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Tips to Get Your SEO Holiday Ready Now

San Diego Media, Inc. — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 01:13:41 +0000

It's not too late to get your holiday SEO strategy on track so you can make the most of your efforts this season. We've got some tips to help you "wrap" it up in time for the holidays.

Promote Your Promotions:
If you’re running any holiday promotions like products 20% off or Free Shipping, be sure to update your title tags and meta descriptions so these promotions display in search results.

Take the Guess Work out of Holiday Keywords:
Instead of guessing at what the best holiday keywords are, why not analyze the data you already have to make a wise decision. Look at your Google Analytics from last year to see which keywords converted sales. You could also use Google Insights and Google Trends to spot patterns in keywords that may be becoming popular and utilize them for some potential spikes around the holidays.

Consider a Gifts by Prices Pages:
You may want to consider special landing pages offering gifts by price categories. You can leverage the SEO attributes of these special pages and include holiday keywords too. Shoppers are always looking for bargains, so a “Gifts under $50” category could bring in sales and SEO during the holidays by optimizing for the term "Gifts under $50" in the title tag, URL, and meta description. Plus, Gifts by price categories can be updates for many holidays and bring added value all year long.

Incentivize Previous Customers:
Now is a great time to send out an email to your customers requesting them to review a past purchase. These requests have even greater impact if you can offer an incentive, like 5% off, on the next purchase. Not only do ratings and reviews add UGC that can increase sales, it may also assist in getting you ranked for additional long-tail keywords you may not currently target in your SEO strategy.

Update your Sitemap:
When was the last time you submitted an updated XML sitemap to the search engines? This is a quick and easy way to make sure they have all your new category and product pages indexed and updated.

Pay it Forward:
Consider a campaign where you donate a certain percentage of sales to a specific charity or to Hurricane Sandy victims. Everyone loves to give back, and this is a great way to increase sales while doing good for others. Run a campaign on your Facebook to increase your social outreach and increase links back to your online store for increased SEO.

Check Your Site’s Health:
You want to make sure your site is in good “health.” Google Webmaster Tools will alert you of any crawl errors or other issues you your site might. Fix any 404 errors and review your crawl stats to understand how many pages are crawled per day and how much time is spent downloading pages. Remember, if Google isn’t crawling your site properly you could miss out maximizing your indexation, which will affect your overall rankings.

Call (800) 808-8696 or contact your client manager today to learn more about how MaxEXP will help give your business the competitive edge and prepare you for the upcoming holiday season.

Tis the Season of Giving Special Offers for Better ROI

San Diego Media, Inc. — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 01:10:26 +0000

To encourage sales and increase conversions this shopping season you may want to consider giving back to your customers. We come up with a few ideas to reward your customers so they purchase from your store and spread the joy.

Free Gift with Purchase:
Savvy online shoppers are generally shopping a few sites at once. Consider a free gift with purchase to encourage them to choose your store. This could be a low-cost to you up-sell by utilizing overstock items or discounted products from a manufacturer.

Use the Recommender to Up-Sell:
Assist your shoppers searching for gifts by displaying similar products and/or product accessories. Showcasing these items on your product detail page and shopping cart page could provide that extra incentive needed to make a purchase.

Become the One-Stop Shop:
Create landing pages that turn your web storefront into a one-stop shopping destination. Promote different sales and drive multiple purchases by cross-promoting items that fit a certain theme like holiday gifts for him or last minute ideas. You can also make gift buying easy by offering Wish Lists and Gift Certificates. Be sure to promote these on the homepage during the holiday season.

Rethink Your Return Policy:
A good return policy gives shoppers the confidence to make a purchase on your site, especially when shopping for gifts. eBay Consumer Research has found that 21% of nonbuyers stated "lack of return policy" as the reason they buy elsewhere. Consider keeping holiday returns simple by offering something like "free returns on unopened items until January 31." The lack of a long list of rules to follow and a free return policy could be the difference when it comes to converting the sale.

Win Over Customers with a Great Follow Up:
Sending a follow up email is a great way to build customer loyalty and benefit your site at the same time. Follow up with a thank you discount on their next purchase and be sure to ask them to review any products they purchased as well. Ratings and Reviews add value to your site and help your shoppers make decisions. You should also include popular products in this email to get them back shopping on your site.

Pay it Forward:
Consider a campaign where you donate a certain percentage of sales to a specific charity or to Hurricane Sandy victims. Everyone loves to give back, and this is a great way to increase sales while doing good for others. Run a campaign on your Facebook to increase your social outreach and increase links back to your online store for increased SEO.

Looking to the Future:
Don't forget to create specific tracking links for your campaigns so you can measure their success. This will help you determine where to focus your marketing efforts next year...which will be here before you know it!

Call (800) 808-8696 or contact your client manager today to learn more about how MaxEXP will help give your business the competitive edge and prepare you for the upcoming holiday season.

Get Creative with Your Website this Season

San Diego Media, Inc. — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:05:04 +0000

As we approach the busiest shopping season of the year, you can expect an increase in traffic, including unique shoppers, to your site. To get into the spirit of the season, you may want to consider some minor creative enhancements that could result in bigger sales and holiday cheer.

Decorate Your Logo:
Take a page from Google's book and add some holiday flair to your logo. We can queue up designs for all the holidays and have them automatically change on the days you want so you don't have a turkey of a logo on Christmas.

Get in the Spirit:
Take a look at some brand sites that you really like for some inspiration to freshen up your own site. You want your site looking its best for the holidays!

Deck Your Homepage:
Add some new graphics or update your banners to help steer your customers to your sales pages and top-selling products for quick purchases.

Christmas Countdown:
Create a sense of urgency with a countdown on your homepage and sales pages. A real-time countdown showing how much time is left before the holidays will increase shoppers decisions and your conversions.

Spread Joy:
Considering sprucing up your descriptions and hiding "out of stock" or changing your "out of stock" messaging. Descriptions like "the perfect gift for any dad" are an easy update and may sway shoppers. Adding messaging like "ships in 4 days" in place of "out of stock" will guarantee you won't miss that sale.

Call (800) 808-8696 or contact your client manager today to learn more about how MaxEXP will help give your business the competitive edge and prepare you for the upcoming holiday season.

Free Shipping Offers Increase Holiday Sales

San Diego Media, Inc. — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:48:44 +0000

When determining where to make their online purchases, free shipping was far and away the deciding factor for consumers in the 2011 holiday season. Free shipping is also expected by most shoppers around this time of year, so you may want to review your strategy now for the biggest shopping season of the year. When coming up with shipping offers, be sure to keep in mind that in National Retail Federation's 2011 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, consumers said that "sales and price discounts" will be the most important factor (42 percent) when they're shopping online this season. A "quick and easy checkout process" (30 percent) comes in second place. To take advantage of eager shoppers, you may want to also consider these campaigns and days.

Top 3 Holiday Campaigns:

1. Free express shipping
2. Buy more, save more
3. Post-holiday

Top Days for Holiday Sales Conversions:

Black Friday (Fri. after Thanksgiving): 23%
November 28: 17%
November 30: 17%
December 6: 17%
Cyber Monday (Mon. after Thanksgiving): 16%

We've come up with a few free shipping ideas to get you started.

1. Increase sales by displaying a message on the shopping cart page reminding shoppers that they are eligible for free shipping on specified minimum orders. If spending just an additional $10 more means free shipping, most consumers are likely to do so.

2. You may also want to consider activating a 24-hour 'Express Shipping Sale' that includes both free and express shipping when they spend a specified minimum amount. Having the sale for 24-hours allows you to control the cut off for express delivery, creates urgency and increases sales.

3. Remember National Free Shipping Day: December 17 is officially National Free Shipping Day(seriously). To stay competitive you should definitely consider free shipping on this day.

Our MaxEXP guest checkout feature, combined with our already quick and easy checkout process, is sure to help convert shoppers who may be on your site solely to buy gifts for their family and not themselves. There's no need for shoppers to create an account, just make their selections and checkout!

Call (800) 808-8696 or contact your client manager today to learn more about how MaxEXP will give your business the competitive edge and prepare you for the upcoming holiday season.

Is Your Email Database Ready for the Holidays?

San Diego Media, Inc. — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:11:13 +0000

Now is the time to prep your email database for the holidays to make sure your get the most from your eblasts going into the busiest online shopping time of the year. We've put together a list of things you may want to consider, as well as a few ideas to build your list before the holidays.

Make Sure Your List Sparkles
Perform a simple data check to correct misspellings and typos to ensure your list has good hygiene. Check for any simple errors like @gmailcom or @yhaoo.com. This will help you avoid sending messages to invalid accounts, lower your risk of being flagged as spam and reduce your bounce rate.

Manage Your Undelivered 'Gifts'
Reviewing and understanding your undelivered mail is critical to successful email marketing and when done well may actually increase your ROI by not mailing to addresses that bounce. You don't necessarily have to decipher every bounced email, you just need to understand the difference between hard and soft bounces.

Emails that have a 'soft' bounce usually are a result of a full inbox or down server. You should consider resending to these addresses as there is a good chance they will be delivered after a second or third attempt.

A 'hard' bounce is a permanent deliverability problem, such as an invalid email address. Therefore, these emails will never be delivered and should be removed immediately. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) track the number of bounces you generate with each send and use it when determining your reputation. Too many bounces, and ISPs could block all your messages.

Trim Your Guest List
Deliberately removing subscribers from your list who haven't personally unsubscribed might seem drastic, however it is a current trend and best practice that savvy marketers are using to improve ROI. This way you are ensuring your lists only contain subscribers who are engaged. After all, if someone is only going to delete your message, why even send it in the first place?

However, before making this permanent decision you may want to consider a re-engagement campaign to rekindle their interest. One way to do this is offer a special incentive aimed at inactive users. Consider a 'We Miss You' or 'Welcome Back' promotion. If that doesn't work, simply ask them if they wish to remain on your list and include an easy way for them to opt out. If the subscriber remains inactive after a month or two then remove them from your list.

Remember: the success of an email marketing campaign should not be measured by the number of subscribers. Rather, it should be measured by the quality of the subscribers and the actions they take as a result of your email.

Spread the Joy
Whether it's at special events, on your direct-mail pieces or via a link in the email signature of your email correspondence, always drive people to subscribe to your list. As you continue to add people to your database you should see a growth in your list of active subscribers.

Keeping your email database fresh and clean is always advised but even more important before sending out your holiday marketing eblasts.

At San Diego Media we want to help you make the most out of your email marketing year round. MaxEXP clients should also take advantage of our fully automated emails that recommend products based your customer's transactions and interactions on your website.

Maximize Holiday Sales with MaxEXP

San Diego Media, Inc. — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:26:19 +0000

With major holidays a few short months away, now is the time to start preparing your website to take advantage of the annual spike in online holiday traffic. According to comScore, in 2011 the online market experienced its biggest week in holiday shopping history when consumer spending reached $6.3 billion. While the week preceding Christmas is easily the most popular time for consumers to be shopping online, the 2012 online shopping season kicks off on "Black Friday," November 23 and spikes again "Cyber Monday," November 27.

Consumers have learned that online shopping allows them to avoid the long lines and hectic environment of crowded retail stores, while gaining the advantage of lower prices and greater online selection. With the added advantage of potential tax-free shopping and free shipping, it’s no wonder why more and more consumers are making the switch over to the web for their shopping needs.

While preparing for the holiday shopping season, it is important not to overlook the smaller holidays and seasonal sales opportunities. Online retailers can take advantage of smaller holidays and shopping periods such as Back-to-School, Labor Day, and Halloween. Some consumers increase their spending during various sporting seasons such as the hunting & camping season and winter sports like skiing and snowboarding. These opportunities are the perfect way to lure new customers to your site, increase your online sales revenue and stay ahead of your competitors.

Attract consumers during the micro-holidays by including promotional emails that incorporate online coupons and promotional codes, aggressive online ad campaigns and a seasonal refresh of your search engine optimization strategy. Print advertising and in-store promotions can also give an added boost to your online business. If you’re looking to try something outside the box you could consider utilizing Quick Response Codes, also known as QR Codes, to drive mobile traffic and increase your conversion rate. QR codes are an increasingly important strategy as traffic from smart phones and other mobile devices continues to grow.

Now is also the time to update your social media channels to fit the upcoming micro-holidays. During the holidays it is important to attract customers to your website through eye catching Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts that promote online sales and discounts. The MaxEXP Discounts tool can help bolster promotional campaigns on your social sites and emails. These special offers are sure to drive traffic back to your site, which is great for SEO and sales. You should also display these holiday shopping deals in your website banners that drive traffic to a specific discounts page. You may want to consider updating your testimonials page or about us page with any news from the year so far. Keeping your content fresh is another great way to help your SEO ranking.

Our team of e-Commerce experts are here to help you with the details so that your holiday seasons rings in good cheer...and the register. Call your account manager today to find out how you can maximize your holiday 2012 sales.

Are You Prepared for Google's Next Big Change?

San Diego Media, Inc. — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:01:37 +0000

You've managed to keep up with changing names, requirements and growth in traffic volume. From Froogle, to Google Base, then Google Product Search and the synonymous Google Shopping, you've hung in there. However, this will be the first change Google Shopping has made that is going to cost you. The impact of this change is difficult to predict, however the best advice is to start looking into how you can stay ahead of the curve.

San Diego Media is here to assist with what is surely going to be a huge change. We can advise you on how to best keep up with Google and keep your products selling. We also recommend having us help you set up a SingleFeed account if you’d already have one. Not only will this make feeding your products to Google easier, it opens the doors to many other shopping engines available to you.

If you already have a SingleFeed account you’ll be happy to know our partner is launching two new product features that will make it easier for you to control which products are delivered to specific engines. This will come in handy since you will likely want to focus on your best performing and best selling products on Google once it is no longer free.

Product Filter Feature:

Filter out products from engines based on specific attribute criteria (product information and/or click performance data). You will be able to easily find all products that meet a certain criteria. You will then be able to suppress those products from being sent to certain engines. This is handy as it will allow you to focus on a certain set of products per engine. For example, if you don't have UPCs or MPNs for some products then create a filter to remove them from the Google feed. You may set up filters like: Manufacturer = "Panasonic", product price less than $9.99, or Clicks > 100 and Conversion rate < 2%.

Performance-based SKU suppression Feature:

Based on actual performance, easily find products below or above a certain performance threshold and keep or suppress them. This will be an extremely helpful feature in making sure your Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) budget is spent wisely and you get the most out of your CSE spend.

Google is offering up some incentives to help with this huge transition, so don't forget to take advantage of them!

All merchants who create Product Listing Ads by August 15, 2012 will automatically receive a monthly credit for 10% of their total Product Listing Ad spend through the end of 2012.

Existing Google Product Search merchants can receive $100 AdWords credit toward Product Listing Ads if they fill out a form before August 15, 2012. Sign up for these credits here.

You might also want to check out this detailed article from Search Engine Land to better understand exactly how the new "Pay-To-Play" Google Product Search will work and how you may be affected.

Spruce Up Your Website for Spring Sales

San Diego Media, Inc. — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:16:34 +0000

With warm weather just around the corner now is a great time to spruce up your online store with a little Spring-cleaning. Here are some ideas to get you started on now so you’re ready to roll come Spring.

Fresh content

While you’re in your site cleaning up old information, tidying up your admin and deleting outdated content be sure to think about adding something new. Do you have all the latest social media channel logos? Maybe it’s time you gave Google+ a go or added social icons to all your product pages. Did you receive some great customer feedback over the holidays? Consider creating a new page dedicated to testimonials. MaxEXP makes setting this up a breeze plus it’s a great way to show off your accomplishments and add credibility. Whatever your approach, trying new tactics is a fresh idea.

Make your design blossom

Did you leave Christmas decorations hanging up? Check your site and be sure to remove any references to the holidays so you can start decorating for Spring. This time of year is the best opportunity for some vibrant new design work. Has your homepage become cluttered? Do you templates need a makeover? We have lots of ideas to help you spruce up your sight and make for a better user experience. Plus, you want to start thinking about the big spring holidays – mother’s day, father’s day, graduation, Easter – and start planning your graphics and promotions accordingly.

Easy, Breezy Discounts

Looking to make room for new products or remove some of the clutter? The MaxEXP Discounts tool is an easy way to create promotional campaigns and programs that reward customers for their engagement and purchasing habits. Plus, the MaxEXP Discounts tool is 100% coupon-free and doesn’t require the consumers to remember any codes, click any links or take any action outside of their normal purchasing habits.

Looking to sprout some new marketing campaigns this Spring? Combine the MaxEXP Discounts tools with social media campaigns (Facebook, Twitter, Blog, etc.), throw in MaxEXP auto-emails and watch the ROI grow.

Prune your content

Maybe you went a little keyword overboard this winter and have a few too many layers. Review your keywords and evaluate which ones are the most important and adjust your product content accordingly. Peal off some of the layers and keep your content simple. If you’re adding keyword content for content sake you’re not doing your customers any favors. Plus, Google doesn’t care about your keywords like it used to so tighten up your copy and create content that is meaningful to your customers.

You may also want to update your testimonials page or about us page with any news from the past year. This will help with SEO and keep your content fresh.

Submit your site

Now that the dust has been swept away be sure to resubmit your site to the appropriate search engines. Here are direct links to help you get started:

Our team of e-Commerce experts are here to help you with the heavy lifting so that your Spring-cleaning goes smoothly. Call us today to find out how you can add new features to your site this year that are aimed at helping your online store grow.

Build on Your Holiday Success in 2012

San Diego Media, Inc. — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:32:31 +0000

Now that the holidays are over, and the decorations are down, it's time to set your sights on building off your seasonal success. Traffic volume and email lists have likely grown, and it's up to you to keep them coming back for more.

We've got some great ideas that are targeted to help you build and maintain your customer relations.

Follow-Up / Review Emails:

A great way to get customer feedback, and build loyalty at the same time, is to ask them to review the products they bought. A week or two after the purchase follow up with a request to review the item. You should consider some type of incentive like discounts or free shipping for writing a review. MaxEXP's new Ratings and Reviews feature puts customer feedback at the forefront.

Recommender Feature:

MaxEXP is loaded with different ways to recommend your products based on customers' purchases or products they browsed. For example, when a customer makes a purchase, recommended products can be added to their confirmation email. You should also display recommended products on the shopping cart page.

Product Lifecycle Emails:

Do your products have accessories or could be part of a kit? MaxEXP allows you to design an email to help you stay in touch with customers who bought a particular product and offer a discount - or free shipping - on those product accessories or complementary items.

Newsletter:

Stay in touch with your customers that want to hear from you. MaxEXP provided several hands-on or hand-off ways of sending relevant, compelling and consistent newsletters and/or emails.

Overstock Sale:

Got overstocked products from the holidays? Have a sale on those products and offer free shipping for orders over a specified amount. This way you're clearing out excess inventory and also incentivizing the customer to make additional purchases.

Declare Your Own Holiday:

Between now and the next big shopping season are the expected holiday sales. Why not do something unexpected? Throw a sale that is uniquely you! Whether you tie it into an event or just pick a day, have a sale for your customers for no other reason than to show your appreciation.

Call today to learn about more ways MaxEXP can help you keep your holiday momentum.

Don’t Count Out January - Benefit from Your Post-Holiday Shoppers

San Diego Media, Inc. — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:48:46 +0000

The holidays may be gone but the shopping is not over yet! Consumers that do a majority of their shopping after Christmas has doubled over the last year. Many of them are armed with gift certificates, are looking for a little something for themselves, are stocking up for next year or are buying for the next big holiday.

Don’t underestimate these January shoppers. Based on January 2011 Mastercard Spending Pulse™ reports, the 2-3 weeks after Christmas saw higher eCommerce sales than Black Friday 2010! Be sure to take advantage of this increased activity by extending your campaigns or having a January sale. If you’ve invested in Search and/or Video advertising you’ll definitely want to keep them running for another week or two. According to comScore, Americans conducted 18.6 billion total core search queries in January 2011 with Google Sites ranked first carrying 65.6 percent of searches conducted.

MaxEXP makes it easy to cater to these very active shoppers and makes the most of the post-holiday traffic…all without having to wait in line.