10 Simple SEO Tips

More and more people are becoming aware of the term SEO and the positive impact that it can have on an eCommerce website, but not many know exactly how it works, what to expect from it and what they can do to help the process.

1. Site Structure Key to any successful site is the way that the code is constructed, and also the way that the pages are pieced together to create the sitemap. Logic plays a large part in the development of a successful SEO campaign, and a well structured website can help when the search engine spiders are crawling the site looking at the information within the pages.

2. URL Structure A good site structure will ultimately help to provide the basis of a good URL structure. Ideally a URL will contain information about the category, product and any sub category in a structured manner. An example of a well structured URL is www.exactabacus.com/Our-Products/eCommerce-Software/eCommerce-Software-Features_WP-ECOM-FEAT.htm. Within this URL the search engines will be able to follow the path of the navigation easily, and each separate URL is gaining important key words within the URL string. URLs that carry no information and just a product code are not doing anything to help your natural site optimisation as there is nothing of any relevance that the search engines can hook on to for information purposes.

3. Product Names Keep it simple. Whilst the addition of catalogue numbers and pieces of jargon may mean something to you, the likelihood is that they won’t mean much to the end user or the search engines (unless you are creating a trending word). Ideally, look to keep the product names to 65 characters as this is the optimum for the search engines.

4. Body Content When you are writing the body content for the website, ensure that you keep the content relevant to the piece. Ideally, on hierarchy/product listing pages there needs to be somewhere between 150-200 words of which 6% are keywords. For descriptive text on product detail pages, there is a likelihood that the copy will be slightly shorter than 150 words. If you work on a pro-rata basis of the so that anything below 150-200 words has between 3-6% of the copy that are keywords this will add extra weight to your on page structure.

5. Tags If you are using images within the website, make sure that you apply relevant Alt-tags to them. As a guide you should be looking to try and bring in your keywords within the Alt-tags, but using roughly no more than 65-100 characters per Alt-tag.

6. Back Links Back links are a key element to adding a form of authority to a website, and gaining additional movement within the search engines. Links to your domain generated from relevant websites act as a benchmark for the search engines to grade your site on. If many sites are referencing your domain, providing a back link to it, the search engines will see your site as holding a level of authority. As with any form of user generated content, the search engines see this as favourable content and rate it highly in terms of their analysis. However, it is important not to create masses of back links in one fell swoop as this could be seen as spamming, a structured campaign is the way forward.

7. Updates A key to keeping the search engines returning to your site is the constant addition of new material. This can be in many shapes or forms, news, blogs, products, new pages and layouts, images. The more that the site is updated with fresh content, the more the search engines will revisit and spider the website. As long as the content is relevant to your keywords, you will gain benefit in search terms from this process.

8. Relevant Submissions If you are actively using PR within the offline environment then consider distributing the press release via the online PR channels as well. Relevant article submissions can add further back links to your website and can also add additional authority to your site.

9. Go Social Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, can provide a valuable tool for traffic generation to your website. Whilst there is little benefit to be gained from an SEO point of view due to the ‘nofollow’ that is added to the links by the network, you open up a fantastic communication tool and through viral promotions and offers you can gain significant traffic visiting and reposting your promotions across the networks.

10. Be Specific The key to all of the SEO tips that we have mentioned is a consistent one. Be specific. Keep your content relevant to your keywords.

If you want to find out more about what you can do to help your online marketing, contact us at onlinemarketing@exactabacus.comor for eCommerce Solutions, visit www.exactabacus.com

Information Architecture: A Key To Success

Recently, eConsultancy published an article about the importance of Information Architecture (IA) to dispel the belief that it is some kind of remote construct with no apparent significance.

As a digital business we couldn’t agree more with what they were saying as IA permeates every aspect of our lives, and for e-commerce sites, good information architecture is paramount to success.

Effectively, IA helps us to make sense of a world where data is being generated at an unprecedented rate. Our ability to make sense of all this data is heavily influenced by how it’s accessed, organised and delivered.

The numbers, words and pictures have to manifest as something you can interpret, understand and act upon. This is what turns raw data into information.

It is the appreciation, design and execution of these factors that informs usability. For e-commerce sites this is paramount to success. So what to do?

According to the Five Hat Rack rule there are five ways to organise information:

Category: useful for defining different types of goods, particularly relevant in retail.

Time: best for events that happen over fixed durations. Typically more pertinent in content heavy or publishing sites.

Location: ideally used when you are trying to examine and compare information that comes from diverse sources or locales.

Alphabet: useful for organising large bodies of information, particulalrly where the audience might not understand classification by another form or where scientific naming may be used.

Continuum: organises information by magnitude e.g. large to small, least to most etc Ideal for adding weight or value to types of information.

Site search uses information architecture to aid the user, which in turn stimulates discovery, as long as there are relevant search results throughout the experience. Products can be interlinked with relevant non product content (e.g. Video, pdfs, reviews etc) but only with a well structured IA.

Five ways to improve your information architecture

Understand the nature and objective of your site. For example, are you trying to sell product, disseminate information or attract subcribers? A good and inexpensive start to getting your information into these structures is to use card sorting

Profile the type of users who will be visiting the site and what their requirements and actions are likely to be. Reviews and surveys can help here

Test, review and act on the findings! There’s no point jumping to conclusions or rushing off in a blaze of excitement only to find that you are going in the wrong direction or have started off on the wrong foot. It’s best to conduct some simple tests to ensure the approach you take will work (this also applies even if you have an established site!).

Don’t work in isolation. Talk with your peers to learn from their exeriences and work with partners and experts who can add value to what you are trying to achieve.

Understand the monetary value of IA. How many visitors leave your site because they cannot find what they are looking for or because the information is poorly presented?

What is that worth in terms of lost revenue? What is the cost to maintain, develop and innovate your IA and what are the benefits worth to your business?

The sooner you can visualise your information the better prepared and more agile your business will be for the opportunities that will continue to come your way.

 

(Taken from eConsultancy.com, 3rd Feb 2011).

FS Cables Go Live With New Lead Generation Website

St Albans based, FS Cables, has this week gone live with a new lead generation website, designed and developed by Exact Abacus using the 3ex.net software.

FS Cables are a leading supplier of flexible and specialist cables to the B2B market. Whether it’s a popular cable range or a custom-made variant FS Cables can offer the cables, tailor made to the specific requirements.

The web design was managed by Exact Abacus at its Chorley base. Working closely with the client, the website was designed and constructed with usability and navigability in mind, and with a strong focus on being able to deliver good quality leads through the channel. The finished product provides a strong message to its customers and allows for simple lead generation throughout the website.

The FS Cables website is the first of many that we will be working on, with further sites planned for roll out utilising the 3ex.net White Labelling Software.

For further information about FS Cables visit www.fscables.com

Exact To Launch Online Marketing Services

Exact Abacus is constantly looking for ways to help improve our post purchase service offering. Our newest services will certainly help to deliver even more outstanding results for our existing and new clients.

On 1st June 2011 we will officially be launching the new digital arm of the business, EA Online Marketing, which will provide acquisition and conversion techniques for our customers using Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Affiliate Marketing and Social Media Consultancy.

The digital arena is becoming more and more populated, and competition to be heard is becoming increasingly harder. Successful businesses are operating comprehensive online marketing campaigns to ensure that they remain as the online market leaders.

Online Marketing is by no means a simple task, in fact those involved in the industry consider it more of a science. A change of a couple of positions in your natural and paid for search listings can have implications of thousands of pounds on your business either way. However, companies still seem uncertain about the marketing channel, be it through lack of knowledge of the channel or via the lack of understanding on how to capitalise on the tools.

Previously, companies have looked to run Pay Per Click (PPC) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaigns in-house. Whilst in most cases, these campaigns have generated some success the opportunity to maximise their online marketing is missed due to the lack of knowledge to take the programme to the next level.

On this basis, EA Online Marketing, the digital function of Exact Abacus, is keen to work with existing and new clients to deliver the highest quality Online Marketing Campaigns, ensuring that you are truly getting the most out of your websites.

EA Online Marketing offers services ranging from SEO and PPC through to Affiliate Marketing and Social Media. Our aim is to ensure that you are providing your websites with the best possible chance of succeeding, working with you to achieve and surpass your expectations.

With vast experience of managing client accounts ranging from Blue Chip to start up, and budgets varying just as much, our team are extremely experienced in the online marketing field and are keen to ensure that your business is the success that you desire.

If you want to find out more about our Online Marketing Services or if you would like a quote please contact our team on 01772 455052 or via onlinemarketing@exactabacus.com

Habitech Sign Up To 3ex.net Back Office & eCommerce Software

Alton based Habitech has commissioned Exact Abacus’s to install the 3ex.net Back Office and eCommerce software. The 3ex.net software will be used by Habitech to power their eCommerce solution, with the back office software managing all order processing, stock control and warehouse management. In addition to the warehouse management module of 3ex.net, Habitech will also be utilising the mobile 3ex.net hardware within their Warehouses.

Habitech is a Value Added Distributor of Home Entertainment and Home Automation products to the professional fitting industry. Its products target the top end of the home entertainment market with innovative gadgets such as the iRoom, a wall flush mounted docking station for iPad and iPhone.

For further information about Habitech and its products visit www.habitech.co.uk

St John’s College Launches New eCommerce Website

St John’s College, the second largest of the constituent Colleges of the University of Cambridge, has recently launched a new transactional element to its existing website. The add-on to the existing website has been developed so that the College can retail promotional items for scholars past and present to celebrate their Quincentenary.

PMSG, the company responsible for the promotional items/services, created and applied the CSS and assets for the website, which is based on a standard template, utilising the White Label eCommerce Software built into the 3ex.net eCommerce function.

The website features a new piece of functionality created by Exact Abacus in the form of the one page checkout. This tool is developed to aid the conversion rate of a site by keeping the user contained on one page, with no need for additional, unnecessary steps.

The promotional items company, PMSG, will also utilise the 3ex.net back office software to manage all customer relationship management functions, including stock order processing and marketing, whilst the supply chain management software within 3ex.net will help PMSG manage all stock levels and supplier management. The 3ex.net back office software also allows PMSG to manage their current warehouse function from the same platform as the eCommerce Software, Customer Relationship Management Software and Supply Chain Management Software.

For more information about the St John’s College Quincentenary visit www.stjohns-online.co.uk

Drop Dead Clothing Go Live With 3ex.net Back Office Software

Sheffield based Drop Dead Clothing have become the latest company to go live with the 3ex.net Back Office software by Exact Abacus.

The uber trendy fashion brand, whose flagship store is in Brick Lane, London, chose to use the 3ex.net Back Office software to integrate with their existing eCommerce software to manage all of their key operational functions.

The 3ex.net back office software will provide Drop Dead Clothing with the facilities to manage orders coming through their existing website via the customer relationship management software which is integrated within the 3ex.net platform. From the order processing function within the CRM module, Drop Dead Clothing will also be able to monitor stock levels and manage their supply chain through the intelligent reporting built in to the system.

The 3ex.net back office software also allows Drop Dead Clothing to manage their Sheffield based warehouse from receipt and put away of good through to pick pack & dispatch.

For more information about Drop Dead Clothing visit store.iheartdropdead.com

Store It All Commission Exact Abacus for 3ex.net Back Office Software

Lowestoft based fulfilment house, Store It All, has selected Exact Abacus as the new supplier for its Back Office software. Dealing with a number of major household name clients, Store it All specialises in providing order fulfilment services, from fully integrated order processing and stock management, to pick, pack and dispatch, to returns, all from our modern and secure storage facilities.

The 3ex.net Back Office software will be utilised by Store It All to manage its e-fulfilment operation along with the management of logistics contracts. A major benefit of the 3ex.net system for this type of work is that the software is proven to handle up to 50,000 orders a day, and in reality has no boundaries in terms of the flow of volume.

To find out more information about Store It All, visit www.storeitall.co.uk

New Website For Exact Abacus

Leading eCommerce Software Solution provider, Exact Abacus, last week unveiled their brand new company website.

Developed on their own 3ex.net platform and designed on the eCommerce web design software inhouse, the new Exact Abacus website is a great platform for the company to display exactly what the software is capable of and how the platform can help to deliver greater business efficiencies for its clients.

The 3ex.net software, by Exact Abacus, allows companies to manage their eCommerce Website via a sophisticated Content Management System, which is linked to the intrinsic business functions within the platform. Once the orders have been taken via the eCommerce Websites, users can expect to manage all sales order processing, customer relationship management, warehouse management, call centre services and fulfilment services all via the same 3ex.net platform.

BTB Mailflight Go Live With 3ex.net Back Office Software

BTB Mailflight are the latest client to go live with the 3ex.net Back Office Software.

BTB Mailflight are one of the leading providers of mailing, fulfilment, print and postal services in the UK. The company approached Exact Abacus to implement a new back office system for them, to help achieve greater efficiencies and more structure to the way the business runs behind the scenes.

The 3ex.net Back Office software is to be utilised by BTB Mailflight as a fulfilment tool, which will help to manage the high volume of orders passing through its doors each day. The implementation of the 3ex.net back office software allows BTB Mailflight to manage all orders within the business.

For more information about BTB Mailflight visit www.btbmf.co.uk