Oh, Crop! Killer E-commerce Mistakes You Need to Conquer

image001

One of the most lucrative and fast-growing industries is the e-commerce industry. It has risen in popularity over the years due to the convenience and accessibility it provides for the consumers, and even for the sellers themselves.

A lot of people have been trying to start their businesses from home, yet they don’t know where to start, and they have no idea about the wide variety of industries they can invest in or the right tools they should use.

Aside from knowing what to do with your new venture, you also need to know the common mistakes and blunders you can commit. Lapses, no matter how small, can be highly detrimental to your business. But as worrying as it all sounds, don’t worry.

You can learn how to spot, avoid, and remedy these mistakes with this simple guide. Without further ado, here are five mistakes you need to avoid to keep your e-commerce business bug-free and in full swing.

Mistake #1: Forgetting Your Market

image003

One of the biggest and most common mistakes online entrepreneurs make is forgetting what their market looks like or who their target audience is. Aside from spending most of your time and effort in honing the perfect product, without actually creating a need for your customers, you also have to know your customer demographic.

Wouldn’t it be ideal to have customers before creating a product, rather than having a product beforehand and then looking for clients? All of your efforts will be rendered fruitless. Know how to target your audience or your buyer persona. A buyer persona is a representation of your customer’s demographics, such as age, gender, profession, and social status.

To paint you a clearer picture, if you’re a designer in the print industry, you need to know your target audience before you begin selling. You won’t sell cheap business cards to upper-class professionals looking to spruce up their portfolios just as you wouldn’t sell overly-priced prints for low-quality products.

Mistake #2: Lack of Social Media Presence

image005

The regular person owns at least five social media accounts. And on average, we spend about an hour and 40 minutes browsing these sites. Can you believe that the number of online shoppers in the United States alone will reach 224 million in 2019! Numbers aside, the stats are telling us to leverage social media in getting our brand out there.

Say hi to social media. Brands are using social media marketing for some highly useful and practical reasons. Some even devise different loyalty program for their avid followers on social media channels. Some of these are because it provides:

  • Low-cost solution. Social media platforms are an excellent way to get bang for your buck advertising and brand exposure.
  • Customization. From Facebook Insights to Google Analytics, you can customize your pages to your heart’s content and receive detailed reports on your customers’ demographics and browsing behaviors.
  • Excellent customer service platform. According to a recent study by Venturebeat, 51 percent of the respondents say businesses need to be available around the clock. If e-commerce brands are now adopting customer service chatbots with 24/7 messaging services, so should you.

If you’re still not convinced, you can think of your social media accounts as your company’s very own affordable business cards, showcasing your brand and the services you offer virtually.

Mistake #3: Neglecting Mobile Optimization

image007

Mobile is everywhere, and the world is accessing the internet through their smartphones. With 80 percent of internet users owning a smartphone, failing to recognize the need for mobile optimization, could mean losing half of your potential e-commerce market. Poor user experience can negatively impact your conversion rates.

If you shift your focus on creating the ideal mobile user experience for your customers, you can increase your brand reputation and customer retention, and avoid losing 61 percent of your clients due to the poor website experience.

As an internet-based entrepreneur, use whatever tools you have at your disposal to provide an optimized user browsing and shopping experience. Bank on your best assets and give yourself an advantage over your industry rivals.

Mistake #4: Faulty Shipping Flexibility

image009

When you first decided to run an e-commerce business, I’m guessing you did for the flexibility it gave you in doing your daily tasks. You didn’t have to meet people face to face, and you could make your timetable to suit your needs. You can now do all of your work at home, and nobody would have to see you in sweatpants.

The same principle goes for your consumers. All customers like to have options, especially when it comes to shipping. According to research, only 1 in 4 online shoppers complete a purchase? 44 percent of cart abandonment cases are due to high shipping costs, and a whopping 93 percent of online shoppers say they’ll buy more if they got free shipping.

Free shipping can increase sales and improve customer loyalty. According to a study from E-tailing, 73 percent of purchasers consider unconditional free shipping as a decisive factor in shopping online. But like all other business aspects, weigh the pros and cons of your business before making a decision.

Mistake #5: Failing to Measure Performance

image011

If you want to succeed in the competitive world of e-commerce, you need to know how to gauge and evaluate your performance. Take note of your business habits, particularly regarding expenses and marketing. Use your business plan as a roadmap to help you steer your way throughout your business venture.

Check your statistics regularly. Update your ledger and see if your business is thriving or failing. Look at your consumer insights and keep up with the masses’ latest trends. Be as specific as you can with your data. Don’t inflate your figures and understand the areas you lack to improve them further.

By monitoring your performance, you are helping your business achieve greater heights compared to passive management. And the good news is, there’s always room for improvement, be it for you or your business.

Takeaway

As John Sagel said, “What we do know now is that the ‘E’ in e-commerce doesn’t stand for ‘easy.’ Opening an e-commerce business can be overwhelming and nerve-wracking, but it can also be a highly worthwhile and profitable venture.

There is no guarantee of overnight success. However, you can set yourself up for the best chance at succeeding. To do so, grasp the basics, learn from seasoned entrepreneurs, and watch out for their mistakes to avoid committing them yourself.

Lucia Patterson is the woman behind TheLegalGuides, a blog solely focused on legal guides, tips, and advice. Lucia loves essay writing and blogs at EssayWritingGuides from her college days.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

E-Commerce SEO

The Challenges of E-Commerce SEO

SEO is an essential part of running any business with an online presence (which, in this day and age, all businesses should have). Think of SEO like a bright sign with flashing lights, telling people passing by that your business is here and draws them inside to check it out.However, some businesses will find implementing SEO to boost their site's rankings easier than others will.Especially when it comes to businesses in the e-commerce sector, SEO can be quite a challenge. Even if you've been researching how to improve SEO for your company, you may not be able to find resources that apply to e-commerce companies. Playing By Google's Rules The goal of any business with an online presence is to rank high enough on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to be seen by customers. Although this is a challenge for any business, E-commerce businesses will find it especially difficult.This is because Google prefers websites that rank high on their E-A-T scale, which measures sites based on Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. In other words, Google prefers informational websites over commercial ones and rewards those that highlight genuine knowledge and don't appear to be trying to make quick money. This criterion is part of Google's method of quality control.As an e-commerce business, your website lies in the YMYL (Your Money Your Life) category. This category encompasses websites whose content can affect the reader's financial, physical, and medical wellbeing. Because the stakes are higher, the scrutiny is higher as well.YMYL websites with misleading or inaccurate information can trick users into making an uninformed decision, causing them harm. Your e-commerce business fits into this category by allowing customers to make purchasing decisions that can cause them financial harm. Managing A High Volume of Content Most e-commerce sites offer listings of hundreds if not thousands of physical and digital products. Product listings are not necessarily written with the utmost care, but Google still parses them like it does any other text on your site, and therefore measures them with its E-A-T criteria.This can be an issue because, due to the sheer number of product descriptions required, many e-commerce sites rely on automation to update these listings. While automated services can be helpful in some regards, they can also lead to typos, grammatical errors, dead links, inaccurate information, and other mistakes. All of these issues can be detected by Google, lowering your website's E-A-T score.Although time-consuming, your best option would be to hire someone whose job is going through every listing individually to update and correct any errors, making sure it meets Google's standards. Bouncebacks Based On Loading Time Your website's bounce rate is the percentage of users who visit briefly and then leave using the back button or by clicking on an external link without browsing other pages on the same site. While one reason for high bounce rates can be a dull or outdated website, this issue can also be caused by poor hosting.E-commerce sites often have lots of buttons, listings, and pop-ups. Pages aren't simple and include many elements. Having so many processes that must run simply to present a page can result in extended load times for users. Unfortunately, most people online are impatient. If your site doesn't load as quickly as visitors think it should, they're likely to leave without browsing, let alone making a purchase.The Google algorithm sees the high bounce rate as a sign that people find no value in your website, so it lowers your ranking and sends fewer people your way, resulting in fewer purchases and reduced revenue. Fortunately, fixing this issue can be fairly straightforward. Either make your website's landing page (the first page that loads for visitors) simpler to avoid long wait times, or contact your website hosting service and look into upgrading to more powerful servers. User Reviews User reviews are a great and almost guaranteed resource for building your E-A-T levels. Google prefers sites that let users review products, as this creates a sense of social credibility and allows people to share feedback, building trust. The more positive reviews your products have, the more Google will boost your website up the SERP.However, too many negative reviews have the exact opposite effect, hurting your website's ranking. You can avoid negative reviews using a review posting tool that allows you to read submitted reviews before they are posted. Knowing Where to Start When faced with the challenge of implementing SEO as an e-commerce business, deciding where to start can be overwhelming. Google doesn't give you a gold star for trying, and starting multiple SEO strategies only to quit them midway can even flag your site as suspicious in Google's eyes.One way you can get started properly is by using Ahrefs' Site Explorer to identify SEO opportunities. You can use this particular tool to analyze what competitors are doing in terms of SEO and piggyback off it, or implement a skyscraper method where you do what they're doing but better. Or you can use it to analyze your own site to find new competitors or broken backlinks. Site Explorer also provides keyword research, backlink profiles, PPC campaigns, and more.Still, a great tool is only useful in the hands of someone who knows how to operate it. Having dedicated SEO experts focused on boosting your site can have better results in the long run. SEO strategies are multi-faceted, and high-quality approaches are time-consuming. Staying Up to Date Google's algorithms are constantly changing, meaning your SEO strategy needs to change with them. As the owner of an e-commerce company, you'll need to be particularly flexible and adaptable. Just like posting only a few times on your site and still expecting increasing returns is a flawed strategy, undertaking a half-baked SEO strategy will hurt you more in the long run. Having experts on your marketing team allows you to smoothly ride all SEO waves and grow your website.Read Also: 8 Key SEO Strategies for E-Commerce Websites How to Monitor the SEO Health of Your Website 5 affordable e-commerce shopping carts for small business Best E-commerce Platforms for Your Box Subscription Business

READ MOREDetails
pay per click services

What Can I Do To Make My Company Website More Profitable And Powerful?

As many marketing experts know, a company's website is oftentimes one of the primary mediums through which the business generates revenue in the online world. In light of this reality, it's immensely important for business owners seeking maximum profitability to make their websites absolutely amazing. If you're looking for strategies that will help you make your business site more profitable and powerful, this is the article for you. Read on to learn about several web optimization strategies that can really enhance your organization's sales online:Read also: Top 4 Reasons To Outsource White Label PPC For Your Business 1. Optimize Your Content Content marketing is still one of the most important online advertising strategies on the block. This is the case because people will view your content when they're seeking more information regarding what your brand is about. In many cases, content is the factor that leads the prospect to make a purchase and then become loyal to your brand. Moreover, creating dynamic content can lead to more shares, thereby increasing the likelihood that your company will go viral.Once you recognize the integral role that content plays in making a brand successful online, you'll understand the importance of continually populating your website with dynamic, intriguing web articles and videos that your target audience will want to view and share. Luckily, there are many relatively simple strategies you can deploy to take the quality of your content from average to exceptional. One is consistently embedding incredibly beautiful or innovative images into your content. Another is optimizing the content for scannability through the implementation of textual elements such as headers, subheaders, bullet points, and numbered lists. 2. Try Pay Per Click Advertising Pay per click advertising is a form of marketing that involves buying ads that will appear on a website, blog, etc. The clicking activity will typically direct individuals to the business owner's website, thereby putting the brand recognition and conversion processes in full effect. Attaining these types of advertising services can help increase your sales while also extending your sphere of authority in the online domain. Companies such as Solid Cactus are pleased to provide their clients with pay per click services. 4. Make Your Calls To Action More Compelling Your website calls to action are one of the most important conversion optimization tools that you have. This is the case because the call to action directs your reader/viewer to do something that will be somehow advantageous for your organization. A perhaps obvious example would be encouraging the prospect to make a purchase, but this is not the only type of call to action that could benefit your organization. Another one might involve you asking the site visitor to sign up for your monthly or weekly e-newsletter.Because calls to action play an integral role in facilitating outcomes that lead to sales and product loyalty, you want to ensure that yours are absolutely amazing. Luckily, there are several ways that you can make this happen. One is by keeping it as clear and concise as possible. This is not the time to use flowery, elaborate language. Rather than being long-winded, get straight to the point to preclude the reader from becoming frustrated or impatient. An example of a desirably short, simple call to action would be "Purchase eBook by 11:59 pm to get 50% off." 5. Start Generating Online Success Now! Ongoing success in the online sector can be your company's reality if you learn how to operate in a strategic, organized manner. Use some or all of the strategies outlined above to keep your organization on track to becoming increasingly influential and authoritative in the online world!

READ MOREDetails
B2B Digital

Understanding The Role Of SEO In B2B Digital Marketing: Optimising Your Website For Success

Imagine you're attending a business conference, networking with potential clients and industry experts. You strike up a conversation with a key decision-maker and they express interest in your product or service. Naturally, you exchange business cards and part ways. Now, imagine that when they get back to their office; they type your company name into a search engine, hoping to learn more about your offerings. Will your website be among the top search results? The answer lies in the power of search engine optimization (SEO) and how the B2B digital marketing agency you hired is taking advantage of it.So, what’s the crucial role of SEO in driving organic traffic, generating leads, and boosting conversions for B2B companies?Understanding the Basics of B2B SEOTo set the stage, let's start with the fundamentals of B2B SEO. Unlike B2C marketing, B2B SEO aims to capture the attention of businesses rather than individual consumers. It involves optimizing your website, content, and online presence to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) when relevant keywords are searched.Driving Organic Traffic and Generating LeadsEffective SEO techniques can help increase your website's visibility, driving organic traffic from potential B2B clients. By optimizing your site's structure, using relevant keywords, and creating high-quality content, you can attract qualified leads actively searching for the products or services you offer. Remember, higher rankings in SERPs lead to increased visibility and, ultimately, more opportunities for conversions.Building Authority and TrustIn the competitive B2B landscape, establishing authority and trust is paramount. SEO plays a crucial role in building credibility for your brand. When your website appears prominently in search results, it signals to potential clients that your company is reputable and trustworthy. Backlinks from authoritative websites, social proof, and positive customer reviews all contribute to bolstering your brand's image in the eyes of potential B2B buyers.Optimising Content for B2B AudiencesContent marketing is a powerful tool in B2B digital marketing, and SEO goes hand in hand with it. By conducting thorough keyword research and incorporating relevant keywords into your content, you can align your offerings with the search intent of your target audience. Valuable and informative content that addresses their pain points will not only help your website rank higher but also establish your company as a thought leader in your industry.Staying Ahead of the Curve with Ongoing SEO EffortsThe best B2B digital marketing agency knows that SEO calls for ongoing maintenance and adaptation. Regularly monitoring and analyzing your website's performance, keeping up with industry trends and adjusting your SEO strategy accordingly is crucial for sustained success. As search engine algorithms evolve, so must your optimization techniques to stay ahead of the competition.Final WordIn today's digital era, B2B companies can’t afford to overlook the role of SEO in their marketing strategy. From driving organic traffic and generating leads to building authority and trust, optimizing your website for search engines has a direct impact on your business' success. By leveraging SEO techniques effectively and staying up to date with the latest trends, you can position your company as a leader in your industry and achieve remarkable growth. So, embrace the power of SEO and watch your B2B digital marketing efforts flourish.Remember that the online landscape is constantly evolving, and adapting your SEO strategy accordingly is the key to unlocking new opportunities and truly staying ahead of the competition. Start optimizing your website today and embark on a journey toward B2B marketing success.Read Also:How To Make Your Online Business More Humble By Managing Your ReputationWhy Is An SEO Services Company Better Than Others?Online Marketing : Selling Your Product And Services

READ MOREDetails