Quick Tips To Increase Your Christmas Sales

1. Create a Christmas “Hot Deals” page

Specials and discounted items fly off the shelves every Christmas. Create something similar to Amazon’s lightning deals. Not everyone can afford to have custom programming on their website like Amazon’s timed deals, but there are simple ways to get it done. Just have a handful of products on a page which deals stop at 3pm or midnight, or whatever time you choose. Make sure you cycle the products because people like to have a lot to choose from.

2. Set up your marketing

Make sure your email marketing campaigns are running at full speed. This is the time you market your Christmas specials, and set the seeds for the following years products or services. Don’t overdo it. A blast to the same person everyday may get you an “unsubscribed”. Also, make a huge push on social media including Facebook advertising. It costs less than Google Adwords, and in many cases Facebook is more effective.

4. Make sure your website loads fast

If you are one of those people that think all web hosting companies are the same, and the $3.95 a month web hosting plan is all you need, well, I sorry to say that you are incorrect. A good web hosting solution is a necessity for any online store and database driven website. First, Google ranks website load times in milliseconds, and your e-shoppers will not wait for 1 second longer than they need to for your site to load. They’ll just say, “what a crappy website” and go to Amazon. I’m right, aren’t I? Check with your developer for tips on how to increase your load speed, especially during high traffic moments.

5. Get shoppers to browse your internal pages

Create entry products and coupons on you home page to get your shoppers to go to your internal pages. This is where they can find all the products you want them to buy. If they stay on the home page they get a limited viewing, and may not see what they want. Get them to browse internal pages by a “CLICK HERE FOR A 40% DISCOUNT” link. It’s a quick and easy thing to do.

6. Be transparent – Return Policy, Shipping Policy, etc.

You may get one sale from a person this Christmas, but wouldn’t it be nice if they came back and purchased your products throughout the year? You MUST make your return, warranty, shipping, and other policies right out in front so there are no surprises. Furthermore, make sure you stand by them. Nobody likes hidden terms, fine print, and a retailer that doesn’t stand by their products.
 
Happy selling and Merry Christmas!
M. Van Camp – Web 7
© 2017 Web 7 Marketing Inc

How Much Does It Cost To Optimize A Website for Search?

The below mainly looks at the monthly costs of ongoing SEO assuming a website is already optimized. If the site is not optimized, you will need to consider the costs to have it optimized. A well-optimized website platform that delivers a great mobile-UX is crucial. This can be a big investment ($2,000-$4,000 on average), but a website that is not built for search results and satisfied users in mind is a waste of time and money, and may be one of the weakest revenue-generating links in your business.

Average Pricing For Ongoing SEO

There is a wide range of monthly pricing for SEO. These prices are not specific to just small businesses, but give a general idea of price.

Average Monthly SEO Pricing In The U.S. (Typical contracts of 6 to 24 months)

• $300 – $500 – Small local business
• $500-1,000 – Small business competitive industry
• $1,000-2,500 – Small business highly-competitive industry, regional e-commerce
• $2,500-5,000 – Small, medium, highly-competitive, competitive e-commerce
• $5,000-10,000 – Medium, large business, retail chain, md/lrg competitive industrial
There are many price variations, but the majority of businesses are spending less than $4,000 per month on SEO in America. 40% of these businesses are spending less than $1,100 per month (small businesses and startups). These prices reflect the level of difficulty and scope of the project to be completed. Those paying less than $500 per month are probably local businesses with limited serviceable areas!
Call us to request a free SEO evaluation of your website: 248-507-4420

Are you prepared for the future of Search?

We are undergoing a time of unparalleled instability in the search industry. But still, there are elements that are still relevant.
Over the years, search has been almost completely about Google and what you type in that simple one line search field. However, over the past few years, there has been a definite shift in this connection, as digital assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, and voice-search assistants such as “Okay Google” move to the fore-front. This shift has made search results become considerably more varied.

The way the general consumer approaches search has also changed. If you’re a marketing professional, or a small business owner, you need to come-to-grips with the fact that consumers are not always typing in keywords and key-phrases on Google. The modern consumer is speaking full sentences into their voice or digital assistant expecting results. For example, if you own a used car dealership, your typical consumer may not type in “used car dealer”, instead, they may voice search specifics such as, “used 2016 Chevy Camaro SS with manual trans and low miles near me”. This is quite typical, especially for age groups 20-44.
We get calls quite frequently from small business owners that are still under the impression that the SEO tactics from 6 to 10 years ago still work, and they don’t. In their defense, a selected few do, but they are not nearly as effective as they were in the past. If you have a small 5-page website with thin content and poor structure, you may find it impossible to rank high in the new world of voice search and digital assistants. We haven’t even touched on modern conversion techniques. Getting found is only half the battle.

Below are just a few 2017 trends:

• Voice search
• Hyper-local targeting
• Personalized content
• Visual search
• Mobile-first indexing
• Multimedia
• Personalized Search Results
• The Keyword-less search
A bit of advice: Use video, develop your internal pages, write creative articles, get on the proper framework, use social media, write GREAT content, and make sure your website is user friendly. These are just the basics.
Call us for a free SEO evaluation. Web 7 Marketing is a top SEO and web design firm in Oakland County Michigan.

Avoid Automatically Generated Content

Why You Should Avoid Auto-Generated And Scraped Content

Many website owners and SEO companies in Michigan use software or web-based tools to automatically generate content for their websites. This is done to save time and money, but it’s not necessarily the best method to help your site rank higher. Google has become quite smart in detecting auto-generated and scraped content, and your website can suffer greatly by using this tactic. Over the past couple years Google has been cracking down on websites that scrape content, use auto-generators, or have weak SEO based content. The websites that have been caught incur penalties that have reduced their rank greatly. The Google algorithm understands the natural flow of writing, human speak, good punctuation, spelling and much more. Don’t be fooled by an SEO company that tells you it’s okay to scrape content from other sites and reuse it after a few changes, Google is on to this too. These days, it’s hard to fool Google. There are no shortcuts to good rank, and you will need to be prepared to do the work to make your site structure and content better than your competitor. At Web 7 Marketing Inc, we understand the process of Google ranking, so give us a call to discuss your options. 248-507-4420.