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10 tips to reduce basket and checkout abandonment on your eCommerce website

By Tim Lees 5th February 2018


The shopping checkout process is arguably the most important part of an eCommerce website. Get the process wrong and you'll potentially be left with frustrated users who may abandon your website and go elsewhere. Get the process right and the customer should have the confidence and reassurance about the purchase they have just made. Here's our top 10 tips to reduce basket and checkout abandonment on your eCommerce website: 1. Simple checkout...

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How fast do you think your website should load?

By Ollie Reardon 15th September 2017


They don’t call us Rapid Web Services for nothing. We strive to ensure that we develop websites to perform as fast as possible. Why? Because did you know that you subconsciously move away from a website if it doesn’t load within the first few seconds. That’s not the only reason. Google use site performance to help decide where a site should appear in their search rankings. Focusing on site performance is especially crucial now that we ar...

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Are you missing Structured Data on your website?

By Ollie Reardon 25th May 2017


To help search engines such as Google or Duckduckgo to get a better understanding of the content you have displayed on your website, you can use “Structured Data”. Structured Data is a list of details about the web page, that isn’t rendered on the actual page for users to see, but can be picked up by search engines, such as Google, to provide them a better understanding of the information displayed for the end user. What is Structured Da...

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Should I secure my website with HTTPS?

By Tim Lees 31st March 2017


In this article we will look at what HTTPS means and why your website should be secured using the protocol. What is HTTPS? HTTPS stands for ‘HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure’. You may have noticed that when navigating websites you will see this protocol (https) and its non-secure variant (http) at the beginning of the website address bar in your browser window. The HTTPS version is identified (in most browsers) by a green padlock. HTTP...

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5 Ecommerce essential features every website must have

By Ollie Reardon 28th March 2017


Ever visited an online ecommerce store but left without purchasing due to getting frustrated with navigating around the website? Maybe the website is missing some essential features such as no option to pay via PayPal, Bitcoin or other favoured methods of payment? Here is a list of some of the most important must-have features to have on any ecommerce website: Mobile Friendly Design Like any other website, having a mobile friendly web design...

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Simple Stripe Payments Integration

By Jordan Hall 7th March 2017


To help developers easily implement the basics of Stripe into their website and quickly accept payments, we created the open source PHP library SimpleStripe. SimpleStripe SimpleStripe is a package that allows you to really quickly setup a payment form on a website and charge customers. As you probably guessed by its creative name, it makes use of the Stripe payments system. Although Stripe itself is already a very developer friendly ...

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Improving security warnings in web browsers

By Jordan Hall 17th December 2014


Security warnings in modern web browsers are weird. When you browse to your favourite online shopping checkout or your online bank account, you get a happy lock icon. That's great. It reminds users they are on a secure webpage, that...

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Ecommerce Page Dark Patterns now illegal in UK

By Matt Fennell 18th September 2014


With online shopping growing, and Britons spending a combined £23.1bn in the first quarter of 2014, there has never been a better time for companies to trick us into paying for what we don’t want or need via dark patterns. Fortunately for us consumers a new EU law has just been passed (June 2014) stopping companies from pre-populating checkboxes which add undeclared subscriptions, additional downloads, shipping charges or extra items into our...

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Looking for an ecommerce system to get your business online?

By Kirsty Gasston 12th September 2014


Setting up your business with an ecommerce system is a great way to get setup with an online shop, therefore expanding your potential market and sales dramatically. Choosing the right ecommerce system for your business can be tricky though - you need a system that offers all of the features that you need to make the process simple and straightforward to add and administer products and effectively and efficiently monitor orders. But at the same ti...

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Which is the right ecommerce solution for you?

By Peter Chiu 10th September 2014


Ecommerce is the fastest growing retail market in Europe and with online sales in 2014 expected to hit £45 billion in the UK alone (16% growth from 2013), this highlights the importance of having a firm foothold in the web for any merchant. Whether you are a new merchant making your first foray into the digital world or you are an existing retailer looking to streamline your website, choosing the right solution for your needs, which also fits w...

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Consider Stripe Payment Services

By Jordan Hall 3rd September 2014


As a business you want a fast, secure and user friendly payment system for your e-commerce website. Stripe provides such a solution. A good payment system will ensure your potential customers do not get confused or annoyed and proceed to finish their purchase without issue, converting leads directly into a sale. Stripe also does not require a dedicated merchant account and should work with any accepted bank account. It also benefits from lower ...

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PayPal – choosing the right integration for your website

By Peter Chiu 20th March 2014


PayPal is one of the world’s leading and most recognisable payment gateway options in the world. With an estimated 110 million people in the world who shop with PayPal, it can be a great choice for many e-commerce websites. As standard PayPal accept all major debit and credit cards and it is an easy way to accept payment in up to 24 currencies from a total of 190 countries. Another advantage of using an established and well known provider such...

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