| Newsletter“I want you to know that we had the best year ever last year in the 15 year history of our company. We signed another license contract in January that will pay dividends for years to come. Virtually all of our business, every client I have right now, found us because of your company’s help. We appreciate that very much.”
Bill Belko — RTI
Merchant Metrix performed search engine optimization for RTI in 2009.
Some new insights into the future plans for many Ecommerce retail businesses.
A recent study by Internet Retailer shows that 2/3 of Ecommerce retail shops have plans to redesign their shop’s sites at some point this year. The number one reason for doing so would seem to be to increase their optimization.
Search engine optimization it the key to success in the Ecommerce world. With so much competition out there, if you’re not on page one and maybe two you are not likely to see much traffic from the search engines.
Most of these Ecommerce business owners said that completing a website redesign would generate a higher sales conversion and attract new customers. While a redesign will usually attract more customers to staying on your site once they have reached it, search engine optimization is not guaranteed to increase sales because the goal of SEO is to increase traffic. I’ve seen sites with website traffic at 300+ visitors per day and zero sales.
When considering a website redesign, make sure that you’re also getting someone to look at conversion optimization as well as search engine optimization. Your redesign should make your site attractive, but it should also streamline the sales process, funneling visitors through their shopping cart to checkout.
In a study released by icrossing earlier this month which analyzed natural search results showed that 95% of all traffic seen by the 10 clients used in the study were captured by the first page of the search results with clicks from pages 2 and 3 significantly less. The report states that, “while visibility on page two or three may seem ‘visible’ to many, the likelihood that these results will drive traffic to your website is minimal.”
This study also validates the idea that people are not just using a single keyword to search for something, but may use upwards of 6 keywords.
This study also validates the already widely known fact that the search engine giant, Google, is the public’s primary used search engine, and when comparing the big three (Google, Yahoo!, Bing) Google brought in 59% of the traffic while Bing carried 23.8% and Yahoo! with only 19.3%.
So, page one really is the key!
Every website owner out there has heard of SEO. Maybe you didn’t know the technical term, maybe it was just “that Google thing” but you knew it was good to be at the top of the search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical to every business that is online, whether you sell online or you just get leads online. If the search engines in all of their automated computer power can’t find you, your potential customers are really going to struggle.
I’m so glad you asked! There are a couple huge pieces of SEO that are the necessary first steps of every long-term SEOist to business owner relationship.
If you are a small business owner, man you have it tough. Small business owners today have a harder time staying a float than ever. Competing with places like Amazon and eBay is just mind blowing. They carry everything under the sun so why shop anywhere else, right? Wrong, you can compete, if you have the right software and marketing strategies to do it.
When competing with stores like Amazon (who are always on page one of Google and in front of YOUR potential customers) you have to show up in the search results. This is the first and MOST important part of the competition. Choosing the correct web designer or shopping cart is the step to accomplishing your first step.
Now, you probably have some questions, like:
“My new design is spectacular and has helped increase traffic and traffic retention on my site significantly. It’s beautiful and the Merchant Metrix support and design teams are so wonderful to work with.
I’m on the first page (#1) of Google for “Flavored Massage Oil” just because of this amazing shopping cart software. It’s absolutely amazing!
The one-page checkout system in the shopping cart has virtually eliminated all our shopping cart abandonment and has helped increase our sales conversions by 38%.”
JW Roberts – Green Dragon Herbals
www.greendragonherbals.com
“We greatly appreciate you new affiliate software. It gives our company the ability to build target text links for hundreds of categories & sub-categories with ease. Your encouraging advice on finding related websites to sign up for our affiliate program using a text ad is already paying off. We have seen keywords jump from the second or third page in Google to top rankings in 1-2 weeks time after an affiliate published his or her affiliate code.”
Jeff Foster – Wholesale Keychain
www.wholesalekeychain.com
“The Merchant Metrix Shopping Cart reduced our advertising costs 78% while at the same time increasing our sales 18%.”
Keith Kerr – Net-Imaging
www.net-imaging.com
“I really can’t thank you enough with the technical support you have given me (even on Thanksgiving!). You get right back to me whenever I run into a road block. Your understanding, massive patience and being supportive of me while I have been relearning so much in my life due to my recent brain injury have helped build my confidence in my abilities to manage my own site. I know I can call and not be ridiculed for not getting it right off the bat. My memory loss is probably pretty evident to you with the constant calls I have made, but you have always extended compassion and shown me respect by not treating me like I was a charity case – just someone who needed a bit more help, a little more often then most. I can’t tell you how much this has meant to me. Thank you. You have been instrumental in helping me rebuild my site and my brain.”
Linda Roberts – Paw Prints Jewelery
www.pawprintsjewelry.com
“When I was considering Merchant Metrix for the help I needed for my website problems, I had no idea what was involved in internet marketing. I had many e-commerce related website problems and only a few answers. The Merchant Metrix staff provided a level of information to me that surpassed the how-to side of using the software. They provided in-depth information to help me understand internet marketing and make my website more effective and profitable. Thank you, to everyone at Merchant Metrix!”
Madeline DeLia – Jasne Jewels
www.jasnejewels.com
