OK, so you’ve got your shiny new eCommerce website with all your products added and it’s out there on the Internet. “How do I start getting sales?” I hear you ask. The ultimate aim is to get you at the top of Google listings (and other search engines of course) – but this takes careful skill, patience and in some cases, a great deal of cost.
There are companies who will claim that they have the answer – for a fee. Before you part with your well-earned cash, read this and become the master of your own Search Engine Optimization (SEO)!
There are four vital pieces of the puzzle to get started (3 of which are completely free, and the fourth potentially being free) that will boost your SEO. If your eCommerce website isn’t quite ready, read our Getting Started Guide which gives you the basics on adding products and product categories.
1. Keywords
2. Domain Name
3. Google Webmaster Tools Account
4. Google Analytics Account
In this blog, I will walk you through the fine art of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
1. Key Words
Search Engine Optimization starts with keywords. Firstly, give some thought as to what keywords you would use to describe your eCommerce website. Google will check your website and pick up on words that you use regularly to define it in its search results. It’s no good concentrating on a keyword such as ‘cakes’ because the Goooooogle list will be soooooo long that you really won’t get yourself noticed in the crowd. Not unless you pay to be advertised at the top. Try to be more specific so that you can ‘hone in’ on your target audience. That way the search results will much smaller if someone types one of your keywords.
Incorporate your chosen keywords into your product descriptions, title and category names and see how you get on in a couple of months. You can check Google analytics in a month or two to see if you have had a marked improvement in the number of hits for these keywords.
You really can’t afford to rush SEO and traffic. Traffic will build over time but the key is to be patient and wait to see what the results are.
If your store is less than 12 months old, it’s brand new in the eyes of search engines like Google. The key thing is to allow the online marketplace to trust your eCommerce website. And this takes patience. Any small iterative changes should be based on what Google Analytics tells you. By resisting the temptation to make knee jerk changes it will show Google that you’re a reputable business and that you’re here to stay. Search engines are more likely to trust you and hopefully rank me higher in their listings.
2. Domain Names
Let’s start with domain names. If you want your online customers to know you’re a credible business, why not choose a domain name that reflects your store name.
3. Google Webmaster Tools – Sitemaps
As a freewebstore user, your eCommerce websites “sitemap” has automatically been submitted and it’s all taken care of. Your sitemap is basically a guidebook or index that Google use for your website – it helps them find my page, products and categories. Google will use this to instruct its spiders to crawl my store.
If you want to start to get a bit more involved in your SEO, why not take a look at your Google Data and sign up for a Google Webmaster Tools account? You can do this by clicking the following link: Google Webmaster Tools.
4. Google Analytics
Your Google Analytics account will give you every piece of visitor information you could wish for and will help to improve your marketing. It might seem a little daunting but is worth mastering if you want to stay ahead of the game!
The statistics package to end all other statistics packages
Patience…
In summary…try to be patient and see how your eCommerce website settles into the online marketplace. It can take a couple of months to be able to make a decision on this. If you start making changes too soon, then the clock re-sets and it could take another three months to be able to spot any trends.
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