How To Optimize An Ecommerce Site

If you have an ecommerce site - where you sell your own products, sell products as a reseller, or an affiliate site that is set up as an online store - you might be scratching your head trying to find ways to properly optimize it.

Experts will tell you that Content Is King! but its not always easy coming up with content ideas for an online store. And unless you sell one-of-a-kind items, even your product descriptions are probably duplicated across the web on other ecommerce sites.

Here are 7 simple ways to optimize an online store or ecommerce site, even if you sell a common product. Use these easy steps to get better search engine rankings, more links and more traffic...

1.

First, you want to make sure that each page of your online store is properly optimized. Consider creating a page for each individual product in your store so that you can take advantage of longtail keyword phrases.

2.

Keep in mind that on-page optimization is only a small part of the equation. Quality inbound links to each page of your site will carry even more weight with the search engines.

The goal is to get links. Of course, its harder to get links to sales pages than it is to get links to quality content - so your job becomes adding something link-worthy to your ecommerce site...

3.

For unique content, start with your product descriptions. Even if it is a common product, re-word the descriptions so that they are unique as possible. Add as much detail about the product as you can. Consider live chat software that allows you to interact with and respond to questions from your customers in real time.

4.

Cross-reference related items between individual product pages. You might mention accessories, or even similar products. This adds relevant content to each page, and also creates healthy internal linking.

5.

Product Reviews make for great content on an ecommerce site, and they also attract potential buyers. Use Social Q&A sites such as MyLot.com, Yahoo Answers and Askville.com to request reviews. You can post a casual query and ask for user experience & feedback (noting that you may reprint their answers on your-ecommerce-site.com).

Another option is to post a classified ad on Craigslist.org and offer a small fee for stories/reviews.

6.

Go ’social’ with it! Create profiles on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other social sites. Put feelers out on each of these sites to find people who use and love your products. Invite them to submit a photo & brief story/review to be featured at your-ecommerce-site.com

You might also consider running a contest and letting them vote for best photo or best story submission. Make it fun!

7.

Add quality content to your online store that will help your visitors make their buying decision. Ideas might include "how to choose your first __" or "how to use __ properly", just as examples. Get creative. If you sell camping gear, you can write a checklist for the products they will need for their camping trip. If you sell car parts you can publish how-to tips.

Of course, its always best to let your target market tell you exactly what they want to read. Use WordTracker to research longtail keyword phrases in your niche. Often these 4-5 word phrases that are being searched will generate great ideas for content that you can add to your website.

Best,

p.s. Want more great content tips? Sign up to get notified when I release Easy Unique Content at http://www.easyuniquecontent.com