What eCommerce solutions should I consider?
Short answer: The long haul. Internet marketing for one. Namely Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and it does not happen overnight.
Can you hear the buzz?
Marketing. Internet marketing. The buzzword that some people are talking about or the one that tons have been talking about (or perhaps you’re already doing it and need some assistance) is:
SEO
Search Engine Optimization.
There is so much more to finding the right eCommerce solution and SEO is only a part of the equation. Although, it’s an important part.
Why do I need it?
“If the SEM department is working in concert and is most effective, the client finds harmony.”
Think about that one. The Zen of SEO. ‘The client finds harmony’. Harmony with whom? Harmony with what?
Some quickie answers are:
(a) Harmony with their customers (old and new)
(b) Harmony with their efforts to be in business in the first place
(c) Harmony with their search engine marketing team (yes Virginia, SEO will work. And yes, there is a Santa Claus-I’ve seen him on Google. He must have some sweet backlinks).
Research shows that people who search the surge, er, I mean search engines typically do not ‘drill’ too deeply into the results pages. They also spend less time looking at the paid ads with links on those results pages (for example: on Google the lists of links on the right are basically paid topical ads in which the marketer is trying to encourage you to visit their site). Essentially, an average search will yield the average internet user choosing one of the top 5 to 10 listings.
That’s where you should want to be. In the top of the search results.
If you optimize your site well and have all of the onsite and offsite internet marketing approaches in place for your eCommerce business, you have a pretty darn good chance of getting up there in the search engine ranks. The higher you are in those ranks, the better visibility you’ll have and the better your chances for visitors to come to your top-notch site.
Don’t let the main subject of this article influence your thinking. There are many facets to the eCommerce solutions that are out there.
SOME OF THE THE BASICS OF PRE-SEO THOUGHT
TIME
Remember when you first starting planning your business and whatever your role you’d have in your business’ life? It took time and lots of it. It also took practice and lots of it. You probably felt like giving up a handful of times and perhaps you did. Remember also, when you went back to your original plan? It wasn’t quite the same until you poured more time into it, am I right?
Optimizing your site for better search engine positioning is the same. One doesn’t build a site and walk away.
[This reminds of a joke by Jim Gaffigan and it goes a little like this]:
“I love to sleep. What do they call people who don’t need too much sleep? Oh yeah, successful.”
The moral of that of that joke is: After you build your site, don’t sleep on it.
SEO for any website is an ongoing process. Don’t bother optimizing once or twice and hoping for the best. You might climb the search engine charts for a bit, but you’ll drop back into search engine obscurity in no time.
Here’s a little anecdote that will hopefully convince you about the worth of this swag:
There once was a site that sold a certain niche product. In this case it was specialty lunch boxes. The person who was going to use SEO tactics to promote the eCommerce site decided to make it so that the search engines could not index it. Instead, that person promoted it only through social media sites. Before long, the business couldn’t keep their product in stock. It was practically flying out the door. When it was time to move on to another project, they stopped being a part of the community and stopped engaging in conversation on the internet. Not too long after the company’s revenue went from a flood to a trickle.
This is a risky, but effective tactic. If the approach described above is part of your eCommerce solution that is included with the many other SEO approaches – who knows the limits of where your SEO could take your business.
You must constantly keep up with the process! SEO is not a static tactic. It is most successful when it is organic and fed regularly. Yum! The full-picture of what can be done underneath the umbrella term “eCommerce solution” is never static and usually needs a team of dedicated professionals. The task of building a business online requires outsourcing by the business-owner, however, constant communication and participation only leads to success.
Conjure up the patience that your parents had as you might have skipped school, ate junk, insert behavior that parents don’t like here:_______________. Now, you have a business. You’re out to hit the big time (and out of the house). Mom and Dad are proud. Their patience paid off.
The point is, Search Engine Optimization takes patience and lots of it.
