If you’re a Small Business Owner with dreams of turning a profit from your E-Commerce Store, then maximizing your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Campaign should be one of your top priorities.
Competition in the Online retail industry is becoming increasingly fierce, even more so than the real world of brick-and-mortar stores. And if you want to stand out from the crowd and give your Online Store a fighting chance, then you seriously need to consider SEO as a long-term option for your Business.
Close your eyes for a minute and picture your E-Commerce Store’s physical location just off a main road. How do you convince people walking by to come inside and look at your products? How do you draw interest to the Business without spending your budget on massive billboards or taking time out to stick posters up around your neighborhood? More importantly, how do you appeal to the people most likely to purchase form you, and is your Business recognised as a legitimate brand in your industry?
These questions are all relevant in the Online World and that’s where having a great SEO Campaign will work its magic. If your SEO ranking is solid, then your Small Business will receive a steady stream of organic traffic which you can potentially transform into sales. By utilising the correct Keywords that users themselves would type into any Google search, you can be sure that the traffic you’re receiving are people who are genuinely interested in buying your products or services.
If you’re still unsure of whether or not SEO is right for your E-Commerce Business, keep reading. The following points will help you see that SEO could in fact help you to realize your Digital Marketing Dreams.
SEO Will Help You Get Found Online
Having an E-Commerce Store without SEO is like setting up a physical shop in the middle of the desert, with no signs alerting people to the fact that you’re there. Remember, there are literally hundreds of thousands of other E-Commerce Stores, so in order to be found by your potential customers, you need to find a way to help them navigate to your Store – while bypassing your competitors! – and SEO is just the way to do this.
Search is now an integral part of a customer’s decision-making process, with 89 percent of consumers using Search Engines to inform their purchase decisions. Therefore, ignoring SEO means you’re likely to be invisible to your potential buyers when they’re right in the midst of their purchasing journey. When you aren’t visible on the Search Results Pages, fewer customers know about you, you sell less, and your growth slows down.
By implementing a sound SEO strategy, you can ensure that you’re giving your Website the very best chance of being found by people who are looking to buy what you’re selling!
Targeting Online Store Keywords.
One of the biggest benefits of SEO is that you can choose Keywords for your Campaign that are highly relevant to your Business, service and products. In this way, when implemented correctly, SEO allows you the chance to put your Business right in the eyeline of people who are actively searching for your products.
If you can find out what your potential customers are searching for on Google when looking for products like yours, you can use these Keywords to improve your Search Page Ranking. The more relevant the Keywords within your Campaign are to a user’s search, the better chance you have of ranking more highly for that user’s search. And the higher you rank, the more likely that link to your E-Commerce Store will get clicked!
However, you need to know which Keywords to use so either comprehensive Keyword research is needed or you can hire an SEO specialist to help do the work for you. They can help you find the best Keywords to target and make sure your Web Pages are properly optimized for these words and phrases.
You’re Ranked Well for a Particular Geographic Location.
As an Online Store, you may be wondering why you need top rankings in a particular area. There are several possible reasons for this. One obvious reason is when you only deliver to certain locations. If your E-Commerce Store can only cater to North America and Canada-based customers, then you want to target those who around the United States region. If your Small Business only caters to customers in a specific Stat, such as Arizona, then you wouldn’t want to spend time and money trying to reach people living in Mississippi.
This is where your Small Business can use Analytic Tools to identify the areas where you need to concentrate your Marketing and Advertising. If you’re promoting a service or offering products that encourage repeat business, such as a water dispenser with water or a gardening and plant watering service, then you want to focus on areas where you already have customers, so that you can encourage them to buy from you again. Your Small Business may even offer both products and services, so it’s important for clients to know where you are.
It’s a Cost-Effective Marketing Investment.
Unlike paid forms of Digital Marketing, such as Google Shopping and AdWords, the traffic gained from an SEO Campaign is organic, meaning it’s totally free. There’s no Cost-per-Click, no Cost-per-Conversion or bidding for Keywords, which makes it great option for Small Business Owners with limited Marketing budgets.
While you may need to invest in a professional SEO Specialist to help you set up and manage your Campaign, you’ll likely find this is a small price to pay given the typically excellent results that can be achieved using SEO. Typically, Retail Companies that have garnered great success from their SEO Campaigns have integrated SEO into their overall Marketing Strategy, tying it in with activities like Content Marketing and Social Media Marketing, guided by an experienced SEO consultant.
If you need more advice on SEO, then give the team at Sites n Stores a call and we can create a Campaign that can help to boost the success of your E-Commerce Store!
SEO Results are Long-Lasting.
There’s no denying that SEO delivers results. And even though a Campaign can take a few months to get going, once it does the results are not just consistent, they’re also long-lasting.
Unlike Paid Marketing Strategies, such as Search Ads, you can’t just “pull the plug” on SEO. That is, results keep coming in, unlike paid Ads which see traffic halt completely if you stop paying. Yup, instead, SEO is with you for the long haul, working tirelessly day and night to help drive potential customers to your Site. In short, if you run short of cash, you could pause all your paid forms of Digital Marketing and still be visible to your audience through the organic search results generated by SEO.
Furthermore, SEO builds up over time, gaining in momentum and strength. Rather than needing to start from scratch each year, you can layer upon what has already been built, helping you to grow the Campaign and become a dominant force in your niche.
Without SEO for your E-Commerce Store, you’re missing out on a golden opportunity to make a solid profit from Online customers. Not having SEO will put your Small Business at risk of being ‘invisible’ when a customer is in the middle of their Online Buying Journey, meaning they’ll likely turn to one of your competitors instead.
The best thing about SEO is that it’s free, which means that there’s little risk attached to trying it out, as long as you give it enough time to grow and strengthen. Once it does, you’ll start seeing organic traffic that was never there before, which will only grow over time, giving you long-lasting results for your Online Store!
