Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM JUNE 2015 58 A new family just moved to Phoenix and is looking to invest in a large, 4K Ultra HD TV set and speakers to put in the new media room. They type in "Ultra HDTV" in Google and aside from the paid Google ads at the top, they find a Wikipedia page, a CNET article, and links to Amazon and Best Buy. Since most consumers begin the process of shopping online, how is local independent AV retailer to compete? It requires knowledge, money, and, oftentimes the most precious resource for the independent audio-video retailer, bandwidth. Most ProSource retailers rely on the dedicated arm of BrandSource Digital Marketing to manage their online presence. But it helps for business owners to have the basics under their belts so, at the very least, they can speak their digital marketing team's language. Here, Mark Baird, Managing Partner at BrandSource Digital, gives us his top Search Engine Optimization best practices so that you can start seeing your website climb up the rankings, thereby garnering your business more exposure and, ultimately, more business. TOP 10 WEBSITE SEO TACTICS 1. Page Content: Producing content relative to your audience is important. Search engines like Google have intelligent algorithms that understand when content is relevant or 'spammy'. Content on your website must utilize keywords for your services and products and must be linkable. 2. Title Tags: Title tags are used on search engine results pages. The most important keywords should be used at the beginning of a title tag. Start with that term; don't end with it. 3. URL: The URL is used to determine the relevancy of a given web page. It's crucial to use keywords in your URLs. 4. Image Alt Text: Many websites don't bother properly labeling their images. The image's Alt Tag provides users details of what the image actually is. This information is also crawled by search engines and helps boost relevancy if you use the right keywords. 5. Internal Links (Anchor Text): Internal links are hyperlinks that redirect a user to a new page in the same domain. As a best prac- tice, use keywords in your internal links (instead of the ubiquitous "click here"). 6. Meta Descriptions: Although these are not utilized in Google search algorithm, compelling meta descriptions can increase a websites click through rate when formatted correctly. Use a call to action and create excitement so that the person will click on your link. 7. Product Catalog: For the AV retailer, having a robust product catalog that includes hundreds or thousands of product pages gives a website much greater chance of being found in search engine results. 8. Blogs: Fresh content with useful and descriptive text that is relevant to the business is key when generating blog posts. Blogs are one of the best ways to keep people coming (and coming back) to your site. A blog entitled "Is the time right to take the 4K Ultra HD TV plunge?" not only attracts those in the market for a new TV, but boosts rankings for keywords related to 4K TV. 9. Mobile Friendly: Google's recent search algorithm update requires that a website be formatted for mobile devices or possibly decline in search rankings. Take a look at your website on an tablet or smart phone and see how the user experience stacks up. 10. Google Analytics: Finally, it's important to monitor your website's analytics to see which keywords are driving consumers to the website. Once you begin to understand how people are getting to your site, you can tailor your site content to begin cultivating an audience. While all of this advice can help you on the road to better search engine results, they're really just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many additional factors that determine rankings. Armed with a little know-how, however, you'll only go up in rankings from here! RO Dave Workman Consumer Electronics Trends Dave Workman is the president of ProSource Buying Group. 10 TIPS TO BOOST YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS Everyone else is doing it, you should too

• Cover