The importance of SEO in ecommerce

When putting together an SEO proposal for a client recently It became apparent that many companies are still operating with outdated websites that were built with no consideration for the purpose of a business website: to drive sales and grow the brand.

It’s quite understandable that a business that is not online orientated will lack the in-house know-how and skill sets required to work with these goals in mind, it is more often the employed web design company that are at fault. The fact is however that no company can afford to ignore SEO when developing their website.

The culprits (if I can call them that) are companies that have not updated their website in 5 or more years, back when META tags were enough to get you listed in search engines and online sales were a drop in the ocean. Projections vary but in the next five years online sales are expect to account for between 30 and 50 percent of all retails sales, such a large amount that those not online and not competing are going to suffer hugely.

Now for an analogy: Imagine a shop selling exclusive designer clothing that all the stars are wearing and millions of people want – they’re going to do great business! Now imagine the same shop is located down a back alley in a quiet part of town. Suddenly this great product that’s in huge demand isn’t being sold because no one can find where to buy it!
If you’re now a little worried there are a few basic checks you can make yourself:

• Are you using keywords you’ve specifically chosen to attract visitors and are they used in the right places?
• Are other sites linking to you? How many? Check in Google by typing “link:www.yourdomain.com”
• Have you included Meta Tags? (Specifically Keywords and Description)
• Is your content unique? Do you update regularly?
• Are you using an Analytics tool to monitor progress?

This is a very brief checklist – there are many other issues a serious SEO campaign would go into but it should be enough for you to decide if you need some help. Even if you pass all of the above points it may still be worth contacting a professional SEO company with good experience to guide you. The internet opens your business up to millions of customers but it puts you in competition with just as many businesses.