“Do you have any plans for summer vacation?”
Every time I’m asked that question, I laugh. Is there really such a thing as a “vacation” for small business owners?
Sure, you may escape to the beach for the weekend, or pack up the family for a few days of rest and relaxation at a resort, but you’re never too far from your business. Laptops, tablets, and phones have made it all too easy for us to check on how many orders came in, whether emails are getting answered in time, and did so-and-so follow up on that customer’s missing order from wherever we are in the world.
I will readily admit that I’m never “away” from work even when I’m away. But it is good to just try to disconnect for a bit, enjoy some well-deserved downtime and rest up because you know what’s right around the corner….
The holidays!
While I’d like to say now is the time eCommerce store owners plan vacations, we’re really starting to plan for the busy fourth quarter. For many, business slows down during the summer so it’s the perfect time to give the store a full redesign, implement a better site search, tweak item and landing pages, and streamline the checkout.
Doing these things now allows you enough time to make sure they’re fully implemented, tested, and well-received before the holiday rush. If minor adjustments are needed based on feedback or data dives, you still have time to get those done.
Like you, we want to make sure your site is holiday ready. Our team is available to do a complete review of your Yahoo!, Big Commerce or Shopify store to see if there are things that can be done to help improve conversions and the customer experience. We’ll provide you with a comprehensive report that details our recommendations which you can choose to implement or not.
Interested? Great! Just email us at support@yourstorewizards.com to get the discussion going.
AMP Wizard Update
Last month I introduced you to our latest product for Yahoo! Store, AMP Wizard. While you can read all about the product here, in a nutshell, AMP Wizard is an add-on for your store that creates an AMP (accelerated mobile pages) version of your website, submits it to Google, and is presented to mobile search users instead of your main website.
These lightning fast websites are designed specifically for mobile search users in order to provide an optimal browsing experience in a mobile-first world.
We have now completed our initial batch of installations and I’m happy to say there is no longer a waitlist to have AMP Wizard installed for your store. If you’re interested in learning more, or to order AMP Wizard, click here.
We’ve also rolled out a few updates to the product this month, which include:
- AMP pages are now hosted on the store domain. Example: https://amp.blaircandy.com
- Added support for lightbox pop-ups.
- Added support for radio button options on item pages.
- Added support for Practical Data product reviews to display on AMP item pages.
- Added support for Y! Times product reviews to display on AMP item pages.
Since AMP Wizard is a SaaS (software as a service) product, updates are automatic and included in the monthly service fee.
We’ve been closely monitoring the results of our initial AMP launch customers and what kind of traffic their AMP sites are seeing and I must say, the numbers so far are impressive. Here’s just one example:
This screenshot, taken from Google Search Console, shows these results over a 20 day period:
- AMP Rich Results (a visually decorated search result link, such as an image from the AMP page plus a content summary) – 924 clicks and 74k impressions.
- Non-AMP Rich Results (a basic, non-graphical search result pointing to the AMP page) – 838 clicks and 54k impressions.
Not too shabby, right?
Search Magic Updates
Our flagship product, Search Magic, received a huge new update that will soon be rolling out to all users – Google Analytics integration! This update allows store owners to:
- See how much revenue Search Magic generates per day, month or year.
- Easily determine what search term is generating the most on-site revenue,
- View search terms that have the highest exit rate so you can adjust search parameters (such as adding negatives), or modify item page descriptions.
- Export report to CSV.
For Shopify store owners, an update was released that allows you to customize the order of products on section pages. (This feature was previously available for Yahoo! Store users.)
For more information on any these updates, or support with them, please email support@yourstorewizards.com.
Internet Retailer
In just a few days, the 2019 Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition will be underway in Chicago. This year, the show runs June 25 – 28 and like in years past it’s a great place for eCommerce store owners learn about what’s new in the industry, meet with partners, and attend many of the sessions scheduled throughout the event.
Your Store Wizards has been invited to set up shop in the Yahoo! Small Business booth during the show and we’re inviting you to stop by, say hello and meet our founder, Don Cole.
Don will be available to meet and discuss our services, the new products we’ve rolled out this year that you may have questions on, and how we can help get your store ready for the busy season ahead.
To schedule a time with Don, simply click this link and pick a day and time that works for you. Then just head over to the Yahoo! Small Business booth and ask for Don!
As Columbo Would Say, “Just One More Thing…”
I can’t stress enough how important this holiday season is going to be for mobile shoppers. Every year more and more purchases are made from mobile devices and this year I predict the numbers are going to be even higher than the estimates.
Making sure your store is mobile-friendly and you adopt a mobile-first approach is more important than ever before. If your store isn’t responsive, now is the time to make it. If your checkout is impossible to use on a phone, now is the time to fix it.
Simply put, now is the time to make changes you’ve been putting off!
The days of designing a store or website to look great on a desktop or laptop computer are long gone. Pull out your phone and your tablet and load your store…
…then call us. We’re here to help.
Happy selling!
Scott Sanfilippo
General Manager, YSW
scott@yourstorewizards.com
Scott Sanfilippo began his eCommerce journey in 1994 by co-founding one of the Internet’s first online retailers, TheFerretStore.com, which was acquired by PetCo in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded the eCommerce design and marketing firm Solid Cactus, which was acquired by web.com in 2009. Today, Scott is the General Manager of Your Store Wizards and lives in Delray Beach, FL. Scott can be contacted at scott@yourstorewizards.com.