Guest Author, Nick Stamoulis

E-commerce sites often struggle with their SEO. Boring, bland product descriptions make up the bulk of the content, the URL structures are often a mess and because they rely so heavily on graphics the site speed is very slow and most of the site looks blank to the search spiders. However, that doesn’t mean that there is no hope for e-commerce sites when it comes to optimizing their content! SEO best practice guidelines still apply, but an e-commerce site might have to approach it differently than another site.

Here are 4 content optimization tips for e-commerce websites:

1. Make the product descriptions unique.

One of the most common problems plaguing e-commerce websites is that they all use the same product description sent over from the manufacturer. How are you going to make your website stand out when your content is duplicated across a dozen other e-commerce sites? Why should a potential customer choose your site over the competition? Rewrite the generic product descriptions so they include your unique selling point! Don’t be afraid to beef up the product description if you need to; the more content you have the more information there is for the search spiders to read and index. It is also easier to incorporate keywords naturally when you have more content to optimize.

2. Add customer reviews to product pages.

Customer reviews can help from both an SEO and user-experience standpoint. Online buying has become a very social activity. Consumers want to read peer reviews BEFORE they make a purchasing decision so they know it’s the right decision for them. Why let your potential customers venture off site to read a peer review when you can build it right into your website? This helps build consumer trust in your e-commerce site and might be the last push a visitor needs to become a customer. Consumer reviews also gives your site more unique content for the search spiders to read and index.

3. Create Meta data templates

If your e-commerce site is relatively small, writing unique Meta tags, Meta descriptions, title tags and H1 tags (elements of on-site SEO) might not take that long; if your site has 3,000 pages it’s another story. One way to help speed up the content optimization process of an e-commerce site is to create a dozen or so Meta data templates that you can use at random throughout your site. For instance, a Meta description template for a furniture e-commerce site might look something like this:

Shop online with [COMPANY NAME] to find unique [ROOM] furniture sets in a variety of wood types and stains. Click here to order your new [ROOM] furniture.

They could use that Meta description (and slight variations) for the dining room, bedroom, living room or kitchen furniture pages of their site. Over a large enough site, it won’t read like duplicate content. By changing up the targeted keywords depending on the page you can optimize them accordingly.

4. Try different call-to-actions

At the end of the day, an e-commerce site’s job is to sell your company’s products. One way to help your conversion rate is by changing up the call-to-actions throughout your site. For instance, with the holidays rapidly approaching you could incorporate call-to-actions such as “Buy now and guaranteed delivery by Christmas” or “Spend $50 or more and receive free holiday shipping!” There is no “perfect” call-to-action or incentive that is going to make all of the visitors to your site buy right then and there; so change it up! Find the right call-to-action that seems to resonate best with your target audience. Remember, each site is different so what works for your competition might not always work for you.

About the Author – Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis is the President and Founder of Brick Marketing a Boston based full service SEO firm. One of the top SEO solutions, Brick Marketing has over 12 years of B2C and B2B SEO experience. You can contact Nick Stamoulis at nick@brickmarketing.com

Bad sales copy that sucks the life out of your conversions.

You may say, “Well, our sales copy is performing OK – I check our analytics.” And that’s good. But I want to teach you how to transform your “good” sale copy into “great” – and turn your sales up to a Spinal Tap 11.

And all it’s going to take is a little bit of time.

It’s easy to develop a blind spot around our Websites. Although we may see it every day, we probably aren’t looking at it very closely. Spending some time reviewing your site can uncover a huge list of opportunities – and help you decide what to tweak.

So let’s get started!

For the purposes of this initial review, focus on your top sales pages first. Then, you can repeat the exercise around other site sections (for instance, your blog or resource pages.)

First, you’ll want to read your copy as if you were a prospect.  Ask yourself:

• Does the copy adequately explain what you do? If you were talking to someone in person, would you provide the same information in the same way?
• Is it so stuffed with keyphrases that it detracts from the flow?
• What if your prospects have questions? Is it easy for them to contact you?
• Does the content address common prospect questions (Note: If you keep hearing the same questions from prospects after they’ve read the content, the answer to this would be “no.”)
• Does the copy pop off the page? Or is it so-so?
• Is your sales copy the same as other sites (this is especially important if you’ve been using content provided by the manufacturer.
• Are the benefits still important to your prospects? Or, are your prospects responding to different benefit statements now?
• Does your content even have benefit statements?

Next, you’ll want to go through the ordering process as if you were a prospect. Here are some things to consider:

• How easy is it to take the next conversion step (usually making a purchase, or contacting someone for more information?) Do you have to hunt for a “contact us” or “order now” button?
• When you place an order or make contact, is there a confirmation email or page? What does it say? Does it manage expectations (when the order will ship and/or when you will contact the prospect.)
• Does your follow-up information help or hurt your brand? Is it written well, or was the copy quickly thrown together?  (Here’s more information on why your marketing collateral is so important.)

Finally, it’s time to look at your page from an SEO perspective:

• Is the content optimized for keyphrases? Or was it written without them?
• If your copy does include keyphrases, when is the last time you conducted keyphrase research? A keyphrase focus that was applicable one or two years ago may not be applicable today.
• Does the copy read like it was overoptimized? If you’re not sure, try reading your copy out loud. If it sounds like “keyphrase, keyphrase, keyphrase,” your answer is “yes.”
• How are your pages ranking in Google currently?
• Do your pages have original, keyphrase-rich Titles? Consider if you need to rewrite them for better positions and click-through.
• How are your meta descriptions (this is a HUGE opportunity for many sites.) Consider if you need to rewrite them for Google’s new sitelinks format.

If you’re feeling stuck, see if another team member can review your content and make suggestions. Or, if your internal team is “too close” to the content, consider hiring an expert consultant to help. An SEO content consultant can quickly point out your successes and challenges – and then your team can make all the necessary tweaks. It may cost your company a little bit of cash, but the results (and the improved sales) will be well, well worth it!

Photo gratitude goes to mollystevens

Teaching print copywriters the difference between writing for the Web vs. print can be an interesting challenge. A common misconception is that Web SEO copy is “thin,” keyphrase-stuffed and poorly written. So, when I start talking a mile-a-minute about “putting keyphrases into content” and “Title tags,” the first reaction is often something like:

“What the hell is she talking about? Stick random words in our copy just for search engines? No way.”

That’s when the yelling starts (and the real learning takes place.) By the end, they’re totally on board with the “writing for Web vs print” fundamentals.

If you’re a print catalog copywriter looking to make the leap into Web SEO writing, here are some things to consider (and yes, you can yell at me if you need to!).

• Good SEO copywriting for catalog sites is good writing, period.

Yes, this means that you have to include certain words (otherwise known as keyphrases) in your copy. However, the keyphrases should never detract from your content’s “voice” or flow.

• Keyphrases are your friends.
  

Adding keyphrases (the words people type into a search box to find your products)  help people easily find your product pages  – and it’s a must-do strategy for top search positions. Otherwise, it’s like writing a fantastic catalog description, but only mailing the catalog to a few people. If you want to maximize the number of people who see your product page, keyphrases are key.

• Longer copy is a good thing.

Does writing only 50-75 words for a print catalog seem stifling? Time to rejoice – the search engines reward product pages with original, descriptive and keyphrase-rich Web copy. You still want to write tight content that’s easy to scan, but know you have more room to move with the copy length.

• You can learn Web SEO writing – even if you’re not a “techie.”

It’s true that new terms like “meta description,” “H1 tags,” and “Titles” can initially seem intimidating. An easy way of remedying this is matching the SEO term to a concept that’s more familiar to you. Your headline goes in the H1 header tag. The meta description is like a short abstract. Titles are the headlines that appear on the search engine results page. It’s really that simple.

• Writing for the Web is a must-have skill set.

Hamilton Davison, executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association, predicts that mailing costs will skyrocket 22 percent this year or next. More than ever, catalog companies are reducing the number of print catalogs they mail, or discontinuing their catalog all together. This means they’re looking for copywriters who can blend traditional print catalog writing guidelines with Web SEO copy best practices. If you don’t get the training you need, you may miss out to a less experienced (but more Web savvy) writer. Now is the time. Really.

Over the past financially-stressed year, many e-commerce companies simply lacked the resources needed to produce high-quality, original content.  So they’ve been hurt by Google’s Mayday and Panda/Farmer updates.  But there is a shiny silver lining to this setback, as Heather explains:

Common E-Commerce Issues:

• Mayday Update: Many SMB’s without the financial resources to invest in content generation were “downgraded” by Google because they simply duplicated the product descriptions from the original manufacturers of the goods offered.
• Farmer/Panda Update: Those businesses without the money for content creation were also hurt due to “thin” and/or “low-quality” content.  These folks may have tried to build out keyphrase-laden pages to drive traffic, or were stuck with the same old products pages with no fresh or original copy.

Whatever the circumstance, these smaller e-commerce companies are at a huge disadvantage right now.  But the silver lining is that this setback presents a fantastic opportunity for these businesses to give their e-commerce site a complete “make-over.”

So here’s what to do (over) if you find your e-commerce site hurting from Google’s algorithm changes:

1) Figure out what’s working, and what’s not: Seize this opportunity to delve deep into your analytics and look at things like bounce and conversion rates. The information you glean can provide you with a road map as to what to do next.  For instance…

2) Are you using the right keyphrases? Upon entering the e-commerce world, you may not have completely understood what keyphrases were or how to work with them. Or your original keyphrases may have brought in traffic at the start, but may be not the best, qualified traffic. Again, this is a great opportunity to go back to the beginning and re-evaluate.  You may well discover other keyphrases to focus on and leverage for SEO.

3) Messaging:  Do you address your prospect’s primary question of what’s in it for me (WIIFM)? Revisit your benefit statements: do they explicitly tell your reader what’s in it for them? Are the tone and feel of your site targeted to your perfect customer? Are you bringing out the best benefit statements that you can? This is a golden opportunity to make your site as tight and wired to your customer as possible.

4) What else can you “tweak?” Consider what other elements could be improved to help make you money.  For instance:

• Do you need to change your page Titles? Probably. See what you can tweak to increase both your ranking and conversions.
• Could you add customer reviews? This is a great way to build out original content on your products pages.
• Can you build out different types of content (video, podcasts, other types of descriptive content)? Ideally, your product page content should be unique – not just a reiteration of the original manufacturers’ copy.
• How can you leverage your blog to help you with sales? Your blog presents an ideal venue to “soft sell” and link to your site’s product pages.  It doesn’t have to be “sales-y,” and in fact shouldn’t be. Written deftly, your blog content can go a long way towards supporting sales.

5) Checking your analytics, determine what your top-performing pages are and start re-writing those first. Look at the top 20-percent of your site’s highest-performing pages, and begin your copywriting do-over with these.

Yes, this website “do-over” does mean an investment of time and money, but the silver lining is that once you’ve gone through the process — taking the time to do it right — then everything else will fall into place:  your site will be well-optimized for the search engines, will better serve your customers, and you’ll see a greater return on your investment!

Thanks for joining us! Do you have a SEO copywriting or content marketing question? Zip it on over to Heather at: askheather@seocopywriting.com, and she may well answer it with next Monday’s video post!

If you’re new to the how-to series or could stand a quick review, it might be helpful to check out Heather’s previous posts on Features vs. Benefits and Transforming Ordinary Features into Extraordinary Benefits.

Well-Written Product Pages Drive Revenue

Product pages are “money pages,” and if you own an ecommerce company, your product pages present a spectacular opportunity to improve your conversion rates.  You have a fantastic chance to first, improve the overall copywriting itself and second, improve your search engine optimization.  So let’s look at what is great, and what isn’t so hot:

What’s Hot and What’s Not So Great:

Keep in mind, first and foremost, that your #1 Goal is to  Sell the Product

You want your prospect to land on your products page and immediately think, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I want and I’m hitting buy now!” With this priority in mind, here are specific ways to help our readers do just that with targeted copywriting for our product pages.

1. Product-Specific Benefit Statements (vs. Feature-Oriented Content)

This is a HUGE opportunity that a lot of companies miss out on.  You may have an incredible amount of product features – color, weight, dimensions, etc. – but key to your conversions is to explicitly highlight and translate the benefits implicit to those features so your prospect says “Yes!” Specifically addressing that “what’s in it for me” is precisely what will sell your product.  (Again, recommended reading are Heather’s detailed posts about features vs. benefits, and transforming features into benefits).

2. Product-Specific Keyphrases (vs. General Keyphrases – or None At All!)

Here’s where you can dig in to your analytics and do your keyword research to figure out the best overall keyphrase strategy for your site, as well as drastically improve your conversions:  look into SKU’s, specific product and category names, and designer search terms.  With this data, you’ve a great resource for discovering those keyphrases ripe for optimizing both your products page and your conversions!

3. Directed and Original Content Written with your Customer Persona in Mind (vs. Simply Uploading the Catalog/Manufacturer Copy)

While Google’s taken steps with its Farmer/Panda update that does not reward mere uploads, beyond that you want to rewrite the generic catalog/manufacturer copy so it speaks to your customer persona.  While refining and honing the copy like this means more time and more resources, know that you don’t have to do it all at once.  You can baby-step your rewriting, focusing on the most important content first.

4. Clear Call to Action (vs. Long, Scrolling Content where the “Buy Now” Button is Buried)

The idea is to make it easy for customers to buy your products.  A clear and visible call to action will go a long way towards improving conversions – you don’t want to make prospects work to make their purchase.  This is where an A/B split test can be applied to see what works best for conversions in terms of the placement of your call to action.

5. Highlighting Overarching Company Benefit Statements (vs. Hiding Them in Copy or Not Mentioning Them At All)

Again, this where a lot of businesses miss the mark.  Specials, discounts, free shipping, and other such benefit statements should be made clear and obvious to the prospect.  You can’t assume the customer knows about your company’s sales or special offers – don’t hide these great benefits in the copy!

6. Fantastic, Benefits-Oriented Title (vs. So-So Title Filled with Product-based Keywords)

The power of a benefits-oriented, compelling title cannot be overstated!  A well-written, “clickable” Title not only improves click-thru rates on the search engine results page, but is far more likely to result in conversions than a Title that merely lists keywords separated by commas.

One company that has product pages down is Brookstone.  Clearly thinking of “search-ability,” the company incorporates a keyphrase into their product name, and pairs it with a benefits statement and product-specific SKU:  “OSIM Comfort Massage Chair.”  Looking at the company’s product page, you’ll notice they’ve also incorporated customer reviews, great content, benefit statements, and answers to customer questions. The Brookstone product page is a good example of how to do it right.

Thanks for tuning in for today’s video how-to!  Be sure to check in next Monday, when Heather will address how to write a killer services page.  See you then!

As I was remembering those “bad old days,” I realized that going on a first date is a lot like visiting a site for the first time. In that split-second before you hit the site (or you see your date at the restaurant,) there’s always an anticipatory moment of, “I really hope they have what I’m looking for.”

And then, sadly, there’s the letdown when you realize, “Oh no. They are obviously not what I want.”

For all those “bad date” Websites out there, please stop doing the following. Immediately. Thankyouverymuch.

• Quit talking about how hot you are. Ever been on a date where your partner’s conversation was all about them? They’ll talk about their cool executive job, their latest trip to London and their high-powered relationships…but they never, ever ask a thing about you. People visit websites to solve a problem – not to hear about how wonderful your company is. Focus your content on your prospect, and explain how you can solve her needs. The more customer-focused your content, the higher your conversion rates will be.

• Don’t expect an immediate conversion. You want to think that after a first date (or a first site visit) that the other person found you so spectacular that they want to marry you (or in the case of a website, contact you for more information or immediately make a purchase.) But guess what? It rarely happens that way. Your prospects may need to “date” you a few more times first. There are a few more micro-conversion steps to take. Hope for the fast conversion, yes, but make sure that you have other site content that’s more than “buy now.” Articles, blog posts, white papers and tweets are a great way to showcase your expertise – and move your prospect closer to taking the action you want them to take.

• Don’t repeat yourself, repeatedly. Ever had dinner with someone who said the same thing, three different ways, over and over and over? If you’re shoving your page full of keyphrases to meet some magical (and totally bogus) keyword density percentage, you’re irritating your prospects and causing them to tune out. Quit repeating yourself and concentrate on creating really awesome content. It will be much more powerful than repeating keyphrases. Trust me.

• Know your target audience. Once upon a time, a man (who I had known for awhile) took me to Dunkin’ Donuts on the first date. Outside of the obvious huge miss (Really, Dunkin’ Donuts? Really?) everyone knows that I’m a Starbucks kinda gal – except for this guy, who obviously didn’t know a thing about me. It’s the same with your web copy. Create a customer persona before you start writing, and follow it to the letter. Writing that “misses the mark” often has so-so conversion rates at best.

• Don’t be a bore. We’ve all gone on dates where the other person is nice – really nice – but just a little…boring. We feel bad for not wanting to date them again, but we just… can’t. I know that marketers (especially in the B2B space) are often afraid of “punchy” copy. But baby, don’t fear adding a little bit of personality to your writing! If your copy is dull, you run the risk of your prospects finding another site that’s just as qualified to help – but sounds much more interesting to work with. Remember, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression – and well-written, interesting content trumps “boring, just the facts” every time.

Side note: Great minds think alike. After I wrote this, it was brought to my attention by @lisabarone that she had written a very similar blog post – and the original pic I had for my post was the exact same one as hers (and no, I hadn’t read her post!) I switched out my pic, and highly encourage folks to read Lisa’s expert take on the topic. Enjoy!