Posted March 27th, 2012
by Pablo
One of the key basic elements of ranking well in the search engines for your desired keywords depend on your META TAGS. Back in the day, Meta Tags were everything. I can still remember the days where given the right meta tags and using the same keyword a few times within your content you could rank well…that’s for those of us who have been doing search engine optimization that long.
The question still remains for many in SEO but also those who are just starting to build a website with SEO in mind. DO META TAGS STILL MATTER?
ARE META TAGS STILL RELEVANT FOR SEO?
Yes. Meta tags still play a vital role for search engines to understand the main topic / subject of that pages’ theme. While search engine algorithms keep getting smarter and have come a long way, they still depend on human direction in terms of content. By human direction, I mean the algorithm still uses these tags and content on the page to rank pages based on relevancy.
WHICH META TAGS STILL MATTER?
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Tags: meta tags, seo, website optimization Posted in SEO for eCommerce
Posted March 20th, 2012
by Roger McGershen
As someone who understands the internet and has been analyzing websites for quite some time, I can tell you that this study that just came out by researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology is right on the money.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve had conversion with clients regarding the design of their website and how important it is in terms of building user trust, confidence and just really makes such a big difference when it comes to conversion rates.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE METRICS OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS THAT ARE KEY TO KNOW?
-It takes less than two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form an opinion about your brand.
-It takes 2.6 seconds for that viewers eye to concentrate in a way that reinforces that first impression.
OK, so from these two very basic, simple facts, we know that we have seconds to make sure we create a good impression on the consumer. If you haven’t worked on your websites design in a while, It’s time to get on it…and ASAP. While we tend to focus on many aspects of ecommerce (or any online business in general, even offering services, of course,) it’s crucial that we understand that the design of our website is the image (FACE) of your company.
(The researchers employed eye-tracking software and an infrared camera to monitor study participant’s eye movements as they perused the test website pages.)
HOW WAS THE DATA FOR THIS RESEARCH COMPILED?
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Tags: first impressions, web design first impressions, website design study Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted March 19th, 2012
by Pablo
The cat and mouse game continues between Google and SEOs or those who game the engine to rank higher for keywords. While we hear very often of algorithm changes from Google, this announcement was made by the famous Googler, Matt Cutts, at the SXSW conference.
WHAT IS SEO OVER-OPTIMIZATION?
Over SEO optimization of a website is basically any time you try to ‘game’ the search engine by using strategies such as keyword stuffing. Google hasn’t come out with a definite definition of how or why you are over-optimizing your website.
Hopefully in the coming weeks we’ll see a more clear cut answer or guidelines of what they are looking for when it comes to over-optimized websites.
WHEN WILL THE OVER SEO OPTIMIZATION PENALTY GO INTO EFFECT?
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Posted in SEO for eCommerce
Posted March 15th, 2012
by Pablo
OK- well there is no historic announcement on SEO but there is a historic announcement in the way Googles search will work. Of course, this is a huge announcement because Google will use ‘semantic’ search to really give a better search experience to the user.
WHAT IS SEMANTIC SEARCH?
Semantic search seeks to improve search accuracy by understanding searcher intent and contextual meaning of terms as they appear in searchable data space. Semantic search is used to generate more relevant results. (from Wikipedia.)
The story about Google’s big search change really got big buzz today from the story the Wall Street Journal did.
WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW THIS WILL ACTUALLY IMPACT SEARCH RESULTS?
a search for “Lake Tahoe” will produce “key attributes” that Google knows about the lake, including its altitude, location, salt content and average temperature. The query “What are the 10 largest lakes in California?,” meanwhile, would yield an answer instead of just links to relevant sites. (from Mashable.)
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Tags: google, google algorithm, search change, search engine optimization, seo google change Posted in SEO for eCommerce
Posted March 14th, 2012
by Pablo
If you’re an internet retailer and looking to drive traffic to your website or looking to build or boost your brand, Facebook is a hub that creates endless opportunity for you. Facebook can not only drive endless traffic to your website but consumer engagement.
While advertising on Facebook can be costly, that can be determined by the budget you can allocate to your online marketing for social media and also by measuring ROI (return on investment) from this particular channel.
There are 4 ways to really advertise on Facebook when it comes to consumer engagement and trying to drive traffic back to your ecommerce website (or brand it.)
DOMAIN STORY: Domain stories are used for advertisers to drive traffic from Facebook back to their websites. This can be very powerful but you have to make sure you carefully watch these campaigns as they are costly and want to make sure you are converting (as with any other paid channel, of course.)
From Mashable: How domain sponsored stories work: A visitor comes to your site while logged into Facebook and Likes your site. This action generates a story into News Feed, such as “Jane likes X site.” Sponsoring such stories increases the visibility for these kinds of posts, either in the News Feed or on the sidebar.
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Posted in Social Media For eCommerce
Posted March 8th, 2012
by Roger McGershen
If you don’t follow the ‘web world,’ then maybe you haven’t heard of Pinterest yet. BUT, if you do follow it and are on top of your social media marketing (and online marketing) you must’ve heard of Pinterest by now and what it is.
WHAT IS PINTEREST?
To put it in simple terms, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. It’s simple as that. It lets you organize and share photos based on topics of whatever you want. People are beginning to use Pinterest to organize their homes, their weddings and basically anything and everything under the sun.
HOW DO PEOPLE ENGAGE ON PINTEREST?
People can engage on the social platform in several ways. If you go right now to www.pinterest.com, you’ll see a virtual pinboard with comments from users and likes.
LIKES: Users can like images “PINNED” by you.
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Posted in Social Media For eCommerce
Posted March 5th, 2012
by Pablo
One of the biggest challenges for internet retailers (web marketers) is to decide what online sources should really be of top priority and focus. We always say that at the end of the day, when choosing where to really try to gain the most exposure, it’s all about ROI (return on investment.)
The one thing that drives the majority of the activity on the web presently is still search engines. However, with the web opening up with different channels, web properties such as Facebook command an incredible amount of traffic and time spent on the actual site which leads to consumers having more influence.
Internet Retailer did a survey on the percentage of online consumers who site the biggest influences in leading them to retail websites:
INTERNET SEARCH RESULTS – 43%
SEARCH RESULTS SHOWING LOCAL LISTINGS – 37%
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted February 28th, 2012
by Pablo
For Internet retailers to convert visitors into customers and really pushing that sale, it’s all about promotions. Why do people go online and shop? Well you may have different reasons but most people will tell you to get a good deal, etc.
From an Internet Retailer Magazine study, there is a report that has the percentage of online consumers citing the following as effective online promotions:
UNCONDITIONAL FREE SHIPPING : 73%
FREE RETURNS : 70%
SECTION ON SALES AND SPECIALS : 62%
COUPONS/REBATES FOR CASH OR PERCENTAGE OFF : 56%
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted February 27th, 2012
by Roger McGershen
In a new world where the average consumer seeks advice and reviews online about a specific product or service, online reputation management has become a key element and strategy of a company or individuals online marketing or online web presence.
While some may have justifiable reviews as a company or individuals can make mistakes, there is always the concern of competitors going after your brand by writing negative reviews that can affect your business in a serious way.
Sometimes you can make mistakes such as not ship something on time, fix the issue for the customer and then still have that bad review lingering that they wrote before you solved the problem. Negative search results can really impact our business and it’s very important to have an online reputation strategy in place.
Today we’ll be talking with Nick Passalacqua about online reputation management.
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
Posted February 20th, 2012
by Roger McGershen
What determines if the customer will purchase a product from your website? That is a question all marketers and internet retailers ask themselves when designing and building their ecommerce business. You should know your product better than anyone else. You should be the authority on the product you sell. However, we’ll see, there are several factors that will determine if a customer purchases a product from your website. If not for several factors making the choice for a customer, it comes down to certain critical factors that are more important than others that will turn the visitor into a customer.
PRODUCT PRICE: 79%
ABILITY TO PURCHASE ONLINE FOR HOME DELIVERY 63%
ABILITY TO GET PRODUCT WITHIN A DAY OR TWO 55%
ABILITY TO PURCHASE AT LOCAL STORE 45%
ABILITY TO PURCHASE ONLINE AND PICK UP AT STORE 37%
ADVICE/REVIEWS FROM PEERS ON WEBSITE 33%
REWARD/LOYALTY POINTS THAT ARE TIED TO MAKING PURCHASE 33%
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Posted in Ecommerce Essentials & Tips
