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Thursday, December 14, 2006 |
Online retail is not a venture for the faint of heart, to be sure. Finding success
in the realm of eCommerce requires patience, diligence, and a willingness to be
flexible and constantly experiment with new
methods and techniques to improve rankings and conversion rates.
Editor's Note: Click
here to watch a WebProNews exclusive 16 minute interview with online
retailers who reveal their secrets to success.
Alan Dick and Brian
Mark are successful e-tailers who know a thing or two about running an online
store. Our own Mike McDonald was lucky enough to catch up with them at Search
Engine Strategies in Chicago, and they had some intriguing things to say about
SEO and online retail.
Both Alan and Brian have noted that since implementing common
SEO strategies into their respective online shops, their businesses have seen
almost exponential growth in both traffic and revenue streams. What areas did
these intrepid entrepreneurs focus on with their site optimization strategies?
One fundamental aspect they both agree upon is the balance between paid
and organic search listings. Focusing too much on one or the other is not
the most efficient way to achieve optimum search rankings, but a holistic approach
that takes focuses on the interdependency
of paid and organic listings has proven to be the most effective strategy in the
long term.
Also, pay-per-click
should be viewed as more of a testing mechanism to chart the conversion rates
for certain keywords, rather than a complete marketing tool.
Social media is playing an increasingly important role in online retail, so it
may be in the best interests of retailers to tap the blogosphere for product reviews,
with the caveat of full disclosure if the reviewer is receiving product compensation
for his or her time. The goal should be to facilitate discussion about your products,
and not to influence the conversation.
What other tips and tricks to Alan and Brian suggest for e-tailers? You'll have
to watch
the video to find out!
About
the Author:
Video Interview by Mike McDonald. Mike is the editor of WebProNews covering ebusiness and search. |
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By
David Utter
,
Inc. 2549 Richmond Rd. Lexington KY, 40509
