The internet is filled with deserted websites that were built in hopes of driving traffic and business but abandoned when those clicks never materialized. What many businesses (including ecommerce companies) fail to understand is that building a website is only the first step in a path to more leads, conversions and sales.
If your website isn’t getting much attention from customers and is not turning up on the first page of Google, adopting a 90-day calendar for an integrated marketing strategy in which keywords, clicks, and emails are all carefully planned could be the key to bringing your website back from the dead. Here are a few steps to get started.
Content produced in collaboration with Optimum7 Internet Marketing.
Find your niche
Think carefully about the last things you searched for on a mobile device, on your desktop computer, and with a voice assistant (like Amazon’s Alexa). You may have used mobile to look for nearby restaurants in an unfamiliar part of town, and maybe you used desktop to look for top-rated hiking gear. You possibly asked Alexa to order more dish soap. The terms we search are usually related to a business’s niche. “Mexican restaurant” or “cold weather tents” are examples of keywords related to a niche.
To figure out how people are searching for words related to your business, use Google Adwords Keyword tool to get ideas on related keywords, see how often keywords are being used, how competitive the keywords are, and the keyword’s cost-per-click (CPC). The keywords that are most beneficial to this strategy are the ones with a high level of searches and a low level of competition.
Don’t ignore trends
When you’re looking for search volume or the number of searches a specific keyword gets, you’ll probably notice pretty quickly that the number isn’t static. Different terms rise and fall in popularity over time. For example, “air conditioner” gets a lot more search traffic in the summer than the winter, and “string lights” get a lot more action around the holidays.
Google actually allows you to narrow down your search for trending keywords with its Google Trends feature, where users can filter trends by search type, category, and location. Users can also see trends over a long as five years or as little as four hours with the time selection feature. If your business is, for example, a gift shop, it could really pay to know that the word “chocolate” is trending in your area pretty frequently during the month of December and again in the month of February.
How much are your keywords worth?
Once you’ve found the most relevant keywords to your business, you may be a bit disheartened to find that your competitors are onto them as well. At this point, it’s smart to consider how much a keyword is actually worth to you. For example, if you’re a law firm, and a conversion is worth thousands of dollars, it makes sense to invest in high-volume, more expensive keywords. However, if you’re a retailer, and each conversion is only worth a few dollars, sticking with cheaper, niche keywords is probably the smarter strategy.
Conversion optimization
So maybe you’ve found your niche keywords, and you’ve got more people coming to your site than ever before. That’s awesome! What now? If no one’s buying anything, all that careful planning isn’t worth a whole lot.
One of the best ways to make sure the increased traffic to your site results in increased business is by focusing on “micro-conversions,” or little actions that can add up to long-term brand loyalty. A few examples: signing up for emails or newsletters, setting up an account, or even putting an item in an online shopping cart. All of these micro-conversions create touchpoints to initiate future contact with customers.
If you haven’t already, implement a contact form on your website to obtain customer’s basic information and include an opt-in option. You can also offer a newsletter and ask for subscribers. Put opt-in buttons around your website where people are likely to see them. Lastly, use the data collected by your ecommerce platform with an opt-in button at the checkout.
From there, you can keep subscribers informed about products, offer them special deals, or give them company information, depending on what you’re hoping to accomplish. For example, if your main goal is increasing sales, offering customers with items in their cart a special coupon will drive action. If you’re hoping to increase traffic to your website, a clickable call to action will make the customer’s journey much easier.
Set a 90-day goal for success
Of course, if moving to the top of SEO results and optimizing conversions was easy, everybody would be doing it. Integrating your marketing strategy into a cohesive path from a keyword click to a purchase takes careful planning and a lot of attention to detail. In order to track your progress and carefully document results, adopting Optimum7’s 90-day calendar is a smart bet for setting weekly goals to execute a more streamlined digital strategy that might just double your sales!
For more analysis on how to navigate the world of online marketplaces, be sure to check out Optimum7’s ebook ‘90-Day Challenge: How to Increase Sales and Leads in Just 90-Days.’