Thứ Năm, 21 tháng 11, 2013

5 Tips to make the Most from Store Layout with Magento Extensions

Welcome back Magento lovers,
For our Magento Blog this week, Ecommerce Tips section is all about Magento Page Layout! How to optimize it, what Magento extensions should be used (especially some are free Magento extensions) and more! The advices explained in this article should be considered as guidelines that need to be followed from the beginning of store’s design and through development phase. They are based on the experiences of the shoppers, shop owners and developers.

1. HOME PAGE

Moderate the number of products shown – you should show featured products, selected products, new arrivals in an eye-catching way. Using a slideshow is a good way to save your site’s space and get customers go deep inside the store.
Recommendation: Magento Banner slider extensionMagento Feature Product extension (both of them are free extensions)
Effective categorization – Be succinct as much as possible with only top-level categories presented. Smart product classification help reduce “Thinking time” of customers and easily navigate them to buying decision
Recommendation: Magento Featured Category extension (free Magento extension)
Attractive menu - create professional magento navigation Menu easily without technical knowledge. Your customers can view and access products and categories just by hovering over the menu.
RecommendationMagento Mega Menu (Paid magento extension)
magento blog: free magento extensions for home page layout
E-commerce website homepage layout

2. SMART SEARCH

Adding a search bar near the head of your page makes it easier to use, search and gives the shoppers more control when they know specifically what they are looking for. It is crucial that the search box stays visible all the time on the site for several reasons. Unless you have a secret reason for hiding the search box, always iterate this feature as much as possible and advanced search in the sidebar for those who know exactly what their looking for.
Recommendation: Magento Product Instant Search extension (free Magento extension)
magento blog: free magento extension for search bar layout
E-commerce store Search bar layout

3. THE PRODUCT PAGE

Good description of a product is the first impression lead to conversion, so make that one a success. You’d better tip it to everyone’s favor with shopper’s purchase of exactly the right product and you making that sale on the spot.
It’s said “A picture is worth a thousand words”! Image is everything so try to put enough valuable images of the product as you can. Besides there are some additional recommendations you should follow that can be easily overlooked during the site planning:
  • Price – Make it clearly visible, don’t try to “minimize” it visually
  • Add to Cart button – Make it as clear as possible : big, bright and very visible but of course, don’t overdo it. This one should be used instead of the “Add to Wish list” button because it doesn’t stay in the way of user’s purchasing decision.
  • Payment – Provide as many payment options necessary: Paypal, Google Checkout, all major Credit Cards, money orders etc. Magento has lots of payment gateways built-in for that so use them as many you need.
  • Sharing – Allow the users to send this product to the ones that can actually buy it. You can try Magento Social Recommend extension to allow your clients to get discount by sharing the purchased product on their Facebook page.
magento blog: magento extension for product page layout
Product page layout
Highly recommended for the product page would be of course “Recommended products”. Hey, I like it when the salesperson does his job and finds something interesting for me. Do you? Magento has that built-in also as “Related products” placed cunningly in the sidebar and sits patiently there while you examine the product and decide in the next second to look what your “Online salesman” believes is related to that product.

4. THE CHECKOUT PAGE

Keep it short and simple
Since we started this journey through Magento store process, we’ve come a long way and now it’s only fair that this checkout business feels fast, secure and with my shipping options presented well and understandable. This is where Magento One step checkout extension comes in, built with that in mind and ready for action, so use it.
magento blog: magento one step checkout layout
one step checkout layout

5. FACEBOOK CONNECT

Don’t require registration before the purchase except if it is “really” necessary for some reason. Rather provide some new and now widely acceptable ways of connecting through social networks’ account. This provides comfort, ease of use and friendly approach for the shopper and by default relieves her/him of those tedious tasks of reentering the same data again, registering for a new account etc. Yes, it is good as it sounds and you should get on that train right now, try Magento facebook login for start.
magento blog: magento facebook login layout
Facebook login layout
Besides Facebook, Magento developers have invented many tools to make login easier and faster by integrating other social networks such as twitter, LinkedIn, Google etc. This is possible when you use Magento Social Login extension on your site.
magento blog: magento social login layout
social login layout
Well far from it, please leave your comments about your views, as a shop owner or a shopper, and it will definitely help everyone’s shopping experience. See you next time in Magestore Magento Blog !

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