Codenamed “Bionic Butterfly”, this new version of the plugin has been in development since August 2016 and in beta since December 2016.
Let’s find out what’s new!
A new Product Gallery
This is probably the most visible improvement to both the end user and the administrator. The WooCommerce 3.0 Update comes with a new product gallery, providing a really clean, slick and intuitive user experience.
Mobile browsing of such product pages has been really improved: tap on a thumbnail to display the image in its true size, swipe to scroll, pinch to zoom, swipe up to close.
As you can see in the above video, the whole page is fully responsive without compromising design quality.
CRUD classes and new CLI for developers
WooCommerce 3.0 also introduces CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) classes, to help developers retrieve data from the database more easily, and a new Command Line Interface powered by the REST API.
This is just a quick round-up of all the features and improvements included in the “Bionic Butterfly” Update. For more details you should check the official Blog post about it!
Backup before updating
You should always backup your website before an update, especially if it’s a Major Update such as this one.
We are experienced in WooCommerce setup and management, as many of our clients make use of the plugin for their eCommerce businesses. We can help you and guide you through the process of backing up and updating your WooCommerce installation.
Let us help you find what you need! Fill our secure form!
This form collects your details above so we can contact you back in relation to your enquiry. Please see our privacy policy for more information.
As more and more people go mobile, a lot of work goes into getting your visitors to convert. It’s not just a matter of having quality products.
One of the mistakes you can make, as an Ecommerce owner, is to deliver a poor Product Page Design to your customers. A balance between User Experience and Content Optimisation is what you want to achieve.
If your Product Page Design doesn’t make it easy for customers to check and buy the product, then they will simply leave your website altogether.
We at Handyweb are working with more than few Ecommerce websites, so we thought we should share few tips, coming from experience. Of course, one or more of the following may represent no secret to some of you. Still sometimes they are overlooked, therefore we thought we should mention them.
Optimise your Product Name and Product Description
Good Content is part of your Product Page Design. Make sure to give your customers a clear idea of what the Product is and that it is what they are looking for. How?
1) Do your research
Know your audience – Being a shop owner, you may already know why customers should look for your products instead of others’. Find long-tail keywords you could use to attract your targeted audience.
2) Be descriptive, original and precise
Use descriptive terms and words that value the product – “Victorian China Tea Set, 7 pieces: 3 cups and saucers, teapot” is a better Product Name than just “Tea set”.
Write original Product Descriptions – Whether you are manufacturer of your own products or not, don’t just copy-paste descriptions coming from similar products you find online or from the manufacturers’ websites.
Include all valuable informations – If you think that a piece of information is valuable to your customer (Product Size, Product Weight, etc.) be sure to include it.
If you use WooCommerce as an Ecommerce Platform, it’s not difficult to provide all this information.
3) Think SEO
Include long-tail keywords – For a better Search Engine Optimisation, use long-tail keywords related to your audience in both your Product Description and Product Name.
Mind Page Title’s character count – If your Product Name is included in the Product Page Title, make sure that its character count remains between 50-60 characters.
Provide clean looking images – Your products should have clean, crisp images, preferably original.
Be consistent – Keep your display images’ style consistent throughout the website. Consistency often inspires reliability. Reliability often reinforces your Brand Awareness.
Always think about Page Speed – Be sure to choose images that are “lightweight”, optimised for Web Broswing. It is known that slow loading times are bad for both SEO and conversion rates.
Avoid slideshows and animations – Focus on speed. If your Product features more than one image, make the first image as descriptive as possible. Then let the user decide whether to look at other images.
Provide easy interaction – Make sure your main Call to Action (the “BUY NOW” button, if you will) is easy to interact with. If your Product also considers Quantity, make Quantity Selection easy to increase and decrease.
Iterate – Have people test your website from a mobile browser and ask them for feedback. Fix what has to be fixed and repeat.
Wishlist – Maybe your customers are interested in your Product but want to wait for a discount or simply come back later. Consider including Wishlists in your Product Page Design, maybe including an easy email reminder.
Related Products – Maybe your customers are looking for a different but similar product and didn’t know it beforehand. Put this section at the end of the page, as it shouldn’t distract customers from the Producty they’re looking at.
Up-sell – If your customers are looking at an MP3 Player with 8GB of storage, for instance, showing them the same MP3 Player with 16GB of storage could move them towards that.
Cross-sell – Once your customers have chosen the right MP3 Player for their budget and needs, they could be interested in a pair of headphones to buy along with it.
Customer Support – Be always there for your customers and visitors. Live Chat, phone, email, online forms. Make it easy for them to reach you from any part of the website, and to ask for help about a specific Product. This will make it easy for both of you.
Social Media Share Icons – Allow Social Media Share Icons (in a non-intrusive way), if you want your customers and potential customers to “work for you” by spreading the word about a Product to their peers and followers.
Services: Web and App Consultants, Ecommerce, Responsive Web Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Digital Marketing, Social Media, App Development, Online Payments, Online Business Automation
Owners of Ecommerce Websites usually focus on delivering a high quality user experience, so that visitors will enjoy their buying experience. Other than the way products are presented, Ecommerce Security should be a crucial topic for both owners and users.
Unfortunately, most Ecommerce owners do not give enough consideration to security until something goes wrong, which is generally too late.
Hackers always try new ways to attack websites to gather information, deny access to your website, extract customer information, or redirect payments to their accounts.
Ecommerce owners have a responsibility to protect their clients against such events. Small brands, big brands they all have been attacked by hackers. The flaws in their safety can lead visitors to lose faith and trust in their services. Nobody likes having their financial and personal information exposed where they would not wish!
The good news is that you can do something to increase your Ecommerce’s security. Here are 6 quick, general tips:
1. Secure your website with HTTPS
Over 17% of online customers will leave the shopping process when they notice that a website is not secured with a HTTPS protocol.
The HTTPS protocol keeps the conversation between your website and your customers’ computer confidential. This means that when they submit their private or financial informations these are not easily subject to being intercepted by hackers.
You can notice whether a website, page or service is HTTPS-secured just by looking at the URL bar of your internet browser. If there is a little lock icon, or if the URL of the website starts with “https://”, then it is HTTPS-secured, otherwise is not.
Some browsers warn you when a website is not HTTPS-secured but you should always be wary when you are about to provide personal or financial informations.
2. Use strong passwords for your website accounts and change them frequently
Clients often ask us for easier passwords to remember for their website accounts. While we do not force them to keep their passwords strong, our suggestion always points towards that direction.
A strong password has at least 15 characters, is composed by both lowercase and uppercase letters, contains numbers and symbols (such as ? % ^ $ *). You can use this useful website to create a strong password.
3. Backup your website often
If you don’t do this yourself, arrange with your web developer to set up an automated website backup, possibly away from your premises.
This is a low cost solution that avoids a nightmare situation if your website ever gets hacked and all your products disappear.
4. Log out of your website when you’re not working on it
Frequently we find out that clients do not log out of their website and just walk away from the computer that remains logged on.
5. Avoid Open Wi-Fi hotspots when managing your website
Wi-Fi is great and, of course, we all love free Wi-Fi! Security levels on free Wi-Fi are often limited, though, and can easily be hacked.
This means that anything you type while connected to such Wi-Fi is open to being captured and used by hackers.
Being careful about what you do on free Wi-Fi is a general security rule and we share the common strong suggestion to wait until you are using secure connections before you use a credit card or give banking or password details that matter to you.
6. Update antivirus on computers and devices you use to manage your website
As obvious as it may be, we strongly suggest you to keep your antivirus and antimalware software updated. Also we invite you, of course, not to open emails from persons you do not know.
Also, don’t open attachments or click on links that you are unsure of. Email spam keeps getting more sophisticated. Spam emails don’t always carry a subject as silly as “Click here to download an important message”.
They can infect your computer and some of your actions can make the malware spread to your website, therefore to its users.
7. Also update your browser
Many good browsers, including Chrome and Firefox, can be extended with an increasing number of apps (or extensions or plugins). These apps can make life easier for you in many different ways.
Still, our suggestion is to always ensure that both these apps and your browser are up to date. Also, keep an eye out for those apps you didn’t install on purpose. They could be the kind of malware that opens up dozens of spam popups whenever you try to do something on the internet!
We develop Ecommerce, can we help you?
At Handyweb.ie we can help you improve your Ecommerce Security, as we can provide quality advise, put in place secure certificates (HTTPS) and setup automated backups.
We can perform a scan on your website, then clean, protect, and monitor it every day, preventing attacks from hackers and other vulnerabilities from arising.
WooCommerce 3.0 is a new Major Update for the worldwide-known eCommerce plugin for Wordpress. Codenamed "Bionic Butterfly", this new version of the plugin has been in development since August 2016 and in beta since December 2016. Let's find out what's new! A new...
As more and more people go mobile, a lot of work goes into getting your visitors to convert. It's not just a matter of having quality products. One of the mistakes you can make, as an Ecommerce owner, is to deliver a poor Product Page Design to your customers. A...
Owners of Ecommerce Websites usually focus on delivering a high quality user experience, so that visitors will enjoy their buying experience. Other than the way products are presented, Ecommerce Security should be a crucial topic for both owners and users....
We have quite a few Ecommerce websites in our Portfolio, but also have team members who run their own. We asked them to share a few tips for Starting an Ecommerce Business.
9 things to consider when thinking about starting an Ecommerce Business
Design – Ask yourself: what is my online store about? Is it design lead? What type of design will be best for my shop? Can the design change in the future, without losing my content? Try to Imagine if you have 2000 items in your online store and in 3 years time you would like your website to move with the times.
Responsive Web Design – This is an absolute requirement for new websites. It simply means that your website will rearrange itself according to the size of the screen it will be viewed on. This means that it works as well on Mobile devices.
Payment Options – What’s the best way to facilitate my clients’ payments? Many are the available payment solutions: credit cards, debit cards, cash on delivery, collect and pay. We are happy to advise on options and costs as well as security issues in relation to accepting online payments.
When gathering customers information, you should definitely think about SSL certificates to ensure your customers’ privacy.
Shipping Options– What countries will I sell to? Are there places I dont want to deal with? Will I charge by item? Will I include shipping costs per weight and location or shipping cost for total purchase? Will I offer free shipping for certain products or if the client spends more than a specific amount? Flat Rate or location based shipping options should be considered.
Product options – Will my products be digital downloads, physical goods or both? What range of options do I need to display to clients? Can I quickly put items on sale and show discounts and feature discounted items? Can I show related items to encourage upsells during the purchase process?
Stock Control – How do I manage stock control? How big an issue is it for me? If I sell out of a product can I replace it in 24/48 hours or is it “when it’s gone, it’s gone”? Can Stock Control systems can show actual stock or limited stock or show stock always available and even can show order now even if an item is out of stock.
Integrated online and Offline shop – Will it be possible to have both a Retail and Online Shop? Should I prefer Online over Retail? Can they coexist and be compatible without hurting my business? Can I handle them both using the same stock?
Handyweb.ie offers a unique package, particularly geared at new startups, which allows them run their offline shop and online shop from the same Ecommerce.
How much time to put into your Ecommerce management – If your Ecommerce site is well planned, you will automatically get notified of each order that comes in. This way you can quickly print out the order requirements, place them ready for fulfillment and, dispatch the orders sending an instant notification to your customers. You can have your orders area set up that a single click will email the client. This basically means that you will end up into a daily routine of checking your orders. With a proper Stock Control System and a well planned Ecommerce, you will have very few tasks to do everytime.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)– How do I get my products out there? How do I attract more customers towards what they’re really looking for? The design of your online store should go hand in hand with Search Engine Optimisation
Don’t feel overwhelmed by what you need to consider. Do ensure this list is on your agenda no matter who you talk to about delivering a quality Ecommerce website. Do ensure that whoever you choose will be there to help and assist on the longer term. A well planned website will make it easy for you to monitor which products are selling well (good reporting), a well thought out order system will make it easy for you to deal with orders and your stock system will ensure you keep your stock levels up to date (or expire products that are no longer available or temporarily unavailable).
While building your website, keep Search Engine Optimisation in mind, and consider integrating Social Media Marketing tools.
Services: Web and App Consultants, Ecommerce, Responsive Web Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Digital Marketing, Social Media, App Development, Online Payments, Online Business Automation.
Businesses know it is important to be trading online. In fact, 60% of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) have a website and online presence, yet a lot of them admit that cannot process sales on the internet!
It is a logical step to conclude from the above that there is a combination of fear and lack of understanding that is stopping businesses from taking a step this close to the lowest cost of expansion for any business.
So let’s have a look at 7 great reasons why you should seriously think about embracing Ecommerce!
7 great reasons why you should start doing business online
1. An Ecommerce is cheaper
Setting up an Ecommerce business costs an awful lot less than opening a new premises on the high street. It is obvious, but still a valid point to consider.
2. An Ecommerce is quicker
You can quickly take payments online from clients (also as deposits from slow payers, if you use QuickPay). This is quite a useful starting point to get businesses used to the value of online payment.
3. An Ecommerce can always be open
This benefits both you and your customers. People may want to buy products from your shop but really don’t have the time or the chance to stop by. Having an Ecommerce enables them to browse your catalog and buy anything, anytime and anywhere.
4. An Ecommerce can still be personal and unique
An Ecommerce doesn’t have to be as massive and corporate-looking as Amazon. There are plenty of very unique Ecommerce websites that carry as much personality as their owners can offer. Many customers are attracted by something that feels unique and has a personal touch.
5. Ecommerce websites have grown popular
In 2013, Irish people spent over 4 billion online. By the end of 2017 this is estimated to rise up to 21 billion. Do you really want to miss out on this?
6. Ecommerce + SEO + Social Media Marketing = Success!
With an Ecommerce it’s easy to get started with both. It’s not as easy as sharing a post or tweeting, but it something that anybody can learn how to do, given they are willing to spend time learning and practicing.
Or you can have a third party expert to manage SEO and Social Media Management for your Ecommerce. Someone like us!
7. A single Stock Control System for both Online and Retail Store
Of course, there are businesses that do have a Retail store, but benefit a lot from their Ecommerce website. An example of such business is The South African Shop in Mullingar.
We helped the owner designing a website that also works as an all-in-one POS System, syncing the stock available at the retail and on the online shop.
Summary
An Ecommerce can be cheap, can help you earn money while you sleep, can be as unique and personal as you are and can also exist along with your Retail store.
These are just few of the reasons why a business should embrace Ecommerce. In the end your business will thank you as you will be surprised how cost effective it is to deliver.
If I told you that over 10%of all shopping by Irish consumerswill be done online within the next two years – you wont be so worried. Maybe you think its only 10% of a big cake or maybe you think is it eating more than 10% of my industry cake and each year after this will take bigger slices?
What if I told you that this year the online spend by Irish Consumers represented €5.9billion and is projected to reach €9.3 billion by 2017 ( thats just about two years from now!). If I judge by my own home over Christmas I can say that over 40% of all shopping was done online ( and this % is much higher from the two single young adults in the house!). Even I was astonished to find that my youngest had completed her Christmas Sales shopping on Christmas day ( yes, online!) as many sales stores opened online as soon as the retail premises closed on Christmas Eve. ( Was Nero eating Christmas cake while Irish consumers burned their credit cards).
The research stats* are that 59% of Irish adults shop online at least once a month and your business needs to be online to ensure your business gains as the growth in broadband speeds fuels this spend not just amoung the younger generation who are already more than happy to transact their business online.
Its time for Irish businesses to wake up to the continued growth of very substantial sums online and be ready. No, it is not about you closing your retail or wholesale premises and going online. Handyweb.ie offers a complete web consultancy service from small and medium size businesses to ensure they are geared up to deliver a quality online business. With handyweb.ie your website is designed in a user friendly manner, so that you provide a professional quality service that reaches out to these consumers. From user friendly websites with responsive design that works fluidly across laptops, ipads, smartphones, tablets and desktops , matched with a quality easy to use management system, shipping and voucher systems – and this is only the foundation stone. Our expertise can advise on and deliver packages that will drive your website marketing forward through Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media marketing and other effective ways to reach out to that fast growing spend.
Talk to Handyweb.ie today to find out more. The future of your business may depend on you acting now to start growing your online presence. Inquire here
*For further information on the online spend figures quoted above (apart from my own family stats above) please view the Report on Irelands Digital Future
