Search Engine Optimization

There have been three major phases in SEO:

The first phase was all about metadata, keyword density, and basic structure. Search engines were simpler back then and easier to fool, allowing startups to compete with industry heavyweights.
The second phase added a new emphasis on unique, high-quality content and inbound links.
The third phase and current phase are the most difficult. To compete with big-box chains, you now have to create what experts call 10x content — content so unique and shareable that it’s ten times better than anything else someone could read on the chosen subject.

Organizations are now required to demonstrate to search engines that they are a respected, meaningful, and important part of their industry’s environment.

To get to that point, you need to optimize your site through the following:

Architecture, links, and general content.

Everything from the first two phases is still essential.

Without a solid site structure, original material, and a notable quantity of high-quality backlinks, you will fail to even get a position at the table.

View your SEO knowledge as an entry form to the Olympics, whereby you must prove that you are qualified to compete and even partake in the activities. If you don’t get the fundamentals right, you probably won’t be seen as a viable option in the eyes of search engines.

10x content.

10x content can take the form of:

User guides.
Videos.
Deconstructions.
eBooks.
Email campaigns.
Definitive essays and/or explainers.

Content that is 10 times more valuable than typical content must incorporate either a novel outlook, a lot of knowledge and a composed manner of presentation, or a great extent of value. Becoming an advanced, proactive creator of new ideas isn’t always a simple task.

Community influencer status.

You won’t be able to obtain good rankings in search engine results for relevant terms if you do not present yourself as an authentic expert on the items and services you are offering. Every business or e-commerce platform should strive to build strong relationships within their respective fields.

Start by reaching out to those influential in your field and request their responses to questions related to your particular area. Then, publish content highlighting their expertise.

Raising your reputation within the group and establishing yourself as a leader of ideas will result in obtaining links, reliability, relevancy, and visitors.

Links.

Search engines use a variety of signals to rank the links on your site, including:

Quantity: Search engines pay attention to the volume of your links. That means you need to be connecting with potential partners, write guest blog posts, and create excellent, relevant, and shareable content for people to link to.
Quality: Quality links consider many factors, from domain address and link source. Ultimately, the more impressive the domain, the more impressive the link value.
Relevance: Search engines prevent link-spamming by considering the relevance of the referring website. If your ecommerce website has a thousand backlinks from random, unrelated sites, those links are worth much less.

Invest in video content for top-performing blogs.

More and more people are spending more time on digital video platforms as they search for entertainment offerings on the internet, from digital purchasing outlets to social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.

Businesses can retain viewership and draw in a new audience to their ecommerce store by offering video content such as product reviews, product comparisons, and demonstrations. This can be a simple and speedy way to get the job done.

Social media marketing.

Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have infiltrated virtually all parts of current existence.

Ecommerce is, of course, no different. Incorporating social media into ecommerce spaces requires hype, sales, connections, distribution, and how relevant it is to the current culture. This is an issue that must be given significant attention and be the beneficiary of a considerable amount of work and effort for any online store.

Social media can be the most important element of an ecommerce website’s approach to generating traffic.

Sharing then promoting.

Social media is fundamentally a platform for sharing. It is preferable to give multiple pieces of first-class, non-advertising material to your devotees before you move on to promoting yourself.

Creating a successful social media presence requires pages filled with personality, responsiveness to users’ input, a well-designed layout for both mobile and traditional screens, and content that is encouraged to be shared.

Take care not to inundate others and cause them to be repelled by your self-promotion.

Reciprocity and relationships.

Be sure that the activities you engage in on social media are advantageous to the audience you are looking to reach. That does not only mean offering remarkable material – it implies searching for opportunities to be of assistance to them.

Track them, and support them, but don’t constantly pester them for favors. Approximately one-sixth of Twitter users stop following brands within three weeks. Don’t let it happen to you.

Choose the right platform.

Determine which social media outlets have the most influence and importance in your field.

If you’re in B2B sales, LinkedIn may be the right option for you.
If you’re selling clothing, you might want to take advantage of the photography-centric Instagram.

Brands can take advantage of Twitter as well, so it’s essential to carefully come up with a plan for marketing and decide on the most suitable platforms for your goals.

Mobile optimization.

A large amount of internet shopping is now occurring on cell phones. When individuals utilize their cellular phones, they commonly have an app opened such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Snapchat.

Consider how your content on social media will appear on mobile devices when you post.

Videos typically perform better than images on mobile. Don’t be scared to not emphasize long descriptions and use figures and emoticons when you are submitting a movie.

Social media sales.

A lot of social media platforms have surpassed just featuring adverts and links, enabling customers to make purchases through the platform.

Facebook Shopping was the source of this development, yet other alternatives such as Instagram Shopping have been deployed, with brands like Natori experiencing an astounding 1416% increase in Instagram web traffic through its utilization.

Time and commitment.

It is not feasible to pass off the responsibility of managing your social media accounts to just any intern for a minimal amount of time each month.

You need to put in a lot of hard work and dedication to be successful, even if it doesn’t pay off in the short run. Social media is quickly becoming the norm in the online business world, both now and in the foreseeable future.

Creative (Yet Economical) Ways To Drive Traffic To Your eCommerce Store

1. Inspire, with stories (take a stand)

What differentiates the trivial from the actual information that has been discussed about content marketing in eCommerce?

Effective storytelling. Feature people. Talk about their strengths. Have something “powerful” to say. See what everyone else is NOT doing. Strike an emotional chord.

It makes your eCommerce brand unique from your competitors.

A tale void of sentiment will not be able to resonate with the people you are trying to reach. Express your brand identity by being entertaining, sympathetic, elated, or exciting, which will make your viewers bond with your narrative.

2. Rope in micro-influencers (you don’t always need to splurge)

Influencer marketing has been all over the place. But, can all eCommerce brands afford influencer marketing?

The answer is obvious!

This is where micro-influencers come into the picture. People who have a following of between 10k and 100k are referred to as micro-influencers.

Micro-influencers don’t require you to pay out a large sum like celebrities such as Kylie Jenner or Dwayne Johnson.

Moreover, your target audience can relate to them better.

The use of micro-influencers encourages individuals to find out about a product as many of the intended demographic may be unsure if they are interested.

3. Use ephemeral content (those short + viral things)

What in the world is ephemeral content?

Don’t fret; it’s not a mysterious occurrence, or maybe it is.

Content that only lasts 24 hours before it quickly becomes irrelevant is known as ephemeral content. Any visuals, either photos or videos, that are not available to viewers after 24 hours are included.

In other words, they’re also called stories.

If you desire to get more visitors to access your webpage on their own, then you need to invest time into producing short-lived content.

Visual content has a 40x chance of being shared. In a society that is obsessed with materialism, using ephemeral content to invoke Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a powerful tool. Because it garners immediate responses from audiences.

4. Make sure you get the persona right before running ads (Don’t be in a hurry)

It is not cost-effective to run advertisements if they are not achieving their intended objectives. Many eCommerce companies make the mistake of not accurately understanding the characteristics of their buyers.

Listed below are some of the flaws in buyer persona crafting made by eCommerce companies and what they should do as an alternative.

Sea of personas

It is better to generate 3 to 5-character profiles instead of many. Strengthen an impression by examining the information according to your current clients. If you don’t have enough details about a certain individual, get rid of that data and start anew, if needed.

5. Offer irresistible value (Make it hard to say no)

While the idea of ‘creating value for your customers’ is nothing new, here are three ideas that can help you craft a very appealing offer.

Decode a critical problem

Show the issue at hand and indicate how you will be resolving it. Here’s how Herman Miller does it brilliantly.

6. Reward for being vocal (Ask people to talk about you)

How could you better thank your customers than by setting up a referral program?

Referral programs are a proven low-cost customer acquisition channel. Utilize them to decrease your cost of obtaining customers in numerous channels that are expensive.

Here is a method for constructing a referral program that will be highly advantageous.

Offer Simple cash rewards

Start by simply offering cash in exchange for referrals. The incentive being provided is completely dependent on the company’s style of working. Take care not to burn cash in the process.

When someone signs up for Julep’s Maven subscription box through a referral they will receive a $15 credit. The promotional campaigns utilizing an omnichannel approach resulted in a fivefold increase in referrals.

Provide a premium upgrade

Premium upgrades serve as an alternative to cash rewards. Gaining access to superior characteristics, fresh products, and other supplementary advantages.

Take the perks route

Offer incentives to your current customers when they refer new customers to your site in order to draw in more customers. A useful benefit will motivate customers to recommend your eCommerce product to their acquaintances and relatives.

Run affiliate programs but make it easy

When your company begins to increase its activity, it is necessary to modify your referral schemes. Proceeding to the next level, an affiliate program can assist you in broadening your scope.

Provide your existing customers with a commission on the purchases they refer, to each time a sale is made through the link given.

Ztylus, a mobile device accessories producer, established a referral system in which clients receive a 10% bonus if a buddy purchases utilizing a discount code.

7. Use flash sales as a trigger

No matter the sector, flash sales have been proven to be successful.

Flash sales are limited-period sales offering discounts. What does it help with?

Brand visibility? Check

Net sales during a gloomy season? Double-check

Sell excess inventory? Absolutely

But, how long should your flash sales be?

Generally speaking, a 24-hour sale is optimal, but shorter sales events build a sense of urgency and compel people to act.

According to a research project conducted by Experian, email open rates skyrocketed by 14%, which is greater than usual, during two-hour flash sales.

8. Build an email list—and send ONLY inspiring content

It is common to find lots of information on developing an email list but very few resources on how to compose emails.

This guide provides a straightforward, practical approach to generating effective emails that result in conversions.

Use numbers to incite curiosity and urgency by using social proof and a bit of controversy

Taking the customer’s name works like a charm.

Get the visuals right

Using plain visual content is so 2016! You can create straightforward visuals and use HTML to enhance their attractiveness.

9. Work on SEO (and avoid these common mistakes)

Here are some common errors that need to be corrected that are commonly made by eCommerce businesses when it comes to SEO.

Fix your duplicate content

If two web pages have the same information, search engines such as Google will not index both of them. Contrary to popular opinion, Google doesn’t penalize duplicate content. The most successful approach to rectify multiple contents is to enact 301 redirects from the superfluous versions to the links of the primary content.

Not making search intent your second nature

If you don’t use various types of keywords when you’re in the eCommerce business, you are not accessing a large quantity of traffic. For example, terms such as “sneakers” and “laptops” are tremendously fought-over.