What To Check Before Going Live With A Volusion Website
ECommerce platforms like Volusion make it incredibly easy for anyone to build and operate their own eCommerce business. However, there are still things that a Volusion eCommerce business owner should double check before officially launching their Volusion website. This “Going Live” checklist is intended to help you stay on top of the details and have everything all squared away by the time you are ready to launch.
Link Functionality
If there is a broken link on your Volusion website, not only will your customers get a badimpression of your business, it also limits their ability to properly use the website. So prior to going live, it’s essential that you check all of the links within your website to make sure a customer can navigate through the website however they need to. Check each of your central navigation links and make sure they are going to the correct place. Then, check your header and footer links. Next, make sure all the category pages in your navigation is working properly, and that all of the products are listed under the correct category.
Information About Your Business
This is when you set up your content pages on your Volusion website that aren’t related to your products. Your customers are going to want to know more about you, and they will inevitably have questions they want to be answered. Content pages provide areas where customers can easily find the information they are looking for. There are four essential content pages to giving the customer adequate information about your business. First, your “About” page where you let the customer know who you are and the mission and values of your business. Second, your “Terms and Conditions” page, which should be easy for the customer to find and understand. Third, you need to adequately explain your shipping and return policy. Without making this easily known on your Volusion website, you can run into a lot of problems with unhappy customers in the long run. If your return policy is easy to find and easy to understand, customers will be happier with your service. Finally, the fourth content page you should add is your contact information. Double check to make sure that all of your contact information is correct so that customers can actually reach you.
Test Your Orders
If any functions relating to ordering products aren’t working, then your Volusion website becomes pointless. And if these functions aren’t working, you also won’t be making a profit. That’s why it’s imperative that you put these functions through extensive testing before going live with your Volusion website. Make a test purchase with each of the different payment options you are providing, and look over the order confirmation page you get for each respective payment option. Double check your shipping rates for the products and make sure that they are added correctly, and make sure that the tax calculator is working properly. Find out whether there are any inconsistencies or issues and fix them before your site goes live. Another important tip is to test your ordering ability on all the major web browsers to make sure each payment options works on each web browser.
Email Functionality
Customers rely on their email to get information about updated products as well as their order and shipping information. So it is critical that you make sure email is setup within your Volusion website and that it is working properly. Go into the “order confirmation” and “order shipped” email templates and make sure that they are all customized to your brand and your eCommerce business. You don’t want to give your customers any incorrect information about your shipping policies, so double check that all the information is correct (including contact information).
SEO Setup
Start working on your SEO and analytics before you’ve even launched your site. A great tool to help you out is the Google Analytics app so that you can view all your SEO data from the moment you hit the go button. Double check all of your page titles and also your meta descriptions to make sure they are clean, concise, grammatically correct, and also unique for each one.
General Maintenance
At this point, the biggest job left for your Volusion website is to double check your spelling and grammar throughout any and all content to make sure you don’t have any spelling or grammatical errors. This doesn’t just include product descriptions and content pages, you also need to check any buttons or headings or any text on your website. Double check that it is not only spelled correctly but that it is formatted to your liking. Another final job is to test your eCommerce store in all the major web browsers. There can sometimes be variation with how a web page appears on a particular browser, so determine if there are any issues and find a solution.
Now you are all set to go live with your Volusion website! Need help from an eCommerce platform developer before going live with your Volusion store? Email info@geniusecommerce.com for a professional recommendation!