INSIGHTS 

How SEO differs from eCommerce to brochure sites. 

When it comes to Search Engine Optimisation, developing a smart strategy right from the get-go is a good idea – especially if you want to avoid wasted effort, and get the best return on your investment! When first approaching SEO, many make the mistake of imagining that there is a one-size-fits-all way of going about things. But for best results, the nature of the website in question should steer your SEO efforts. Visitors will interact with each type of website very differently, so this means that your marketing strategies should be built around the way that you anticipate and intend for your audience to interact with yours.

 

What do we mean by eCommerce and brochure sites?

The way your website is described will depend on whether you intend to retail products directly through it, or for it to function as a showcase for your real-world services. The term “eCommerce” is short form for “electronic commerce” and is used to describe all things in the realm of virtual retail. So, to give examples, if your website sells gardening tools online, this falls neatly into the eCommerce category. If, however, your business installs bespoke kitchens, and your website describes your service and/or displays examples of past projects, then this is a great example of what we call a brochure site.

Why does this matter for SEO?

SEO describes everything that you do to make your website more appealing and identifiable for search engines such as Google or Bing. These efforts, in turn, make those search engines more likely to present your web pages in search results – bringing you that all important website traffic.

With an eCommerce site you are not advertising the website, you are advertising the products it contains. Many of the channels that you might use to promote a brochure site are simply not going to be as cost effective for online retail activities, because you are likely to have a substantial and ever-changing selection of product pages.

For example, for an eCommerce site with hundreds or even thousands of products, building inbound links for each and every product page would be an insurmountable task! In contrast, this endeavour would certainly be a valuable contribution to the SEO of a brochure site. There is, of course, some crossover. An eCommerce site may well choose to invest in some of the same types of SEO as a brochure site as a means to build brand identity and establish a rapport with their customer base. However, digital marketing efforts will see greater rewards by placing the focus on increasing product visibility.

SEO for eCommerce.

A proportion of SEO for eCommerce may focus on generating traffic towards the brand itself. From there, intelligent use of resources is the name of the game! For example, diligently working appropriate keywords into all product descriptions, and ensuring that page content is top notch can help to drive organic sales. Optimising site speed and structure, both for search engines and for customers, is also an absolute must. You might not be able to pay to ensure that each of your product pages lands the top spot whenever someone Googles what is on offer, but you can use PPC (pay per click) advertising to place product adverts at the top of search results pages, to propel them in front of potential buyers in a different way. Drawing traffic in the form of people who already want what you sell will lead to more sales than from those who are simply browsing.

 

SEO for brochure sites.

In the case of an eCommerce site, each different product page potentially represents an entirely different customer need, whereas Seo for brochure sites tend to have a much broader appeal. This type of site is likely to have fewer pages, making SEO efforts much more concise and long lasting. For example, a law firm's website might have a home page, and then pages representing each of the types of law that their lawyers specialise in. Fantastic inbound links and a Google Ad Words campaign for each of those pages would make perfect sense./

 

Other important digital marketing factors.

A certain tack for social media marketing is also important. A brilliant social media strategy for a brochure site is likely to come in the form of posts that boost the brands authority and demonstrate its value. For eCommerce, posting endless links to your individual products is likely to push your audience to hit the unfollow button! In this area, similar brand authority building, interspersed with new product lines and promotions, is more likely to keep your audience hooked and waiting for more.

Email marketing is the last cornerstone digital resource that cannot be passed over. Teapot Creative partner with Mailchimp, because of its excellent facilitation for automation and audience partitioning. For brochure sites, regular updates that incorporate riveting content and your most recent successes or showcases can work sales-increasing magic. That kitchen website we mentioned may partition their email marketing to reflect those who prefer modern or classic design, or perhaps those who have already become customers, and those who have not sealed the deal just yet. For the eCommerce site, email subscribers might be partitioned depending on which product categories they tend to interact with, and whether they are a new subscriber, or a loyal customer, to name just a few!

Fundamentally, analysing your SEO and marketing needs, and focusing your energy and investments accordingly is the surest path to success.

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