Whether you’re starting a new online store or expanding the existing one, building an effective digital marketing strategy is key. Regardless of the industry you’re in, an effective website offers several benefits to your business. It will boost your online presence, improve brand awareness, help in generating high-quality leads, and set you up for success this year. If properly optimized, your website will take your online presence to the next level this year and beyond.
In this post, we will look at key website optimization strategies to enable your online retail business grow in 2023.
Let’s get right into it:
Start With the Vitals
You’ll hear a lot of talk about what you need to do to improve your website’s ROI. But as long as you ignore the vitals, nothing will ever work out.
What are the core vitals for an eCommerce website?
Web vitals are a set of metrics that measure the performance of your website. They include the website stability, interactivity, and page load time. These vitals directly impact the user experience and determine whether your website works for you or not. 88% of users won’t return to your website if they have a bad user experience. A website that constantly crashes or takes forever to load scares away the customers. So if you want to establish a strong online presence and generate leads that convert, start by paying attention to the core web vitals.
Run Paid Campaigns
Targeted campaigns that are tailor-made to different buyer personas – those most likely to click through and complete the purchase, are needed.
These include:
Facebook ads
The world’s largest social media platform allows you to set up a comprehensive advertising campaign, reaching users based on their location, interests and behaviour. With Facebook Dynamic Ads you can get to customers further along the buyer’s journey, like those who have previously visited your ecommerce website, automatically generating ads that feature the products that they’ve browsed or added to their carts.
Instagrams ads
90% of user accounts follow businesses, and you have different Instagram tools that you can use for your marketing. With the ads in particular, these can be in the form of photos, videos, collections, carousels, or stories, and with a graphics/creative team you can push your brand to products through captivating content.
Pinterest ads
This is particularly effective for targeting leads that are or in the early stages of the buyer’s journey. Majority of Pinterest’s users on the platform rely on it to get ideas and discover new products, given that 97% of the searches are unbranded. It’s especially great for ecommerce businesses dealing with home decor, renovations, gifting and fashionwear.
Google Ads
The ads here are promoted to internet users making searches through Google and YouTube search engines. Ads can also get to users through the Google Display Network (PPC). The massive reach of the world’s most powerful search engine – with 3.5 billion daily searches, coupled with the insights from Google Analytics, enables you to set up tailored campaigns.
TikTok Ads
It’s taken the GenZ crowd by storm. 18- to 24-year-olds account for 39.8% of the users, and 25- to 34-year-olds come in at 29%. The millennials and even baby boomers are beginning to also get taken over – with all the engaging content around. The platform is more than just silly videos and memes though. With TikTok’s In-Feed ads you can reach the different demographics to push your content. These ads integrate content in a user’s For You Page, and they can like it, comment, share, and even shoot videos with the same TikTok sound – spreading your reach. There are also Topview ads which are displayed to the user when they open the app, getting their attention instantly, as well as Brand Takeover ads that are like non-skippable YouTube ads. Moreover, you can collaborate with TikTok creators to further expand your reach as part of an influencer marketing strategy. Participate in trends, generate creative content that resonates with both your fan base, and produces real business results
Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly
According to Statista, 58.99% of web traffic in 2022 came from mobile devices. It’s no secret that internet users spend most of their time on mobile devices, now more than ever. The average person spends about 4.8 hours daily (about a third of their waking hours) on mobile phones.
This means that your customers are trying to find you through their mobile devices. So you have to make it easier for them to do just that. The solution? Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Your website should look just as good on a phone or a tablet as it looks on a desktop. It should also load as quickly and the buttons easy to use.
Focus on the Search Intent
Search intent refers to the main goal a user has when typing a query into a search engine. Search intent can either be informational, commercial, navigational, or transactional.
If you want to succeed with your content marketing and SEO strategy, you need to pay attention to your target audience’s search intent. You have to figure out why they are searching for the information online. This way, you’ll be able to develop an effective SEO strategy and ensure that your content is seen by people who are most likely to convert.
So if you’re trying to figure out what someone’s searching for, don’t forget to consider their intent too.
Tackle Technical SEO
While still on SEO, don’t forget about technical SEO. Technical SEO is the practice of optimizing your website for the search algorithm. It helps search engine spiders to crawl and index your site more effectively, thus improving your organic ranking. Google’s search algorithm is dynamic and complex and it can therefore be difficult to keep up with all the changes. But if you keep the basic principles of technical SEO in mind, you should be good to go.
First, your website should be well-coded, error-free, and structured in a way that makes it easy for search engines to index your content. This includes having a clear navigation and using descriptive titles. You should also leverage tools such as Google My Business and Google Search Console to enhance your site’s visibility.
Nail Content Marketing
You’ve heard the cliche “content is king.” And there’s a good reason it has stuck around for this long- because content is really king. According to Content Marketing Institute, content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing while generating over three times as many leads.
Everyone who’s ever spent time online has interacted with some form of content marketing. It’s everywhere, whether it’s a simple listicle or a how-to guide. Content marketing is more engaging, relevant to the customers, and creates value to search engine users. It’s a powerful tool that can propel your website to the next level.
This guide will help you make an effective content marketing plan.
Upgrade the User Experience
User experience (UX) is another buzzword you’ll hear a lot when websites are mentioned. Every eCommerce business gets told to optimize its website for the best user experience.
User experience refers to the overall experience your visitors get when interacting with your website. It includes everything from the web design to layout and online customer care. In a nutshell, website UX is about ensuring that your customers have a positive experience with your brand online. But how do you actually do that? For starters, avoid the following:
Poor web design and cluttered layouts
Slow loading speeds
Complex site navigation
Ineffective online forms and frustrating buttons
Intrusive ads on the website
Confusing call-to-actions (CTAs)
Have a Data Strategy in Place
Data is the driving force behind creating an exceptional digital experience for your website visitors. But to be able to leverage data for your website strategy, you first need to understand that more data doesn’t necessarily mean better data. You should also know the various privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Your data strategy should rely less and less on third-party website cookies (Google is phasing them out in 2024). However, there are other strategies you can implement to collect data and have insight on your customers’ preferences and habits. For this, first-party data strategy would be very effective. First-party data strategy means getting the data directly from your site visitors through surveys, website contact forms, and social media interactions.
Additionally, you should revamp your data analytics platforms. Upgrade from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4)- Google will be shutting down Universal Analytics in July 2023.
Revamp Your Website Strategy for 2023 with MaaS
The eCommerce world moves so fast so it’s very important to regularly keep your website refreshed and optimized for success. We hope these tips can help plan for an effective 2023 website strategy for your business.
As you look for ways to improve your website and boost your online presence, you should go the MaaS way when sourcing for web revamp services. Marketing as a Service (MaaS) ensures that you spend money only on services you need instead of spending a majority of your digital marketing budget on a single function. You get access to a diverse range of web development experience at a fraction of the cost of building an in-house team or contracting a web development agency or a freelancer.
We Can Help
There are so many things to think about when developing your website strategy for 2023. So don’t stress out if you feel a little bit overwhelmed. We are here to take the burden off your shoulders. Salt Marketing has helped thousands of Irish businesses like yours to revamp and optimize their websites for online growth. We would love to have a chat with you and see how we can set up your website for success this year.Get started on building an incredible website.
