Comparatively, Ballyhoo Commerce 1.9.13 is a minor release when you consider the improvements made to our easy e-commerce system over the years.
As well as introducing improvements to the blog features, registration process and category decriptions, this version has allowed us to set foundations behind the scenes for further releases of the system.
Blog Improvements
Every online shop these days seems to have a blog. This is a place where the owners can share important news, funny stories and tips on how to make the most of their products.
It is widely recognised that adding regular, fresh content to your website helps you get noticed by search engines and can have many benefits for your search engine strategy, namely the inclusion of more relevant content and keywords on your website. Blogs also have the power to create a community around your website and keep customers coming back for more – many sites thrive on the repeat custom of avid blog readers.
Ballyhoo Commerce has gradually been introducing blog features that will help make this an easy process for our customers. In this version the layout of blog pages has been reworked and we’ve enhanced the blog posts to include the date of the post and the name of the author.
We recommend that you include a blog on your e-commerce website and frequently produce articles that your customers will find informative and enjoyable.
Terms & Conditions Acceptance
Selling online is different in many ways to selling face-to-face and there are specific rules governing the sale of products over the internet. Every e-commerce website should have a Terms and Conditions page to inform customers of your legal details and the terms of sale that are unique to your business. Ts & Cs are designed to protect both you and your customers’ interests.
In reality you only need to have your terms and conditions present somewhere on your website to comply with regulations, preferably linked from somewhere prominent on your website, and it’s up to the customer to be aware of your terms before they make a purchase.
For additional peace of mind we have now added terms and conditions acceptance to the customer registration process. When a new user signs up to make a purchase or become a registered user of your website we can now specify whether they will have to accept your Ts & Cs before they complete registration.
A link to your Terms and Conditions page is provided for the user to review your information and all they have to do is click on a simple check-box to record their acceptance.
Hide Category Descriptions
In the Ballyhoo Commerce e-commerce system you have the ability to add text to your product category pages, we call these category descriptions. Today we are seeing longer descriptions as our customers come to realise that, for search engine optimisation purposes, a lengthy and informative description with lots of keywords will help their search engine rankings.
However, your descriptions could end up taking up much of the page and detract from your products. Naturally your end goal is to display your product range and many customers may know exactly what they are looking to purchase and so won’t want to read any of your content.
We’ve found a way to keep everyone happy and have introduced a ‘Read More’ feature to product category descriptions. You’ll still be able to add as much content as you want but only the first few lines will show on the page (the number of lines is adjustable). Customers who want to read the whole description can simply click on the ‘Read More’ button to reveal the rest of the text. There’s even a ‘Close’ button to hide the description again.
Your products will be prominent in the main area of the website and search engines won’t know the difference.
