E-Commerce and the E-Customer: Tips for SEO Consistency
I remember when the jokes about middle of the night shopping on QVC turned into jokes about impulse purchases made online. A friend of mine confided in me that she had memorized her credit card number and intercepted her online deliveries before her husband got home. Fast forward about 5 years and clicking *add to cart* has become normal everyday behavior.
If you are the owner of a product based business, that is good news! With online purchasing on the rise, it’s more important than ever to have tools in place to strengthen your online store.
Learning Hub tells us that in 2018, 69% of Americans said they had purchased an item online (NPR/Marist, 2018). So, how do you capture more of that for your own business?
I sat down and talked with the team at One Wheel Marketing about making your online store come to life. Here’s what they had to say:
Key to integrating your website and an online storefront is SEO consistency. What needs to be consistent?
Image names should have your key words in the name
Product names need to include your key words
Descriptions should have your key words in the first 100 words
Organization your variants for usability and when possible add your key words
See the below screenshot to see how consistent descriptions across the multiple versions makes it easy to understand between different themes. You can also see below how “bean bag game” is inserted in the title for SEO purposes:
Items loaded with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) key words help your customers find your products when searching for your type of item.
One challenge to consistency is if your website hasn’t been updated. Pairing an outdated website with a shiny new storefront is bound to be confusing and frustrating to your customers. 75% of people leave a website without buying anything. So, make your new website easy to navigate, consistent with your brand and a great overall experience for your customer (Forbes, 2018) to increase your changes of making those sales.
If you’ve been looking at your unchanged website for a few years, chances are you aren’t catching the problem areas. Having a fresh set of eyes on it can help determine inconsistencies. So, work to spot the problematic areas and focus in on what you think will get the most conversions and the most eyes on your products.
So why not just use Etsy, eBay, or Amazon? Here’s 2 reasons why selling on your own website rocks:
You get all the customer information so you can reach out anytime you want to
Lower fees
If you’re looking for help selling on your own store, we build on Shopify, Woocommerce and Squarespace. Each has pros and cons, so reach out for a conversation before you pick one.
If you are ready to bring your e-commerce site up to speed, contact us today!