I’ve been wanting to sit down and write a Volusion review for quite some time now, as I find myself using the platform on a daily basis, and its functionality never ceases to impress me. As the founder and CEO of a leading development and SEO firm, I work with a variety of eCommerce platforms, including Magento, Bigcommerce and Shopify, but Volusion is definitely in a class of its own. If you’re thinking about using this versatile engine for your own shopping cart needs, I’ll try to lay out the pros and cons as simply and thoroughly as I can. Since my company is a full-fledged SEO firm, I’ll probably drone on considerably about the SEO aspects of Volusion, but that won’t be the sole focus of the review.
The Pros
- The Cost. One of the most tantalizing aspects of Volusion is the price. If you’re looking to get started with eCommerce, Volusion can get you online and selling products for as little as $15 per month. That’s like three tips to Starbucks. And if you’re looking for the kind of power and support that can handle even the biggest corporate enterprise, the Gold and Platinum editions are a steal at $125 and $195 respectively. Best of all, Volusion charges no transaction fees, which can’t be said for many of the other shopping cart platforms out there.
- Support. Running an eCommerce store can be intimidating, and it astounds me that so many platforms only offer limited support for a few hours on weekdays. Some of them won’t even give you a phone number. With Volusion, you don’t need to worry about that. Their customer service reps are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you can reach them by phone, email, or live chat. Or you can go straight to the support forum. If you can’t reach the folks at Volusion, you’re just not trying.
- Ease of Use. You don’t have to be a tech guru to use Volusion. You don’t even have to understand the fundamentals of content management systems. From the moment you sign up, Volusion will guide you, step by step, through the process of building your store. From there, it’s all about the upkeep. But if you’re a savvy designer or developer, you can also access the back end and customize your site as you see fit. There’s something for everyone.
- SEO. When it comes to SEO, Volusion wins, hands down. No other eCommerce platform comes close, because Volusion not only provides you with the fundamentals (like the ability to create title tags, meta descriptions, alt image attributes and headers), but it also contains a wealth of easy-to-use marketing tools to enhance not only your search engine rankings, but your ability to reach customers through a variety of avenues. It includes intuitive social media integration, newsletter tools, cross-linking between similar products, customer engagement and recommendations. Additionally, much of Volusion’s SEO genius happens on the back end, with custom-generated XML sitemaps, HTML sitemaps and robots files, optimal link navigation and search-friendly URLs. Finally, the easy checkout system ensures maximized conversions.
The Cons
- The default themes. If you’re not planning to do any design work, I would recommend hiring a designer. Volusion includes a wealth of default themes for your website, but for the most part, they’re pretty simple and bland. Furthermore, they’re extremely difficult to customize if you lack coding expertise.
- The Volusion Exchange. The Volusion Exchange is the company’s app store, and while it offers some impressive extensions for your website, it still has a long way to go. Don’t get me wrong. It continues to grow each day, but it doesn’t yet provide the same wealth of offerings that you would find in the Shopify App Store or Magento Connect.
- SEO. But wait a minute? Didn’t I just say that SEO was a major pro? Well yes, and in fact, the SEO features are some of the best that you’ll find, but they still have their limitations. For instance, I would like to see Volusion offer more comprehensive tools for keyword research and link acquisition. This would really put the company light years above the competition.
Find a Volusion SEO Firm
All things considered, I definitely give Volusion my highest recommendation. But if you want to get the most from this superior platform, I would recommend that you hire a Volusion SEO firm like Coalition Technologies. This will allow you to use Volusion to its maximum benefit, achieve those coveted top search engine rankings, and maximize your revenue in ways you never imagined. At Coalition Technologies, our SEO experts have been working with Volusion for years, and we know how to deliver results. From professional keyword research to link building, and everything in between, we can do the things that Volusion just can’t do on its own. Check out our portfolio and give us a call at 1-888-800-9101 for a free quote.