At brick-and-mortar retailers, shoppers can stroll the isles, handle items, speak to clerks, and receive well placed merchandising messages. It’s not that easy for ecommerce merchants. They must find new and inventive ways to engage and convert customers; using well written and persuasive content, great photographs, related product links, and cross-selling tools. In this ever-advancing cycle of innovation, merchandising with video might be the next bottom-line booster.“There is a clear trend that a lot more [online] retailers are incorporating video into their user experience…and we know that video works,” said Kevin Ertell, senior vice president of ecommerce at Borders Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich.     

Merchandising Videos for Small or Mid-sized Stores

While Borders.com is perhaps one of the best examples of well-executed video merchandising in the ecommerce space (with one exception which will be mentioned below), it doesn’t take a billion dollar corporation to successfully use video.

Blendtec, a division of K-TEC, Salt Lake City, Utah, uses simple, easy to implement video to demonstrate its relatively high-end blenders which sell for between $399 and $799 online. The videos discuss the blenders’ features; frequently include recipes for milk shakes, smoothies, bread, or salsa; and essentially sell a blender that might be ten times the price of a Cuisinart at the local discount box store. After watching the videos, those Blendtecs seem worth the price.In addition to its many demonstration videos, Blendtec also produces a series of TV-show like episodes called, Will it Blend. Will it Blend pits shoes, action figures, garden equipment, and even electronics against the Blendtec blender’s powerful motor and steely blades. The series has a massive cult following, with more than 2.3 million viewers on Blendtec’s YouTube channel.

In February 2007, a JupiterResearch survey of 2,319 online consumers found that 46 percent of those surveyed watched online videos at least once a month, while 43 percent of broadband users viewed online videos at least weekly.

“Online video is seen as a mechanism for encouraging site visitors’ engagement (e.g., increasing the duration of site visits) [and] enriching site visitors’ overall experience,” JupiterResearch said.According to the survey, 18 percent of those online consumers with broadband service and 15 low-bandwidth users wanted to engage with product demonstration videos like the ones on Blendtec’s site. 

Potential Performance PitfallsThere is also a danger in offering visitors a poor video experience. The very same JupiterResearch study that found that almost one-in-five broadband users wanted to see video demonstrations, also found that 60 percent “of regular online video users (i.e., those who watch online video at least once per week) are relatively less likely to return to a site for video content if the viewing experience is poor. Also, 43 percent of regular online video users said they would seek their video content from a competing Web site [sic], and 27 percent said they would be relatively less likely to visit the Web site [sic] again for any reason.” 

Is Video right for your site?  It may be.  We encourage our clients to constantly look at the best ways to improve conversion.  As your partners, we are certainly interested in optimizing your site, but we want to make sure you get the sales when people come!  In this way, we will work side by side with you to make sure your site is performing as well as it can be.   

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Well, there are all kinds of techniques to help convert, but first, you need to start with good data.  What is your conversion rate?  How does it compare?  Is it as good as it could be?  Have you settled on a rate that could be improved or do you not even know it?  Imagine your company doubling it’s sales if you were to simply improve your conversion rate from 1% to 2%.  
From an SEOmoz post:

Supposedly, the magic number is 2.3 as an average for all industry segments, but this goes considerably up and down depending on the vertical. Electronics, for example has an average of only 1.1%, while catalog e-tailers average a whopping 6.1% (my guess is that this is due to the traffic that gets driven to the site from the catalog with the specific intention of making a purchase).     

If your site isn’t achieving these rates, there are two places to look - on the site itself, including design, usability, layout, navigation, pricing, stock, etc. and at the traffic sources. The best website in the world won’t convert visitors if they’re targeting the wrong keywords.   

This site gives you some of those magic numbers as well as some great tips on conversion.  

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PPC is something that the client has been able to pick up and play with themselves prior to talking to an SEM pro.PPC is plug-and-play web marketing that works out of the box, SEO is perceived as requiring a pre-existing skill set that doesn’t do anything overnight.I often find myself driving to work instead of cycling because it’s quicker and easier. Unfortunately it’s also more expensive and not as good for me long term.  I know this but…      

 How many of us can relate to this statement?  We hate disciplining ourselves in the short term for long term gains.  

What we are seeing in our agency is that because of the down turn in the economy, companies are asking us to work on their SEO because they see it as a wiser investment in the longrun. We keep needing to tell our clients that although SEO has a higher ROI in the long run, short term gains are seen quicker with paid search.     

In the midst of an economic recession though, companies are forced to work through these short term disciplines in order be the most efficient with their marketing dollars.

It seems like everyone’s answer is right in line with mine. Companies don’t like or understand PPC more (though they like to think they do), it just gets more money because it’s trackable and the results are immediate. At least in the US, business owners are all about instant gratification. Only now in a down economy do they see that investing in long term things like SEO/content is worth their dollars more. 

SEOs and the industry can do more by education only. We have to focus more on explaining that there is no secret formula, no magic. SEO is just like every other branch of marketing, just a little more technical. Ask an ad buyer, is there a specific path they use to get sales out of a magazine placement? Nope. They learn about the audience, mold the message and look of the piece to match, and then set it out there. It takes time to craft that message and get it right, it takes time to brand build. In SEO, it’s the same thing. This is not a black craft as many business owners think. It’s just forcing them to marry marketing and IT, which can be very scary sometimes.

A down economy is the perfect chance for hearty businesses to focus on SEO, but only if they are in it for the win. It’s a strategy, sure, but it’s got to be for the right reasons. Developing good content for the benefit of the end user has to be the end goal, not just to gain more business. That comes with the focus on the end user. Cause and effect.      

 Well said.   One of the suggestions as to why companies use PPC more is that they like the control.  They like how measurable it is, even if the ROI is not as good as SEO.  But with the downturn, they are forced to work through their dislike and fears of SEO because of the obvious long term benefits.  

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There’s a big disconnect in the way marketing dollars are allocated to search engine focused campaigns. Let me highlight: 

Not surprisingly, search advertising should continue to be the largest category, growing from $9.1 billion in 2007 to $20.9 billion in 2013.- Source: C|Net News, June 30, 2008OK.

So companies in the US spent $10 billion last year on paid search ads, and even more this year. How about SEO?

SEO: $1.3 billion (11%)- Source: SEMPO data via Massimo Burgio, SMX Madrid 2008According to SEMPO’s data, it’s 11% for SEO and 87% for PPC (with another 1.4% for SEM technologies and <1% for paid Inclusion).  

Conclusions: SEO drives 75%+ of all search traffic, yet garners less than 15% of marketing budgets for SEM campaigns. PPC receives less than 25% of all search traffic, yet earns 80%+ of SEM campaign budgets.      

 Where are your marketing dollars going?   As told in the story by the above numbers, the majority of Search Marketing dollars are by far being spent on PPC as opposed to SEO.  If SEO drives 75% of all search traffic, the obvious questions is WHY???  

When deciding where to spend the marketing budget, there is one all important factor - ROI. SEO outscores PPC by a long shot of page visibility and clicks, and yet people continue to make poor decisions on where to allocate their marketing budget.  Many people can grasp PPC easier, and their instant gratification itch is scratched.  But it is a severe mistake not to invest in SEO for the long run.   

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Several shipping companies, like UPS, offer the advantage of providing and Account Rep.  Working for you, this person can help you save money in place you may not realize.  An Account Rep can help you get a better incentive, offer a new rate plan, negotiate international rates, set up paperless invoices and introduce you to UPS WorldShip.  You can also use one UPS account number with all of your suppliers, which will save you money.  

While it may take a little time to integrate new changes, more often than not you will be saving money for your business.  Plus, you’ll have a contact at UPS or another shipping company whenever you need them.  

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Have a online store already?  Take advantage of this current panic by being creative with free shipping promotions.  Several stores are reminding their customers of the high gas prices.  EBags.com, a purveyor of items like dainty clutches and backpacks, sent more than a million members an e-mail message late last month with an illustration of gas pumps set at various migraine-inducing prices. Then there was a pump that said “eBags.” It was set at $0.

More and more people are turning to the web, which means new people are becoming familiar and comfortable with online shopping.  Online sales are expected to climb from $175 billion to $200 billion this year, which makes it a perfect time to enter or grow in the ecommerce world!   

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1.  Make sure your content applies to your specific audience.  Whatever product you are selling, have quality content that relates - a no brainer.

2. Have Unique Content - more and more websites are getting in trouble for having duplicate content on their sites or just grabbing it from another site.  While it may take a bit more time, take the effort to include unique, quality content.  A great place to do this is in your products’ short descriptions. 

3.  Have a Personality - Let your content be unique to you.

4. Be Grammatically Correct - Make sure your content is understandable and easy to read.

5. Keep it Fresh - Try to update your content as much as possible.

 Ok, so while this is a bit basic, it is still so crucial and gets overlooked.  Google and other search engines want to rank the most relevant and worthy pages for specific keywords.  So, take the time to make sure you are giving them the very best through quality content.

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 Dear _____,

Thank you for ordering from  ____  - we strive to ship orders by 4pm each business day.

If you have any comments or suggestions for us, please reply to this email.  We value your feedback.

If you happen to have a website or blog of your own, please consider placing a link to ______.com - Every link helps!

Thank you again for your order!

Kindest Regards, 

The _____ Staff

 The desired effect is a soft sell request to your happy customers, who in turn thank you by placing organic and natural links on their blogs or websites linking back to you!  This can also be done by offering a discount off of their next purchase or even cash back.  Some even weigh the discount based on the PR of the site sending you the link.  Others make it extremely easy by offering a simple cut and past line with the desired anchor text.  Regardless of which technique you use, this is a great way to boost your PR and get lots of juicy links pointing back to your site from your happy customers.

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1.  Appear “all the time” - If your brand is showing up consistently in the top spots on the search engines, people will repeatedly see you and remember you.   This happens through tons of content, so that you can show up for lots and lots of tail searches.  It’s tough as a small company.  
2. Optimizing Branded Queries - If someone performs a search for your company.  If you can own the results for your brand, some top searches, this will help you.
3. Social Media Marketing - In something like Delicious, Digg, or Yahoo’s home page, you can reach lots of people with your message.  They may not be interested in your product, but reaching them is just like a Branding strategy.
4. Owning High Value, Generic Searches - If you own a generic search phrase like Cincinnati Office Space and have your domain come up with all of it’s links, the search engines are saying you are equivalent to that search, and it’s extremely helpful for branding.  Check out Aaron Wall ranking for “seo book” as an example.  

When creating an overall ecommerce strategy, it’s important to think through the mixture of both SEO and Branding.  To be too far weighted one either side could put you at risk.  Developing a strategy with both included will give your company a greater chance at longevity.  

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