Google’s New Algorithm Impacts eCommerce

GoogleAlgo1

In case you haven’t heard Google has changed their algorithm last week.

What this means is they are negatively impacting sites that copy, retweet, steal, or paraphrase content in their SERPS.

They want the emphasis placed on original quality content.

“Man, we’ve heard that before…”

But, Mark you say. Hasn’t this change been here all along? Sort of.

(Really) Brief history lesson.

There are a lot of sites that use content clusters, scrapers, autobloggers, etc to game the Google system using paraphrasing. Period. (Do these still work? Google can’t catch them all.)

Google new algorithm wants to improve the relevancy to the end users. So, they want original content to the top of the SERPS.

What you can do to roll with he punches for your eCommerce store?

The truth is if you are not selling info, there is not a whole lot of change in the buy low sell high market of making a living online.

But to get a leg up on your competition here are 7 things you can do to combat this new change from the Google.

1 – Write Original Descriptions for Your Products.
2 – Create a video for each product. 30 to 90 sec in length.
3 – Update your company blog with relevant information that relates to the product you are selling.
4 – Take original high quality photos of your product.
5 – Create a PDF buyer’s guide for your product categories.
6 – Sell a story. Talk about the story where you received your product.
7 – Be transparent with your stats etc. Top 10 lists every new product updates etc.

The important takeaway from all of this is you have to be actively working on your website to get it climb in the Google rankings. There is no magic pill or SEO tactic that is going to bestow instant rankings in Google. You have to do it everyday. If you are not “showing up” to your business everyday than you can’t expect stellar results. Don’t take my word for it. Look around your industry,who are the ones that are really making it? You know who they are. I guarantee you they “show up” everyday.

Talk soon,
Mark

Beginning With The End In Mind

At a recent surf and fashion show...

I was at an industry surf and fashion show this past weekend and got some decent ideas for some new niches, but more importantly got to see the latest color trends, and what happening in the marketplace.

In case you were wondering vintage colors is big this year. Golds, browns, oranges, and greens. You know, like the 70s. Also, pinks and ocean blues are hot too.

But that’s not what I want to talk to you about in this post.

Its about beginning every project your working on with the end customer in mind.

Sooooo many wholesalers got this wrong over the weekend. They only thought of me the buyer.

But, they forgot they are in. The middle position.

I have to buy off them and then retail to the end consumer. So, really the end customer is not me it’s the customer I’m selling to. They priced like the end consumer is me.

There was one person selling a watch for $8.50, with retail of $20. Advertised their own URL on the product itself. By the way, they sell retail on that site as well. Didn’t know any demographics sales data, or anything that would help me make an informed decision. Rigid ordering like $500 minimums. And further more, they were rude about it. Oh, and no protection.

Needless to say we said NEXT!

What was really horrendous is that this was not an anomaly. A lot of folks were doing this. It must be some weird epidemic or something, because what would posses a company to give the royal shaft to their retailers like this?

What can you learn from this?

There is hope.

There was still buying going on (me included). As long as there is commerce going on you can make a few bucks out there. Also, with all these bad wholesalers (and retailers) you can get in a position to set your self away from the pack by actually thinking about what the end is.

Ask yourself what position am I in? Answer in earnest and adjust your strategy accordingly. A great example of this that was not just based on price (which i hate competing on) is great displays for the product that was geared toward consumers. The display was so clever that it eliminated many of the objections that I had about the product, because it took up less sq ft, and was very inviting for customer to shop from.

Buy the items for a reasonable price, that looks great, and I can get it again and again. Sounds like a winner in my books. This is an example of a company that actually thought about it.

Another was less sophisticated but was very friendly and professional service, great pricing which left a good profit margin for me, and a very competitive price for the customers, offered protection, and the product is hot. Another great deal for me and my customers.

Starting to see a trend here?

What can you do to give value? Beginning with the end in mind you can always see some way to add value to your customer.

Until next time, hopefully you got something out of this post (rant). Leave your comments below!

– Mark

Marketing Lessons from Ben Affleck’s The Town Movie.

Ben Affleck’s new movie The Town opened this weekend and is seeing great results.

Great for Ben, the studios, and investors.

But what does this mean for you?

In a world where industry reviews, consumer reviews, comments, Twitter, Facebook, etc., can be found at the click of the mouse or finger.

Good news travels fast, bad news even faster.

So, as a business person you can’t expect to sell junk in the marketplace and still get results.

There are so many people out there that sell utter garbage and they wonder why they are not successful.

People don’t want crap.

The Town Movie
What to learn from The Town Movie.

The Town (Ben Affleck) vs The Devil (M Night Shyamalan)

A classic battle between good and evil. A David and Goliath type match. Ali vs Frasier.

One movie comes highly praised by critics, reached a starving crowd, word of mouth was huge, great acting, correct target market, and buzz..

The other, trashed by critics, flooded marketplace, long history of junk, no buzz, bad premise, wrong target market, tarnished name.

You get the idea.

Guess which movie opened better?

You got it. The Town.

It beat “The Devil” for about 10-15 million in just this weekend. It will far outperform it in the long run.

With the interwebz you can no longer do whatever YOU want. You have to do what THEY want.

The market spoke and you have to listen.

– Mark

P.S. So, what is your takeaway? Is M. Night over? Did you see the movie? Leave a comment below!