There’s no questioning social media’s crazed popularity as a pastime, and more recently, the phenomenon has proven to be a valuable marketing/SEO utility. However, Cyrus Shepard at SEOmoz did some excellent experimenting in an attempt to gauge Google+ and Twitter’s actual bearing on search engine results. The findings were valuable and many, but the takeaway seemed to be that traditional SEO techniques (content creation, keyword analysis) still constitute the irreplaceable foundation of any online marketing effort. Check out the graphic below.
See the full experiment at seomoz.org
SEO Pyramid created by Rand Fishkin
No vendor ever wants to miss a sale, so digital-marketing community Econsultancy went ahead and conducted a survey to figure out why online consumers sometimes abandon their shopping aspirations at the moment of truth. Predictably, it seems consumers lose confidence–and momentum–when a product page lacks detailed product information, delivery times, images, and certain other elements. The study indicated that 61% of consumers need thorough product info in order to decide whether to make a purchase.
Review the full report at econsultancy.com
David Mercer of Business Insider doesn’t like to speak in absolutes. Nor do we, but one can’t help but acknowledge the logic behind Mercer’s most recent assertion: That when it comes to e-commerce, nothing is more important than making it easy for visitors to convert. A “conversion” can be anything from making a purchase to signing up for a newsletter, and while making that easy for visitors seems like a rudimentary aim, there are in fact equally simple, overlooked rules an online vendor can follow to advance said aim. Essentially, you’ll want to make your value offering simple, you’ll want to make it clear, and perhaps most importantly, you’ll want to make your user interface easy to use.
Read the in-depth story at businessinsider.com
