By Guest Author Kyle Scott Blackhurst, freelance journalist
It can be difficult to establish a successful online business, especially when it comes to nailing down a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that will increase website traffic. With so many competing online retailers, it is crucial to the success of your business to make sure your website includes all of the basic SEO components.
Here are a few important SEO and social media strategies to apply.
Nailing Your Title Tag
One of the most critical aspects of having a successful online business is to have a website name (AKA title tag) that clearly expresses what your website is about. This helps Google’s spiders find your page when crawling the web and indexing pages — meaning ranking URLs by importance and relevance.
A title tag is the name of your website that shows up in Google searches. It’s important that your title tag include the most relevant keywords. For instance, if you sell handmade bracelets, you may want to include the keyword term “handmade bracelet” in your title. You want to select the keywords that have the highest average monthly searches and keep the title tag under 55 characters. To find the best keywords, you can use the free tool Google Keyword Planner.
Crafting an Eye-catching Meta Description Tag
Although it does not help with search engines’ rankings, the meta description tag is a significant component to your SEO strategy. If it’s created correctly, it will help increase the user click-through rate.
The meta description shows up right below the title tag on search engine results pages, and its purpose is to provide a clear description of the website’s content. So, if you sell a variety of handmade bracelets online, you could include the different types of bracelets in the meta description. Keep in mind that the recommended length of a meta description is 160 characters, since search engines do not show text beyond that character count in search results.
In the example below, the title tag is “Online Shipping Blog | Endicia,” and the meta description is “Keep up with USPS shipping news, ecommerce trends, and the latest information in online shipping for businesses of all sizes.”
Building a Robust Social Media Strategy
Social media is a valuable marketing tool for any online business — it’s free, and gives a company easy access to its audience to provide better customer service. Plus, social media can increase traffic to websites.
Using social media, businesses can connect with new customers that they may not have been able to reach otherwise. It also provides a platform to interact with customers on a more personal, human level — a key factor in cultivating customer loyalty. Another great perk of engaging your brand on social media is that the more people share your posts and links, the more likely you are to increase traffic to your website. If you have the budget, you could even set up “buy” buttons on Facebook or Twitter to help increase the likelihood of clicks.
There are many decisions that individuals have to face when running an online business. Optimizing a website for SEO and taking advantage of social media are great steps toward increasing website traffic and boosting profit.
For more ecommerce development strategies, check out our Business Growth Strategies page.
About the Guest Author:
Kyle Blackhurst is a freelance journalist living in Boise, Idaho. He covers everything from sharing business tips to how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.