Archive for the ‘E-Commerce’ Category

Doing Link Building for E-Commerce

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

E-Commerce websites can make people a lot of money these days if done correctly. Many people buy and sell items online every day. However, if you start a brand new E-Commerce site, you’re going to have to build up traffic. Even if you’ve been operating an E-Commerce site for several years, it never hurts to bring in more visitors to your site. But how can you do this? One tactic is link building.

Link building can be done in several ways. The old concept of link building is finding other websites that are similar to yours and contacting their webmasters. These sites will post a link to your site in exchange for you linking to their site. It’s mutually beneficial for both parties most of the time. However, if you link to a site that doesn’t get much traffic, you may send them a lot of potential customers without getting many in return.

Another form of link building that is more popular today is getting link backs. This is done mainly using blogs. You post a blog that includes links to similar blogs and websites. These sites see traffic coming in from your blog and will often visit your blog in return. You may also use trackback and pingback options. Trackbacks can actually extract links and connect your site to these other sites.

Some people also go out, read other blogs and websites, and leave comments with links to their website. Sometimes, however, this is seen as spamming. These blogs may delete comments that aren’t specifically about their blogs or that contain links that appear to be spam. Be careful when doing this type of link building.

Bing, Microsoft’s New Search Engine

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Every now and then something comes along to shake up the world of search and search marketing. Microsoft has just launched a new service that they hope will be one of those big things to shake up searching, and they call it Bing.

Bing is not a normal search engine– instead, it bills itself as a ‘decision engine’. What this means is that instead of searching for a general keyword or key phrase and getting info from any number of angles as they might relate to that keyword or phrase, a user might type in a keyword that they have a query about in order to find out the answer (not just general information surrounding the term). This means everything from ‘Fitness’ returning results for calorie calculations and workout routines because it intuits the user wants fitness advice to ‘LAX to LaGuardia’ returning online booking options and itineraries for flights from LA to NYC.

How exactly SEO and Organic Search Placement factor into the results presented by this new ‘decision engine’ will be fascinating to develop understanding with, and it can be assured that the search community at large (not just us here at Search Placement!) will be diligently reverse-engineering the results of thousands of searches to gain such familiarity– and how it can be put to use for our clients.

What will also be interesting to observe will be the marketshare Bing stakes out for itself as a niche ‘decision engine’ in the world of Google’s hegemony and the type of searching users have gotten used to. As it stands, Bing is outpacing Yahoo! in terms of search volume; however, some of that flow can be attributed to the ‘new and shiny’ effect that loses its lustre in relatively short order. Will Bing hang on in the #2 spot? Microsoft surely hopes so, and we’ll see for ourselves over the next few months.

Beware of Sheep’s Clothing

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Like many SEO firms, Search Placement has numerous internal websites that allow us to test new methods for optimization before we apply them to client sites. We just recently received an email from one such website promising to “put your site at the top of a search engines listings“. We get plenty of these emails but this one in particular caught my attention. Let’s take a look, shall we?

First, let’s look at the site. The email came from KeyPlacementSEO.com. The website’s SEO page talks about how keyword placement and inbound links can improve your site’s search engine placement. It also offers a “free website analysis”. Here’s my free analysis of the basics for KeyPlacement.com:

  • Title Tag - Their title tags aren’t optimized…”Seo Engine Optimization“?!
  • Meta-Keywords - None
  • Meta-Description - None
  • Headers - Page headers are images instead of text formatted with H1 tags
  • CSS styles are not linked in an external file
  • JavaScript is not linked in an external file
  • No discernible tracking software

These are all elementary elements for search engine optimization and should be addressed even before launching a website. Furthermore, a quick check of the domain registration shows that the domain was just registered less than a month ago.

While this is all somewhat amusing to me, far too many website owners have gotten burned by ‘fly by night’ SEO companies like this one. In fact, many of our clients have had previous experiences with SEO firms that left them in a mess.

When considering working with an SEO firm, make sure you check their background! Ask for references and link building details. Make sure they provide regular, detailed reporting. I can’t stress this enough. It’ll save you from spending thousands on wasted marketing and potentially jeopardizing your web properties.

Ecommerce SEO Link Building Do’s and Don’ts

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

If you own an ecommerce web-site its important to take a different approach to your seo link building campaigns. Ecommerce websites typically have hundreds of pages and the issue comes with spreading your link popularity evenly across the site.

We find most people that attempt to do their own SEO link building for their ecommerce web site point most if not all of their links to their home page. While this is good for the keywords on your homepage, it doesn’t help the spiders crawl your entire ecommerce site and it doesn’t help spread Googles pagerank and link popularity into your deeper pages.

When doing your link building make sure to “deep link” to other pages deeper within your site, like category and product pages. Use the keywords that are on that page in different phrases as anchor text on the linking page.  Deep linking is a great way to build your SEO for your ecommerce site and will help the spiders crawl your site. You can more on deep linking strategies here. Or call is to get a custom quote on a SEO campagn for your ecommerce web site.

Ecommerce Press Release Tips

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

Press releases can help boost your ecommerce search engine rankings if done correctly. Most companies write a typical press release about “new products” or a “new redesign”. Boring information like this is not likely to get any notable press coverage, and in turn you won’t get any significant boost in back links (besides the links from the press archives).

When a press release is interesting and news worthy, you get more exposure and so there’s a much greater chance some blogger or (news anchor) will pick up your story.

This can bee a difficult thing for ecommerce website owners who sell regular products. My suggestion; find the web sites in your field that discuss industry news and stay on top of it daily (RSS feeds help a lot for this). Once you see some news thats controversial or press worthy, have your writer tie it into your business in some way. Even if you simply share the regurgitated news and have some vague tie in to your site, this can help a lot.

As usual, the abilities of your writer to match keyword density and not sacrifice on sales copy, is imperative.

3 Tips To Ecommerce SEO

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Search engine optimization for ecommerce sites is a whole other ballgame then the typical campaign. Most ecommerce sites have hundreds of pages and thousands of possible keyword variations. So how then can we get the most of our SEO with a large ecommerce site?

  1. Search engine friendly url’s: Many a ecommerce site have long strings of code in the url’s of their deep category and product pages. When the search engines see this they are less likely to spider and give rankings to the deep pages as dynamic sites usually don’t provide good content. An example of a bad URL would be: http://www.fansedge.com/Boston-Celtics-Merchandise_-747679397.1.18.6_BW.html?fc=NbaMenuTm vrs our a search friendly url that uses keywords: http://www.search-placement.com/ecommerce-seo.html
  2. Deep Linking: Help the search engines spider your entire site by building back links to pages deep within your site. This can help spread pagerank and looks more natural to the search engines then just pointing all your links to the home page.
  3. Content, Content, Content: Most ecommerce sites that come to us for SEO help have this problem, lack of content! Adding keyword rich content to the category pages, product pages, in addition to the home page is a necessity. To maximize conversions and your SEO for your ecommerce site, add your content below your product images. Here’s a good example: http://www.925silver4u.com/stainless-steel-jewelry-c-273.html

For more help with the search engine optimization for your ecommerce site, contact us.

    Implementing an E-Commerce Site

    Monday, February 18th, 2008

    There are three typical ways to implement an e-commerce site.

    1. Enterprise computing: This is the most flexible and most complex. This is where your purchase your own hardware and software. You also will want to hire a staff of developers or create your e-commerce website. You should think about this option if you will have immensely high traffic to your website (millions of visitors per month); if you have a large database that holds your catalog of products; if you have a complicated sales cycle that requires much customizing; or if you have any other business processes in place already and you want your e-commerce site to integrate into them.

    2. Virtual hosting services: This one has medium flexibility and medium simplicity. These services include the flexibility of enterprise computing but what you may get will depend on the vendor. Generally, the vendor will maintain the equipment and software. They usually sale them in standard packages. The packages include security and almost always have a merchant account available. Database access is also sometimes part of the packages. With this option, you also provide the web designers and the developers to create and maintain your e-commerce website.

    3. Simplified e-commerce: This one is the least flexible but is the simplest, as well. This option is what most small businesses use when they get into e-commerce. With this option the vendor provides an easier system for creating your store. This system usually includes a set of forms that you fill out online. Then the vendor’s software will generate all of the web pages for the store for you.

    If you need help with your e-commerce website’s rankings, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

    An E-Commerce Example: Dell

    Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

    Dell is a computer company that originally started making computers from old computer parts and selling them to college students. The company quickly gained popularity and started making original computer designs.

    In these years, Dell sold custom-configured personal computers to individuals and businesses as a mail-order company.

    But as the internet grew, so did Dell’s plans. Dell became an e-commerce site, in addition to a mail-order company. Dell had been selling computers via mail and phone for over ten years, so why should this switch make any difference?

    If 25 percent of Dell’s sales from the phone moved over to the web just to achieve another 25 percent of sales, then nothing would be gained – or lost. But since the web requires less personnel and manpower and saves time then there would be something gained. Time and money would be gained from the decrease in time and people needed to run the website and its orders.

    Or maybe, Dell didn’t even have to lose 25 percent of its sales. They discovered that there is a percentage the country’s population who prefers ordering over the internet than from over a phone line. Now, there is an additional percentage of sales coming in, just from the website.

    And one last thing: it is common knowledge among professional salespersons that it easier to keep costumers and convince them to buy more than it is to get additional customers. Gaining customer loyalty is vital and building a site that will keep your customers returning helps tremendously.

    Dell created its e-commerce site early on, which has helped it maintain its lead in sales of computers from the very beginning.

    E-commerce: Things to Know

    Monday, January 7th, 2008

    There’s always some good news and bad news when starting up a new business. And with starting an e-commerce site where all of your business is coming from people you never actually see can be daunting. This list reveals some of the possible goods and bads about starting an e-commerce site. The first five are some of the bad parts, while the last two are some of the good parts about creating a successful e-commerce website. But don’t worry – although there more bads on this list then goods, the bads are that bad.

    1. With the web being a source of literally limitless information, attracting people to your e-commerce site can be one of the most difficult hurdles to cross.

    2. Once you’ve crossed the first hurdle, the next most difficult barrier is getting people to return to your website.

    3. Another difficulty is standing out from the crowd. You’ve got to differentiate your e-commerce website from your competition.

    4. So now people are visiting your site. Now, you need to lure them to actually purchase an item from your website. You need to create trust between you and your customers. You need to have an appealing and safe and secure site so that your viewer feels confident enough to purchase something from you – i.e. reveal their credit card information to you.

    5. One last difficulty on the list of difficulties is trying to integrate your e-commerce site into other existing business data – working with other business sites (for example, using UPS as your carrier).

    6. After all of these difficulties, you need some smooth events. Taking the orders can be very easy on your e-commerce site as long as you have a good-running website.

    7. Another easy thing about having a well-running e-commerce site is accepting the payment your customers place.

    To optimize your e-commerce site’s results in the major search engines, contact us.

    E-Commerce: Appealing and Alluring

    Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

    People are always trying to earn an extra buck. A route that continues to increase in popularity is e-commerce. Here’s a list of reasons why so many people are starting their own e-commerce business.

    1. Bigger purchases by your customers. E-commerce allows you to show your customers what other customers have bought during their shopping experience. By showing other items that are related to what your customers are purchasing, your customers are more inclined to buy more of those similar items during their visit.

    2. Larger catalogs. The space that is available on an e-commerce site for the viewing of your goods can seem nearly limitless. An e-commerce business will give customers the ability to see all of your goods, no matter how many you may have.

    3. Being part of the business cycle. Once your e-commerce site has been integrated into the business cycle, an online store can do many things that can enhance a customer’s visit. One possible feature would be a tracking system for customers’ orders. Customers are very happy to be able to see their orders go from one location to the next, knowing that it is getting closer to them by the minute.

    4. Additional comfort for the customers. E-commerce sites allow customers to shop from anywhere and in any situation. Customers can shop in comfort from wherever they may be – home, work, or even a coffee shop.

    5. Saving money. If your e-commerce site is created and implemented well, then all actions (from ordering to processing to shipping) should be more efficient and, therefore, more profitable for you.

    6. Better relations with customers. By making everything easier and more fluid on the customer – whether it’s viewing of items or their checkout process – you create happier customers. Happier customers = more sales.

    7. Creating a new business model. Having an e-commerce allows you to create an almost entirely new business plan that can entail less manpower and more relaxing while making money.