E-Commerce for All

Compete.com has released a very interesting study that all ecommerce store owners should read. This study polled online shoppers about where the look for items to buy, how they shop and what they shop for. I think that although the results may seem as expected… the missing element is how it applies to your business, and what growth in the particular metric you might expect in the future.

Let’s kick this off with polled data …

“How frequently do you use the following tools when shopping online?”

Note the green and red areas where I have noted what I believe to be expected growth/decline of these metrics in the coming year.

I think, and this is my own opinion (take it or leave it), that the areas noted will grow or decline for many reasons, not withstanding the new push among search engines for real time results and the weight they do and will carry in the future.

Coupon sites will continue to grow as they continue to gain authority and social media love from their users… As they rank better, they will be used more frequently. Look for many of these higher ranking sites to start offering “premium” paid types services and exposure.

Emails advertising I believe will decline for a good many reasons, mostly because people are generally irritated by spam mail. Shoppers are even afraid to create accounts on websites for “fear of spam”. Secondly, your email shoppers are far more likely to be a one hit wonder. They shop for price and have little or no loyalty…. IMPULSE

Product reviews is a tricky one…. and while they can be very effective, I believe they will soon be so abused that no one will trust them. Face it, how do you know a “real shopper” said that instead of a savvy marketer? You don’t, and just like many other diseases the web has caused, “fear of fake reviews” will in my opinion join the “fear of shipping” eBay disease in record time.

Shopping comparison sites and portals will continue to grow. Here shoppers can get what appears to be a fair representation of products to compare, see and get information about them in a comfortable… No pressure setting. Everyone will have a favorite, and we will see these continue to grow.

Social networking for ecommerce is still a baby, but expect its effectiveness to grow. Right now for **most ecommerce sites, this is just something you do. However, as we see the decline of reviews and other sharing platforms like gift tagging, this will become the safe way to ask a friend about a product they bought, or compare products for sharing. People on Facebook will seem more “real” and believable, thus more effective. Niche sites are already and will continue to kick ass here!

admin E-Commerce Marketing, E-Commerce SEO

Product Titles

Ranking your ecommerce store is a very specific task. Your online store has the same needs…. But in many cases different techniques are used to meet the need. One of these highly important optimization techniques is creating great product page titles. Your page title is the single most important on page optimization element of any page, yet still the technique for creating a engaging and relevant title for ecommerce products is quite different from standard pages.

Take the title of this post as an example, while this is a great title for a blog post, it would be very poor for a product page. In your product page titles there are more possibilities and more specific needs for searchers. Relevancy is still the key, as an irrelevant title will not perform for you. So we have some simple and easy to implement tips below for creating highly effective product page titles which will help you rank and supply the searcher with the proper product information as well.

Product Page Title Tips

1. Relevancy : Everything is lost if your page title is not relevant to the page’s content. The BEST practice is to create great, unique and descriptive text on your product pages and then craft a highly relevant title from the page. So if you want the page to rank for “green bananas”, then you write about “green bananas”…. Not “green tomatoes”. Your page text must be unique, do not copy others page descriptions… Write great content about the product for your customers and you will be right on.
2. Length : Shorter is better…. Avoid stop and poison words like (cheap, and, if, or, the). You need to be 65 characters (including spaces) or less. This is NOT a keyword list. The words you choose should accurately describe the product and be reflected in the page text.
3. Product Info : If your prices are competitive, then including the price in the end of the title is very effective for searchers to pick the best deal directly from the search page. If your products are “Big Brand” and have a well known or searched model, SKU or MPN then include it for specific and high converting searches. Do not include your own product ID or stock number as its clearly not search able.
4. Call to Action : Your products should contain a short and relevant call to action. Adding phrases like “Free Shipping”, “Guaranteed” or even things like “Eco Friendly” are great for a call to action. In lieu of these types of action phrases, phrases like “Buy Now” or “Online Ordering” are good too.
5. Ordering : The most important items are first and less important are last. The search engines read left to right also. So the product name is going to be first… then moving right the information is less important. See example below.

Apple iPod Touch 8GB MP3 Player $229.00 MB528LLA – Free Shipping

The point here is not only to deliver highly relevant title to searcher and search engines alike, but also to choose your searches better.

A great example of this is to search for “how to buy ipod apps”, this is an information seeking query…. Not a good bet for a conversion. So titles like “How to Buy iPod Apps” may bring some traffic they are not looking for your products. These titles are better suited for your information and help pages within your store.

For your product pages you want to use very descriptive information in your page and titles to grab searchers who are trying to buy… or researching prices and options…. Buyers. Your product page titles are the first step and a key element in creating a highly converting ecommerce website. If they land on the right page… they are simply that much closer to buying from you. The right kind of traffic makes all the difference.

Melanie E-Commerce SEO, Zen Cart

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last, Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
– Zig Ziglar

Humanity is impatient and desires acknowledgment, we’re not used to delayed gratification. We want what we want – and we want it right now… Yesterday even!

There is an unfair proposition in online marketing and commerce as a whole. This inequality can be found in list building, blogging, search engine marketing and virtually every other area of establishing a web presence.

Delayed Gratification

For the website owner there is no such thing as instant gratification. You are not likely receive the feedback you’re hoping for initially and it can seem as if you are improving your website for only one person and quite frankly you’re getting tired of impressing yourself.

Many times it can seem like establishing your ecommerce store is a bit like being asked to fill the Grand Canyon with a teaspoon. You persevere, but it’s hard to see the results.

The silver lining is while you keep working to establish your web store and its position you are finding better ways to describe your products, better content/copy to present, and all of the rough edges are slowly getting smoothed out. Still you have great difficulty measuring your progress.

Ecommerce is really a thankless job that is best suited for individuals that understand the true virtue of patience and are willing to work grievously hard to envision a future when the present doesn’t look so great.

“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable pre-requisite for success”
– Brian Tracy

We live in a modern time when immediacy is so important to so many people, that a significant number of businesses come and go simply because the owner failed to understand that delayed gratification is the payoff for perseverance, hard work and patience.

In 2006 there were 671,800 new businesses created and 544,800 businesses closed according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

We know that many of these small businesses did not have a clear understanding of the long term trench warfare that comes along with the territory of a new business start up.

This post is actually plotted to encourage you to think long term. Your ability, as a small business owner, to look further ahead than the next sale is crucial if you want to succeed.

Ecommerce can certainly provide a substantially improved market for your products, but you still must do the hard work, and put your best face forward even when your website statistics may seem as if your playing in an empty concert hall.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill

Melanie So you want to be a Shop Owner Series

Business Blogging

If you run a small company, like an ecommerce store, you may find that the world of blogging for business owners is a great tool that you want to make use of. Blogging is a excellent way to get the word out to consumers about your products or services, and it can even be surprisingly useful for inspiring employee participation. If you are looking for a way to take your business to the next level, consider what starting a business blog might be able to do for you and moreover for your store.

Blogging for business owners has a great deal in common with other types of blogging, but it has its own unique pitfalls and independent strengths. The key to having a successful business blog as a store owner is keeping your goals clear and solid at every step of your new blogging adventure. It can be all to easy to get sidetracked and even single tracked, especially if you are just learning about the exciting possibilities and benefits of blogging technology, but if you want your blog to succeed you need to stay focused and think about your visitors. Write up a detailed plan for how often you will post on your blog, how you will promote your blog and retain readers, whether you will feature photographs or video,  and then stick to it with the same kind of determination that you use to promote your store with other tools.

Blogging Block

Right out of the gate you will find yourself drawn in by that magic word : KEYWORD. While I can certainly tell you you need to blog about topics related to your website…. I really hope you will think about your visitors a great and less about the search engines. A blog can definitely enhance your website and its content, but spam is spam, even if you call it a blog. Sure, you can use your blog to promote sales and special offers…. But, these types of posts cannot be the meat and potatoes of your blog if you are going to be a success. Blog about niche related topics, tips and useful advise, so that your visitors have a reason to share your blog with others and return.

Setting a schedule for posting and sticking to it is every bit as important as the content you post. Do overdo yourself and attempt to blog everyday… I did this for a year and was so burned out I then went 3 months without a post, which basically destroyed the fruit of my years worth of all out effort. The key is consistency… Blogging or adding any content to your website on a regular basis will bring the search engines back more often and raise your index rank to boot. Once again, however, this has to be a sustained effort to be successful.

Stuck? Now idea what to blog about? The best cure for bloggers block is reading. Reading about topics related to your business will give you ideas for your own topics and expand you own knowledge as well. The last bit of advise is really something very close to my heart…. BE YOURSELF! If you blog reads like a dictionary or phone book visitors will bounce like a super ball right out of your site, never to return. Write with some passion and with some approachability and you can be a great success blogging for your store.

Melanie E-Commerce SEO