Author: William McMahon

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Growth Academy

Google Core Update: Focus Your Niche

Google update: Focus on 1 niche
Google update: Focus on 1 niche

Highlight your Niche, Don’t Overgeneralize

For many business owners, there is a general perception that their online content should be as broad as possible, drawing customers in from all corners of the web.

That line of reasoning has been stomped by the May 2022 Google Core Update!  Google wants to prioritize content that highlights the E-A-T model:

  1. Expertise
  2. Authoritativeness
  3. Trustworthiness

How do you improve the E-A-T rating of your site?  Get positive reviews on your products, ask for mentions from followers or fellow businesses, and ensure that users feel safe and secure when buying products from your site.  Ask for customers to leave positive feedback on sites like Trust Pilot or Google reviews – that is a surefire way to improve your E-A-T!

Be a Specialist: Highlight your Niche

In doing so, it appears Google wants to boost e-commerce stores and content that demonstrate strong expertise in their niche, and do not try to blast out mundane, poor-quality content on everything from celebrity news to “The best couches of 2022.” 

This is potentially a huge boon for niche e-commerce business owners.  You no longer have to dilute your online content by broadening its scope!  Rather, it’s best now to push the other direction, and make your posts specialized to your niche business.  Google Search wants to reward e-commerce businesses who provide the highest-quality products in their field, and will no longer let retail giants outrank SME competitors based solely on their larger online domain.

Refine Your Search Results with Longtail Keywords

Picking the relevant keywords to buy Google ads has always been important, but the recent Google Core Update makes longtail keywords more important than ever before.  What are longtail keywords?  They are the manifestation of “niche” interests within search engines.  Longtail keyword phrases are highly specialized and specific, meaning instead of a customer searching…

“Buy shampoo,”

They search:

“Shampoo with all-natural ingredients and anti-dandruff.”

Instead of searching,

              “Buy new couch,”

They search

              “New cherrywood handmade couch with futon and memory foam cushion.”

Notice the difference?  Longtail keywords are generally longer (3+ words), describing very specific products.  Review your current product line, and make sure you only buy Google AdWords that describe your product in precise detail!  They usually have lower a lower cost-per-click (CPC) as well, so that’s an added bonus for your online marketing budget.

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Amazon: The King of Longtail Keywords

While they are a retail giant now, Amazon is the classic example of longtail keyword success.  When they were simply a humble bookstore, Amazon did not want to compete by selling 1,000,000 copies of the most recent bestseller.  Bookstore giants like Barnes n’ Noble were dominant on these popular titles.

Instead, Amazon aimed to sell books with niche audiences, maybe only selling 10 copies of each title.  However, if they were able to dig and find 100,000 books that each had a niche audience of 10, guess what… they still sold 1,000,000 books 😉 In essence, longtail keywords are a big reason why Amazon became the retail giant it is today.    

Conclusion: Google Core Supports Longtail Keywords

If you want to benefit from the recent Google Core Update, find longtail keywords related to your product line, bid on low-CPC Google AdWords related to them, and watch your sales grow!  If you are having trouble retargeting customers, or want an advertising option outside Google’s Display Network, contact Ad360 today!  We have the niche expertise to power your digital marketing success 😊

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Growth Academy

Google Core Update: Video Content Wins

Google Update: Video Wins!
Google Update: Video Wins!

Video Clips: The Key to Increasing Online Sales

The biggest beneficiary from Google’s May 2022 Core Update appears to be any blog content with video attached to it. 

When examining the marketing trends on social media platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram Reels, and Youtube Shorts, this makes perfect sense: people love the quick rapid-fire format of watching little video “shorts.” 

It provides digestible amounts of information in a bite-sized format, and it complements online content beautifully by enriching the aural-visual dynamic of your website.

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A Simple Strategy to Deploy Video Content

Integrating video clips into your regular content is not as difficult as it sounds!  Like we’ve made clear, the clips can literally be as short as 15 seconds to 2 minutes.  The clips do not need to be movie-length features. 

Instead, aim to regularly write blog posts of 200+ words, and simply attach a video summarizing or adding to the thoughts your briefly outline in your post. Make this content marketing strategy part of your daily routine.

The key here is consistency – don’t mind if your videos don’t “go viral” right away.  The goal is to build a library of short-form videos, so when a post finally does gain traction online, customers can appreciate the conscientious of your content!

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Growth Academy

Google Core Update: Trouble for SEO?

Google Core Update: SEO trouble?
Google Core Update: SEO trouble?

Some E-Commerce Owners are Frustrated by Google Core’s Update

It’s clear that Google’s Core Update has already affected a lot of businesses online.  While the new Search Engine algorithm just began rolling out in May 2022, some e-commerce sites reported immediately falling out of the SERP rankings for important keywords, as well as seeing a drastic drop in clicks and impressions on the site.  Take the following tips below as a starting point to improve your Google SERP ranking.

Click here for part I of our coverage on the Google Core Update

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  1. Increase Posting Frequency

The most effective way to rebuild and grow your SEO, as well as your e-commerce sites online visibility, is to begin posting more frequently on your site.  

Did you have a blog post rocket to the top of the Google charts two years ago? That’s great, but it won’t be enough to continue thriving following the May 2022 Google Core Update. If you are staying current and up-to-date on the major trends within your industry, Google is going to be rewarding you with a boost in page ranking!

2. Strive for Originality

On top of that, Google will now be rewarding sites that post original content.  If you are reposting content from another site or using AI-generated content, Google is going to ding you.  Also, if the quality of the content is basically a rambling word salad, and considered not useful for users, Google will rank that lower, as well.

Best Solution: Diversify your Traffic Generation Avenues

Aside from posting original quality content for frequently, it’s important that e-commerce business owners use the Google Core Update as a wakeup call to not rely solely on the search engine giant for their revenue! 

You can begin ad campaigns with Ad360 in one click that bring visibility to the entire web, meaning you get impressions from outside Google’s display network and across all apps.  On top of trying out various social media platforms, business owners can ensure that even if the Google Core Update affects their traffic from search engine’s other revenue streams and ad channels pick up the slack!

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Growth Academy

Google Core Web Vitals matter even more

google core web vitals matter even more
google core web vitals matter even more

Google Algorithms Control your SERP Ranking

Because of its ubiquity on the market, Google holds huge influence on your e-commerce store’s visibility and viability through your site’s SERP: “Search engine results page.”  Being ranked on the first page in Google search is the aim of any successful e-commerce business, so many will research or hire experts in “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) to do just that!

Big News: Changes to Google’s Core Algorithm?

After following the same guidelines for the past few years, Google has officially begun rolling out the next “Google Core” algorithm update.  While the implications of this update will not be clear for several more weeks, its important for e-commerce businesses to be aware of how Google’s Core Update could affect the visibility of their e-commerce site.

Double-Check Your “Core Web Vital” Metrics

Core Web Vital metrics include your site’s page speed, its response to user input, and the stability of the webpage loading across different devices.  While it’s early on, it appears sites with strong core vitals are immediately seeing a boost in traffic.  We’ve mentioned the importance of webpage speed here, so make sure you get a comprehensive website audit to check these core vitals! 

While anecdotal, some online business owners reported seeing a 25% spike in traffic following the Google Core Update.  It appears the strong fundamentals of their “Core Web Vitals” played a role in their boosted visibility online.

Also, it is clear that sites with original content are being boosted.  If you have AI-generated content, or have boosted the work of someone else, Google now has software that spots the duplication of content, resulting in a lower SERP for your e-commerce store.

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News Updates on Google Search Algorithm

Since Ad360 is devoted to helping e-commerce businesses successfully advertise their quality products online, we are paying close attention to the rollout of Google’s Core Update for Google Search.  Stay tuned for new developments and insights on this story!

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Growth Academy

Automate Your WooCommerce Store

WooCommerce - Automate your Store Growth
WooCommerce - Automate your Store Growth

Manual Ad Placements – Time Consuming and Frustrating

Manually setting up ad campaigns, through platforms like Facebook, Google, and more, are seemingly not an exact science.  Plenty of WooCommerce business owners throw ads up across social media, but don’t understand why they are paying so much for such paltry results.

Unless you are a digital marketing expert, knowing where and when to place ads can seem almost esoteric – but automated ad placements are much more powerful than you think!

Programmatic ads are what major companies like Google, the Economist, TNT, and other major corporations use to get the best ad placements for the cheapest price.  Now, there is software that exists that brings the same online promotional power to small and medium-sized businesses.  If there is one aspect of your online business to automate, let it be your ad placements.  It will save you hours of time a day and the constant headaches of playing “trial and error” with your online ads

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Automating Customer Data Collection & Retargeting

Furthermore, to increase sales on WooCommerce, storeowners need to have software that gathers the profile info of whoever sees and interacts with the ads!  That way, you can continue showing them promotional specials in the future, targeting them with your products without having to lift a finger.  This kind of precision in your digital marketing (especially at scale) is simply impossible with at least some level of automation.

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Growth Academy

Make WooCommerce Mobile-Friendly!

woocommerce mobile friendly
woocommerce mobile friendly

The Tide has Turned: Mobile Users Outnumber Desktop

Within the last few years, mobile users officially tipped the scales over desktop ones: 61% of website  visits in the US came from mobile in 2020, while worldwide the number rose to 68.1%.  However, for many business owners who comes from traditional “brick-and-mortar” backgrounds, it can be difficult to handle both a beautiful desktop WooCommerce site alongside a smooth mobile user experience.

As we’ve written about before, e-commerce sites need to adapt their mobile layout to the design features and limitations of viewers browsing their site on a tinier screen! 

That means more simplistic visuals, “swipe-through” slideshows (to browse product after product), and clickable buttons that “expand” or minimize content/product descriptions.  That way, you can neatly pack in all the features of your site without overwhelming users browsing on their phone.

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WooCommerce Mobile is a Whole Advertising Frontier

Along with that, advertising your WooCommerce store across mobile apps gives you a whole new level of promotional exposure.  Again, your mobile ad designs need a different aesthetic when compared to desktop.  The dominant form now are “swipe-able” slideshows that present your product with a beautiful, simple, bold background.  That way, while playing their favorite mobile game or browsing their favorite news aggregator, users see ads for your WooCommerce store!

Diversifying where you place your online ads is key to a successful digital marketing strategy.  It can seem a bit overwhelming to think about at first, but it is much easier than you might think to be running ad campaigns on desktop, mobile apps, and across the web.  By fine-tuning each ad campaign to the medium it runs on, you have a much better chance of increasing your WooCommerce sales 😊

If you want help automating your ad placements for the best results, reach out to try Ad360 today!  Our free two week trial gives users a chance to realize the significance of running both desktop and mobile-friendly ad campaigns – all with only a few clicks.

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Growth Academy

1 Click Ads for WooCommerce

WooCommerce 1-click ads
WooCommerce 1-click ads

Set a Daily Budget

First, to take control of your online marketing, establish a “daily average” budget you can spend on advertising. New stores can gain traction across the web with as little as $5/day ($150/month). From there, a general rule of thumb is 5-10% of your revenue goes back into marketing overhead.

Calibrate Your Custom Audience

Second, you need to begin targeting your custom audiences! You can target customers based on demographic info (e.g. – age, gender, location), or interests they express online. Make sure to dive into research on your custom audiences – they will be your most likely customers!

Retarget Likely Customers

Ok, so you’ve set a daily budget, established large swaths of your custom audience, and now you’ve put out some nice ads. The metrics show that roughly 10,000 users viewed the ad from either their desktop or mobile. But barely any clicked through or bought!

Do not be discouraged, this is normal. Just remember, if even 1% of those 10,000 end up becoming customers, that’d be 100 new orders to your WooCommerce store. So, how do you up that conversion rate to become a truly successful online business?

Automate Ad Placements for Peak Conversions

There is software, easily accessible on the market, that can automate ad placements for the cheapest price and maximum exposure. Retargeting software could further increase your conversion rate to 2-3%, putting in the elite tier of e-commerce stores. In fact, the top 10% of all online stores have a conversion rate of 3.8% or higher.

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Virtually all the most successful e-commerce stores deploy automated ad placements to get affordable ads with great visibility. They also all use savvy digital marketing techniques – like retargeting – to increase their WooCommerce sales. How? By reaching back out to customers who have seen their ads across the web and social media! After a few “touches,” customers are ready to go from “browsing” to “buying.”

Feel free to check out Ad360’s Quick Ads, to trial automated ad placements. It only takes one click to organize your next ad campaign!

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Growth Academy

WordPress Blogs Boost WooCommerce Sales

WooCommerce Blogs Boost Sales
WooCommerce Blogs Boost Sales

Texts Online are Crucial for SEO

While setting a daily budget and promoting on major platforms  are the backbone of driving traffic to your store, neither will automatically increase your SEO or SERP. 

Instead, quality website text and blog posts help Google “crawl” your page more efficiently.  By doing so, you will rank higher for the keyword searches potential customers execute every day!  So, Ad360 recommends that, if you have a WooCommerce store you are advertising online, make posting a 250+ word blog post part of your routine.

Blog Posts Support Videos, Pictures & Infographics You Put Out

It’s important to note that good visuals online – especially mobile – are essential to catching customers’ attention.  Xerox found that colorful infographics increase readership and customer memory by 80%! However, to keep them there, it helps to have a supporting blog post describing your product. 

Because WooCommerce comes with a WordPress site, e-commerce business owners can get in a routine of preparing advertisements to go out across social media and the web, and linking the accompanying blog post with a minimal strain on your time.

In fact, the blog posts do not even have to be perfect and sound “polished” and professionally written.  Most online users read blog posts for entertainment and education, not to make buying decisions.  Some quick numbers on that: 77% of the internet users read blogs, and a third of all readers read them solely for entertainment. So, let your blog be your outlet for you to show your brand’s personality and connect on a more conversational and intimate tone with your followers.  Hopefully, this post here inspires you to keep pressing on ahead with your WordPress blog – let your voice be heard! 

And hey, it increases your sales on WooCommerce and SEO ranking.  Why not?  😉 Make the most of your WooCommerce promotion with an updated WordPress blog!

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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 😊