How, you might ask?  How in the world can content be king when page-after-page of most e-commerce sites is loaded with products and generic product descriptions?

Well, there’s the problem right there.

First, the generic product description.  You know, the one that the manufacturer provides with their products.

Well, a lot of e-commerce sites have this generic, bland and boring description cut and paste right onto the sight.  So first, there’s no differentiation going on in the consumer’s eyes between sites.

And second, Google won’t index those pages because the content is not original.  Relying on these canned, unappealing descriptions kill your SEO before it even has a chance.

I know it’s a lot of tedious work to write original, pithy product descriptions but the hard work will pay off in higher search engine rankings and higher sales.

Now another area where content can really help an e-commerce site is “buying guides.”

If you sell shoes…why not have buying guides for ladies shoes, boots, kids shoes, athletic shoes and so on?  That way you give the visitor a reason to hit your site, you can include links to pages within your site and you give others a good reason to link to your site (backlinks, yea!).

Get the point?  Better content, SEO!

So if you have an e-commerce site, remember, content really is king…with customers and search engines.

Evy Schwartz
SEO Expert
San Antonio, Texas

The Forrester study said:

“Big firms are looking more at SEO than pay per click
because they realize that consumers are becoming aware
that the listings on the side and top of the page are
paid for and that natural listings are, in some cases,
more credible and more relevant.”

Doh!

So listen up…your clients are getting savvy to the PPC ads you’re placing.  And have you noticed, the competition for popular keywords is fierce which means the cost for the ads is skyrocketing (and the clicking is shrinking)?

I mean, think about your own habits.  Don’t you click on the organic results first?  I know I do.

The only time I go to the PPC side is when I’m looking for something that I can’t find organically.

And there’s nothing more annoying when I click on an ad for a particular product, only to find out the company doesn’t have it.  They just strung me along  to get me to their website.  Ughh, I click away so fast they don’t know what hit ‘em.

So before you go and hack away at your budget with  PPC ads that don’t work, look at getting your site optimized first.

And when I say optimized, I mean everything from the Title to the content.  Don’t leave any stone unturned.  It used to be that yo could just go the PPC route and get huge results–not anymore.

Now’s the time to start optimizing your web pages and the best way to do that is to hire an SEO copywriter to get the job done.

Evy Schwartz
SEO Expert
San Antonio, Texas

They’re killing your SEO and you have less space for persuasive copy.  I mean, aren’t most of you out there on the net to make money?  Whether it’s selling a product or service, collecting leads or just expanding brand awareness…more sales is the key.

So what the heck is up with the graphics?

Just because your ad agency builds a beautiful, Flash-intense site with a bigger-than-life header with your image on it doesn’t mean it right.  Stick to the saying, less is more, and you’ll be all right.

Here’s how I handle graphics on a website:

1. I prefer a header of no taller than 200 pixels.  Yeah, you heard me.  I want to put more persuasive, hypnotic copy above the fold where it’ll have more impact.
2. I’ll use relevant, anchor photos near a headline to pull the eyes to my copy.  You know, the copy that will actually sell.
3. I attach a keyword targeted Alt Tag to every graphic I can so the search robots can read it.  If there are no alt tags, you’re missing out on a component of good SEO.

And that’s it.  I don’t want to fill the page with pictures.  Think of it this way, test 2 websites: one with nothing but graphics and one with nothing but copy.  The copy only page will out convert the graphic page any day.

This strategy fills my 2 main goals as an SEO copywriter.  First, I can get more relevant copy on the page and hit my keyword density target a lot easier. Remeber…content is king.

Second, I get more copy on the page which gives me a chance to get the visitor’s attention and keep it.  I also have more valuable above the fold space to use.

So please, resist the temptation to use the latest toys and too many graphics on your website.  Stick with the basics and your golden!