While a number of factors come into play to increase your sales, from design, usability and pricing in this article we are focusing on the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which will help you increase your sales.
» Why Bother With SEO?
A guide to what you should know about SEO and how it can help you increase your sales.
All business owners who have websites talk about wanting to increase their sales. As well as making a site look appealing and being easy to use, a common factor which is often overlooked is how to increase the number of visitors that arrive at the site.
The main issue is that most businesses put a lot of time and resources in to getting an all-singing, all-dancing ‘website’ but only when it’s up and running and ‘looking great’ do they suddenly ask themselves how they’re going to market the site itself. Or worse still, they have an older site with a very low level of web traffic and no idea as to why or indeed how to increase that traffic.
Remember: Just because your site looks good, it doesn’t guarantee that people will find you and if they don’t arrive at your site, you’ve wasted a lot of time and money.
If this is the case, now is the time to say ‘we need SEO for our website’. SEO is complicated and should be considered an essential part of your online marketing strategy and definitely part of any new website plans, but the problem is that we’ve all heard too many stories from customers that have proceeded to buy in to promises and guarantees from sub-standard SEO/Search Engine Marketing companies who don’t deliver!
» So what is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is a method used to analyse your website’s pages with a view to getting them indexed by the search engines and displayed at the top of the search engine results for specific key phrases. There is a lot more involved of course, but for now let’s keep it simple.
» So what does SEO do?
Effective SEO ensures that the content on your eCommerce website is relevant but most importantly can be read correctly by search engines and their indexing or crawling systems (these are the ‘bots’ which visit your site).
» So why is this so important for you?
If your website is Search Engine Optimised, then it will mean your eCommerce website will rank higher on Google and other search engines for your selected search terms compared to sites that are not optimised.
While the look and feel of your website is important to help convert visitors into customers, if they can’t find you they won’t be buying anything!
Therefore, if you have a website that is ranked very low, you will know that you’re not getting nearly enough traffic and that you often lose out on opportunities to help increase your sales.
» So what’s the best advice?
Unless you have lots of time on your hands (SEO is time-consuming – and it is a long-term activity) and a willingness to learn (and keep up to date) with SEO standards, the best advice we can offer is to understand SEO at a very basic level and then get professional guidance from a certified SEO Provider (someone who can prove what they have achieved for their clients).
Don’t believe anyone that tells you they can get your website ranked within a week or guaranteed number one positions. They’ll not be using ethical practices and you could be seriously penalised (even banned!) by the search engines which will affect your business in the long run.
» What can a good SEO specialist do for you?
They will be able to talk to you (ideally on the phone), evaluate your site from an objective perspective and tell you honestly what is and isn’t possible and why.
They will also openly share with you results they have gained for their clients. We strongly recommend you give one of them a call to ask their advice on how they are getting on with the SEO provider (this will certainly help you make the correct decision).
In all cases, just remember that effective SEO should be considered very important in any online strategy, especially if you’re planning on getting a new website and want a head start!
» Who have JSWEB chosen?
JSWeb have partnered with Outrank to provide SEO Services. Further details can be found on our SEO Services page.
» About Us
JSWeb are a team of eCommerce experts dedicated to helping provide best in class products and services that make it possible for eCommerce stores to run a profitable and successful businesses using Zen Cart.
Website: https://jsweb.uk
Tel: +44 (0)345 862 0012
Twitter: @jswebuk | Facebook: https://facebook.com/jsweb.uk
