March is a wonderful time of year: the snow finally begins the melt off, the birds and squirrels start making their way into the foreground again and the blue skies give us hope that something new is just around the corner.

In e-commerce the feeling about this time of year is much the same. Most of us are finally over the residue and left over ’stuff’ from the holidays, we’re starting to notice there are issues to address and realize it’s time to start thinking forward again. In this vein I say “out with the old, in with the Yahoo!”

March is a super time of year to clean up your store – analyze what worked this past season and what really needs to be improved for the seasons ahead. In your analysis consider the following items: your Yahoo! Store Design, overall aesthetic, general usability and functionality. After all we’re looking for conversion – right? Think about the customers you have serviced this past year and the obstacles you ran into along the way. Consider any feedback you received from your them – what were their experiences and how could you improve upon those.

Yahoo! Stores offer an unlimited number of e-commerce solutions and SEOwhat provides all those with a spin most other companies cannot. We have the added advantage of having not only a stellar in-house design team especially training to build Yahoo! Store Designs but we design your store with the power of Search Engine Optimization that’s not out of the box. Our methods are tried and true and tailored specifically for your application.

So, don’t waste another moment stuck in the snow, pick up your spring cleaning gear and utilize the power of now to improve your Yahoo! Store.

One really important part of your Store is your navigation – whether it be top, left or right – it’s one of the main areas that helps your visitors browse through your Store and find what they need.  There are a few ways to style your left navigation, and one of those ways is called the Accordion Style Navigation.  It’s a really cool way to setup your menu because it can work for any size of Store.  If you have lots of categories/subcategories, it condenses them nicely into an vertical list-format, like SEOwhat.com has, and gives the plus/minus buttons to click that will reveal the subcategories.  The menu can also be programmed so that the section you’re visiting, stays open.

There are other ways to style your navigation as well – I’ll cover those another time! :)

Sharing customer testimonials throughout your website is a super way to increase buyer confidence in your products and services.

Potential purchasers love to see that you have been able to satisfy the expectations of other online shoppers by reading about their experiences. Dynamic testimonials give you the unique ability to display some of these thoughts and feelings in a strategically placed area of your website where readers can gain confidence and you gain the credibility! Our SEOwhat.com version of this feature change on intervals that you set. The other nice features is that it can house a variety of text lengths which means you don’t have to worry about meeting or exceeding a specific word count.

Another added bonus, from a customer perspective, is that it is a great way to send a little value back to your clients – everybody likes to see their name in print and they may feel extra special because you cared enough to share their thoughts with the world. Dynamic Testimonials are an easy way to thank your clients for taking the time to share their personal experiences. Consider adding this unique and positive feature to your store today.

Yahoo! Store merchants – where do you look when you want to check the system status for your Store’s platform?  Do you google it?  Do you call Yahoo!?  Or, do you sit at your desk and tap your fingers wondering where the best place would be to find this information out at? ;)  SEOwhat.com has redesigned their support page, which now includes a wonderful feature – REAL TIME UPDATES for Yahoo! Merchant Solutions / Yahoo! Store platform!!  Check out our cool new Yahoo! Store Support page!

Is your order button noticeable?  Does it stand out on the page enough so that it catches the eye of your visitor?  If it doesn’t – that’s a great place to start to increase your chance for conversion.  Your visitors come to your site to shop, and they need to be able to know how to buy!  Take a look at our order button and see how we can help you start increasing your conversion with this important change: http://www.seowhat.com/custom-order-button-yahoo-design.html.