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Is There Demand for Your Product?

So, you’ve got a great product or service that you’d like to launch online. But you’re hesitant.

Why? You’re hung up on the potential of whether there is enough demand or too much competition in your niche.

And rightfully so.

The last thing you want to do is invest your blood, sweat and tears into a business idea, only to find out it’s a dud later down the road. Before you jump into anything, it’s critical that you assess both the supply and demand for the niche that you are selling into first. You want to get a sense of the potential market – or lack thereof – for your idea before pouring all your time, effort and money on it.

Here are some ways to assess the strength of your business idea before you get started. Continue reading Is There Demand for Your Product?

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Why Your Ecommerce Site Needs a Sitemap (And How to Generate One)

Ecommerce Sitemap63% of ecommerce sites have a sitemap.

That might seem like a high percentage, but what bothers me is the 37% who are missing out.

Why? Because a sitemap is an integral component in your online store’s success. Thankfully, a missing sitemap is an easily remedied problem. Here’s everything you never knew you needed to know about sitemaps so you get familiar with the concept and implement one as soon as possible.  Continue reading Why Your Ecommerce Site Needs a Sitemap (And How to Generate One)

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Setting Up Local SEO for Your Online Store

Local SEO91% of American adults own a cell phone.

Of them, 63% are connected to the Internet. And of them, 46% use theirs to search for local products and services.

That, right there, is why local SEO is important.

Although it won’t get your site in front of as many eyeballs, local SEO makes up for it by fixing many of the global variety’s drawbacks.

The competition is nowhere near as fierce – it’s easier to land your widget store on the top page of search results when you’re only up against the other five in your hometown. And, the resulting traffic will be of more use to you – especially if you sell at a brick and mortar location as well as online.

And now that Google’s giving more real estate to local results, e-commerce is quickly beginning to see the benefits in thinking smaller. So if you want to bring in more traffic from your own backyard, these 5 steps will set you well on your way. Continue reading Setting Up Local SEO for Your Online Store

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How to Get More Reviews for Your Online Business – The Legit Way

Nine out of ten buying decisions are influenced by online reviews.

That alone should convince you they’re important. But, if you need another statistic, half of your customers trust reviews more than the opinions of their own friends and family  especially when it comes to major purchases like cars, computers and travel accommodations.

Reviews are also crucial for local SEO, making up a tenth of your ranking factors. When people Google your company, many of the first-page results will be from review sites. So it’s crucial that there’s something on them.

However, as we’ve mentioned in a previous article, trying to buy them will almost always work against you. Various sites have started to come down on people who’ve been caught messing with their reviews, and you definitely don’t want to end up wasting your money on something that’ll just get you banned. Most fake reviewers are pretty inept at hiding it, anyway. We wish we had a dime for every Amazon review that sounds like it was written by a grinning telemarketer.

So, how do you get genuine reviews? Well, if you have a customer base established, you can… Continue reading How to Get More Reviews for Your Online Business – The Legit Way

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WooCommerce Growth Revisited: Four Million and Counting

It’s that time again, WooCommerce milestone time, WooHoo!  I’m not sure if it’s just me but these milestones are coming around way too quickly. Once upon a time in January 2013, before the bulk of our team began their Woo journeys’, (including myself) a huge party was thrown for 500,000 WooCommerce downloads, after all it took us 16 months to get there. All was well in the WooNiverse! A month into my personal journey at Woo and sure enough we hit the all important seven digit mark,with  one million downloads in June of last year. It took  just under five months following 500K. Are you tracking with me? 16 months from 0 to 500K, 5 months from 500K to 1 Mil, crazy right?

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Continue reading WooCommerce Growth Revisited: Four Million and Counting

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It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. It’s even more amazing what a group of nearly 50 dedicated, talented and passionate WordPress users can do when they get together to build 9 brand new websites for 9 different charities in 1 day.

The UPliftment ProgrammeThis past Saturday we played host to Cape Town’s (and the world’s) first do_action( ‘wordpress-charity-hackathon’ );. The event was conceived and organised by members of the WooTeam and the individuals working on the sites were all willing volunteers from within the local WordPress community. The charities were all present on the day and worked with their teams to make sure the sites turned out just the way they needed. Continue reading did_action( ‘wordpress-charity-hackathon’ );

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Five Quick WooCommerce Customization Tips

Want to make WooCommerce your own? You’re not alone! Our free ecommerce plugin for WordPress comes with a default user interface for visitors – but most developers and store owners want to make WooCommerce more personalised and there are various ways to customize the display of WooCommerce pages.

Here are 5 tips on how to do this easily.

Continue reading Five Quick WooCommerce Customization Tips

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5 WooCommerce Plugins That Can Help Online Stores to Build Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is a prized possession in business.

Not only does it mean that someone is loyal to your brand and your products, but it also greatly increases the likelihood of somebody becoming an advocate on your behalf. Customer advocates go out into the world and spread the word about your company and what you offer. They do the selling for you, which is pretty damned cool.

Now does it make sense why you should make building up a loyal customer base a priority?

That may sound like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be – especially with the help of WordPress plugins. With that said, in this article I’m going to list five plugins that can help you to build customer loyalty. Enjoy!

Continue reading 5 WooCommerce Plugins That Can Help Online Stores to Build Customer Loyalty

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The psychology of color in eCommerce

Color PsychologyColor plays a major role in our lives.

Don’t believe me? Think about the last time you were in a physical store that you frequent.

It likely had good aesthetics and a large part of that has to do with the selection of an appealing color scheme. The colors a store chooses should reflect both the products and the emotions the company wants to evoke from its customers. It’s about using human psychology to make a sale.

Is this all sounding a bit confusing? Not to worry. I often find starting with an example to be best. Continue reading The psychology of color in eCommerce