If you have a seasonal ecommerce business, here are just a handful of things to prepare your website for Cyber Monday
1. Update all your product images
Everyone knows a picture speaks a thousand words. But you are probably so familiar with your own site that you don’t even LOOK at the photos. Well, now is the time to take a careful audit of your site to ensure all the images are current, high quality, and the most effective representation of your product as possible. While you’re at it, make sure there is a keyword rich ALT tag for every image, and a caption as well.
2. Audit your purchase funnel
We talked about this in a recent newsletter, but it bears repeating. How long has it been since you made a purchase on your own website? Better yet, how long since you observed someone entirely unfamiliar with your site as they go through the purchase funnel? This is an immeasurably useful way of evaluating how user-friendly your shopping cart is. Ask yourself at every point in the process: is it clear what I’m supposed to do next? Are there any confusing or potentially misleading elements that might interfere with a purchase completion? You may also want to take a hard look at your shopping cart abandonment rates. While abandonment occurs for any number of reasons, this metric is a potential red flag for problems with the funnel.
3. Benchmark your competitors
Take a good hard look at your top 3 competitors to see what they are doing well. What keywords are they targeting? How does their brand identity and voice compare with yours? Where are they promoting themselves? How is their Social Media presence? What can you do to compete more effectively with them? Try to identify 3 things each competitor is doing well that you can improve on your site or your marketing effort.
4. Build out your Social Media Presence
Do you have a Company LinkedIn profile? How about a Facebook fan page? A YouTube Channel? A Twitter account? If you do nothing else, establish a presence on these 4 Social Media Networks and populate them with content that is timely and relevant to your business. Check out a recently published book called Inbound Marketing to get the foundation for building a very effective Social Media strategy.
5. Develop 1 or 2 special seasonal promotions
There’s nothing like a limited-time-only special deal to compel customers to buy. Create some excitement around your products and services with a seasonal promotion. Consider a gift-with-purchase, a BOGO (buy-one-get-one FREE or buy-one-get-one half off,) a purchase-with-purchase (a discount on a supplemental product or an upgrade) or even make a donation of a fixed amount for every sale.
Do you have your own “Five Simple Things…” list to share? We’d love to see it. We’ll even feature you in an upcoming newsletter and on our blog, with an SEO-friendly link back to your website! Send your submissions to sales@appliedi.net.
And may we wish a Very Merry Cyber Monday to all!