Welcome to the BEST place on the web about
eCommerce Marketing!
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A complete eCommerce guide that reveals the latest and greatest
techniques to market
your eCommerce website
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Hi, there:
Thanks for coming here to get information on how to market your eCommerce website successfully! Like the whole internet industry, things change so fast in the internet marketing field! New techniques come out before you even have a chance to fully digest the old ones. While I am keeping myself updated, I am always amazed to see how others make their ways to get succeeded in their internet-based business. I hope the techniques in this section will help you get further on your way to your goal!
The first step: Design a marketing-oriented website structure!
Don't think your website is an online catalog - it's your top online sales force! The most import first step for a successful website is HOW you are going to present your services/products to the world. To learn more, please check out our course on how to build a website that sells itself.
SEO(Search Engine Optimization) strategy:
The way I have approached the SEO campaign is by working on each of these areas aggressively for about two weeks or so, then letting those efforts "take effect" with the search engines which generally takes 1-2 months,then going back and doing it again. You could just work consistently on each which will most likely garner better results. Following are some good practices to share with you.
- One-Page Factors
I used a number of tools (such as: wordtracker, Keyword Selector Tool by overture) to find the best, most profitable keywords for the site and I developed everything around those keywords.
It's best practice to only use one keyword per page, and then have your content for that page optimized for that keyword. You could follow the format with regard to the optimization of all "one-page" factors just by simply copying an existing page and adding the new content you have written for that keyword. The main areas to focus on for this are:
- Meta Tags and Meta Data
These are the lines of HTML code that appear within the header tags of each page. Pay particular attention to the page title and description tags. These are weighted nicely with the search engines. It's good to use the keyword for that particular page within the page title and in the description, as close to the beginning of each as possible.
- HTML Titles, Headers
You'll see on each page that the keyword is used within whats referred to as a "heading" tag. This can be the article title at the top of the page.
- Page Content
Try to develop the content for each page based on one keyword (or keyphrase) per page. The idea here is to utilize that particular keyword within the content (or very close variations of it). Ideally, you will try and attain a 4-6% keyword density ratio. That means that if your article is 100 words long, the keyword will be used 4-6 times throughout the article. It's good practice to use the keyword 1-2 times in the opening of the article (first paragraph), in the title of the article, a bit less in the body of the article and then again a bit more heavily in the closing paragraph.
- Internal Linking
Since it's all about keywords and each page is ranked separately by the search engines, one of the things you can take advantage of is internal linking structure. Most people create a "Home" link on each page of their site which takes the visitor back to the homepage. After a site has a good deal of content (100+) pages, which each include this type of link, you'll notice that if you type in your exact site name you will rank first most of the time in each search engine. There is a way to embed your main keyword(s) in this link by using what's known as "anchor text". Just simply add your keywords there. Just a little extra trick which can go a long way to helping the results for your homepage.
- Images
It's good practice to embed the keyword for each page in the tag for any image on that page. Just don't overuse this as the Search Engines sometimes don't like seeing too many keywords used on one page. Its referred to as "keyword stuffing" and you could be penalized for it in your rankings. Again, a 4-6% ratio in the site content with a few "extras" for images, internal links and meta tags is a perfect combination.
- Off-Page Factors - External Links
One of the best ways to increase your rankings is to gain "popularity". BY this I mean, the more people who link to your site, and the less you link to other people's sites, the better. This type of linking is referred to as "reciprocal". It's ok to have a bunch of links coming in, with a return link going back out, but what you really are after is "backlinks". This is where someone is linking to you. Its tougher to get these but it is possible. Once your site has a ton of traffic and gains popularity, it will become easier. When you are looking for sites to exchange links with, it's VERY important to go after quality, as opposed to quantity. Look for the following when evaluating a site to link with:
- Credible, quality, related content
- Decent PR (PageRank). There are tools you can use on the web to find out what a site's "PR" is (Such as PageRank Checker by Goole). I only go with anything at 3 or above. The higher the better.
- With regard to the page on their site where you're link will appear, make sure there are no more than 10-15 links on that page. Otherwise, that page will have (or soon have) a lower PR.
- On your resource directory, its better to have multiple link pages, possibly with an "entry" page broken down by category. This is because quality sites that may want to link up with you will be looking for the same characteristics as I've outlined above.
There are a lot of other ways to market your website. Among them are:
- Maximize the power of affiliate program
- Join others' affiliate programs
- Develop your own affiliate program
- Utilize e-newsletter for greater earning potential
- Gain lifetime value of your customers
- Correctly run your email campaign
- Create online partnership
- Co-promotion and co-marketing to the same target customer base
- Banner campaign
- Work with the press to get the word out
- How traditional offline marketing method can help
For the above I will turn you to industry expert Derek Gehl's "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet!", the #1 best-selling Internet Marketing Course online for SEVEN years straight! With this foolproof marketing system, you'll also discover...
- Step-by-step advice for starting your own Internet business in as little as 48 hours!
- How to build a top-selling web site... for less than $100!
- Where to find hot products to sell (in 20 minutes or LESS)!
- 100s of FREE and cheap online tools, resources, and software
- How to get 1,000s of qualified NEW visitors to your web site... for FREE!
This internet marketing system has been a real guidance for me. The other program that I really like is their monthly interview. Every month, they choose people who are making great money on the internet and interview them. It is very inspiring to see how others become so successful. I am sure you will learn a lot of internet marketing secrets from them.
Good luck on your internet business venture!
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Maggie Pearce
Online Image
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Online Course written by Maggie Pearce
About the Author: Maggie Pearce is the founder of Online Image, a web development firm specializing in high quality innovative web site production that takes your business further on the internet! At online image, we deliver more than top quality online presence; we develop online infrastructure that makes your website sell itself!
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