Most Popular E-commerce Platforms SEO pros and cons and migration issues

Internet Marketing Session for E-Commerce Business Owners

Presenter

Jonathan Hinshaw Co-Founder of EBWAY -  10 Years In Luxury Import Sales (Automotive) -  Internet Marketing Manager for BMW -  Created First Website In 1999 -  Incorporated EBWAY Creative in 2006 -  Musician / Singer / Songwriter / Father / Husband

E-Commerce Migration how shopping cart popularity has

changed over the last year

2008 – founded 200k - 240k – of live stores worldwide ~26% – e-Commerce market share

Physical locations of businesses using Magento

Websites using Magento in Alexa Top Million Sites

Some curious Magento migration stats that are worth to tweet 40% of all e-Commerce migrations are performed to Magento In the last 12 months number of migrations to Magento increased by 24% 26% of all Magento migrations are actually Magento upgrades

2006 – founded 54k -100k – of live stores worldwide ~10% – e-Commerce market share

Physical locations of businesses using Shopify

Websites using Shopify in Alexa Top Million Sites

Some curious Shopify migration stats that are worth to tweet 6% of all e-Commerce migrations are performed to Shopify In the last 12 months number of migrations to Shopify increased by 98% 2% of all e-Commerce migrations are performed from Shopify

2009 – founded 50k – of live stores worldwide ~7% – e-Commerce market share

Physical locations of businesses using Bigcommerce

Websites using Bigcommerce in Alexa Top Million Sites

Some curious Bigcommerce migration stats that are worth to tweet 3% of all e-Commerce migrations are performed to Bigcommerce In the last 12 months number of migrations to Bigcommerce increased by 37% 3% of all e-Commerce migrations are performed from Bigcommerce

1999 – founded 25k-50k – of live stores worldwide ~5% – e-Commerce market share

Physical locations of businesses using Volusion

Websites using Volusion in Alexa Top Million Sites

Some curious Volusion migration stats that are worth to tweet Less than 1% of all e-Commerce migrations are performed to Volusion In the last 12 months number of migrations to Volusion decreased by 20% More than 5% of all e-Commerce migrations are performed from Volusion

Google Trends

Migration Issues! and how to avoid them

Avoid before migration: 1. Third-party modules 2. Non-default templates 3. Manual database customization

Make sure your target store is hidden from Google and other search engines

Whitelist IPs that you are going to run your migration from!

Pre/Post Migration Recommendations for Magento, Shopify,

BigCommerce, Volusion

General pre-migration tips: ü  Make a backup

General pre-migration tips: ü  Setup proper folder permissions

General pre-migration tips: ü  Keep images in default folders

Key pre- and post-migration tips: 1.  Check if your hosting is compatible with Magento

2.  Map your shops correctly during multi-store migration

3.  Make re-index and clear cache after migration

Key pre- and post-migration tips: 1. Notify your customers before the migration

2. Change non-standard letters (i.e. umlauts – ä)

3. Prepare API Key and API Password

Key pre- and post-migration tips: 1.  Make sure all of your products are named

2.  Prepare API Path and API Token

Key pre- and post-migration tips: 1.  Check your pricing plan

2.  Use .csv file format

General post-migration tips: ü  Ask clients to restore their passwords

General post-migration tips: ü  Customize your store (template, modules, other changes)

General post-migration tips: ü  Test your store before the launch

What we usually want from a platform?

•  Affordable

•  Reliable (high up-times)

•  SEO/marketing friendly

•  User-friendly with various customizable design templates

•  Simple and intuitive admin dashboard

•  Helpful, accessible support

•  Additional features

Prices

. Shopify Volusion BigCommerce Magento  Minimum  Package $29/mo $15/mo* $34.95/mo freeMaximum  Package $179/mo $135/mo* $199.95/mo up  to  $1,400/moTransaction  Fees 0%-­‐2% 0* 0%-­‐2% 0*

Performance . Shopify Volusion BigCommerce Magento  Hosted/Self-­‐hosted Hosted Hosted Hosted Self-­‐hostedStorage 1GB-­‐unlimited Unlimited Unlimited -­‐Bandwith Unlimited 1-­‐35GB Unlimited -­‐Uptimes Very  good Poor Excellent -­‐Site  speed OK More  or  less OK Slow

Simplicity & Friendliness . Shopify Volusion BigCommerce Magento  

Support Very  good Poor AverageVery little, onlyhelpyourself  kind

Templates (variety,user  friendliness) Very  good Good Good ModerateSimplicity Very  simple Simple Very  simple Very  difficultMobile  friendly Yes Yes Yes Yes

Additional Features . Shopify Volusion BigCommerce Magento  Blog Yes No Yes NoMarketplace No No No YesSocial  commerce No Yes Yes NoAbandoned shoppingcart  features Yes Yes Yes YesDaily  deals,  promos Yes Yes Yes NoReviews/ratings Yes Yes Yes NoForum Yes No Yes NoApps  and  add-­‐ins Yes Yes Yes Loads!

What do we need for SEO?

Ecommerce platforms SEO checklist SEO  checklist

1 301  redirects  control2 Control  of  Titles  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates3 Control  of  Headings  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates4 Control  of  meta  Descriptions  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates5 Control  over  pages  content,  possibility  to  add  custom  text  to  all  pages6 Control  over  robots  txt  file  or  possibility  to  add  meta  robots  tag  to  specific  pages  or  sets  of  pages7 Control  of  Alt  attributes  for  images  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates8 XML  sitemaps  automatically  generated  and  regularly  updated9 SEO  friendly  URLs  (control  over  URLs)10 No  duplicate  URLs  issues11 Canonicalization  of  URLs12 Search  firendly  navigation  and  structure13 Breadcrumbs14 Blog15 Built-­‐in  Analytics  integration16 Schema.org  integration17 Social  sharing  (supporting  Open  Graph  protocol)18 HTML  sitemaps19 Internal  linking  opportunities20 Google  authorship  verification

Ecommerce platforms SEO checklist SEO  checklist Shopify Volusion BigCommerce Magento  

301  redirects  control + + + +Control  of  Titles  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +Control  of  Headings  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐Control  of  meta  Descriptions  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐Control  over  pages  content,  possibility  to  add  custom  text  to  all  pages + + + +Control  over  robots  txt  file  or  possibility  to  add  meta  robots  tag  to  specific  pages  or  sets  of  pages -­‐ + + +Control  of  Alt  attributes  for  images  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐XML  sitemaps  automatically  generated  and  regularly  updated + + + +SEO  friendly  URLs  (control  over  URLs) +/-­‐ +/-­‐ + +No  duplicate  URLs  issues -­‐ -­‐ + -­‐Canonicalization  of  URLs +/-­‐ + + +Search  firendly  navigation  and  structure +/-­‐ + + +Breadcrumbs + + + +Blog + -­‐ + +Built-­‐in  Analytics  integration + + + +Schema.org  integration -­‐ +/-­‐ + +Social  sharing  (supporting  Open  Graph  protocol) -­‐ + + +HTML  sitemaps -­‐ + + +Internal  linking  opportunities + + + +Google  authorship  verification -­‐ -­‐ -­‐ +

Ecommerce platforms SEO checklist

•  Navigation & Structure

•  Breadcrumbs

•  Schema.org

Ecommerce platforms SEO checklist SEO  checklist Shopify Volusion BigCommerce Magento  

301  redirects  control + + + +Control  of  Titles  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +Control  of  Headings  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐Control  of  meta  Descriptions  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐Control  over  pages  content,  possibility  to  add  custom  text  to  all  pages + + + +Control  over  robots  txt  file  or  possibility  to  add  meta  robots  tag  to  specific  pages  or  sets  of  pages -­‐ + + +Control  of  Alt  attributes  for  images  with  full  possibility  to  customize  them  separately  for  each  page  and  using  templates +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐ +/-­‐XML  sitemaps  automatically  generated  and  regularly  updated + + + +SEO  friendly  URLs  (control  over  URLs) +/-­‐ +/-­‐ + +No  duplicate  URLs  issues -­‐ -­‐ + -­‐Canonicalization  of  URLs +/-­‐ + + +Search  firendly  navigation  and  structure +/-­‐ + + +Breadcrumbs + + + +Blog + -­‐ + +Built-­‐in  Analytics  integration + + + +Schema.org  integration -­‐ +/-­‐ + +Social  sharing  (supporting  Open  Graph  protocol) -­‐ + + +HTML  sitemaps -­‐ + + +Internal  linking  opportunities + + + +Google  authorship  verification -­‐ -­‐ -­‐ +

Ecommerce platforms SEO checklist

• Open Graph protocol

• HTML sitemap

• Internal linking opportunities

Migration impact on rankings, Precautions

301 redirects

•  200 OK

•  301 Redirect •  404 Not Found

301 redirects

•  Create & map a complete list of page URLs!

•  Only! If for some very serious reasons the above is totally undoable, consider the following options:

•  Download for Google Analytics most successful in terms of traffic pages and map them in the first place

•  Download the most linked to pages report from your Google Webmaster Tools and map them

•  Map all of your category pages •  Redirect top-selling products (E-commerce

performance report in Google Analytics)

•  Test the redirects (Xenu, ScreamingFrog (free for up to 500 URLs only))

•  Create good, custom 404 pages

•  Try to use server redirects if possible and use regex redirects to minimize the server load

Other precautions •  At least for the first couple of months after the

migration keep the content (Titles, H1’s, texts)

the same

•  Make sure to notify your customers of the

changes - possible slow load times, structure

and design and other changes

•  Make sure to ONLY use new URLs in your

internal linking

•  If you have control of any backlinks to your site,

change them to new URLs too

•  Think about the internal linking patterns, try not

to change those much too

Other precautions:

•  Update XML and HTML sitemaps with new

URL and submit the new one to Google

Webmaster Tools

•  Measure your traffic and rankings (at least with

SemRush) before the migration and after

•  When you have moved be prepared to fix at

once SEO bugs of your new platform (duplicate

URLs usually)

•  Measure and test everything – your conversion

rates, load times, abandoned carts etc

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Analytics tip: After migration you can have 2 options in terms of Analytics: •  Create new Analytics property and start tracking the

new site from scratch •  Use the same Google Analytics code

https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=wgYGwhy1RtW8aBkj4Z5qfA

Create a Custom report with full URL displayed:

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Small prediction: Your organic traffic will decline anyway! But if you have done everything right and keep monitoring your site’s performance, organic traffic will be going back during 4-10 weeks after the migration.

Free online marketing audit  We  would  like  to  invite  you  to  take  a  free  15  minute  personalized  webinar  for  a  quick  audit  of  your  website  and  marke7ng  campaigns  by  a  Google  cer8fied  expert.    -­‐  Quick  usability  audit  of  the  exis7ng  site;  -­‐  Quick  SEO  audit  and  review  of  exis7ng  analy7cs;  -­‐  Audit  of  PPC  campaign;  -­‐  Technical  audit;  -­‐  General  strategy  audit.    

THANK YOU Jonathan Hinshaw EBWAY Creative Solutions, Inc. Twitter: @jonathanhinshaw LinkedIn: /jonathanhinshaw Visit us online for free resources and downloads at www.ebwaycreative.com

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