With the holiday season just around the corner, it still isn’t too late to tweak and optimize a dedicated holiday search marketing campaign. The fourth quarter of the year is essentially a ‘party season’ of sorts for those that have marketed products online, and even with consumer spending on the down trend this year, Christmas will still account for a large percentage of North American affiliate earnings. Here are five actionable tips to ramp up your promotional efforts ranging from e-commerce optimization, link building, local search, and pay per click marketing:

• Shopping Cart Optimization - The holiday season presents a great opportunity to optimize shopping carts for SEO, and this is the proverbial ‘low hanging fruit’ if you’re using a commercial shopping cart, or a well known one such as zen-cart. Common things to avoid include:
  • Multiple session ID’s
  • Unnecessary depth in directory structure
  • Duplicate content through product archives
  • Sitewide changes by SEO plugins - These will cause a short term dip in rankings that you really don’t want!

• Link Building & Organic SEO - Ideally, you should have crossed your half way mark in building links for the holiday season. While low level link building such as blog commenting and directory submissions provide good passive SEO, more active efforts such include:
  • Paid links - Directly bought, or through sponsorships and partners.
  • Widgets & Quizzes- Incorporate pop culture and symbols of the holiday season in to build links.
  • Good Ol’ Link bait - Nothing new here. Get viral, and spread the season’s cheer on social networks.
• Local Search Optimization - Don’t ignore the humble one-box for local shopping queries. Some tips to follow include:
  • Change LBL titles to reflect holiday shopping keywords such as ‘New York Toy Store | Christmas Gifts‘.
  • Include review requests in all holiday email campaigns with links to appropriate local business citation sources, in the US & Canada.
  • Ask staff, family, and friends to leave reviews on Google Local and on other sources with context to Christmas gifts (boosts conversion).
  • Use Google Coupons to stand out from the rest of the listings.
  • Complete all fields in the local business centre, including store hours, methods of payment, links, contact details etc.
  • Buy P.O Box addresses in cities or areas represented by your business, but where you do not have a physical location.
  • Insert keywords in your business name for core products and/or services. This can boost conversions by as much as 1.8x
• Pay Per Click Marketing - With PPC offering the best insight into tracking ROI metrics, its only natural to tweak every variable as much as possible, including:
  • Keyword Type Matching - Be careful to include the right mix of broad, phrase, and exact match to get a good mix of traffic versus conversions.
  • Local Business Ads -Local ads stand out from the rest, and when it’s the holiday season, standing out from the rest can be a very profitable move.
  • Day Parting (Sort of) and Geotargeting- As Christmas grows closer and closer, people will be less likely to buy items that need to be shipped, and will prefer buying locally instore instead.Time your ad coverage by real buying cycles i.e lower your spend on keywords that drive non-local customers to your business the day before Christmas (not applicable to e-tailers or e-commerce sites).
• Email Campaigns - Email campaigns can have great conversions provided the following are kept in mind:
  • User Generated Content rocks, and customers are far more inclined to buy top rated products, than the one’s being promoted at discount.
  • Call to Actions have never been more important, as a potential customer is bombarded with many similar offers.
  • Incorporating shareability into your email contents - Tell a story that promotes a product, engages customers to take a quiz, and to then forward offers to their friends to get a bigger discount, coupon, or freebie.
  • Design is important as brand recall is tough to gain especially when everyone else is advertising in ‘red and white’.

-Retailers Using Free Shipping, New Web Features to Hook Shoppers-

Washington, November 5, 2008—Though the holiday season will be challenging across the board, online retailers are expecting more than coal in their stockings. According to results of the 2008 eHoliday Study, conducted by Shopzilla® for Shop.org, more than half of online retailers (56.1%) expect their holiday sales to increase at least fifteen percent over last year. However, the rate of growth is slowing: three-fourths (77.5%) of retailers surveyed last year expected their sales to grow more than 15 percent.

“Online retailers are resilient, but not immune, to the challenges of this holiday season,” said Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org. “Retailers will be heavily promotional to attract shoppers on a budget, but have also invested in new site features to improve the online buying experience.”

Despite an increase in transportation costs, retailers do not plan to cut back on popular free shipping promotions. This year, the majority of retailers (78%) plan to offer free shipping with conditions* at some point during the holiday season, consistent with last year’s levels. Retailers are compensating for increased shipping costs by renegotiating terms with shipping providers (40.4%), closely managing company headcount (33.3%), and reducing other promotions (15.8%). In addition, one-fifth (21.3%) of retailers say they will require a higher purchase amount for customers to be eligible for free shipping and one in ten (10.6%) will cut back on usage of free shipping with no conditions.

In addition to free shipping promotions, many retailers have rolled out new website features to improve the customer experience. Features like improved site search, which 42.9 percent of retailers added or improved since last holiday season, will help customers navigate sites more easily. Other features like product video (42.6%) and customer reviews (32.7%) can give shoppers more information to make buying decisions. For price-focused shoppers, retailers have added and enhanced both clearance sale pages (27.1%) and featured sale pages (31.3%). In addition, retailers continue to experiment with social networking as nearly one-fourth (25.0%) of online retailers added a Facebook page this year.

As in previous years, consumers acknowledge that 24-hour shopping convenience is one of the main reasons why they choose to buy online (58.6% this year vs. 58.5% last year). Shoppers’ other top reasons for buying online instead of in stores include not wanting to fight crowds (41.1%), easy price comparisons (36.4%), and free shipping (33.3%). Also, nearly one in four shoppers (23.1%) says they are spending more online due to high gas prices, more than double the number which said the same last year (9.0%).

Consumers who plan to spend less online this year seem to be reacting to their economic circumstances, not to previous online experiences. According to the survey, one in five shoppers (20.1%) says they simply have less money to spend this year for the holidays, while 10.6 percent cited a poor economy as a factor. One in ten (11.0%) plans to spend less online this year due to high shipping charges.

“As budget-focused consumers begin holiday shopping, many are starting on the web to look for gift ideas and research products,” said Helen Malani, Shopzilla’s Online Shopping Expert. “Whether they make those holiday purchases online or in stores, the Internet will have a tremendous influence on holiday sales this year.”

With the Internet becoming more of a mainstay in the retail landscape, many retailers will be using their storefronts to promote company websites this holiday season. According to the survey, three-fourths (74.3%) of multichannel retailers will offer email registration in stores for customers who don’t yet subscribe. Nearly as many (71.4%) will advertise websites in stores and more than half (51.4%) offer the ability for store associates to place an online order for customers.

The Importance of Online Merchandising
In today’s world of the empowered consumer, retailers must meet unprecedented expectations regarding online merchandising. Building a profitable ecommerce site takes more than just design and technology. For an e-commerce site to succeed, it has to merchandise its products effectively.

To achieve this goal it is necessary to take full advantage of your ecommerce solution’s built-in merchandising features and to creatively implement tactics and techniques that have proven effective. Here are some tips for properly merchandising your online products.

Think like your customer
Imagine that you’ve just landed on the site for the first time. Can you find what you’re looking for? Place products in more than one category when applicable, or wherever relevant. Place links to information wherever it’s needed. The easier it is for your customers to find what they want, when they want it, the more likely they are to buy.

Are your prices, offers, and terms easy to understand?
Keep it simple. Make sure your toll free phone number, pricing, shipping, add to cart button, etc. are all clear and easy for anyone to find with as little thought as possible. It’s a fact that the more you make people think, the more likely they’re moving on to another site. A confused customer is a lost customer.

Are your pictures your best salespeople?
A picture is really worth a thousand words. Therefore, add additional product pictures to close the sale wherever applicable. Keep in mind that most people don’t actually read ecommerce sites, they scan them. Make sure you’re getting their attention with the right information to convert them into buyers.

Advertise. Up-sell. Cross-sell.
Your ecommerce platform should allow you to implement a host of cross-selling and up-selling techniques aimed at putting the right products in front of the right customers at the right time.

Homepage ads are a must and category ads are just as important. Consider organizing your products into categories and developing a series of ads for the top of each category page.

Advertisements designed to draw a visitor to various product groupings or promotional items can be extremely effective (for example, “Gifts for the Nature Lover”, “On Sale Now”, “Best Sellers”, etc.). Be sure to implement strategies for cross-selling and up-selling and if your ecommerce solution offers specific features to help you perform this task… use them to their fullest extent! Mountain Commerce sites come equipped with “popular products,” “also purchased products,” “related products,” and special and featured products. Call us if you need help or have questions about using these Mountain Commerce Up-selling features.

Have you marketed your website today?
Market your website once it’s live and continue doing “something” to market it every day thereafter. A website that isn’t actively working to market itself on a continuous basis, isn’t going to grow and thrive. As with any endeavor there’s no free lunch.

Henry Blodget | November 18, 2008 12:01 PM

US retail eCommerce grew 1% year-over-year in October. One percent—that’s not a typo. A year ago, US retail eCommerce was growing 20% year over year. Six months ago it was growing 15% year over year.

To call this a “slowdown” would be an understatement. This is called smashing into a brick wall.

One reason for the crash? eCommerce spending by consumers with incomes under $50,000 is now shrinking.

Comscore:

Retail E-Commerce Growth Rates Show Six Consecutive Months of Slowdown

A review of monthly retail e-commerce growth rates depicts the slowdown in the U.S. retail economy.  Retail e-commerce growth rates have fallen from a height of 28 percent in August 2007 to a growth rate of just 1 percent in October 2008. October represents the sixth consecutive month this year of slowing growth rates.

______________________________________________________________________
Retail E-Commerce (Non-Travel) Growth Rates

Excludes Auctions, Autos and Large Corporate Purchases

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore, Inc.

Month      Y/Y Percent Change

Jun-07            25%

Jul-07            22%

Aug-07            28%

Sep-07            19%

Oct-07            19%

Nov-07            20%

Dec-07            18%

Jan-08            12%

Feb-08            14%

Mar-08             9%

Apr-08            15%

May-08            12%

Jun-08            11%

Jul-08             8%

Aug-08             6%

Sep-08             5%

Oct-08             1%

______________________________________________________________________

Negative Growth Rate among Lowest Income Earners

A three-month trailing average of retail e-commerce spending reveals that the low and middle-income segments are responsible for much of the softness. Overall, online retail spending from August through October grew just 4 percent versus year ago, with spending declining by 3 percent among households making less than $50,000. Households with income between $50,000 and $100,000 showed marginally positive spending growth (1 percent), while those making at least $100,000 increased their spending at a healthy rate of 14 percent.

______________________________________________________________________
Retail E-Commerce (Non-Travel) Growth Rates by Income Segment

Excludes Auctions, Autos and Large Corporate Purchases

Aug-Oct 2008 vs. Year Ago

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore, Inc.

HH Incomes Segment        Aug-Oct Y/Y             Share of Total
Percent Change     Retail E-Commerce Dollars Spent

$0 - $49,999                  -3%                      21%

$50,000 - $99,999              1%                      45%

$100,000+                     14%                      35%

Grand Total                    4%                     100%

It seems that everyone is always trying to improve on the poor old “For Sale” sign.

I was reading a recent Blog at Sellsius which speaks about Custom Fit Realtyin Wisconsin who is using Matrix codes on its house for sale signs to reach mobile users. The company’s new technology allowing buyers to take a photo of a “For Sale” sign on a house, and then get taken to the property information through their smart-phone browser.

I’ve got to say I was underwhelmed. While this latest piece of technology is pretty neat, and one that I would want to try just because I like to play with toys. I don’t think it ie unique or even new. People have been inventing ways to disintermediate the salesperson as long as there have been sales signs. Without thinking deeply I can think of…

“Talking” Houses - FM transmitters that play the property information for the potential buyer. This is actually more efficient since almost every auto today has an FM receiver, while not every phone is a smart-phone.
Property Brochure Boxes - OK , so this is a little Lo-Tech, but come on, its doing the same thing isn’t it? And it has the advantage of being a little more durable and easier to share than the site on a cell phone.
Marketing Voice Mail Boxes which use a code number on the sign to allow people to call for property information. Again, every mobile phone user can do this, while the smart-phone, though more common is not yet ubiquitous.
Single Property websites posted on the property sign
MLS number and Company Web site printed on Yard Sign Riders
All of these marketing support systems have one thing in common however. You need to have located the property, and be sitting in front of it to utilize them. So the marketing system that worked here is obviously the Yard sign - the original real estate technology to advertise a property for sale. (In all fairness, they might have located the property through print advertising, but if they had called the office or seen the property on a website, they would have already had the information these systems provide)

We need to remember that the purpose of a real estate brokerage is to make money, and that under the most common current business model, that means that our sales associates need to interface with consumers at the earliest possible point in the sales curve. So why would we want to provide them with yet another method of avoiding contact with a sales associate , who should be able to provide them with better information than a website , pre-recorded message or property flyer?

While brand backlash (one example of a Groundswell) from social media tools are certainly an impact to the reputation of companies and how their consumers react, there are many different levels of severity from each.

First, see this list of brands that were punk’d from social media, I’ll add some categorization to each of them as I can best gauge in coming days.

To help gauge the differences, I’ve constructed these categories of brand backlash storms (leaning on the Hurricane categorization)

Category 1: Consumer revolt and use social media tools (Twitter, Blogs, YouTube) to tell their story, the brand doesn’t flinch, and there is no mainstream media coverage. Examples: A weekly, if not a daily ocurance.

Category 2: The backlash extends beyond just social media tools (Twitter, blogs, YouTube), the brand makes changes based on consumer feedback, and coverage extends to mainstream media and press. Examples: Louis Vuitton brandjacked, Exxon Mobile’s Twitter experience.

Category 3: Consumers use social media tools to spread backlash and there is considerable mentions from mainstream press. the backlash is more severe resulting in significant changes from the brand (hiring, firing, processes, policies or new teams put in place). This becomes a case study for social media books and is often discussed in social media culture. Examples: Dell Hell, Comcast Cares, Kryptonite Locks, Wholefoods CEO.

Category 4: Number three plus short term financial impacts to the brand resulting in reduction of sales, revenue, increased costs, or impact to stock price less than 30 days. Examples: Apple Stock temporarily sinks from blog rumors.

Category 5: Number three plus brand backlash from social media tools resulting in long term financial impacts to the brand including reduction in sales, revenue, increased costs, and most importantly, stock price lasting over 30 days. In the most extreme cases, it causes closure of the business or bankruptcy. Examples: None.

I hope this puts things into context when we see brand backlash incidents occur.

A new way of looking at industry structures reveals startling patterns of inequality among even the largest companies.

Major crises and downturns often produce shakeouts that redefine industry structures. However, these crises do not fundamentally change an underlying structural trend: the increasing inequality in the size and performance of large companies. Indeed, a financial crisis—for example, the one that erupted in 2008—is likely to accelerate this intriguing long-term tendency.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Growth/Using_power_curves_to_assess_industry_dynamics_2222

We’ve blogged about the benefits of free delivery as an effective sales driver, and it seems that more retailers are offering it this year.

According to a post on This Week in Etail, the number of US retailers offering free shipping has jumped from 31% to 41% over the past couple of weeks as they attempt to appeal to holiday shoppers.

Judging by some of the emails I’ve been getting recently, more UK retailers are also offering the incentive this Christmas.

The posts also reference comScore stats showing that, perhaps due to harsher economic conditions, more customers are looking for sites that offer free shipping this year.

In the survey 72% of respondents said that, if an etailer stopped offering free shipping, they would shop at a competitor with the offer instead.

A quick look at Google Trends stats for ‘free shipping’ shows that searches for the term follow a seasonal pattern, suggesting that it is a big potential differentiator at Christmas:

I’ve noticed plenty of UK retailers are now offering free delivery for the Christmas shopping season. Amazon introduced free shipping for orders over £5 recently, and others have followed suit since then.

Some, like Waterstones and John Lewis offer it regardless of spend, and plenty more, Tesco and Borders included, for orders over a certain threshold.

I searched on Google Trends for ‘free delivery’, a predominantly UK search term, and a similar pattern emerges:

I also searched Google UK for ‘free delivery’, to see which UK retailers are ranking well for the term:

A big win here for John Lewis, Game and Play.com, which have all included the term in the title tag, ensuring both a prominent ranking on such searches, as well as communicating the offer to customers before they have to even click on the site.

So, free delivery offers, as well as being an effective promotional device, can also be a useful SEO tool.