Tauros Media always asks its clients before starting an e-commerce project to create a sitemap.
This text explains why a sitemap at an early stage is necessary and how to create a sitemap.
A sitemap lists all (major) pages of the webshop. It shows most of the contents of the store.
In the sitemap, next to the product categories are the text pages. Tauros Media needs to receive a sitemap before the design starts.
This way, the design can be classified according to the Sitemap and the important pages come forward in a clear way.
PRODUCTS
The products should be divided into categories. The categories are then subdivided into subcategories again.
In the classification of the categories the following is important:
Never choose more than nine categories: more than nine categories, and there is too much choice, making it less obvious to the customer.
An ideal layout has five to seven categories.
Choose a clear and short class name. Tauros Media will check each category if the chosen name is related to SEO properly.
It will examine whether people actually search on that word or if another name better.
Each category then has several subcategories. This is to say that the existing category is subdivided again.
SELECTION OPTIONS
In a shop you can often filter your search behavior on a number of characteristics.
You can select which features your products should be selected:
- Price: This is a standard format, you can not determine the values herein
- Color: available colors of the items will automatically be visible
- Brands: the customer can make a selection of the available brands.
Other selection options are available at extra cost.
If you would like a separate category for the brand in addition to classification by category, then you provide them in advance.
Please note that additional costs may be involved when doing so.
INFORMATION FOR CUSTOMERS
In addition to the product information, it is important that the customer can find information about your company.
These are called text pages. Pages that are not standard or may not fit the format of a standard page of text, are marked with an asterisk (*).
You can discuss these possibilities and possible additional cost with us.
MANDATORY PAGES
The following pages are required for the creation of a webshop:
- Terms and Conditions
- Contact page including CoC number and VAT number
- Privacy Disclaimer: if one user requests information or store, one is obliged to inform the client his rights and what can be done with this information.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Furthermore, it is very convenient for a customer if they know exactly what is in store regarding payment, shipping and returns control products.
Tauros Media therefore recommends the following pages to add to the shop:
- Payment options: a short description of how to pay
- Shipping information: a description of the delivery times and the way the product is shipped
- Return information: a description of the return process
- FAQs, here you can view frequently asked questions and their answers
ABOUT US
If you want to tell more about your company, then do so in an “About Us” page. It can show, for example, the following information:
- Company: the creation and formation of the company
- Mission: beliefs about the company and / or purpose of the organization
- Jobs: possible vacancies within the company
- News: a page with the latest news of the company
- Videos: any (business) videos you want to share with your clients
- Blogs: Related articles on eg business trends.
Press and PR *: can be explained how the press can contact you or to publish press releases issued earlier on with you here.
LOCATIONS
If you have one or more physical locations in addition to your webshop, you can show this information on a page of your webshop. You can think about placing the following information:
- Locations: affiliates that you have
- Opening hours: what are the opening hours? Optionally, specify it per location
- Directions: Directions by Google Maps
- Folder actions: it is possible to browse the online directory
SEO PAGES
The following pages are less important for the client but are purely to optimalize the shop and make it easier for Google to find you:
- Links: This page can be used for link building
- Sitemap: an online sitemap makes it easier for Google to find the webshop
SOCIAL MEDIA
It is possible to place links to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This will be a direct link to the company account.
You can specify whether you want to use text links or icons.
OTHER
Tauros Media puts a standard “Copyright” at the bottom of the web store to make it clear that the images and texts cannot be copied without permission.
If this is very important to you, you can also opt to place this on a separate textpage.
When you use gift cards and / or vouchers, it is important to show this on the website too.
If you want to send newsletters, you can create a separate page with a sample newsletter in addition to having a registration form.
This page can also be used to show more information about this newsletter service that is provided.
If you want to make use of a quality mark then it is important to give it to us in this stage.
A Quality mark has often certain criteria that we must know beforehand.
If you use various services from r companies or partner and / or affiliate programs?
Then we advise to notify us about this too, so we can incorporate it in the webshop.
Below we show an example of a sitemap:
If you are unable to create a sitemap. we are happy to do it for you. Click here to purchase a sitemap from us.
* Functionality has to be ordered separately