Top 10 checklist for new store owners

We have compiled a hit list of the top 10 areas to review before launching your new webstore.

1. Submit your website to Google. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url?hl=en_uk&pli=1
2. Submit your website to Bing & Yahoo http://www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url Once submitted to the top 3 big search engines, you can later submit to smaller search engines if you wish, but getting listed on the big 3 will give you a big head start due to the massive market share they have, especially Google.  When submitting to a search engine, please be aware it can take anywhere from 1 week to 2 months to get listed.
3. Signup to Google Webmaster tools - You can use this service to find out more about your website and submit sitemaps.  You can signup at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools. 
4. Submit your sitemap - Your website sitemap can be accessed at http://www.yourwebsite.co.uk/sitemap.xml.  Google may ask you to verify your website by providing you with a Meta tag.  All you will need from this is the Google verification number.  You can then add this in the Google Verification code field under Templates >> Settings.Signup to Google Analytics http://wiki.instantcart.com/doku.php?id=shop:google-analytics SEO and Google Shopping
5. Review Your SEO - You can read our SEO guide here to help you get the most out of you store, as well as see how other clients have achieved organic growth in Google InstantCart-SEO-Guide-1012.pdf
6. Review product descriptions - you may want to add more content to your product pages, such as a descriptive paragraph.  This will help with your rankings.  You can read more on this at InstantCart-Product-Optimisation.pdf
7. Get your products listed on Google Shopping: You can signup to Google Shopping at http://www.google.co.uk/base/.  We can then help you get your product data feed setup.  Please note you may need a Google Adwords account setting up, cost per clicks for Product listings should cost no more than 10p per click.  We will be setting up a guide on how to do this shortly.  For more about getting listed, see our detailed guide here
8. Review your homepage content: Make sure you have relavent content on your home page.  Try to add a small intro or description to the homepage body copy that is keyword rich and readable by humans.  See below for an example from one of our customers who sells womens clothing:-