3 SEO tips to improve your eCommerce marketing strategy

As more industries transition to an online model, search engine optimization (SEO) demand continues to grow. In fact, the global SEO market is projected to reach over $122 billion by the year 2028. Since SEO can increase website visibility in organic results, it’s a valuable tool for eCommerce brands. Therefore, the rise in eCommerce is a big component in SEO growth.

A key indicator of businesses competing over SEO rankings? Digital marketing careers are taking off – and for good reason. Growth in this sector is expected to increase by 9% from 2016 to 2026 as customer activity on the internet has skyrocketed. These digital marketing managers shape how a company’s products and services are promoted digitally, with search engine optimization leading the way.

As the eCommerce industry continues to grow, the need to compete in a crowded market has led to digital marketing practices prioritizing SEO as part of their marketing strategy. In fact, a strong SEO strategy may be exactly what your eCommerce store needs. Here are three tips eCommerce brands can use to improve their SEO strategy.

Tip 1: Invest in Authentic Content

Every business pays good money for its success. However, when you start as a solopreneur, you may not have enough capital for a dedicated marketing campaign. A good SEO strategy allows you to earn more from organic content rather than just continually buying clicks and views. As such, investing in authentic content will reflect on your brand’s presentation much better than more aggressive advertising and marketing efforts — while being cheaper. After all, most people don’t like sales-y advertisements, but they will happily explore more nuanced content.

On top of this, since SEO includes content creation and curation, as well as content marketing tactics and campaigns, you’re more likely to see a better ROI (return on investment). According to a study conducted by BrightEdge, organic search drives over half of all website traffic. This is good news for eCommerce sellers, as focusing on creating organic content that consumers can relate to will bring in more benefits than expensive content that may feel hollow or disconnected from your audience. Trying your hand at writing blog posts, showcasing your expertise by answering frequent customer questions, or simply regularly updating your website are some great ways to start an affordable SEO strategy.

When looking for SEO companies, ask for case studies and any examples of prior successful SEO campaigns. You can also ask them about their track record with metrics like keyword rankings, backlink count, and organic traffic. It’s also important that you don’t fall for false SEO promises — SEO isn’t an exact science, but numbers won’t lie. Rule of thumb: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Tip 2: Be Patient and Make Sure To Measure Your Success

Ultimately, SEO is about playing the long game. As explained in the Forbes Business Council’s breakdown of SEO efficacy, this strategy takes time to pay off. Ranking high on organic search results means building your brand and business authority, as well as your domain authority (DA) score. The higher your DA, the more traffic your website or eCommerce store will receive. Ultimately, investing in content and SEO can result in gradual but constant growth that will benefit your business over time — without extra expenses.

Planning out an SEO strategy tailored to consumers can put your growing business on the same page as bigger, more established brands. Of course, this requires getting to know your target audience, which may require you to survey existing customers or do some analytics on existing content to see what will work best.

As eCommerce continues to boom, the need for SEO will only continue. Since more consumers approach online shopping with a discerning mindset, merchants must develop more sophisticated SEO strategies to match. With a targeted SEO strategy rooted in the nuances of eCommerce, solopreneurs can solidify their brand and expand their revenue streams. Even the best strategies take time — you need to have all the tools, metrics, and KPIs to help you understand where your website stands and if any progress is made. SEO tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Google Analytics can help you better streamline your SEO strategy.

Tip 3: Improve SEO With Influencers

As a solopreneur, one of the biggest challenges is to find and attract new customers to try your products. Identifying new customers is the most straightforward aim of a good SEO strategy. Getting your online store ranked high on organic search results means your business becomes one of the first to be seen among hundreds or thousands of other companies.

There are a lot of buzzwords that come to mind when talking about SEO strategies, from keywords to content. One buzzword that many SEO experts are banking on, though, is influencers. We’ve previously written about the importance of influencer marketing in today’s digital world, and a solid SEO strategy means acknowledging the role of influencers in helping your website rank higher.

Influencers can help your business reach niche audiences, which is even more helpful if your eCommerce store is a niche of its own. Investing in influencer marketing can help build rapport with potential and existing customers. People are more likely to trust a new brand if they hear them from established individuals — social proof goes a long way. To maximize influencer marketing, building a positive relationship with the influencers you work with is essential. This can lead to a network of other influencers willing to promote your products and services and boost your brand reliability as a solopreneur.

These days, there are influencer marketing tools available that help you find the top influencers within your niche, as well as their engagement rate. Tools such as HypeAuditor can give you a ranking of the top Instagram influencers by country and category, for example, while other platforms such as Affable.ai can provide valuable insights into an influencer’s social media history across platforms from TikTok to Facebook and Instagram, and their impact on your brand or website. If you’re unsure whether or not an influencer will deliver as promised, check their history with other brands. It will greatly help you in the long run to build a good relationship with these influencers as well.

Funding For All Your Marketing Needs

Ready to update your marketing strategy with SEO and influencers but lacking the capital to get started? Marketing costs can add up fast, and when you’re trying to stay in stock, you might wind up short on cash flow. Don’t worry – 8fig‘s got you covered.

8fig offers eCommerce sellers Growth Plans that fund all stages of their supply chain, including marketing. So if you need some working capital to order inventory and pay those marketing expenses, look no further. See how an 8fig Growth Plan can help you take your business to the next level by signing up for a Growth Plan today.