In my digital marketing agency, we help small businesses here in Hawaii to ramp up their game in online spheres through our proven marketing strategies and customer service. I frequently offer tips to improve search engine optimization (SEO) and make the most of online business tools, like the ones Google offers to business owners for free.
The realm of digital advertising changes and expands all the time. Amazon has been the biggest contender in the eCommerce market for years. Google’s marketplace provides businesses another option – and again, it’s free for merchants to set up. This means Google’s options present a hefty competitor to other longstanding methods of eCommerce.
And for Hawaii businesses who offer some kind of eCommerce, this is great news! Let me tell you why.
Also Read: 3 Practical Ways Local Businesses Can Adopt E-Commerce
The Benefits of Digital Marketplace Competition
Google and Amazon compete in the world of eCommerce and digital advertising.
These two giants attempt to make it as easy and beneficial as possible for merchants to build eCommerce shops on their platforms. They also make it incredibly easy to advertise your products, as you can have your product pages pop up in search results.
In fact, Google even runs ad campaigns encouraging users to shop through their search engine. Whether your website has an online shop or you make sales through a platform like Etsy or Shopify, you can utilize Google’s features to increase traffic to your shop.
Merchants get the benefit of listing on their primary platform and also getting visibility through Google’s marketplace. Google’s search options increase the amount of users who click through to product pages. Ultimately, his means sellers get more conversions with less effort.
The COVID-19 pandemic quickly ushered in a new era of eCommerce, and the opportunities to expand sales through the internet have increased exponentially over the past two years. Now more than ever, people order deliveries of groceries, gifts, appliances, and even cars. Especially while tourism fluctuates, businesses that jump on the eCommerce train add more stability to their revenue streams.
You just need to make sure you know how to make your products show up when your ideal customers start shopping through the Google marketplace.
I have four ways to make sure you take full advantage of the incredible tools available to online sellers.
Also Read: SEO On-Page Optimization
How to Set Up Your Business’s eCommerce
Whether you’re already selling in the digital marketplace or you want to set up a store, keep these tips in mind:
- Launch an Online Store
If you haven’t already gotten started with an eCommerce store (or if you haven’t thought about it), don’t miss this prime time jump in. Invest your efforts into the digital marketplace. Whatever product you sell at your brick-and-mortar location, you can figure out a way to sell online.
Google even makes it easy for you. Google for Retail offers sellers a variety of marketing tools and tutorials, and Google Merchant Center helps business owners manage and promote product listings.
- Keep Up with Amazon’s Efforts in eCommerce Spaces
While you may use Google’s resources, don’t forget about the other eCommerce powerhouse, Amazon. It’s a primary place for users to shop for what they need and have it delivered quickly. Plus, many people use Amazon Assistant, a browser extension that pops up automatically with price comparisons when users search for products on the internet.
Amazon product listings often rank right at the top of search results. Capitalizing on that benefit by selling through Amazon will increase your visibility and sales.
- Focus on Consistency
Look at your Google My Business and Google Shopping listings. Make sure all the photos, tags, and descriptions are accurate and relevant to the searcher.
You need to give attention to tags because they help users find your listings. You want quality, attractive photos and descriptions that give users the best information about your products.
Sometimes, merchants supply only one photo, or they don’t preemptively answer questions in their product copy. Buyers are more likely to move on to the next product if they don’t find the information they want up front, so don’t make that mistake.
- Show Shoppers How You E-A-T
As you establish your business as a reliable source within your niche, you want to demonstrate your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) through the content on your website. You have the chance to redirect people to your eCommerce store using your content by offering users a place to find helpful and dependable information.
Google stresses reliability of its sources and is working to provide users with ways to know they can trust the information they find in their search results. They’ve even implemented a new feature next to each link, called “About this Result.” It allows users to see the trustworthiness and longevity of a link, and it shows the keywords Google used to rank it on the results page.
This means the content on your website needs to be up-to-date and accurate. Content maintenance is crucial if you want to stay ahead of competitors. While that takes a little time and effort, it’s not a hard task to accomplish.
If you want help getting the ball rolling with your business’s eCommerce or marketing your store in the digital marketplace, we can help you do that. Reach out to us today!
Further Reading: How To Expand Your E-Commerce to International Customers
Photo Courtesy of Pickawood