10 tips to help your e-commerce store find success online

Starting an e-commerce or online shopping site may sound a little perplexing but it is actually not as difficult as how other people perceive it. In recent years, the e-commerce industry has been growing steadily as more and more people are buying commodities through the internet.

That being said, the harsh reality is that while there is an increasing number of e-commerce sites, there is also an increasing number of e-commerce sites shutting down. A report shows that 80% of e-commerce fails for various reasons including lack of investment, poor cash flow, and low-quality product photography. All this contributes to a lack of traffic which means fewer sales. That said, we can deduce that poor SEO campaigns result in poor performance of e-commerce.

This article will discuss in detail the top 10 reasons why 80% of e-commerce fails.

1. Poor web layout. Your web layout will say a lot about your company. The simpler it is to navigate, the better. That is, it should only take at least two to three clicks to get to the inner pages or less. Companies often make the common mistake of flooding its website with random ideas to make it more inclusive but more often than not it will only lead to confusion which will consequently change the mind of prospective customers toward the negative.

2. Poor landing page content. A landing page allows business owners to capture a visitor’s information through a conversion form which is the first thing they will find when they visit your e-commerce site. In a way, it is a make or break page and, therefore, should be given a lot of thought and attention. There is a number of writing services online that will be able to help you create a good landing page targeted to your specific market.

1. Thrive – is a professional writing service that focuses primarily on custom writing. Customer testimonials found onsite and offsite have attested to high-quality results;
2. Content Writers– is a relatively new professional writing service that has already proven itself by garnering high rates from independent and verified review companies;
3. EvoEssay – is a premier online writing service that is known to be the most comprehensive service in the industry catering to all students, business owners, and job seekers;
4. Textworkers – is a premier online writing service that has been constantly rated highly by independent and reliable review companies.
5. Typewriter — is another relatively new professional writing service that is staffed with high quality writers and editors at affordable prices.

3. Poor URL structure. The general rule for any URL is to keep it short and simple that the simplest mind could remember. Some e-commerce often makes the mistake of overlooking the importance of a good URL structure which often leads to fewer visitors and, therefore, less traffic. Having a long, nonsensical URL is unnecessary and counterproductive. Always make sure to have a search engine-friendly URL which means it should be concise and descriptive. Do not forget to incorporate your target keyword as well.

4. Duplicate content. A study has actually shown that duplicate content results in a significant growth in traffic. Duplicate content is caused by duplicate pages caused by URL, printer-friendly versions of the pages, session IDs, and more. While it may be true, the problem with duplicate content is that Google will have problems on whether which link is more relevant than the other. To avoid this, you can use some tools like Copyscape to check for duplicates.

5. Thin content. It is an important factor that you create content that is both informative and relevant if you want to succeed in your e-commerce. Unfortunately, the trend with e-commerce websites today is that they only post thin content with at most 300 words which is causing them to fail in their endeavors just because they want to take the easy route. As recommended by experts, content should at least be 1,000 words and make sure they are, as what has already been mentioned, relevant and informative.

6. Slow site speed. When your site works slowly in a world where everybody wants everything done fast, it is surely going to affect user experience in a negative way. When users are not happy with your website, your rank will most likely not rank highly in the search engines. Some recommended steps to improve your site speed includes investing in a better host, moving images to a CDN, and optimizing image file sizes.

7. Low CTR. CTR or click-through rate is the ratio of the number of visitors who clicked on a specific link to the number of total users who visited the page. Higher CTR means users chose to click on your site among the rest of the sites in the search engine. Google uses CTR to rate websites. The higher your CTR is, the higher your rank will be. To increase your CTR, you have to make your title tags more inviting by including click-magnet keywords such as discounts, free shipping, lowest prices, and sale among others.

8. Duplicate title tags. To improve your SEO, you have to ensure that you add unique title tags instead of settling with duplicate title tags. While it is quite taxing to ensure that your title tags are not duplicates, you have to realize that making an effort to make your title tags unique will be beneficial to your e-commerce. To identify duplicate title tags, you can use Google Search Console, OnPage, and DeepCrawl.com.

9. Poor keyword strategy. E-commerce owners usually make the common mistake of choosing the simplest keywords just because they think they are what works. Unfortunately, they do not. Keywords are supposed to address different needs of different consumers and should, therefore, be unique and targeted. Long-tail terms generate lower search volumes giving your website a higher chance of being found. Just ensure that these long-tail terms point to your products and services. Of course, do not forget that these keywords should also raise your brand awareness.

10. Google penalty. In Google’s endeavor to update its algorithms and manual review, a negative impact has been incurred on a website’s search rankings. The penalty is either a negative result of that update or an intentional penalty for various black-hat SEO systems. If an e-commerce site is struggling despite making an effort to avoid the above-mentioned reasons as to why e-commerce sites fail, it might be because the website has been penalized and have not recovered from it yet. You can check on search result issues (such as penalties) and learn how to resolve them using Google Webmaster Tools.

There are no hard and fast rules as to why e-commerce sites fail, these are just some reasons as to why your e-commerce venture may fail. If you have done everything to avoid the following yet still drive little traffic to your website, you might want to consider creating a checklist to get a deeper understanding of the situation and come up with viable resolutions accordingly.