Category: Growth Academy

This Category includes articles with educational content to help businesses grow and succeed

Categories
Growth Academy

Google Search – May 2020 core update

Google Search May 2022 Core Update
Google Search May 2022 Core Update

Google just announced the May 2022 core update for their Search algorithms!

This means that they’re starting to roll out massive changes to their ranking algorithms and that your website might be heavily impacted – positively, or negatively.

The previous large update like this one – called core updates – was in November 2021. Although Google is making changes all the time to their algorithms, they release a major update only every few months. These are likely to have a deeper impact on your website’s ranking in the Search Engine Response Pages (SERP).

Note that Google hasn’t disclosed what these new changes are specifically. The Google Search Engine algorithms are their secret sauce, so there always very secretive about how they work.

So what to do if your website is negatively affected?

Google says there’s no quick fix to turn things around if your rank drops massively.

However, there is a solution. It’s just that it’ll require more efforts to implement: Google advises affected website to work on their content and produce higher-quality content.If you do this, you can expect your search rank to improve over time.

You may ask, ‘What is high-quality content?’

To answer this, Google is pointing out to their guidance to help you produce better content which will be favored by the algorithms. This document is dated August, 2019 (almost 3 years old), but it remains the most up-to-date reference in terms of content quality for Google. They’re even linking to this page in this week’s announcement.

So this remains the best solution to work on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

If you want to learn more, watch the video on our YouTube Channel ‘Ecommerce Success by Ad360’, in which we review in more detail the Google announcement, and the Google’s recommendations to get better ranked:

Google JUST CHANGED its Search Algorithm! Here is how to react to May 2022 core update

Wishing you a lot of success!

Categories
Growth Academy

WooCommerce: Why You Need Retargeting

WooCommerce Retargeting
WooCommerce Retargeting

Online Ads Drive Traffic – But Not Conversions

If you set a healthy daily budget for your ads, and organize sensible “custom audiences” to funnel ads to, your store will likely see a spike in traffic.  However, we’ve noticed a common concern of WooCommerce storeowners online.

Many have expressed that, after shelling out for ad placements, they saw no corresponding bump in click-through or conversion rates. This means that even though users are seeing the ads online, they are not clicking buy. A boost in traffic, but no increase in sales, is a frustrating experience for WooCommerce stores with great products.

What can WooCommerce storeowners in this position do to boost sales?

Ad Retargeting!  Arguably the most valuable online tactic for increase e-commerce store sales.

source

Why Ad Retargeting Outclasses Other Ads

If you’ve been keeping up with Ad360’s “growth academy” series, you know it takes multiple engagements – or “touches” – before most customers are ready to make a purchase.  Ad retargeting becomes an essential digital marketing tactic here.  You can capture the data of customers who visit, and target all future ads towards these individuals.

Why?

They’ve already demonstrated concrete interest browsing your store!

Eventually, after seeing 3 or 4 of your WooCommerce store’s ads, customers go from simply being “aware” you exist, to purchasing every seasonal special!

However, WooCommerce ad retargeting “plugins” can be costly, confusing, or slow down your site speed – defeating its purpose.  If you want help establishing ad retargeting as an effective part of your digital marketing strategy, reach out to Ad360 today!  We’ll give you the 360 degree breakdown: retargeting is our specialty 😊

So, if you are interested boosting your “click-through” and conversion rates, give us a call or email today. Happy selling!

Categories
Growth Academy

WooCommerce Tradeoff: Time or Money?

WooCommerce - Time Vs Money
WooCommerce Tradeoff: Time versus Money

Cheaper “Per Month” Plans, Costly Website Repairs

The WooCommerce “plugin” for WordPress is free, meaning the only costs come from paying for website hosting, your domain name, and security certificates. Furthermore, WooCommerce sites are much more flexible, allowing you to add features and connect outside services (e.g. – Etsy stores, Mailchimp), with no problem.

… That is, if you are familiar with coding!

The downside to WooCommerce’s cheap base plan and customizable features are that many storeowners will complain of the hours they themselves spent trying to fix “bad code” on their site, or the hundreds of dollars they had to pay a developer to come in and do the fixes for them. 

Many owners who are not tech-savvy have huge problems with speed load times, which we’ve talked about as being one of the most important features of your e-commerce site.  WooCommerce owners may be saddling their site with plugins that are unnecessary.  However, if you are not a coding-savvy storeowner, it can become incredibly frustrating to hire a web developer every time you want to update your product line.

source

A Website Audit Identifies the Solutions to Your WooCommerce Store

If you already have a WooCommerce store, and have experienced any of the issues above, Ad360 is the solution to your website promotion and repair!  We offer a free website audit, can identify any issues with site speed, and make sure your store is ready to succeed online 😊

Categories
Growth Academy

WooCommerce Plugins Built to Boost Sales

Woocommerce interesting plugins
Woocommerce interesting plugins

Booster Plus

BoosterPlus is an “all-in-one” plugin that comes highly recommended from many WooCommerce storeowners.  It adds “buy buttons,” price labels, product listings, product images, pdf invoices, and dozens more features depending on the bundle you pick up.  There is a free tier, but it may be worth looking at paid tiers because of the “all-in-one” nature of the plugin.  Great for upgrading your WooCommerce store and boosting sales!

OptinMonster

We here at Ad360 have offered a 3-part series explaining the importance of email marketing to increasing e-commerce sales (link to part I, II, and III).  OptinMonster is well-known for generating leads and converting “abandoned cart” sales at excellent rates. 

OptinMonster could be a strong pairing with Ad360’s services.  Ad360 is the e-commerce leader in retargeting, effective (and automated) ad placements, and professional ad banner design.  Pairing that with OptinMonster’s focus on email marketing could be a potent combination to increase sales on WooCommerce.

source

Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce

Once your sales begin picking up, customers will demand a high level of organizational efficiency for shipping.  In order to keep up with the competition, the advanced shipment tracking plugin for WooCommerce empowers storeowners to automate their fulfillment workflow. 

Customers get tracking numbers to follow on the front end, while your business can easily keep track of which packages are marked as “completed,” and which ones are marked as “shipped.”  Very helpful when you begin fulfilling hundreds of orders a day 😊

Honorable Mentions

The plugins below are ones we did not see as “universally” applicable to all stores, but check them out to get your WooCommerce strategy.  You’ll likely start having ideas about what your store really needs just by reading the descriptions of each. 

  1. Dropship Me
  2. Judge.me Product Reviews
  3. Redirection
  4. WooCommerce Cart
  5. WooCommerce Paypal Checkout Gateway
  6. WooCommerce Shipping Estimates
Categories
Growth Academy

3 Tips to Boost Sales on WooCommerce

WooCommerce logo - 3 Tips to boost sales
3 Tips to boost sales on WooCommerce

Research Plugins for site optimization

WooCommerce is unique from Shopify in its ability to customize the site.  There are dozens of “plugins” that add helpful features to your store – ranging from “push notification” tech to product sliders (essential for browsing items through mobile) to allowing customers to zoom in on your products!  Check a helpful list of WooCommerce plugins here to get your marketing research started!

Offer Discounted “Upsells” on the Checkout Page

Whether it’s for a seasonal special or to promote a new line of products, adding an “upsell” plugin to your store is an excellent way to increase sales on WooCommerce.  I’ll give a personal example here – while shopping for CBD products on my favorite site, I was leaving the checkout page when they offered a discounted tincture that sported a new flavor – it was excellent!  I bought several more times after that. 

This personal anecdote speaks to the stats – upselling at checkout can increase sales on WooCommerce by 10-30% on average.

source
source

Learn the Basics of Coding

You don’t need to become a software master, but learning the fundamentals of the coding languages underlaying WooCommerce (e.g. – PHP, Javascript, CSS, HTML), would enhance your ability to customize a standout WooCommerce site. 

Furthermore, a coding base would mean you would better understand what plugins would be most effective for your store, and which ones you can do without.  A better, smoother store experience would translates to increased sales on WooCommerce – learning the basics of coding would empower you to do just that!

If you want, you can check out helpful plugins that other code-savvy WooCommerce storeowners have left here on Github!  There are also helpful courses for the same idea here at UDemy

Categories
Growth Academy

3 reasons why Google Reviews matter a lot!

5-stars review image
Google Reviews matter a lot

Google Reviews are an essential way to get more visibility online. These are the reviews left by people on your Google My Business profile, with a rating out of 5 stars, and a comment. Users can add photos too to their reviews (and you should encourage them to do so if you’re selling products!).

These reviews are super important for many reasons!

First of all, they show other people that your business is well respected and liked!

Secondly, more and more people are using these reviews to get more insights about a company and their products & services before making a purchase decision.

Thirdly, they are increasingly taken into account by Google’s search algorithms to determine your rank on Search Engine Response Pages (SERP).

These reviews appear on the right hand side of the search results when users type your business name, or find you from a keyword if you’re sufficiently highly ranked. They are also prominently featured on Google Maps, which can be a great channel to acquire new customers!

That’s why you should definitely ask your customers to leave reviews whenever possible!

This is what we do at Ad360, and we’re super proud and thankful to our customers that they left us our 10th 5-star reviews this week.

https://youtube.com/shorts/clo1_GgJQxI
Categories
Growth Academy

Shopify shut downs Dropshipping app Oberlo

Oberlo logo crossed
Oberlo - the end of Dropshipping?

Shopify just announced that they will be shutting down the Oberlo app on June 15th, 2022. This is the end of an era, as Oberlo has been one of the key pillars of the Dropshipping movement for the most part of the last decade.

For a long time, Oberlo was simply a must-have app for any newly created Dropshipping store. It popularized Dropshipping to vast cohorts of young business owners who enjoyed its simplicity. With a few clicks, you’d be able to add products from marketplaces like AliExpress to your Shopify store. Dropshipping is still very popular, as it allows you to start an e-commerce business with very little capital, without ordering and managing stock, and with limited working capital needs.

Oberlo, which was acquired by Shopify in 2017 for $15 million, is still used by 100 000 active stores, making it a super popular app.

However, Shopify has delisted the Oberlo app from its App Store on May 12th, 2022. It can no longer be installed, including from any other 3rd party source.

More critically, if you already have it installed, the App will be automatically uninstalled on June 15th, 2022. It will then be completely unaccessible.

This is a serious move by Shopify, which could be linked to recent issues with many Dropshipping stores’ shipping delays. The global supply chain disruptions have created many issues for websites that relied on shipping overseas products from China.
This may also be linked to the recent news by Shopify about the Delivery acquisition and its ambitions to creating a more integration shipping experience within the Shopify app.

Right now, there isn’t an official communication from Shopify or Oberlo really explaining the reasons behind this decision.
In this video, we discuss in more detail this piece of news and try to understand its repercussions on Dropshipping.

The end of Dropshipping? Shopify is shutting down Oberlo
Categories
Growth Academy

What is WooCommerce? Learn the Basics

WooCommerce Logo and Text 'Learn The Basics'
WooCommerce - Learn the Basics

Customizable Shop and Free Plugins

WooCommerce is well-known for being an affordable option because the website does not come “pre-packaged.”  Instead, users can add a variety of plugins to their store, providing a virtually unlimited number of combinations.  When looking to increase ecommerce sales, WooCommerce offers a chance to lower your overhead – and simultaneously create a one-of-a-kind store design.

Furthermore the code that underlays your WooCommerce store is open source!  This means that, if in the future you decide to set up your e-commerce store somewhere else, you can take the code with you.  If you spent hours configuring your stores code (or paid someone to do it for you), that time and money does not go to waste if you move on from Woo! 

Content Management Handled Through WordPress

It’s also important to know that WooCommerce is integrated with WordPress – the world’s largest content management site.  When trying to increase e-commerce sales, consistent quality content is one of the key pillars of success.  Many storeowners appreciate the full integration WooCommerce into WordPress. It provides a central location for your entire Content Management System.  You can run email correspondence, social media links, and your e-commerce business all from WooCommerce. 

If you want help understanding WooCommerce plugins or how to better customize your store, download the Ad360 app today or try our free demo!  We’ll provide a free site audit and our expertise on how you can increase your e-commerce sales today 😊 We look forward to meeting you and making your store the next e-commerce success!

Categories
Growth Academy

Shopify vs. WooCommerce – Battle of the Platforms

Shopify WooCommerce
Shopify vs WooCommerce

Business owners interested in taking their business online may be wondering, “Do I sign up with Shopify paid advertising or WooCommerce?”  Read below to figure out which e-commerce platform will best increase your sales online!

Shopify vs WooCommerce: Features & Functions

When it comes to functionality, the comparison between these two e-commerce giants is simple – Shopify is easier to use for beginners, while WooCommerce has better flexibility and a wider array of customization features.

If your online advertising strategy is in its early stages, and you do not feel comfortable with the technical aspects of e-commerce yet, it may be best to go with Shopify paid advertising.  WooCommerce may be better for business owners who want firm control over customization of their website.  WooCommerce also is known for its high-end SEO plugins

Shopify vs. WooCommerce: Pricing

Shopify paid advertising, while having the edge in simplicity and ease of use, is usually more expensive than WooCommerce.  Be prepared to spend up to $200/month just to keep your store up and operating on Shopify! 

Make sure your Shopify advertising strategy is in place before you take on this expense.  E-Commerce overhead can add up, and if you do not have a blueprint of how to advertise on Shopify, you could end up feeling overstressed on your store’s performance.

WooCommerce’s plugins are “a la carte,” meaning you can only pick the necessary plugin and run your store for half the price ($100).

Whether you use Shopify or Woocommerce for your e-commerce business, partner with Ad360 to get the best promotional software on the web.  Our app is free to download, and after getting our free trial, you’ll be convinced our automated ad bidding services bring you optimal exposure for an affordable price 😊

Book a Demo and a Free Consulting call with our team.

Categories
Growth Academy

Return on Click Investment

Return on Click Investment
Return on Click Investment

What is the Return on Click Investment?

And why is it important to maximize your conversions?

Today we’re reviewing a super insightful article from the Baymard Institute, describing what this concept they invented: Return on Click Investment.

Mastering this idea will help you to better organize your website, and know how to present information to ensure your visitors stay on your website and complete their purchases.

Increase Sales by maximizing users’ Return on Click Investment

If you liked the video, please help us make it more visible by liking, subscribing, and commenting below. Feel free to share the video with anyone it may be useful!