation bar to help them toggle across your site. You should include links to your most important pages using simple terms. In short, make everything as user-friendly as possible and utilize a familiar layout so visitors feel comfortable when accessing your site. 

Utilize Headers and Subheaders

Headers and subheaders are key. As previously mentioned, walls of text might send visitors running to a competitor’s site.  On average, human beings have an attention span of 8.25 seconds. Break your text up into scannable paragraphs and use headers and subheaders to help your visitors navigate your site easier. Instead of forcing visitors to read walls of text, make it easy for them to locate the information they’re seeking. You can even create (and hyperlink to) a table of contents so they can easily click on the information they’re searching for.  Even better, headers and subheaders help with your SEO, as they help Google to better understand your website’s content. 

Highlight Important Features and Services

You should always incorporate a section that highlights all of your business’s products, services, and benefits. This is a quick, easy way for visitors to gather all the information they need. You can even use icons so your most important features stand out amongst the rest, along with images to illustrate your product’s benefits. 

The Best Tools for Website Usability

Now that you know how to improve website usability, you can implement the tips and tricks in this article to help you get the most out of your Shopify site.  Forge can help. We’ll work with you to create the best digital strategy for your business’s needs. Contact us today to get started.  

 

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eCommerce, Website Design & Development
It is estimated that there are between 12 to 24 million online stores currently in operation. Even established retailers are switching from brick-and-mortar stores to web-based platforms. So how do you harness that potential, while keeping up with the competition? One way is to build the best store possible and to do that you have two main choices. Read on as we settle the WooCommerce vs. Shopify debate.

Ease of Use

With Woocommerce comes flexibility. This is because it runs on the WordPress platform, and this is the hallmark of this content management system. However, that also means more complications. One of the main Shopify benefits is that it is extremely easy to use, though at the cost of being more restrictive. The platform will take care of hosting, guide you through the whole set up and let you test the store before publishing. In fact, everything is fairly easy to do and you don’t need any prior technical capabilities. For ease of use, Shopify will come out on top. It is definitely recommended for first-time users or those without any technical knowledge.

Designs and Themes

Both WooCommerce and Shopify have a number of designs that make your website look stylish and professional. In addition, all of them are user-friendly and easy to navigate. This is vital to increase conversions on your store. WooCommerce comes with an entry-level theme named Storefront. From here, you can customize and upgrade your theme to your own wishes. There are hundreds of designers creating WooCommerce storefronts for a custom experience, not even counting the modifications you can make yourself. Once again, this does come with the caveat that you may need some technical ability. As independent designers can make them for WooCommerce, it does mean the quality of them varies. At the very least, you need a design that is mobile-friendly. The Shopify website designer is much more streamlined in terms of how many themes you can choose. Including premium paid options, you can find just over 1000. This means you do risk having a shop front that looks the same as many others. The plus point is that they are all created to a very high standard. Even the free themes will be functional and responsive. You may not get the choice, but you do have the quality.

Cost

When you start out designing a website, the cost can be an important factor. As well as the start-up and monthly fees, there are a number of add ons that may push up the price of your online store. Shopify has a basic plan that starts at $29 a month. This can be upgraded to the Shopify plan at $79 a month with more features. The advanced plan, for much larger stores, is $299 per month. To start with WooCommerce, you will first need to buy hosting, a domain name, and an SSL certificate. A domain name costs around $14 a year, and this may also be something you want for your Shopify store. An SSL certificate costs around 70$ per year. Your hosting can vary in price but can be bought for as little as $4 a month. Both of these are included in Shopify plans as part of your monthly fee. One way to keep these hosting costs down is to opt for a company that does specific WooCommerce hosting. They will be able to combine the costs into one package, lowering your overall price.

Sales Features

There is more to your website than just being able to sell products. As you grow, you may need extra sales tools and integrations. Some may be included as standard, while some may need to be paid for separately. Shopify has an app and API store. Though the amount available are fewer than WooCommerce, it would be hard to find an item that is not covered in this range. As they are vetted by Shopify, each should work effectively and efficiently. WooCommerce has a lot more choices when it comes to integrations. You could also hire a developer to make your own unique plugin, should you have the budget and need to create something no one else has yet made. The downside is that they are often not as well-vetted, so check the reviews before buying.

Standard Features

The Shopify website designer has a number of very useful features that come as standard. Many of them require plug-ins, which may cost extra if you decide to use WooCommerce. One of these is abandoned cart recovery. If customers leave the website and return, the basket will fill with items they previously had. This can seriously improve conversions, and comes as standard on Shopify. Another feature is multichannel selling. This allows your shop to have channels on Amazon, eBay, and Instagram. They come as standard on Shopify but will cost on WooCommerce. The final stage is shipping. Shopify has a partnership with many of the major companies such as USPS, DHL, and UPS. This can save you a lot of time and effort, instead of having to look for your own shipping methods which you may need to do on WooCommerce.

Payment Options

The more payment options you have in place, the easier it is for people to make a purchase. However, different payment options can cost. You have to work out if the value added is worth it. Shopify comes with Paypal Express Checkout as standard. For other options, Shopify payments are the best to use as you will get fees for external processors. However, this is only available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. WooCommerce adds payment through integrations. Many of the ones from major providers like Paypal and Stripe are free. Others may have added charges.

WooCommerce vs. Shopify

In the battle of WooCommerce vs. Shopify, the decision comes down to what you want. For ease of use and setup, then go for Shopify. For the ability to expand and be unique, choose WooCommerce. For all your online assistance, visit Forge Digital Marketing. We can manage all of your web needs, from its design to SEO. Click here for your free site audit and let us help you thrive in the digital economy.
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