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Setting up osCommerce - Organizing Your Catalog
One thing that is often
overlooked when setting up an online shop is the layout and organization
of products. It is fairly easy if you have an offline catalogue, but if
you’re starting from scratch, it is vital that you plan your catalogue
layout properly before diving in and adding products at will.
The first problem is long and/or confusing category names. When choosing
a name for a category, make sure that it is as clear and concise as
possible. You want users to browse through your site effortlessly, with
category and product pages leading on from one another in a seamless
fashion. Simply choosing headings carefully can aid this process in no
end, so if you think a category name is too long or vague, change it!
Next up is the presentation of products. You want to put your best
selling products at the top of the page under their respective
categories, perhaps even emphasise them within a “Specials” box or
similar. This is particularly important on the front pages of your site,
as you want to draw the user in, so be creative and express your most
popular products on the front page to attract attention.
Also be sure to check out the descriptive text alongside your products.
Make sure that it covers all the necessary details of your product
without going in to too much detail. The individual product pages have
adequate space to talk in detail about a specific item, but the short
description on the category pages should again be short and cover just
the vital information, nothing more.
Again use subtle changes in font size or highlight certain bits within
product descriptions for maximum effect. If there are several benefits
or features, put them in a bulleted list. Not only does it look more
organised, but it makes browsing a feature list for comparison a breeze
for visitors.
I would strongly recommend planning your catalogue on paper before
starting to ensure you have enough categories to cover all your products
without overdoing it. Be sure to put emphasis on your best products, and
only cover the essentials when writing product overviews or short
descriptions.
A little organisation and planning goes a long way, and visitors will
see that you have put the effort in to your shop to create something
which is clear and easy to navigate. It will improve the look of the
site, and your business and in the long run, attract more visitors hence
more sales.
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