The proper use of language in online shops: Interview to Jordi Ordóñez

Jordi Ordóñez: a great professional and even better person. What better introduction for this e-commerce consultant and Amazon expert who, with experience and hard work, gets the best results for his clients: key players in online sales. We were lucky enough to get to work with him in the professional translation of his ebook, and we have to say that sharing these goals with someone who knows how important a proper language for online shops is, is an absolute joy. Come along to meet him!

Age: 38

Profession: e-commerce consultant

Languages: Catalan, Spanish, English

How would you introduce yourself to our readers? Who is Jordi Ordóñez?

I’m an e-commerce consultant who started off twenty years ago at online advertising agencies. I like spending time with my wife and kids, and blasting heavy metal.

In your experience as an e-commerce consultant, which strategic areas of business do online shops pay attention to most? And least? Which strategic pillars are they least aware of?

They tend to pay the most attention to appearances. We have a bad habit of thinking that people will buy more from a pretty website. Make a horrible website (eBay in the early days) with low prices and you’ll see that looks are important for a hairdresser’s but don’t mean much to an e-commerce site.

The least, legal issues. There are loads of legal disclaimers on clothing websites that all read: “We are Zara España, S.A.U. and Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A. (Inditex, S.A.), S.A., and we process your personal data as joint controllers. This means that we are jointly responsible for how we process and protect your data.”

How widespread is acceptance of SEO strategies among ecommerce sites? Is there a notable difference between Europe and the US?

It is widespread and widely accepted on both sides of the pond. And, normally, the process is the same:

1. Try to do it on my own.
2. Don’t get it, hire someone cheap.
3. Hire an expert to clean up the mess created in the previous steps.

If a client comes in asking for step 3 without having gone through steps 1 and 2, it’s a miracle.

The main difference I see between the US and Europe is the market, which is much more mature in the United States. So, it is also much more demanding in terms of positioning. With regard to professionals, we have great people in Europe and nothing to envy those on the other side of the Atlantic.

In general, do people use it responsibly? Do people know how to create quality SEO content?

In general, no. A lot of people lose sight of the fact that your e-commerce site’s main client is the end customer, not Google. So the content has to target that client 100%. The rankings will come later. Search intentions and UX are everything now (at least in SEO for e-commerce sites), along with technical SEO and links, of course.

Which CMS would you recommend for online shops looking to go international? Which do you think is best for taking care of the language in online shops?

Each one has its pros and cons, but the one with the least hassle is Magento. Being able to create stores with hierarchies like this is half the battle:

I’m a huge fan of the Magento multi-language multistore, and more so every day!

By the way, if an e-commerce site is omni-channel, does it make sense for its internationalisation not to be?

Not to me it doesn’t. But here there are other factors in play, such as business, corporate (and local) culture, and digital transformation, which a consultant or e-commerce manager can rarely control.

Unfortunately, on and off rarely go hand-in-hand these days, unless the company (heartily) believes this strategy is essential.

What would you say about proper use of language in online shops? Is high-impact SEO incompatible with top-notch UX?

They aren’t incompatible. In fact, they have to go hand-in-hand, no question. I believe content and its quality (including proper use of language) is essential, and even more if we take into account that Google is getting smarter every day.

We saw the same thing with SEO for Amazon. If you don’t have a good content layer, it’s hard to position yourself well. Because people won’t trust you and your buyers will be people who have encountered an Amazon.es product page in broken Spanish. I’m thinking of all those product files translated from Chinese to Spanish using Google Translate that are so great for a laugh.

Have you ever worked with a translation agency for professional translation services?

Of course! I’ve worked with several freelancers and, lately, a translation agency that starts with O and ends with nTranslation to translate my e-book Amazon FBA guide. I have only good things to say about you. It isn’t common to find someone who works as hard as you yourself do. And I can vouch for the fact that you all do!

Do you have a funny story involving the use of proper language in online shops?

The latest have been on Amazon. Unfortunately, the Amazon (A9) algorithm sometimes creates titles for products. This means it can change the associated keywords in order to boost sales.

The most bizarre one I’ve heard is an end customer complaining that the product they purchased didn’t meet their expectations based on the product file. Why? Because the Amazon algorithm had changed the title, adding keywords that had nothing to do with the product in question. The magnificent world of AI, ladies and gentlemen.