The holidays are almost here and everyone is gearing up for Christmas, personally and professionally. If you run an ecommerce business, you’re likely to ensure that your landing pages are prefect and your website is working just fine before you get ready to capitalise on the surge in holiday sales.

What if the traffic is so heavy that your website becomes excruciatingly slow, or worse still, crashes?  Visitors are impatient and expect websites to load quickly so that they can finish their business and move on.  Your site’s speed has a direct impact on your return on investment as it affects bounce rates, your conversion rates, revenue and user experience.

To make sure your visitors stay on your site and respond to your calls to action, here are seven ways to tweak your website and make it deliver its best performance this Christmas.

Avoid HTTP request overload

Probably the number one performance deterrent, HTTP request overload can be resolved by combining multiple script files, style sheets and CSS files into a single file. Next, gather your site graphics, templates, themes and navigation into one image file.  Using CSS, be selective about displaying images where relevant. Pare down the number of images or bundle the necessary ones into an e-catalog on your site. Keep your site design as simple as you can to prevent it from slowing down.

HTML markup

This should be efficient. Statistics show that user bandwidth is not always the cause for slow site loading time. Often the html markup is the problem that affects the browser’s behavior. By managing the html properly, this can be avoided. Load scripts intelligently, or the user’s browser will freeze.

Take advantage of browser cache and local storage

Make use of local storage especially if your browser supports HTML5. This lets you store more on the client without weighing down every request.

Don’t use third party widgets

As far as possible avoid third party widgets.  Utilise async implementation to avoid affecting site performance. Some widgets can slow down the entire website, driving the user away.

Handle byte overload

This can be tackled by editing the content, optimizing images, minimizing JavaScript and CSS, pagination, Ajax, and using cookie-free domains.  Cookie-less domains.

Use a Global Network

Geography is important.  Use a cloud provider to tackle your content so that users can pull content from a server closest to them to save time.

Measure each of your website tweaks and optimise performance. Eventually, it is performance that will keep a prospect your side during the holidays.

Excellent usability is the key to achieving your ecommerce website’s profitability goals.  While there are a set of standard elements that apply to all websites, such as easy navigation, an attractive layout and optimised content, there are special usability factors for ecommerce websites to take in account.

It boils down to the kind of experience the website can give its visitors, based on what they are looking for. Potential customers typically browse several websites before they decide to buy, and to ensure that the sale happens on your website, there are some specific ecommerce website usability tips to consider.

“Check out now” button

The moment a visitor decides to buy can be very exciting for them, and this is the right time to encourage them to complete their purchase before they change their minds and start wondering if they really need the product. Having a check out now button right in front of them can make them take action.

It is also important to make the checkout process as easy as possible. If there is an information overload, they are likely to back out and go elsewhere. If your visitor has to log in or sign up for a membership before buying, rethink this process to make your website more user-friendly.

Let your visitors know where they are

This means easy navigation and a step-by-step update on which stage of the purchase process they are at, as they are checking out. Show them the number of steps in the check out process and make them feel as though they are progressing. Nobody likes long procedures.

Auto-fill forms when registered visitors log in

When people who have registered on your website log in and decide to make a purchase, auto complete the information that is already available through the registration data like name, street address, email address, phone numbers and so on.  Don’t make them type it all again. The more effort a visitor has to put in, the less inclined she is to complete the purchase process.

It is a good idea to only collect information that relates to the purchase. Otherwise, the visitor is likely to get distracted from the purchase. Eliminate all extraneous buttons and widgets from the check out page that can divert the visitor’s attention. This includes listings for other products that the visitor might decide to go look at and never come back. Keep the elements related to the goal of that page.

Make the check out simple

Streamline the check out process, and make it intuitive so that your visitor does not have to think. On this page, all they need to do is follow the instructions, make their payment and go.

Contact information

Ensure that your contact information is prominently visible on each page of your website so that if visitors have questions they know how to reach you.

Fast loading website

There is fierce competition out there and it is unfair to expect a visitor to wait patiently for a slow loading website. Improve page loading speeds.

Include thumbnail images of products

Offer different viewing options for products and make it easy to search. Categorise products properly with images for easy browsing.

Add a call to action

Create solid calls to action to keep your customers on the website and do what you want them to do.

Recommendations

Improve your visitor’s shopping experience by creating lists of recommendations based on what they are interested in – this can encourage impulse purchases.

Include a search button on the website and make sure all links work. Don’t forget to actually use your website to get an idea of what your visitors experience when they browse your website. Is it easy to navigate? Can visitors easily figure out what to do next? Are there distractions that divert them from buying?

The above are just a few ways you can increase your ecommerce website’s usability. The mantra is to keep it simple and short.

Let’s face it. Any website geared towards generating leads, sales and revenue must focus on converting visitors into buyers. To do this, the marketer must understand the website users’ needs and expectations. The good news is, you can ensure that the basic usability elements are present on your website with a short checklist. It does not even involve a big investment, only time. Ideally, the following must be taken care of before your website is launched.

Page titles

Page title is a critical element as it will show your visitors where they are on your website. Page titles are also used by search engines and it’s what searchers see on search engine result pages. Ensure that each page has a unique page title that represents the page content.

Compatibility with browsers

Does your website look great on all the popular browsers? Test to see if it displays the way you want on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari.  Also check to see if your website displays well on mobile screens like smartphones and tablets.

Proofread for spelling and grammar errors

This may seem logical, but thoroughly proofread your content to minimise errors. Preferably have someone else read through it too, even if you are using a copywriter.

Are all your links live?

There is nothing more annoying for a visitor than a link that does not work. Make sure you test links on an on-going basis, testing to see that they lead to the right page. Here, also take care to see that your visitors can differentiate your links from the other text.  The links should stand out from your website’s copy and be “clickable”. Always link your logo to the home page.

Website functionality

Check if your contact forms, sign up links and navigation are working properly. Imagine a visitor trying to sign up, only to find that the form is not working!

Do you have a favicon?

If not, create one. Favicons are website icons that display in the browser’s address bar at the left of your URL. It is easy to create one and it is a great branding tool.

The 404 page

Website visitors arrive at the 404 page when content that they clicked on does not exist. Make your 404 page informative and redirect your visitor with suggestions for useful pages within your site. Add a search function that they can use to find what they want on your website.

Page load time

One of the classic reasons why visitors exit a website is page load time. Make sure your website loads fast. Not everyone has high-speed broadband and a slow loading page is the quickest way to drive a potential customer away from your website.

Lastly, use analytic software to test and measure website usability and performance. Google Analytics is among the most popular analytics tools as it helps track visitors, page views, traffic sources and more.  Ultimately a website’s goal is to ensure that the visitors can find their way around easily, find the products or services they are looking for and have a smooth experience buying them.