One of the most significant challenges business owners face is driving traffic to a company website and converting that traffic into customers–and ultimately revenue. Nothing is more frustrating than spending the time and money to develop a site for your business only to see it struggle to generate new customers or even attract visitors at all.
Typically, business websites struggle because they lack certain key elements. Luckily, these components are relatively simple to implement. This guide will help identify these factors and supply actionable advice in utilizing them on your own web pages.
Use the Right Keywords
If you want to attract online customers to your website, then you need to use the right keywords in your copy. This will allow your site to be present on the results pages when potential customers search for terms and phrases relevant to your business. Google, Bing, and other search engines comb websites for these keywords to understand what a site is about, the products it is selling, what information is available and so on.
Google, Bing, and other search engines comb websites for keywords to understand what a site is about
Finding the right keywords can be a difficult task for many reasons. First, it is an ongoing process; people routinely change how they search. This means that the keywords that once worked for your website may not be so popular in the future, which means they won’t drive the traffic your site and business needs.
Secondly, ranking well for specific keywords is a very competitive game. No matter how niche your business is, there are likely hundreds of other companies selling very similar goods and services online and looking to capitalize on the same keywords.
Investing in a keyword research tool is an excellent idea because it will provide you with significant data and insights into how your website is ranking for your target keywords, ways to improve those rankings and even new keywords to target.
Create Useful Content
When it comes to online websites, content is king. The more content you have, the better you can incorporate your target keywords. This will make your site more visible on search results pages.
Content is also valuable to the customer. If you create engaging, useful content that your customers can benefit from, then they will keep visiting your page. Content is especially powerful when it helps a customer with their shopping decisions.
For example, a retail company may create buying guides or gift giving guides that give customers ideas on which products to buy. This is really useful if the products or services you are selling are particularly complex and need to be explained.
Content can also just be for fun. Some websites are able to attract customers by using their content to create a brand voice and persona that helps them stand out and be unique from the other businesses offering the same type of products.
Make Mobile Friendly
As mentioned earlier, how and what people search for changes. One of the significant shifts in search lately is the move from desktop to mobile. Mobile devices have exploded in popularity to the point that more people perform searches on their smartphones or tablets than on a desktop or laptop computer. Google is also following this trend. They are starting to treat mobile versions of websites as the primary one.
People perform searches on their smartphones or tablets than on a desktop or laptop computer.
For business websites, this means making your web pages mobile friendly is an absolute must. If the site takes too long to load on mobile devices or is challenging to navigate, visitors will quickly click away and find a different page. This means you’ll miss out on valuable revenue!
You should start by investigating how each page of your website appears and functions on a mobile device. If there are issues, you should remedy them immediately. The easiest fix is to adopt a responsive design to your website. This allows the site to adapt to the device of the user, whether they are browsing on a computer or mobile device.
Optimize the ‘Contact Us’ Page
One of the primary reasons that customers will visit your website is to find the necessary information about your business, like the address, hours, directions, etc. These are often local customers that may not be interested in shopping online because they want to visit the store in person. You don’t want to make it difficult for these individuals to find the information they are after.
One of the primary reasons that customers will visit your website is to find the necessary information about your business, like the address, hours, directions, etc.
A lot of websites have a ‘Contact Us’ page, but they often don’t include the right SEO markup for Google to correctly display that information to searchers. Schema, as it is commonly referred to, is what search engines “read” to understand how to present and structure
With the right schema markup, your contact information will be available to users right from the search results page. Some of the items you should include in this rundown are:
- Company name
- Website
- Type of business
- Address
- Logo
- A short description
- Social media accounts
Display Products so Google Can Find Them
You can implement schema markup for your products as well. This will allow Google to display them in results when users choose to perform a “Shopping” search. You’ll be able to showcase your products, prices and even a small description for each item.
The right schema markup will allow Google to display your products in results when users choose to perform a “Shopping” search.
Remember, it is all about creating a shorter customer journey. The faster that you can connect an online customer with the information or products they are after, the more enjoyable that shopping experience will be for them. And, the more likely they’ll want to return and shop
Your product pages are also a valuable space for implementing keywords, so don’t be afraid to get detailed with your descriptions!
Conclusion
By leveraging these tips, your online website will start to see an increase in traffic, which means you have more shoppers browsing the digital aisles of your e-commerce store. Then, it is just a matter of convincing them to click the ‘buy’ button.
You should always be looking at ways to improve your website and attract more visitors. These tips are a great start, but there’s still more information out there to digest and use to enhance your online shopping experience!
It’s important to remember that running an online store, just like running a physical shop, is a constant learning process. eHopper POS and the eHopper eCommerce platform will bring many benefits to your business and website.
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