Your category pages are one of the most important parts of your eCommerce website. These pages are where your products are shown and will play a major role in getting your website visitors to convert!
If you want to make more money through your eCommerce website, you need to create effective category pages. In this article, we’re going to outline how you can do just that. Let’s get started.
Here are 5 tips to create Effective eCommerce Category Pages:
1. Incorporate the Right Keywords into Your Category Page Copy
Using the right keywords in your copy is a huge part of creating effective category pages. These are relevant words and phrases that give search engines more context as to what a particular web page is about. Using them properly will boost your search engine optimization (SEO) and help you to reach your target audience through search engines. Search and filter functionalities are also equally important.
To find the best keywords for a particular category page, start by conducting some keyword research. Head to a keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner with a list of words and phrases relevant to your business. Plug them into the tool, and Google will provide you with a list of keywords based on their competitiveness, or how hard they are to rank for, and their average monthly search volumes. When choosing which keywords to target, you want to find a balance between these metrics. You don’t want your chosen phrases to be so competitive that you don’t stand a chance of ranking for them, but you want to target the largest audience you can.
When copywriting for SEO, weave your chosen keywords into your category page body content naturally. Place them in your page’s title and any headings, as well — this will help to tell Google what your page is about and ensure that it’s ranked properly.
2. Provide Reviews from Your Past Customers
Product reviews are really important for increasing the conversion rate of your eCommerce product category pages. When people see that other people enjoy your products, they’ll trust your brand and be more likely to make a purchase.
One great way to display product reviews is by using star ratings that give an average rating for each of your items and this has been utilized by some of the coolest Squarespace websites around.. To gather these reviews, consider sending out post-purchase emails to your customers asking them to leave you a review. You can even offer a small discount as incentivization! You could also collect longer quotes from your customers and place them next to the relevant products they purchased. This will help website visitors quickly compare your products and make it easier for them to choose between your different items.
Let’s take a look at an example of a business that implements this strategy well for inspiration for eCommerce Category Pages
Joy Organics, a supplier of organic CBD oil products, uses star reviews well on their CBD cream and lotions page. As you can see in the image above, they have five-star ratings for both their CBD sports cream and CBD cream. A website visitor looking for these products will see that both are highly rated! This makes it more likely that they’ll make a purchase.
On your category pages, highlight star reviews, as Joy Organics has. Doing so will show your website visitors that you only sell high-quality products, making it much more likely that they’ll make a purchase.
3. Use Internal Links to Recommend Similar Products or Accessories
If someone is interested in a particular category of your products, they might also be interested in some of the other items you stock — this can mean accessories or related products, for instance.
Linking to other category pages can be great for boosting sales — it will give people an idea of what other products you have, for one. Secondly, internal links give search engines more context as to how your website is structured, making them better able to recommend your website to their searchers. This will get you a boost on the SERPs!
Let’s take a look at a few businesses that use this tactic well for inspiration for eCommerce Category Pages:
Urban Outfitters, a men’s and women’s clothing retailer, uses internal linking on their category page for women’s dresses. As you can see above, Urban Outfitters uses images to link to different sections of their category pages — in this case, that means rompers and jumpsuits, slip dresses, $49 dresses, and their most liked dresses. This gives the website visitor a better idea of what dresses they’ll see after clicking these images, making it more likely that they’ll find what they’re looking for and make a purchase.
On your website, don’t be afraid to use imagery with your internal links, particularly if you sell a lot of similar products. This will help your website visitors find what they’re looking for and make a purchase.
On the other hand, Chewy, an online pet supply retailer, uses internal linking well on their dog toy category page. As you can see, Chewy has thousands of toy options, and a user can click one of the categories to find a certain type. This makes the products easier to browse, so it’s easier for website visitors to come to a conclusion on what they should purchase.
Break down your inventory for your website visitors on your category pages by using internal linking. This will help your customers narrow down their selection and help them make a purchase!
4. Ensure your Product Photos are of a Very High Quality
Using high-quality product photos on your eCommerce category pages is majorly important for making sales. You want your product photography to be top-notch and show off your products in the best way possible. This will help to sell your website visitors on your products and make it more likely that you’ll get a sale.
Here are a few tips for taking high-quality product photos:
- Shoot with a tripod to ensure angle and height consistency
- Take pictures with solid color or white backgrounds
- Make sure you have a camera that takes high-resolution photos — most smartphone cameras will do!
- Provide images of all your product styles or colors
Let’s take a look at a company that has high-quality imagery on their category pages for inspiration for eCommerce Category Pages
Petal & Pup, a women’s fashion retailer, uses high-quality imagery on their dress page. As you can see above, their images show off the fit, color, and style of these dresses well! There’s no clutter in the background, and they’re all styled on models.
On your website, make sure that your images show off your products very clearly, as Petal & Pup has. You want your images to make a good impression — this will help encourage your website visitors to make a purchase.
5. Make it Easy to Get in Touch from Your Category Pages
When shopping with you, visitors might have questions or concerns about your products. If they can’t get answers from you quickly and easily, they’ll likely leave without making a purchase. This means that you need to have customer service options that can be easily accessed from your category pages.
Be sure to provide your website visitors with a variety of different contact options on your website, and link to them from your category pages. For instance, you could have a live chat service that a customer can click to reach an agent or a phone number running across the top of your page so a visitor knows who to call right away.
Let’s take a look at a company that has made it very easy to get in touch from their category page for inspiration for eCommerce Category Pages
AT&T makes it easy to contact them on their category page for their mobile phones. As you can see above, they offer a live chat service that a customer can access right on the page while they’re browsing! Many questions can be answered by a bot, but the user can also be connected to an agent if necessary. This can help a website visitor come closer to making a decision about what to buy.
On your website, consider offering a live chat service on your category pages. This will allow a customer to quickly get in touch with you while they’re browsing and help them get closer to making a purchase.
Summary
Getting your eCommerce category pages right is one of the most important parts of making a sale! In this article, we outlined how you can create effective eCommerce category pages, including by using internal links, adding high-quality images, and more.
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Author bio & headshot:
Alex Ratynski is a Content Strategist at Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner that works with agencies and marketers. The company focuses on helping businesses to improve their online visibility, so they can grow and reach their goals. If you enjoyed this article, visit the Loganix blog for more expert advice.
