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How to optimize an online store for organic traffic?
The era has turned digital. Instead of opening a brick-and-mortar store, people are investing in digital sources to set up their business and optimize their presence in order to reach out to maximum people and generate higher sales. Setting up an online store is different, and driving traffic organically and generating leads and conversions is difficult. Search Engine Optimization(SEO) can help you here.
SEO for online stores is mandatory because people are highly dependent on search engines when they search for information or a query. 36% of people search for information on search engines, whereas only 5% use social media. Organic traffic means the number of visitors who landed on your website by searching something on Google as unpaid search results.
If you haven’t optimized your online store for organic growth, you are missing out on a lot of potential buyers. If you are confused about which strategies will help you upscale your digital presence, then here is the list of all the strategies put together for your help. Look at it before making your next move.
What is E-Commerce SEO?
E-commerce SEO if done effectively ensures that your product page ranks on top of Google search results. This search will drive qualified visitors to your online stores. When somebody Google’s your type of products, your online eCommerce stores appear on Google search results. This way your brand gets more visibility and online shoppers turn into a customer.
Organic traffic on online stores from search engines also brings the highest revenue through all digital marketing channels. High rankings bring instant visibility and generate higher traffic. To utilize the E-commerce SEO strategy to the optimum, this phenomenon is subdivided into various strategies you can apply to upscale your digital presence. They are as follows
Keyword optimization
Keyword research is important for every SEO process. You need to find out the highest searched keywords and infuse them well in your website content. A high-quality content incorporated with most searched keywords makes it easier for the readers to find it.
For this, find keywords through tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEM Rush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and many other tools. Find the keywords relevant to your brand which has high search volume and low competition.
Later, add these keywords to your page titles, URLs, and meta description. Attempt to incorporate them into product descriptions and product titles. Just make sure not to overstuff them, as it might have consequences.
Create quality content
Create relevant, valuable, and intriguing content for the readers. High-quality content resonates with the audience and impacts their decision-making process. Identify your audience and create content that steals their interest, but there are certain factors to consider before doing that.
- Understand your topic, outline your content and improve readability.
- Content should be unique, easy to comprehend and highlight the product in the most creative way.
- The content you create should be engaging enough that it enforces readers to spend more time than the average of 20 seconds.
- The content you create should be search-engine friendly. It should please readers because if it pleases readers it can please search engines too.
- Address the genuine problems of your customers and provide an effective solution for the same
- Be consistent, work with the buyer’s persona.
This will help you understand the core of your audience persona and deliver targeted messages.
Research your competitors
Keep a check on your competitors as you can use them to drive organic growth for your online store. You can conduct competitor research using competitive analytics tools such as Explore Keywords, Ahrefs, and more to find out the strategies your competitors are implying. These tools help you figure out the right keywords for your brand and what you need to focus on to outrank them.
Acquire quality backlinks
Quality backlinks are one of the most important aspects of eCommerce SEO for online stores. An easy hack here is to acquire backlinks from your competitor. Identify your key competitors and refer to the domains they have acquired backlinks from.
Once you reach out to the domain data, you can evaluate different kinds of backlinks and acquire them.
You can check the guest blogging sites your competitors have written content on and pitch your content the same way they did. Also, analysis of directory or forum links of competitors can help you submit your eCommerce site to them.
The backlinks along with optimizing your organic rankings on major search engines help you get referral traffic and faster indexing which results in higher credibility of your brand and later uplifts your search engine rankings.
Make your website mobile-friendly
eCommerce sites that appear on smartphones are crucial for engaging users, considering the rate at which eCommerce sites are evolving. The primary reason to optimize for mobile devices is Google’s mobile-first indexing that prioritizes mobile devices’ well-optimized sites while ranking.
Your website’s design and content should be mobile-friendly so that mobile users can access them easily and have an outstanding user experience with your site.
Your store images should be customized in such a way that they easily fit smaller screens and the fonts should be readable on the smartphone itself.
Mobile-friendly designs help engage visitors on different screens and browsers, which makes the shopping experience joyful for shopaholics.
Important components for Ecommerce SEO
Astoundingly, there are over 50,000 WordPress plugins that ease the work of developers. The important thing is to pick plugins that fit your specific needs. Some are as follows
WooCommerce
WooCommerce contains all the features every online retailer needs and makes it easier for users as well. This plugin offers plenty of themes and extensions that allow you to customise your store your way and sell both digital and physical products.
WP Forms
It is important for business owners to keep in touch with their customers through feedback or questions they want to ask. WP Forms allow you set up a contact form quickly with a friendly interface. Using this tool you can also create; contact forms, payment forms, and email subscription forms to stay in touch with customers.
OptinMonster
This is a popular conversion rate optimization software that can turn your abandoning website visitors into email subscribers. With this plugin, you can increase your outreach and form a huge list of email subscribers.
Email marketing plugins
Email marketing is important to increase reach, boost sales, nurture leads and recover abandoned carts. Various plugins for email marketing can make your work easier which include; Optinmonster, Thrive leads, Mailpoet, and many more. Overlooking email marketing won’t be beneficial for your business.
UX plugins
A website with a good User interface has higher chances of ranking well on Google. A smooth user interface can convert prospects into buyers. UI plugins can improve the display and performance of your website which include; Soliloquy, Litspeed Cache, Smart product viewer, Optimole, and many more.
Advanced coupons
Advanced coupons are a great addition to WooCommerce. This plugin allows you to create discounted deals for products and services and apply them automatically. The admins can also share the coupons via email. Coupons can also be restricted to specific users to prevent any false action.
Product plugins
The display and price of the products are two important factors to consider if you want to sell products. The plugins that can help you in improving these two are; WPC Product bundle, Product Feed pro, and Woo Commerce Table.
Importance of social media for eCommerce
While SEO and PPC are the two most effective elements to improve your online visibility. Social media marketing is another way of generating traffic to your site, growing brand awareness, and increasing your online reach.
The Content you upload on social media platforms plays an important role in engaging users.
Whatsapp is one of the potential sources of marketing because it is a highly engaging digital channel. It allows you to collect and analyze valuable customer research, respond to customer queries personally and increase customer engagement. You can also share updates or promotions personally with your customers.
Storytelling is an important aspect of modern marketing instead of just advertising your items with the intent of selling. Storytelling helps people connect and build a stable relationship with that particular brand. The creative and visually appealing ways of storytelling are; videos, infographics, podcasts, and images.
Infographics
A human brain can process a visual infographic faster than a text because of its creative appeal. The hype of infographics has increased a lot in recent times. Infographics are an important part of creative marketing and the ones you see online on eCommerce stores include product images that are put up in a colourful way. A good infographic quickly captures attention and simplifies the complex information that includes product features and benefits which can quickly grab the attention of the viewer.
The more infographics you deliver the more are the chances of conversions. The most effective way of using infographics is by attaching them to a newsletter and sending it to your readers through emails. To make the receiver read your email, design an infographic that is creative, easy to understand and stands out from the rest.
Images
Images about the products on eCommerce stores can appeal to the buyer and give them clarity about buying the product. It is necessary to capture the image of the product from all four sides and place it in a way that customers can see its pattern, design, colour and all the minute details. A good image forms a good impression on the buyer. The buyers thoroughly check the images by zooming in and decides whether this product is suitable for them or not.
Videos
People prefer videos over text because they are less effortful and more visually appealing. In this era of decreased attention span, videos summarize a lot about the company in a minute which includes; the company’s motive, the products the company sells, the discount deals the company offers, and many more things about the company. As an eCommerce website owner, you can upload your videos on Youtube, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and expect your reach to go up. One more good thing is you have plenty of tools online to create videos from which you can choose the most suitable one for yourself.
Podcasts
Many people underestimate the importance of podcasts for the marketing and communication of eCommerce companies, but podcasts are vital for online growth. Unlike a blog or an article that requires laser-sharp focus, a podcast is audio content that can be listened to anytime e.g during a workout, performing household chores, and in your ideal time. Podcasts increase the brand value and form an immediate relationship with listeners. Google announced that they will make sure to offer podcasts as a response to searcher’s queries in the SERP as it is expected that 50% of the web searches will be conducted through voice in the near future.
Importance of Social Media Share Plugins
You have plenty of social media platforms to share the above-mentioned sources and to increase the reach there are a lot of plugins for each platform. You can add the sharing icons at the top or on the side of the page that will allow you to share content on other platforms. There are plenty of social plugins and you can use each one of them for different social media platforms. This can increase your reach and raise brand awareness online.
Importance of push notification plugins
Push notifications are a modern-day concept and are quite popular these days among internet retail companies. Through push notifications, you get the following benefits
- Send messages directly to any device through the browser
- Increased traffic on your website
- Higher possibility of open rate than SMS or email
- Flexibility to start a campaign anytime after connecting your website with push service.
Things to consider for branding your eCommerce site?
Google ads are good to increase sales whereas Facebook ads are good for brand recognition and increase your reach to a wider audience.
Consider your service category. If you are serving in both B2B and B2C businesses, Google ads are better. Facebook ads are good for B2C businesses especially for those selling less expensive items.
Also, consider your advertising budget and your technical skills.
The other important source for branding is backlinks, also known as inbound links that come from one website to another and benefit the overall SEO strategy. Aim at achieving higher quality backlinks as higher quality backlinks will bring positive and high-quality website traffic.
Some hacks to generate high-quality backlinks are; creating relevant and original content and building a strong social media strategy.
Importance of adding an FAQ section on the product page
An FAQ section is the organized collection of all the questions people frequently asked about products and services. This page should be regularly monitored and updated so that the customers get clear information about your website. These questions are generally associated with product information, shipping charges and returns. Every eCommerce website should have a FAQ section that answers all the customer’s queries. This section is also beneficial in other ways.
Builds relationships with customers
Trust is the most important factor in establishing relationships with customers. Customers who see that the genuine questions have been addressed and answered effectively, are likely to develop trust and have a good perception of your brand. This might also ensure customer loyalty in the long run which leads to the building of good relationships.
Improve search engine rankings
FAQs can help you increase search engine rankings if your answers are unique, valuable, and added with relevant keywords. Try to include the most uncommon question too into your Faq section. Every question will work as the search phrases for google and traffic will come.
Change consumer perceptions
FAQ section gives you an opportunity to explore the user’s search queries and answer them in a way that their negative perception about a particular product or service turns positive. Analyse thoroughly what’s missing that making users negative and find an effective solution that changes the perception of the consumer towards the product or the service.
These are some of the hacks you can use to optimize your eCommerce store to generate organic traffic. Taking the process ahead gradually through streamlining the site’s structure, accelerating loading time, optimizing for mobile devices, and enhancing user experience can open doors for more traffic and conversions. Before implementing this, keep patience, eCommerce SEO is not a one-time process. Give it some time to pace up with search engines.
Author Bio- Kiara McColl is a content manager at a digital marketing agency, where she gets to do what she loves doing- writing and managing content with smart digital marketers in the company. She also has expertise in web marketing, search engine optimisation, social media, affiliate marketing.
