But a few months down the line the website is slow, some of the pages look slightly inebriated, and you have no idea who is making changes to your website anymore. Well rest assured because that wonderful agency I just mentioned, have put together some simple yet powerful ways to maintain your WordPress website.

PNG or not PNG?

Ah, one of the world’s age old questions that’s been passed down through generations and generations whilst baffling some of the greatest minds through the ages. I have no idea why, the answer is simple. Not PNG. Use JPEGs wherever possible as they are a lossy compressed file format compared to PNGs which are, well, bigger. Higher image sizes on your website increases loading speed and in all likelihood, will cause more of your users you have worked so hard to acquire, to leave your website.

Obviously there are some great uses for PNG images, below are some of the times where PNGs are the best file choice:

• If you are creating small icons or graphics
• Any line drawings are probably best in PNG format
• If you need text in your image, then PNGs are normally the best choice
• Images where you need transparent backgrounds

Bigger isn’t Always Better (thankfully)

Whilst we are talking about images, compress the hell out of them. There are a number of plugins that do this really well without compromising the quality of the images. Our personal favourites are Ewww Image Optimizer and Smush. However, if you do not have a whole load of images on your website, I would suggest doing it manually or by using online image compressors such as this one. Larger images on your website cause loading speeds to skyrocket, and even reduce SEO rankings, harming both your traffic and conversion rates.

Don’t Work too Hard

With over 20,000 free plugins to pick from, it’s so tempting to play around and add some functionality and some fun to your website. However, do you really need Never Gonna Give You Up lyrics on your dashboard? Where possible, try and limit the number of plugins you have. As a rule of thumb, the higher the number of plugins, the greater the risk. If you are not an experienced WordPress user, I’d suggest limiting the number of plugins you add onto your website after the development is finished.

Keep up With the Times

Not updating your website is so last year. If you have a staging website, update all the plugins, the theme and the WordPress version on that first. Zigzag sure the website functions correctly, then do the same on your live website. If you only have the live version of your website, then you are everything we despise. But I guess we can still give you a few tips:

• Update your website regularly, it’s best if you can do this as soon as an update is released, but if this is too time consuming, set a reminder to update it once every couple of weeks.
• This one is important, tough situations are always better with backup, and websites are no different. Before any live updates, backup your website. You will not regret it.
• Lastly, if you stop using the features a plugin provides, then delete the plugin. There is no need to keep it, as it’s an added risk. If you are reading this article and not just skimming through the witty titles, you will remember that more plugins = more risk.
• This is a cute little tip to wrap things up, update WordPress first, and then the plugins and themes.

Security is Sexy…

…Said no-one ever, but security is paramount with websites. A quick overlooked way of enhancing security is by making sure that not every Tom, Dick and Harry has login details, and that if Harry does have his own account, he only has the permissions he needs. We would also recommend not using “admin” as your username and change this to something a tad more unique and relevant. A lot of websites also switch the admin URL to something harder to identify, this can slow or stop some automated hacking software from even finding your admin page.

There you have it, 5 ridiculously simple but powerful ways to maintain your WordPress website. More complex websites can require more bespoke maintenance solutions. Zigzag Agency offers website maintenance packages which keep your websites healthy, or give us a call if you have any queries about maintaining your WordPress website.

Here are some of the key announcements and updates from Google Ads in February 2020.

#1 – Google Expanding Shopping Ads to Gmail

Shopping ads on the Google Ads platform will soon be available to be shown across Gmail as early as March 2020. This covers both Product Shopping ads and Showcase Shopping ads.

This follows their roll-out of Search ads on the Gmail platform, but now allows for more ecommerce retailers to take advantage of the functionality.

To opt-in to this display, retailers should opt-in to “YouTube, Gmail and Discover” display under Networks, in Settings

#2 – Easier Remarketing Ads Management with Shared Remarketing Lists

Google has announced that you can now easily share remarketing lists across manager and sub-manager accounts.

Google shares that “with a manager account, you can share audience lists across accounts – but it requires multiple steps to set up. To make it easier to quickly share your audience lists, you can now enable continuous audience sharing in your manager accounts.”

These shared lists make the management of remarketing campaigns much easier, and allows retailers to easily remarket to their existing visitors and customers through Google Ads.

#3 – All Google Ads Campaigns Will Use Standard Delivery

Google has also announced that, starting in April 2020, Standard delivery will be the only ad delivery method available for new Display, Video, App and Hotel campaigns. This follows their migration to Standard delivery that was started last year with Search and Shopping campaigns.

Google states that “Standard delivery takes into account expected ad performance throughout the day, making it more effective at maximizing performance within your daily budget.”

#4 – Comprehensive Price Comparison Benchmarking Reporting

Retailers now have a comprehensive price comparison benchmarking report at the store, brand, product type and product level. All retailers have to do is ust opt the account into the program and the data is instantly available.

This can be very useful for retailers who want to evaluate their performance at both a holistic level and a product level. As more data becomes available, the easier both retailers and agencies can measure success.

#5 – Grouped Products in ‘Shopping’ Tab of Search Results

We’ve also recently been made aware that in the ‘Shopping’ tab of search results, products are being grouped together if closely related, even if not associated by something like an Item Group ID.

There isn’t usually a huge volume of traffic that comes from that tab compared to standard search results. However, it’s definitely something to be aware of if you’re cautious over your product merchandising and curation.

Keep Up to Date

If you want to discuss anything in this update with our expert PPC team or are looking for support with your paid search campaigns, then get in touch.

This is especially true for their enterprise platform, Shopify Plus, with Shopify Flow, Launchpad and Shopify Scripts.

Retailers need to be able to scale quickly, and automation is necessary. Why is Shopify strong at automation? What key features does the platform have that empowers retailers to focus on growth, not on manual tasks?

Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow is the automation engine that comes with Shopify Plus. The engine uses both pre-built templates and a visual workflow builder to start automating your ecommerce setup quickly.

This reduces the number of manual tasks needed in your business and ultimately empowers you to spend more time on growth.

You can use Shopify Flow to track reviews and trigger actions based on specific negative reviews. You can organise and segment customers based on key criteria, such as customer lifetime value or recent spend. You can also use Shopify Flow for order and inventory management, with triggers on products with low stock and international orders. You can also use Shopify Flow for powerful marketing, with loyalty and retention actions for valuable customers and the power to offer discounts and promotions for certain orders.

Shopify Flow is fairly comprehensive, and also integrates with key ecommerce tech such as dotdigital, Nosto, LoyaltyLion, Klaviyo and Yotp

Launchpad

With Launchpad, Shopify Plus retailers can schedule content on-site for events and promotions in advance, with set start and end times.

This gives planning power to Ecommerce Managers, reducing the risk of errors and reducing the amount of time spent on manually updating content for key promotions.

Content that can be scheduled and monitored with Launchpad includes product visibility, themes and discounts. This allows retailers to make sure that their flash sales and product launches can run smoothly.

You can also track performance of Launchpad content in real time, understanding customer behaviour at these key peak trading periods.

Shopify Scripts

Shopify Scripts is also a powerful tool that allows for a certain level of automation. You can use Shopify Scripts to offer custom built pricing mechanisms, shipping options and payment options. They work with a Shopify Scripts API but the feature is for Shopify Plus merchants only.

Examples of how you can use Shopify Scripts include discounting products with specific tags, running complex promotions (such as buy one, get one free, or buy two, get X% off), hiding shipping orders and prices for certain orders, and hiding payment gateways for specific orders.

This can enhance ecommerce setups and empower retailers with the ability to offer complex promotions without the need for a heavy workload of manual tasks.

Automation with Shopify

Automation can’t do everything. However, it can certainly make an Ecommerce Manager’s life easier. Shopify is strong at both automation and at allowing for easy and simple back end operations, and this is one of the key reasons why Shopify has become an important player in ecommerce.

If you are exploring which ecommerce platform is right for you, and are considering Shopify or Shopify Plus, then get in touch.

Content optimisation on Amazon focuses on the first stage of the experience for the customer, which is their search and decision making process for buying a product. The listing must be relevant enough to get their attention in the crowded search result pages, and then showcase the features and benefits well enough to convince them to buy.

Relevance to the A9

This part of content optimisation focuses on visibility, ensuring that your content includes numerous relevant keywords in order for the A9 (Amazon’s search algorithm) to match your products to applicable searches. In many cases, the keywords to include will be obvious, and you can simply use a tool such as Sonar or Google Keyword Planner to fill out your list with synonyms and closely related terms. A real handy tool is Soovle, which shows the most common auto-completes for search terms on a variety of search engines, including Amazon. It’s easy to use and is especially useful for identifying longer tail search terms.

Once you’ve identified your relevant keywords, you’ll want to include them in your titles, bullet points, descriptions and backend keywords. The A9 no longer weights keywords based on where they appear in your content, however a good rule of thumb is to include the terms that best describe your product most prominently (in the title), and then include synonyms and related keywords elsewhere. This means you can still be indexed for all the relevant keywords, but you’re also providing an optimal user experience by showing product titles in the search result pages that customers will easily recognise. For example, most people would describe a pair of Levi’s as “Jeans”, rather than “pants” or “trousers”.

One practice to avoid is creating keyword-spammed titles that not only confuse the customer, but convey a poor brand image and damage trust.

Relevance to the user

The focus of this is to showcase the features and benefits of your product that your customers care about and will influence their decision. Quite often, what brands believe their most compelling features to be, are not what customers see as the most important. It’s important not to simply make assumptions and instead put the customer experience first. You should look to what customers are actually saying about the product. What they rave about in the 5 star reviews, what they complain about in the 1 star reviews, and what they are unsure of in the Q&As.

Below is almost the ideal review for informing content optimisation. The customer has listed numerous features that they both like and dislike, in this case for a wireless keyboard.

And here is an example of some Q&As for a pair of bluetooth headphones, highlighting some key points such as durability and connectivity that they could address in bullet points, descriptions or EBC/A+ content.

In many cases, negative feedback is due to a buyer using a product incorrectly, so taking note of where customers are finding fault with your products will give you some great insight into what you need to clarify for them to improve their experience both before and after purchase. This will not only encourage customers to buy, but will also help to prevent any further negative feedback in the future.

Naturally you should look at the reviews and Q&As of your own products, however if you are new to Amazon, or simply don’t have many to look at just yet, look at those of comparable products both on Amazon and on other sites.

In conclusion

Optimising the content of your Amazon listings is an ongoing process as you learn more about how customers find your products and what features and benefits really matter to them. If you keep the customer experience as your focus, you can reap the benefits of increased visibility in a highly competitive marketplace and boosted conversion rates on your detail pages to help drive your brand forward on Amazon.

If you need help with your brand’s Amazon marketplace strategy or navigating the rapidly developing Amazon Advertising platform, get in touch.

The past couple of weeks have been confusing and forced us all to rethink the way we work. Now, as the majority of people are working from home, good organisation is more important than ever. It’s important to choose the right tools to keep businesses running smoothly and to keep the team working together efficiently.

We wanted to share some tools we already use (and some we might try soon) to improve your workflow… and make working from home less of an organisational nightmare!

The tools.

Communication:

• Slack – our daily team communication
• Google hangout / Meet – morning stand-up chats
• Zoom – client meetings

Document sharing:

• Google docs – for ideas, notes, spreadsheets and more
• Notion – notes, projects and tasks
• WeTransfer – upload files online and share
• DropBox – share and sync all company files

Design:

• InVision – digital product design platform
• Adobe XD – UX/UI design tool
• Figma – collaborative interface design platform

Development:

• Github – a version-control system for tracking changes in source code
• Bitbucket – alternative for Github

Project Management:

• Trello – organisation tool, Kanban-style list-making
• Monday.com – manage projects, processes and workflows
• Harvest – time tracking for project management

General:

• LastPass – all company passwords in one place
• Time zone converter – handy for international teams
• Spotify – share playlists with teammates

A few extra tips.

We’ve been working from home every Wednesday for almost a year now, so we know how to organise ourselves. Good communication is always essential to avoid misunderstandings.

The last advice we can share is to take short breaks away from your computer during the day. Remember to get some exercise during lunch or after the working hours to keep your mood up and maintain a work/life balance.

We hope these tools will help you get all of your work done. Share them with your team and stay productive!