Search Engine Marketing Home / News and Events

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
October 2007, Volume 6, Issue 10

search engine marketing

e-Tail Holiday Prep: 4 Search Marketing Steps to Ensure Your Season is Merry and Bright

by Tim Magoon, Search Marketing Specialist, iProspect

At this time of the year here in New England, the temperature starts to drop, the leaves start to change color, and we know it's only a matter of time before we are knee-deep in snow. It's also the time of year when you, as an online retailer, need to put the final touches on your search marketing campaign to ensure your website is ready for the upcoming holiday shopping rush.

Online holiday shopping continues to become more popular for people who want to avoid the long lines and crowds at the mall. According to eMarketer, online retail sales are expected to grow to $42 billion this year, and make up 3.5% of total U.S. retail sales. Retailers need to make sure that their sites are optimized today to allow plenty of time to develop credibility within the search engines.

But if your site's not ready for the holiday rush yet, don't panic; you still have time, but you should start today. The basic tips below will help improve your site's visibility with your target audience this holiday season:

Optimize Now

Ideally, e-tailers should begin preparing for the upcoming holiday season during late summer and early autumn as it can take weeks - sometimes months - for pages to be indexed and then gain visibility within the engines. Start by reviewing your keyword set, ensuring that you have performed the necessary searcher behavior research, and are targeting highly relevant keywords that will drive motivated buyers to your website. Once you have determined that your keyword list is complete, make sure you optimize every key page of your website accordingly. Now is also a good time to update your copy. Review your product descriptions and refresh your advertising language - the search engines love updated content. You may also want to create specific pages for products that will be available around holiday time.

Think Creatively

Retailers should also look at new ways to promote their products and services online. If you have video content, promote it on popular video sites like YouTube and Google Video. The evolution of Google Universal is another opportunity to gain even more page real estate within the natural search results. Also consider an opt-in email newsletter program for bloggers. This is a way to advertise special promotions and sales to the blog community, and potentially gain more relevant external links that could result in more qualified traffic to your website. Have a blog of your own? Great. Now more than ever the Internet is about differentiating and connecting more effectively with customers, and blogs are a great way to do just that. Be smart, start developing your posts now so they will be ready to publish during the frenzied holiday season. Finally, consider adding your products to Google Base. It's a free service that allows e-tailers to post their products directly through Google.

Go Local!

Local search is fast becoming a popular tool for online searchers. Offerings like Google Maps and Yahoo! Local allow consumers to quickly find stores in their area that sell the products they seek. If you are an online retailer with brick-and-mortar locations, make sure that your stores are listed within these local search properties, and that your information is accurate. Many consumers go online to find local store information, and then travel to these retail locations. Accurate information in local search offerings will help drive consumers to retail locations and boost offline sales.

Leverage Paid Search

Pay per click advertising with Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, MSN AdCenter, among others, and paid inclusion with Yahoo! Search Submit Pro (Y!SSP), are also viable options to drive traffic to your website during the holiday season. Unlike natural search, changes made to a paid search campaign can be implemented very quickly, and can produce more immediate results. Fortunately, the inherent speed and flexibility of paid search allows you to continually tweak your campaign to reach your goals. But plan your strategy now, so you're not scrambling at the last minute!

To get the most from your paid search efforts, begin writing ad copy to specifically promote sales and promotions during the holiday season to help drive traffic to those important product pages. Also, consider bidding on "gift" related keywords to target buyers at the beginning of the buying cycle. Google Adwords offers behavioral targeting, and MSN AdCenter offers demographic targeting. Experiment with these tools to better target your appropriate audiences. In addition, Y!SSP gives search marketers more control over the titles and descriptions as well as the actual pages indexed by Yahoo!. Changing the titles and descriptions of product listings to highlight special offers or sales will help boost click-through-rates and online sales. Lastly, consider promoting your products in comparison shopping engines. Shopzilla and NexTag both offer pay per click advertising options for e-tailers. These comparison shopping engines create another avenue for consumers to find your products when they are making their buying decisions.

While it may be hard to believe, the holiday rush will be here before you know it. The steps you take today to improve your holiday search marketing campaign will undoubtedly have a positive effect months from now. Good luck and happy holidays!

Click here to subscribe to the Search Marketing Advisor newsletter now.

Learn more about iProspect's Search Engine Marketing Services.



del.icio.us

Inquire About iProspect's Services
Access FREE White Papers and Webcasts
Subscribe to our FREE SEM Newsletter
View Upcoming Events and Webcasts
Read Our Bylined Articles
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Sitemap
© 2008 iProspect. All Rights Reserved.