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24 FEDA News & Views Growing Your Business Online Part 2 By David Limon, eCommerce Solutions Specialist david@davidlimon.com I n Part I, we discussed the different paths you can choose should you opt to extend your business online and where you can expect each to lead you, the costs involved to startup, and what it takes to get your ecommerce website up and running. In this article (Part II of a five-part series), we will visit the basics of SEO to ensure you build your website for organic success and discuss tools to monitor and grow it organically. What is SEO? The acronym is short for "Search Engine Optimization." But let's back up a bit..... Before we begin, let's set the technical jargon aside and think about the purpose of your website. Grab a pen and paper and define your purpose in a short sentence or two. Business Online Part 2 eCommerce Solutions Specialist By David Limon, eCommerce Solutions Specialist Now, shift your focus to your customers' point of view. Think about what value they hope to gain by visiting your website. In addition, ask others what adds value to websites they like. Now, jot down your list of items. Here are a few golden items that should be on your list. If not, add them: Original Content - Copying content word for word from a cut sheet or another website adds no value to your website since your visitor has most likely seen it several times on other sites. Strong Content - When a visitor comes to your website, they're hoping to find answers. Putting a few words together just for the sake of adding content adds no value. Clear Call to Action - You wouldn't believe how many times I've had trouble finding a "Select Voltage" drop down menu, or worse, finding an "Add to Basket" button. Headings, bullets, and bold help identify calls to action. Solve My Problem - Visitors in the "research" stage are looking for answers to their problems. Being the website that provides the answers, is valuable to visitors and will be a fac- tor when they are ready to buy. Feedback Allowed - When a visitor is willing to offer feed- back (constructive or not) or can't find an answer on your website, the last thing you want them to do is leave. Visitor feedback gives you the opportunity to find issues you may not know existed and helps you identify questions you're not addressing. Give visitors the opportunity to offer feedback via an online form, email, or phone. This will only help you grow stronger. Now take what you wrote as the purpose of your website and what it takes to meet your customers' expectations and apply that to every single page of your website. That is the heart of SEO! The ultimate objective of any search engine is to display web pages in order of relevance to a search query, not to serve technical signals. So the smarter search engines get, the less relevant SEO signals will become. Because of this, the No. 1 SEO rule is write your content for your audience first. If you ever have SEO issues with your website or search engines, or make drastic algorithm changes, your valuable content will 800-651-2711 www.englishmfg.com "The Sneeze Guard With Curve Appeal" ™