E-commerce, its something that we have all heard of, but what is it and what can you achieve with it? Where can it take your business? Is it something that you should be considering? Is it hard to instigate? Just some of the questions that no doubt arise in your mind as you hear the term, over the course of this brief article, we can try to navigate some of these questions and arrive at a more definite idea.

E-commerce website – the new shop front?

We can think simply of e-commerce as the customer facing element of a business, its the new shop front, its the enticing and intriguing open door that your customers will want to walk through. Its a way to trade your goods and services without the large overheads that can be prohibitive. Its the essence of trade in that you offer your product and or service to the widest possible audience and thus increase your capacity for sales.
E-commerce websites can be designed and set up by a variety of different companies and can take many forms and range in their scope, from a simple self maintained e-commerce website to much larger shop based database systems that keep you in touch and in tune with your consumers or customers.

E-commerce web design

How you achieve your target web presence is something that you should consider carefully, indeed take stock of your needs, find the best model that suits your particular sector. E-commerce web design can take very simple forms whereby you simply offer your services with an informative, appealing and captivating website without much thought to the actual business of on-line selling or it can take the form of a large database type store front where you directly offer your products and all point of sale is completed on-line.
One thing that is for sure is that ensuring that your site gives the broadest possible appeal will help with your success, as more and more people venture on-line then the demographics will change accordingly, this is something to bear in mind.

Your E-commerce website

Gaining a foothold on the ladder of web presence is the key task to achieve, launching your business to the wider global market might just give you the key to your success.
Whether you are offering a product or a service, explore the critical components for your future growth today and gain your position in the fast paced open world of global e-commerce.

There is no doubt that SEO is an ever evolving landscape therefore I hope my SEO Tips for 2013 will help.Keeping up with the search engines such as Google is no easy task.

• Content is still king – Yes, it’s true. Writing regular optimised content for your website will most definately stand you in good stead for search engine recognition. Keeping your content updated is a must.
• In the new age of mobiles and portable web devices it’s essential that your website is optimised for mobile viewing.
• These days SEO is contextual, so keep the website highly relevant to topic area and make sure categories are easy to follow.
• Try to disseminate your website to numerous news sources coverage on such sites is not only key for popularity but shows you know your target audience.
• Focus on goal conversions, the right keywords for your website are worth their weight in gold.
• Do not be tempted to use generic keywords. Longer tail keywords give you better conversions. Knowing those all important niche keywords rather than highly competitive ones will give you the edge.
• Keyword density of around 3% should be your aim, but really relevant content takes presidence over technicalities.
• Images are a vital part of your website so make certain they are optimised for Search Engines such as Google.
• Text styling will give you instant optimisation and focus for your target audience.
• Metrics, metrics, metrics you can never really track a website too much.

The present day brings many the dilemma of the search engines changing their algorithm with the likes of such updates as Panda. That said we must remember for all websites that fresh, highly relevant content is key to a websites success. Over the Years I have experienced many changes in search which often mean even web optimisers themselves are left somewhat dumbfounded by SERPS.

It really is now about staying ahead of the game in SEO and reading what each “expert” in the field has to say about optimisation techniques that will improve your websites ranking. The important thing to remember is as with any aspect of the online world to try and disseminate what’s relatively hear say and what actually works.

SEO Tips for Google

There are I think a number of SEO Tips that will always remain true despite algorithmic changes:

1) Content is King – Let’s face it if your website content does not reflect in a relevant way what your business is there is really little chance of it succeeding in terms of the search engines.

2) Localisation counts – It’s now widely know that the likes of Google are putting greater focus on highly contextual and localised results. So, as always if you want to target the UK – Host in the UK, have a UK IP and to target local results be mindful about geographic areas with your keyword research.

3) Domain Name Domination – If you really really want to rank for a very generic phrase or indeed have any chance of reaching a good rank then the domain name is often key. Make certain where at all possible that the domain name contains the keyword(s) that you would like to rank for.

4)Keyword Research – Many use tools like Word-tracker and Keyword Discovery or Google itself  to find those rich keywords that will bring traffic to a website. Fine, but think more about Google Instant for example. Whilst on the subject of website traffic, is it converting traffic? THINK about what will convert.

5) Back-links- Yep, everyone wants those all-important back-links. Some pay for them ( No really??) Let’s face it the value of someone who is RELEVANT in your sector linking to you will always remain high despite how the algorithmic changes.

6) Your website code counts – If the coding on your website isn’t up to scratch then how do you honestly expect a search engine to interpret it and then magically come up with the results you wanted to see in search.

7)Social Media- There is no escaping the rise of Twitter etc. But be aware, you NEED a strategy for social media to work for you and your business. Think about what angle your tweets will be coming from, how you may deal with customers who directly criticise your service online. Social Media should now ALWAYS be incorporated into any serious online marketing campaign.

8)Images- People are now much more visually focused when it comes to the information they are presented with online. With the arrival of the Ipad, smart phones and tablet devices we can expect that many will consider a websites value by the way in which it looks. YES Google can interpret images and read them, so make sure everything is labeled up correctly.

9) I Have just mentioned mobile devices. Which of course are now ever more prevalent in today’s society. Think about optimising your website for mobile viewing. How does it look on an IPhone? Or a Blackberry?

10) Remember most importantly to enjoy the experience of optimising a website. The growth in visitors will surely spur you on to keep going. But there WILL be dull days, where you think all that work you put into the website has been in vain. Don’t give up– press on!