Are you among those ecommerce operators who draw a line of distinction between marketing and SEO? And if so, does your ecommerce marketing strategy include any SEO investments? We hope so. As the internet has evolved, so has online search. Online search has evolved to the point that digital marketing and SEO have had to merge into a single discipline in order to thrive.
Despite all we know about digital marketing and SEO, we still occasionally run across ecommerce operators that look at marketing and SEO as separate things. If you are in that camp, we would like the opportunity to change your mind. We would appreciate the chance to show you why your ecommerce marketing strategy should include SEO investments.
Platforms Encourage Strong SEO
Shopify is arguably among the best ecommerce platforms around. They virtually wrote the book on doing ecommerce without the help of Amazon or eBay. They are a respected company that believes firmly in the idea of investing in SEO.
In a recent blog post, Shopify contributor Michael Keenan explained exactly what SEO does for ecommerce operators. He explained the goal of integrating SEO with ecommerce marketing efforts to ensure that product pages appear “among the highest results on search engines.”
Keenan’s rationale is simple: performing well for organic searches results in more traffic. How much more? Keenan cited one research report indicating that the top ranked site in a typical organic search gets ten times as much traffic as the site listed in the 10th position.
Buyers Have to Find Your Site
It is all well and good that Shopify recommends investing in SEO as part of an ecommerce marketing strategy. But do you understand why? The reason is as simple as the fact that buyers need to find your site before they can buy from you. Think about it.
There are now billions of pages on the web. There are countless numbers of ecommerce operators as well. How many of them are competing against you? More importantly, how many of them will go directly to Amazon or eBay, despite you offering better products and prices, simply because they don’t know your site exists?
Ecommerce is somewhat unique in the sense that people are almost always planning to buy at the beginning of the shopping experience. That is not necessarily the case when you are talking about other kinds of online searches.
If someone is looking for an explanation of how to change the oil in his car, he may read a couple of posts and watch a few videos before trying it himself. He is not even committed when he starts his search. But someone searching for goods is already planning to purchase those goods. It is only a matter of determining the seller.
You Have to Drive Organic Traffic
To succeed in ecommerce, you need to drive organic traffic. That’s the kicker in all of this. Ecommerce marketing can go a long way toward building brand loyalty and making a more personal connection with customers. But before any of that can happen, customers need to find your site. They will not know that your store exists otherwise. Then what good is ecommerce marketing?
Shopify is a big proponent of combining SEO with ecommerce marketing. So are we. We invite you to consider working with us to grow your ecommerce operation. Our SEO strategies include keyword research, building out backlinks, and optimizing website structure and content.
Feel free to reach out to Webtek to learn more. Ecommerce marketing is one of our specialties. We are here to help you compete in a very crowded marketplace.
