Want to boost your web-search ranking? Go au naturel!

As a society, our brains have been trained to gravitate to the start of any list, with the belief in mind that, “The cream of the crop rises to the top.” Well, in the world of search engines, the opposite can be true. In fact, appearing at the very top of a web search can be the kiss of death when it comes to a company’s online credibility with clients.

Astute surfers know that if a business’s name appears at the top of a web search, it’s likely not because the company’s won a popularity contest with its customers, or voted ‘Most likely to succeed’ by its peers. Chances are the employer has built pay-per-click online advertising into the company’s digital media strategy and spent a pretty penny to make it happen – a choice that can ultimately help or hurt its bottom line.

When it comes to using the Internet to choose a particular product, or compare a product against another, users don’t want to be “bought” by businesses that have used their corporate spending accounts to guarantee themselves a spot at the top of the shopping list.

In short, if a business wants to build brand loyalty and client trust through its web assets, letting nature take its course, so to speak, should be its modus operandi – not paid advertising.

When a business opts for paid advertising, the powers that be bid on ad placement with the search engine. Those who bid high often obtain prime real estate at the top of a search page.

Sounds like a sweet deal for the brand, right? Not always.

Savvy customers are much quicker to look for organic search results – the list a search engine “naturally” generates when a user looks for an item, rather than a list that’s influenced by financial payment. These factors are determined by a search engine’s algorithm – a set of rules that determines website rankings. Ranking hinges on, amongst other things:

• Relevance of content in relation to user queries,
• Inclusion and placement of keywords and phrases that are indexed by the search engine,
• User experience, and
• The amount of traffic a website attracts on a regular basis - essentially, factors that are heavily shaped by customer reaction and feedback.

Blogger Christopher Lee, a self-proclaimed “organic search strategist, data junkie & rubyist,” offers an example of the success he helped foster for an ecommerce firm by developing a solid organic SEO strategy. His strategy more than tripled the firm’s web traffic and quickly boosted its search ranking to far greater heights.

Relying on SEO can offer a business high long-term return on investment (ROI), as well as brand awareness and increased customer loyalty. These benefits may take some time to ensue, but patience can produce pay-off.

That’s not to say paid advertising doesn’t have a time and a place. Take, for example, a small business that may not have the ability, the know-how or the resources to develop and execute a digital strategy, or a clear understanding of what goes into achieving optimal organic search results. In this case, paid advertising may be the best approach, as it offers businesses the opportunity to be front and centre in a user’s search – a clear advantage when, in all probability, the company has no hope of appearing in the organic search results for potentially hundreds of pages or more.

But when afforded a choice between the two methods of achieving high search visibility, organic SEO is the way to go. Most shoppers want objectivity – not the bias that comes with search results that are bought and displayed, no less conspicuous than the billboard you drive by on your way to work each morning.

Online shoppers want more than deals – they want a say

The genesis of online shopping a few decades back enabled consumers to replicate the excitement of Christmas morning year-round, opening the flood gates for shoppers to purchase the items they need – and the ones they don’t – from anywhere in the world, with the promise of doorstep delivery within days.

What influences their behavior?

Is it convenience? Of course. Selection? Sure. How about not having to deal with pushy retail staff? That’s a given.

But for many, the root of the decision to shop online and, more specifically, choose an item over a slew of similar options from other companies, is based on how well a business does at creating the opportunity for consumers to learn about and connect with its brand online. In other words, how well a business markets itself digitally.

To businesses of any size that, even after all these years, still use excuses like fear, and lack of time and resources to steer clear of what former U.S. vice-president Al Gore coined the “information super-highway” – it’s time to wake up.

Thanks to the Internet, shoppers have a venue to communicate with product wholesalers, marketers, even the upper echelon of a business – as well as other consumers like themselves, who have experience – both good and bad - with the products they’re interested in.

And the fact is, those conversations are happening – with or without your participation, or your blessing.

Today, knowledge is power – and consumers want to be educated. In fact, they demand to be educated. And if a company refuses to educate them, they will take their business elsewhere with a few quick clicks of the mouse. Online shoppers know they wield a great deal of power – and they’re not afraid to use it.

But not only that, today’s consumers want the businesses they support to listen to them. They want to be part of a brand’s story. They want to get behind a company they believe in.

You see, by interacting with their customer base and helping to foster shopper-to-shopper engagement, businesses build credibility with consumers – as well as brand awareness and loyalty.

So for a company to make the cut with shoppers - and potentially generate more sales, it has to make the online experience an easy and inviting one, full of opportunities for a customer to learn, participate, inform and, with any luck, advocate for the brand.

And, you also have to be nimble.

Much like the technology that supports real-time engagement, a digital marketing strategy needs to be flexible and dynamic enough to go with the flow of the buyer.

It’s not difficult to recognize if you’re meeting the mark where your online sales objectives are concerned. With a variety of measurement tools at your disposal, you can quickly see where your web-based efforts are successful, and where you need to close the gaps. You can track peak periods, engagement levels, topics, audience classes, not to mention sales that are directly related to ad campaigns, or even a string of text on a social-media site.

The opportunities are truly endless.

Not sure where to start? Look to other companies who seem to be successfully solving the new millennium’s version of the Caramilk secret. Some of those highly rated online today include Sephora and Microsoft. Both have a dynamic web presence and are extremely active in the social-media scene.

Or if your hesitation stems from fear…to paraphrase the old adage, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself…and… the effects a poor online shopping experience can have on your bottom line.”