8 Key SEO Strategies for E-Commerce Websites

Published on: 29 March 2018 Last Updated on: 03 September 2024
8 Key SEO Strategies for E-Commerce Websites

Online shopping has changed the way people shop. The popularity of the online shopping portals makes two things clear. First, people like the convenience that online shopping provides them. Being able to shop for anything and everything at their own convenient time and from the comfort of their homes or offices is a great plus point for shoppers across the world. Second, with the increase of online shoppers, the number of e-commerce websites is also increasing. This is leading to aggressive competition in the arena of online marketing. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into the picture. SEO can help e-commerce business owners to beat the competition and keep attracting targeted visitors to their website. Here are 8 key SEO strategies that can help e-commerce websites to gain success:

1. Provide unique and impressive product descriptions :

An e-commerce site is all about products and their sales. As such, product descriptions are vital for such sites. Since e-commerce sites have to deal with a huge number of products, sometimes they may tend to use the descriptions provided by the manufacturers for the products. Or, they may want to repeat the same description for similar products. But that is a wrong strategy and must be avoided.

You need to come up with a unique product description for each item you are selling on your website. Though it’s a lot of work to write unique descriptions for each product, this strategy is sure to bring in the desired results.

2. Ensure easy navigation of your website :

Make sure that your e-commerce website is easily navigable. This strategy is important not just for improving your site’s search engine rankings, but also to offer a smooth shopping experience to your customers. Create categories to organize your products and make them easily searchable. Ensure that your sitemap is easy to follow.

Also, the design of your website must be clutter-free so that your customers can continue with their shopping without feeling irritated. Place your menus in a way so that your customers can access them easily, regardless of where they are on the site.

3. Optimize the loading time of your website :

Your e-commerce website is likely to have a large number of images for the products you are selling. These images can slow down your site. Ensure to optimize the load times of your website by reducing the image sizes.

High-quality images are essential for any e-commerce website. But if they slow down your website, it can impact your SEO in a bad way. So, it’s better to include images with small sizes and have a feature that allows your customers to zoom in on the images to see an enlarged version. This will enable you to provide your customers with quality images without affecting the load speed of your website.

4. Go for internal linking of your pages :

Internal linking is an essential aspect of SEO. Even Google prefers sites that opt for internal linking in an effective manner. Your objective must be to ensure that your customers can reach your various product pages within your site with as little clicking as possible.

One way to do this is to link every page to other relevant pages within your website. This will also help your site visitors to navigate to similar products in an easy manner and give you a chance to convert them into customers. If you want to know more about customer conversion, you can check out The Ultimate Guide to E-commerce Conversion Funnel Optimization.

5. Make sure that your site is optimized for mobile :

Today more and more people are using their mobile phones to do their shopping at various online stores. This makes it essential for you to optimize your e-commerce website for mobile. By doing so, you will be providing a smooth mobile shopping experience for your users. So, either go for a responsive design for your site or create an interactive mobile application to draw in the advantage of such customers. Ultimately, your objective is to attract more customers and ensure more sales for your website and this is a good strategy to achieve your aim.

6. Assure user security on your website :

User security is one point that needs extra attention in case of e-commerce websites. Having HTTPS encryption for user security on your website is a great way to go about this task. HTTPS encryption ensures that your customers will have an added layer of security when shopping on your website. This will diminish any doubts they may have regarding user security on your site. Also, HTTPS encryption will help Google to mark your site as secured and increase the chances of your site’s ranking on the search engine pages.

7. Include social media sharing buttons on your product pages :

The reach of social media is undeniable. It can take just a few minutes for an image or a piece of information to attract the attention of thousands of users on social media. Incorporate social media sharing buttons on your product pages so that your users may share information and images of the product on the social media platforms. On one hand, this will increase the reach of your products and attract the interest of relevant customers. On the other hand, it will be good practice for SEO as well. This is because Google may perceive the social signals as an indication of authority.

8. Check your website and pages for errors :

For an e-commerce site, it’s not unusual to grow at an incredible speed and have a large number of pages within a short time. But such growth also increases the prospect of having errors on your e-commerce website. It’s not feasible to hinder the growth of your site. So, the next best thing to do is to make sure that your website remains free of errors. Carry out regular checks to ensure that none of the permalinks on your site generates 404 errors. Also, check that the links to external sources or content are in a functional state.

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Sales

Cold Calling Script for Successful Sales Persons

Cold calls are still of great importance even in the modern virtual world. If you are looking for business, one of the most effective sales tactics is cold calling. It is part of the outbound marketing strategy for your business and can deliver great results. A recent survey by DiscoverOrg on 1000 sampled senior executives in the IT industry reveals that 60% of them attended an event or took an appointment after receiving an unsolicited email or cold call. If you fear cold calls, then these tips will not help you to eradicate your fear. However, they will give you a more successful experience in making cold calls. Focus on the Goal Most beginners think that cold calling only deals with making the sale. However, this is not the case. It deals with getting an opportunity to make a sell. The primary reason behind making a cold call is setting an appointment for making the pitch. You can use a cold calling script to help you focus on the goal. Research Your Prospects and Market Before Making the Cold Call Your cold call has to target the right audience. Market research can help you to focus on the right audience. Gather a lot of information about the company or individual you will be calling in advance. This step will give you a significant advantage of being in a position to talk about their business and needs when you make the call. Gartner Group states that an enterprise that has an average of 100 to 500 employees will have approximately seven people making the purchase decisions. Therefore. It is critical to connecting with the right individuals if you need success in your cold calls. Leverage Contacts on Social Media to Enhance Your Chances of Connecting Statistics from Vorsight reveal that if you share a LinkedIn group with the person you are calling, you have a probability of 70% of making a successful cold call. What applies to LinkedIn can also stand to the other social media platforms. You can increase your prospects of receptiveness when you are connected with your audience in social media. Therefore, make sure that you work towards establishing of extending your presence on social media. Prepare Opening Statements for Your Call It is good to organize your thoughts before making a call as this will assist you to avoid the common mistakes while opening the conversation. Making such errors can make the individual you are calling to terminate your call. At this point, the cold calling script comes in handy. This document should act as a guide, and you don’t have to read it out. What Should Be in The Opening Statement of the Cold Call It is essential to organize your conversation on the cold call in a logical manner. You need a greeting, an introduction, reference point that talks about the prospects, advantages of your products and services, and lastly a transition to the dialogue or question. Prepare a Script for the Remaining Section of the Call Put down the benefits of your products or services and reasons that will make your prospects to buy them. Put down some of the possible objections and how you will answer them. It is easy to meander or leave something out if you don’t have a cold calling script. Once more, you will not be reading out the script when you call. The most important thing is to prepare a framework for your cold call in advance. Be ready to answer tough questions about the products and services you are selling.  Forbes Insights report that 58% of potential buyers assert that sales representatives cannot adequately respond to their questions. You can get yourself out of this script by preparing an excellent cold calling script. Request for an Appointment During the Cold Call Set the appointment that you request during the conversation at a specific time. For instance, you could ask the prospect whether 11:00 a.m. would be good for him/her. You could also ask your audience whether you can meet them the following week. It is good to get your prospects committing to a meeting in your initial conversation. Don’t leave it vague because this will necessitate a second call for setting up the meeting. The phone call may never take place if you are unable to get to the prospect. Note That Gatekeepers Are Allies and Not Foes Remain polite to anyone who picks up the call or whoever guards the inner sanctum when making the cold call. Have strategies that will make the gatekeeper to come on your side. You could even ask something like ‘I am not sure whether you will be able to assist me?’ and he/she will give you the info that you require like the name of the person you need to talk to or the best time of contacting the prospects. You also need to learn the names of the gatekeeper and remain friendly during the call. 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Above all, practice, practice, and keep on practicing and you will become an expert in cold calling. You will always get better even if you find no fun in making cold calls. With constant practice, you will develop effective selling techniques. Therefore, get your script ready and the call list and begin to reach out to your phone. There are several people out there who would like to do business with you but you need to let them know about your brand first. Read Also: FinTech Is Making It Easier To Shop The World’s Biggest Sales This Is Why Social Media Is Essential In The B2B Sales Process 5 Actionable Mobile Marketing Tips That Drive Sales

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email delivery

Types Of Objections In Sales And How To Overcome Them With An Email Delivery Test?

What Is A Sales Objection Is there a sales objection definition in the first place? We don’t think so. Objections in sales are a common thing. Resistance or questions from the client does not mean that you or your manager are not working well. In contrast, top sellers close the deals after handling 5-6 objections. Dealing with objections occurs at any stage of negotiations. That's how people are. Everyone has a fear of the unknown. Guarantees, price, quality, and the result they will receive at the end are important to any client. The client wants to buy a solution to his problem, for example, an email delivery test or the satisfaction of any other need. Your task as a seller is to become a trusted person. They have to trust you to buy something from you. If you buy any product in a store, the reputation of the brand is important to you, you need trust in them, quality, price, and hundreds of other details. What Is Objection Handling? 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These rumors have been spread before, but they are untrue. In fact, Folderly software is quite high quality and will last you for a very long time." 3. Comparison of similar products. Give the customer the chance to compare this product to others if they start to protest. Give them a chance to do the research or yourself. The only problem is: are you sure your product is the best out there? Why Does The Proper Handling Of Email Spam Test Matter? If the buyer is not sure about the purchase, you cannot leave him to his own devices and let him choose the product by himself. Moreover, this is your job! If you give the buyer too much freedom of choice, it can be considered that you do not care about your customers. If the buyer is unsure about the purchase but asks questions, this is even better than the previous example. With an email spam test, you’ll know what your customer needs and deliver it right to their computer! ! This is the kind of buyer who will ask you a hundred questions but only once. Usually, this type has a very high return rate. This is simply due to the fact that they have already done their research, asked you all the questions they were interested in, and they only have years to use the product, which they already know everything about. Do not scare away your buyer with your annoying email - the email spam test will help you with this, which will check how relevant your email is to your situation. Primary Types Of Objections To Distinguish Between: We researched the sales of the email delivery product Folderly and got the top three of the most popular types of objections: 1. Objections and queries that are not that important For example, "I need a more elegant color than this red." Such inquiries are meant to trap the seller in an argument. It is vital to move the conversation in this situation fluidly in a different direction. The staff is required to answer this question, but only briefly if the customer keeps asking it. After that, customers often stop grumbling and start a productive conversation. You can run a mail test for your workers for them to get the skills of talking to difficult customers via email. 2. Objections are based on the terrible experiences of friends It is crucial for the consumer to verify whether friends who warned them about the downsides of this product were telling the truth. If this is the case, you should learn how to use the disadvantages to your advantage. 3. Hopeless objections are one of the most complicated sales objection definitions For instance, "I recently purchased such goods," or "I don't wish to purchase anything at this time."  In this case, we can only briefly discuss the benefits of purchasing things from you rather than another retailer, so that the client would come to you the next time. Budget-Related Objections As The Most Widespread Ones It is known that a client will always value pricing. Undoubtedly, although not always, this is one of the important elements. Dealing with customer objections will be easier if you are one step ahead. Voice the most popular objections yourself and answer them right away. I think you may be confused by the price. It is higher than that of competitors because the product is produced by hand, not by machine, and therefore more expensive. Running an email deliverability check and improving your email will lead the buyer to think that this product is special, unique, and of higher quality than other analogs. And as we all know, everyone likes an individual approach. You see how we turned the price problem into an advantage in the form of product uniqueness. Be one step ahead of them! Tip: sometimes this question can be initially avoided. Asking the customer what is most important to him in the good or service he wants to acquire before discussing the pricing or using an email test online would eliminate the need for any objection handling techniques regarding price. General Brush-Offs Masked As Objections "I'll think about it" is another popular sales objection. This phrase can be used as a denial or a wish to eliminate the sales manager more quickly. It is the seller's responsibility to discover the buyer's genuine motivation. He either respectfully declines or appreciates the product for the future. Simply asking the buyer "Are you pleased with the product/service in general or do you have doubts" or using an email deliverability check can reveal their genuine motivations. If there is, let's determine what it is specifically. You may hear what genuinely frustrates the buyer when they respond "Yes, but..." in the discussion after the “but”. Cost, a bad prior experience, difficult circumstances, etc. Final Words If you have reached such a situation, it means that before that you did not sound too convincing and therefore made a mistake in your email deliverability test or at some of the previous stages. You will eventually develop your own methods for handling sales objections, but for the time being, you may employ tested techniques. Without training, it is hard to handle sales rejections. The hardest place to manage objections is for sales managers in call centers. Because it's simpler to break off communication over the phone, they only get one chance to respond accurately before the potential customer hangs up. Read Also: 4 Simple And Cheap Methods To Attract More Customers 7 Ways Technology Can Help in Customer Management and Sales How U.S.-Based Appointment Reminders Can Help Customers Keep Track of Their Schedule

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Best Ways To Market Your Small Business Online In 2024

The Best Ways To Market Your Small Business Online In 2024: A Guide

As we step into 2024, the digital landscape for marketing a small business continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Navigating this dynamic world can be daunting, yet small business owners need to stay ahead of the curve. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the most effective online marketing strategies tailored for small businesses in 2024. From leveraging social media platforms to exploring emerging digital trends, we’ll provide you with actionable insights and tips to enhance your online presence and connect with your audience. Whether you’re a startup or an established business looking to expand your digital footprint, these strategies will help you maximize your online marketing potential and drive your business forward. Harnessing The Power Of Social Media: Beyond The Basics  Social media remains a powerhouse for small business marketing, but it’s no longer just about having a presence – it’s about strategic engagement. Businesses should focus on platforms where their target audience is most active and tailor content to suit each platform’s unique environment. Interactive and visually appealing content, such as live videos, stories, and AR filters, can significantly boost engagement. Additionally, leveraging social media analytics tools for insights into customer behavior and preferences is crucial. By creating a strong, authentic brand voice and engaging directly with customers through comments and messages, businesses can build a loyal community, turning followers into customers. WhatsApp Marketing: Connecting with Customers On A Personal Level  WhatsApp marketing continues to stand out as a highly effective tool for small businesses, especially when leveraging advanced WhatsApp marketing software. This software enables businesses to automate and streamline their communication, making it easier to manage large volumes of messages and maintain personal connections with customers. Features like automated responses, chatbots, and broadcast lists allow for efficient and personalized communication at scale. Businesses can use these tools to send timely updates, promotional messages, and personalized greetings, enhancing customer engagement. Additionally, WhatsApp marketing software often includes analytics capabilities, helping businesses to track engagement and refine their strategies. By utilizing this software, small businesses can maximize the impact of their WhatsApp marketing efforts, fostering stronger customer relationships and loyalty. Email Marketing: Personalized Way Of Marketing A Small Business  Email marketing continues to be a vital tool for small businesses, with personalization at its core. Crafting personalized emails that resonate with your audience can significantly increase open rates and conversions. Segmenting your email list based on customer behavior and preferences allows for more targeted and relevant messaging. Automation tools can help in sending timely and personalized emails triggered by specific actions, like welcoming new subscribers or following up on abandoned carts. Moreover, integrating interactive elements such as polls, surveys, and clickable CTAs can enhance user engagement. A well-executed email marketing strategy not only drives sales but also strengthens customer relationships. Leveraging SEO For Long-Term Success  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) remains a fundamental aspect of online marketing for small businesses. A strong SEO strategy ensures your business appears prominently in search results, driving organic traffic to your website. Focus on optimizing your website with relevant keywords, quality content, and a mobile-friendly design. Regularly updating your blog with informative and engaging content can establish your business as an industry authority. Local SEO is especially crucial for small businesses, so ensure your local listings are up-to-date and you’re leveraging location-based keywords. Remember, SEO is a long-term strategy; consistent efforts and staying updated with Google’s algorithm changes are key to success. Video Marketing: The Era Of Authentic Storytelling  Video marketing continues to dominate in 2023, with a shift towards authentic storytelling. Customers crave genuine, relatable content, making it essential for small businesses to create videos that resonate on a personal level. Focus on producing high-quality, informative, and entertaining videos that showcase your brand’s personality and values. Platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok offer vast audiences for diverse video content, from educational how-tos and product demos to behind-the-scenes glimpses and customer testimonials. Live streaming also presents an opportunity for real-time engagement. 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With the majority of online interactions occurring on mobile devices, ensuring your website and content are mobile-friendly is crucial. This includes responsive web design, fast loading times, and easy navigation. Mobile optimization extends to all aspects of your online presence, from emails being easily readable on mobile devices to ensure your social media content is engaging on smaller screens. Additionally, consider mobile-specific strategies like SMS marketing or mobile apps to further engage your mobile audience. Catering to the on-the-go consumer can significantly enhance user experience and increase engagement and conversions. Final Thoughts In the ever-evolving world of online marketing, making data-driven decisions is key to success in 2024. Utilizing analytics tools to track and analyze your marketing efforts is essential in understanding what works and what doesn’t. Regularly review metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, engagement rates, and ROI across all your marketing channels. This data allows you to refine your strategies, allocate your budget more effectively, and personalize your marketing efforts. Staying agile and responsive to data trends can help you stay ahead of the competition. In a landscape inundated with information, the ability to decipher and utilize this data effectively can make a significant difference in the success of your small business’s online marketing efforts. Read Also: Optimize Your Small Business Revenue by Taking These Steps Basic Small Business Tips for Noobs Who Want to Start a Venture in 2020 How to Empower Your Small Business through Digital Marketing?

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