Posted on November 10, 2009 5:34 pm
Without doubt, the Internet is a great place to be for anyone looking to sell products or services online.
Buying online is now very firmly in the mainstream and there are many businesses operating profitably online. Some of these have taken care of their own search engine marketing, whilst others have elected to use a specialist agency such as Impact Media.
Whichever direction a business takes, it is vital that they recognise the marketing of their website is just one part of a complex model. With Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you can improve your online visibility in the natural search results and using Pay per Click (PPC), you can complement SEO by having your adverts shown when users perform a search.
Both of these are proven methods to drive more targeted visitors to a site and we at Impact Media have helped many businesses to achieve more from their online marketing. However, Search Engine Marketing is certainly not the ‘be all and end all’ of running a successful business online.
Search Engine Marketing - A Business Lifesaver?
Of course, the site itself has to perform well and engage with visitors in a positive fashion. There are many clues Webmasters can get from their log files and other reporting mechanisms. Google Analytics will show a Bounce Rate, this being a percentage of people that exit a site immediately. If your Bounce Rate (What Does Bounce Rate Mean?) is high, e.g. over 50%, for a page, then you need to understand why. Some suggestions could be:
1. Your pricing is not competitive (Tip – take a sampling of your products and compare with other online suppliers)
2. Your site design or navigation is poor (Tip – try usertesting.com for independent reviews)
3. Your payment processes are restrictive. (Tip – Provide as many methods as possible and don’t just rely on PayPal or Google Checkout)
Obviously, one of the advantages of the Internet for shoppers is the fact that they can visit a range of suppliers in minutes and carry out their own comparisons very quickly. For this reason, you need to ensure that your site is optimised for making online sales, not just receiving visitors (Tip – buy ‘Don’t Make Me Think‘ by Steve Krug. Also, whilst you’re buying it from Amazon, think about your own purchasing experience and how it compares to your own site)
It is vital that you review your analytics data and overall site performance. Just throwing money at Search Engine Marketing whilst ignoring the type of issues highlighted above is just not very sensible.
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Hi Adrian,
I find it amazing the number of business website owners who don’t have a clue about stats and just how important they are. As you state, Bounce rate can tell a story as with a number of other factors like time spent on site, average page view, entry and exit pages. Surprisingly, there are still a significant number of people still on a dial-up connection. There are still parts of the UK and world where a DSL connection is not available yet!
Thanks for the great info,
Steve
NB: I’ve RT’d your Tweet
It’s all very true Steve. A bit like opening a shop and wondering why people don’t buy from you when the shop next door is 30% cheaper. More people through the door won’t change that fact!
Thanks for retweeting.
I have just watched a very informative and interesting presentation by Jared Spool – ‘Revealing the Design Treasures of Amazon‘.
Amazon are the eight most visited site on the web generating millions in revenue each year. This presentation highlights the constant changes that Amazon has made (and still make) to their site design and layout to make it user-friendly and interact with their customers.
If you have a spare 53:14 seconds it is definitely worth a watch!