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This is part of 5 in the series The Six Principles of eCommerce 2.0
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Today we look at the second principal of ecommerce 2.0 – The Long Tail – Target Niche Markets – and the way Zen Cart store owners can easily follow this principle with their Zen Cart configuration, installed add-ons and more. (The Six Principles of eCommerce 2.0 can be found on Wikipedia.)
Principle 2. The Long Tail – Target Niche Markets
eTailers who can connect with niche markets and provide a better online experience are capitalizing on new-found revenue. In the past, the obvious strategy was to find the bulk of the market and then mass market to them. With so much competition, many online merchants have adapted by discovering new methods and tools that target specific niche markets. These niche markets are not flooded by the big brands and respond well to content and online experiences directed specifically at them. In many cases, the demands of these niche markets are simply not being met by big brands. The Long Tail principle of eCommerce 2.0 is about being able to reach beyond the traditional prospect base and tap the potential of niche markets.
Zen Cart Store Owner Tips
- What is The Long Tail?
The Long Tail of Search refers to the many, many key phrases that lead visitors to your store’s pages. Rather than focusing your efforts on popular keywords only, take a look at your store’s analytics and you’ll probably see hundreds of examples of ‘long tail’ searches. Think about how you can include more content around these key phrases. - Product Titles and Descriptions
When people shop online they tend to search in one of these three ways: generic product (eg camping stove), brand-name product (eg MSR Simmerlite Stove) or solution based (eg light, multi-fuel stove for camping). Which type of search suits your products? Are you easy to find online? How does your Zen Cart store rank in the search engine results using these different search terms?Review your product titles and product descriptions to make sure you have included the search terms you are targeting. And remember, your product titles need to make sense on their own, not only in the context of your categories. Make your product descriptions unique, don’t just rely on the manufacturer’s description of the product or on copying the other products in the series. If you are selling art work or other hand-crafted pieces, customers like to know a little back story on the creation of the piece and the search engines will also love the additional content.Remember, shoppers will generally search for product names rather than store names.
- Meta Keywords and Descriptions
While not as significant as natural content on your Category and Product pages, the meta keyword and description fields provide additional information for search engines. The meta descriptions in particular may be used by search engines as the summary under the page title in the search results. Select key sections from your Product Description to include in the meta description field. Look at how your competitors are listed in the search engine results for products and amend your meta information if required. - Reviews
Shoppers like to feel confident in their product choices and reviews are a perfect opportunity to further sell the benefits and value of your items. Reviews also provide additional content for search engines and are quite often written in a way that store owners may not think about and therefore are good in broadening your store’s exposure in search engine results. Look at adding any reviews or testimonials you have received via email or letter to your Zen Cart store. These really do make a difference in converting visitors to customers, and are even better if they include comments like “my Dad loves it” or “it makes a great gift”. - EZ Pages
Zen Cart’s in-built CMS, EZ Pages, makes it easy for store owners to add additional services to customers such as ‘How to …’ guides, information on related events or customer interviews and the like. All of this additional content that includes the long tail search terms will help drive more traffic to your store as well as help build your reputation as a useful resource in your niche. - Store Blog
Blogging has become a popular form of online marketing and is more cost-effective for retail businesses than traditional marketing such as mail outs and radio advertising. A store blog allows you to speak directly to your customers while also reaping the rewards in the search engine results pages.There are many benefits to maintaining a blog and connecting it with your online store with deep linking between blog posts and product pages. It is quick and easy to start a blog, either a hosted solution like Blogger or WordPress.com or by installing the blog software on your server. Have a think about the commitment required in maintaining a blog and the weekly post updates – and then jump straight in! There are loads of things to include in your online store blog such as comments on industry news, staff profiles, tips and tricks, customer reviews and, of course, highlighting new products and promotion campaigns.
In this series we are looking at tips for Zen Cart store owners for each of the six principles.
See you tomorrow for Principle 3: Decentralised Content Generation – Data from the Community!
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