Any advice to raise conversions and PR for our new eCommerce sites?

We have two eCommerce sites that we have recently started.

champion cue dot com

and

billiard affiliates dot com

We already have a loyal customer base from Amazon and eBay and we are on Google Shopping. It seems to be a pain in the you know where to get listed on Bing's martketplace and so I was wondering if anyone has any ideas about how to increase our page rankings? I have tried to create some backlinks that are relevant by commenting in related blogs and I submitted our site on some tool (I think it was indexking but i'm not sure) and it allegedly submitted our site to be indexed by thousands of websites. I know that SEO Ratings don't change over night but We have been getting daily organic traffic as well as referral traffic. Our WIX Site champion cue dot com has gotten multiple weekly purchases and that one was set up first. Our opencart {billiardaffiliates.com} website however hasn't had any purchases or signups at all. Any advice? Thanks in advance! I'm learning so much from this forum.

Also, is it worth it to put adsense on on our page? or would it just make it look worse?

 

anybody?

 

I'd look into improving the loading time of your sites -- they load pretty slowly, and this is something that Google really notices and will ding you for when it comes time for your site to be crawled.

Beyond that, one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to market your brand, and build a lot of goodwill with Google in the process, is by starting a blog and maintaining it regularly.

Content marketing is probably one of the best strategies for a site like yours. You might even want to look into a hired-gun writer type who can help you with this.

I'd start a blog and make sure to create and curate a bunch of great content that appeals to your audience and their lifestyle.

I see that you're active on Facebook -- but your posts have literally zero engagement. It's important to remember that when you're working with content marketing, you want to appeal to your CUSTOMERS. So only posting about your inventory is kind of a kiss of death.

Blogging consistently helps you out in a ton of ways. It loads your page with high-quality content, which will make your site shoot up in the search results. Google LOVES a good blog that publishes a lot of quality content.

It also builds trust and authority for your brand. Think about it -- if someone is looking for pool cues, they might wind up on your site. Maybe they're not at the point in the purchasing funnel where they're ready to click that "Buy Now" button...but maybe they notice that you have a blog. Interesting. Why not click on that? Who doesn't love some free content.

Then this customer gets to your blog. They start reading. They're amused. Surprised, even, that a billiards supply website has such an engaging blog! What your blog is about is up to you, but go with an editorial plan that will appeal to your audience. Nightlife is a great one -- focus on things that people who dig billiards would enjoy. Heck, you could even just make your blog ENTIRELY about billiards. Industry news, think pieces, etc. And you don't have to CREATE all that content yourself. Curation is a huge part of blogging -- resyndicated content is everywhere. You can't really go to a popular blog and find posts that DIDN'T originate somewhere else. And that includes heavy hitters -- Gawker, Lifehacker, The Verge, RGB -- they all resyndicate content.

Just remember the rules for creating/curating content for content marketing: entertaining, useful, informative. Publish short little ebooks about how to improve your pool game. Publish how-to guides that show your customers how to best take care of their cues. Put material out there that ACTIVELY helps your customers and makes their lives better.

So now back to this customer. She's now seen your blog. It's enjoyable. Entertaining. And now -- even though she didn't buy a pool cue -- that customer is coming back. Maybe it's because she's bored and wanted something fun to read. Your site is in her mind because you served up some great content via your blog.

...and when that customer is ready to buy a pool cue? Who's she going to think of first? She's going to come to YOUR website, because you've been serving up FREE content that has actively made her life better. And now, not only have you made a sale, but you've built authority around your brand, and quite possibly made a customer for life.

 

Great advice! I will definitely be working more on our blog. Thanks for that!

 

No problem. I can't remember what it is -- but isn't there a specific name for the niche of games that one usually plays in bars? Stuff like darts, shuffleboard, billiards, etc? Anyhow, I think you'd do a REALLY great job blogging if you focused your content on that type of stuff. News, tips to improve your game in various ways, etc.

I'd also go about researching blogs that could be similar or relevant to your niche. That oughta give you a good idea of what's out there, so that from a publishing/editorial standpoint, you can offer up something really unique and unlike anything else that's around.

 

Are you price monitoring your compitition? I use PAARLY.com -- they helped my pricing strategy so that I didnt just rack up visitors without sales who went on to a slightly cheaper site

 

You have to promote the heck out of your site to get sales. Its a lot more work than people realize. When did you launch the site and what activities are you taking to increase your traffic?

We get about a 3% conversion rate in our industry so 500 unique visitors a day isn't enough yet. If your traffic is targeted you should be seeing about 5-10 sales every 2 days (if your conversion rate is 1%).

E-commerce is about patience and persistence. Focus on your marketing and not on the lack of sales. The sales will come eventually as you continue to persist with your marketing efforts.