E-commerce Website, 1 year on, what are the next steps?

[ChrisAntoniou]

Hi all,

I'm sure i'm at the stage most people find themselves:

• Site designed and built
• Products added to online store
• Basic SEO carried out, titles, tags, H1, etc
• Site has been running for almost a year and gain a little momentum

http://www.internationalcheese.co.uk

Now it's time to turn my attention to pro-active link-building and marketing of the site in order to build traffic and sales.

My question to you guys is: What's the best way to go about implementing this next step?

I have a list of links from competitor sites via OSE, what do I do with them?

I try to post regularly on twitter and Facebook, but they rarely make an impact - i guess i need to look at the content i'm posting - how do i generate more engaging content?

Your help is appreciated, any comments suggestions or feedback on the site design, structure, usability, links etc would be appreciated.

**Can anyone share any real-world examples specifically relating to e-commerce businesses? **

The site is built and hosted on the Shopify platform which i find a pleasure to use. They allow certain on-page seo control, i think i've done as much as I can but i'm open to any suggestions

The site link again is: http://www.internationalcheese.co.uk

Thanks in advance!

Chris

[ChrisAntoniou]

Thanks John,

I will read through these posts. I appreciate you taking the time to bring them to my attention.

Chris

[ChrisAntoniou]

Hi,

Thanks for your advice. The question i have is, how would i decide which product lines are worth putting the time into? How can i get a realistic idea of which products have demand online and which ones don't? Once i have this information then i can begin to look at similar products within competitor sites and build a picture of how links are built.

Thanks again for you time.

Chris

[ChrisAntoniou]

Hi Tina,

Thank you for taking the time to reply, and for your positive comments about the website. You make a great suggestion and i'll look to implement a paragraph at the bottom of the site during my next round of site amends. Shopify certainly does allow for those types of changes.

I have glanced through the competitor links - What criteria should i be using to decide on where I should be focusing my efforts? For example, should i be looking at links with high page and domain authority?

Great ideas about social media, you're right - i think it needs to be more fun and should also involve the audience in some way rather than using it as another broadcast platform. Thanks for you tips and advice

Chris

[ChrisAntoniou]

Hi Dana,

Thank you for the compliments about the site. A lot of work has gone into it from a design and more importantly, a usability point of view. I think we're streets ahead of the competition but it counts for nothing unless we get traffic and sales!

Great advice about the bloggers. My query about this is should i be contacting them or should i be generating content for the site that will get their interest? Is it still 'ethical' to offer them freebies in return for articles / links or will this work against me in possibly creating bad publicity?

Product reviews are certainly in the pipeline, as is video in some form and more blog posts. Thanks for sharing your story of success with reviews, it has further convinced me that this should be high on my to-do list.

Thanks again Dana, your blog for cheese request has been noted

Chris

[john4math]

Take a look at the following recent posts and Q&A thread about content creation in "boring" niches (not to say cheese is boring).  They seem relevant to your question with regards to generating content:

• http://www.seomoz.org/blog/companies-in-boring-niches-creating-great-content
• http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-guide-to-developing-a-content-strategy-for-boring-industries
• http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/whiteboard-takeover-5-awesome-content-ideas-for-boring-niches
• http://www.seomoz.org/blog/define-and-align-a-manageable-content-and-social-media-marketing-process
• http://www.seomoz.org/q/example-of-a-local-boring-niche-site-in-a-relatively-high-competition-area-using-strictly-white-hat-tactics

[danatanseo]

Chris,

Great job on the site. I love it! OnTwitter and FB do you follow every celebrity chef who loves cheese? I bet there are some bloggers out there that would blog for cheese {I am one of them]. My guess is an inbound link from a celebrity chef or food and wine authority site would be pretty valuable. Ask them if they'd consider linking to you if you sent them some free cheese!

Have you considered adding product reviews? I am pretty sure your E-cart integrates with PowerReviews. We have been using them on a little niche site we launched back in January and I have been very impressed with them. It's only 30 USD/month. If you upgrade to the next level you can actually submit your star ratings to Google so they appear alongside your product listing. Might be something to consider?

Great job on the site,

Dana

[TinaGammon]

Hi you have a very nice website I would recommend adding a paragraph or two of text at the bottom of the site about your company, and your products as well if Shopify allows you to. That is one of the biggest drawbacks with Shopify not having full control of the site.

"I have a list of links from competitor sites via OSE, what do I do with them? "

Look at the best links your competitors have created, and see if you can get those links, or some that are comparable. For example if your competitors are listed in certain directories it would be a good idea for you to do the same.

"Can anyone share any real-world examples specifically relating to e-commerce businesses? "

**When it comes to Facebook and Twitter you can use it to hold contests, promotions, sales ect. **

For example you could give away a block of cheese to the follower that posted the cheesiest picture. You will be surprised at what people will do for free stuff. Get your fans involved, and you will go a long way.

[gmk1567]

I would suggest to start from competitive link analysis.

Try to understand how your competitors are building links for each particular product line. This will help you to develop a link building strategy including article posting, developing company blog, social optimization, promotional campaigns, etc.