In this episode of Actionable Marketing In Minutes we discuss ways to grow your online business.
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Problem:
I am sure you – like me – know that the number of online shoppers is huge, but get this: the projected number for this year is a whopping 1.32 billion! Yes, that’s billion, with a B. A decent percentage of the world’s population.
This year, a mid-year survey by UPS revealed an important threshold has been reached: for the first tie, consumers say they bought more of their purchases on the web than in stores.
I know we’re all in agreement. We want some of that! And, frankly, we can get it. But not without some diligence.
You know the importance of a robust eCommerce platform is to connect with both your current and your potential customers, to keep the current customers faithful and loyal, and to raise awareness and bring newbies into the fold.
How do we do that?
Solution:
Pay attention to the details. Details as small as a misplaced apostrophe can make all the difference in how your site – and your business – is perceived. And … trusted.
Now, my next point may not sound terribly important, but it is. But, think about it. Include both an About Us page and a Contact Us page on your site. For me, if I’m considering doing online business with a company and I feel as though I don’t know who they are or if I can’t easily find contact information, I will leave the site as quickly as I arrived.
When little or big things are wrong, frankly, discerning shoppers thing the business is amateurish – at best – or a scammer site at worst. After all, what if I don’t receive what I ordered? What if it’s broken? There are a hundred things that could go wrong. And, I would have no recourse.
No thank you.
Now, in addition to those key pages consider how important search engine optimization is for growing your business. If for no other reason than we’ve talked about it here, in this forum, often. When a shopper is looking for an item online and types relevant keywords into his or her browser, those companies who have done their SEO work properly will usually always pop up within the first few positions on the search engine results page.
Here is a brief list of things you can do to insure you are one of those top links. Keep in mind, it could take anywhere between 6 months and 2 years to notice significant results.
* Include concise title and header tags. These tell the search engines what to expect on each page.
* Make sure the URL of each page is clean, easy to understand and is related to the title.
* Because Google’s algorithm now reads and understands content, you’ll need to incorporate keywords into the body of the page, too.
* Finally, don’t forget those image alt tags.
We have many more tips, but that ought to get you started.
One more thing…..You might have heard that mobile responsive sites are now very important to Google. Not only that, but they are important to your customers, too. In fact, PayPal reports that 56% of shoppers have abandoned a mobile transaction. 31% because the site was too difficult to navigate. And, 68% because the checkout was too complicated.
The takeaway: make sure your site responds well to mobile devices and that the navigation throughout the site, and especially at checkout, is designed with a clear and easy path. You’d hate to lose business because of problems that could have easily been avoided.
Benefits:
Earlier I mentioned that the number of projected shoppers worldwide for this year is 1.32 billion. Hold on to your hats! That number is slated to grow to 2.5 billion by 2018. You definitely want some of that! And now, you can get it. Just follow the steps I’ve outlined and stay tuned for upcoming podcasts where we’ll tell you more.
We hope you’ve found this information helpful. Please connect with us on Twitter @DirectiveGroup or on LinkedIn. Let us know what you think and what you’d like to hear about next. And if you like our podcasts, please share with your networks using hashtag #actionablemarketing.
Join us for an upcoming episode where we will talk about Google’s RankBrain and its effect on SEO. It’s a very interesting topic that will help you even further your success with SEO.
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