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Top of the Pops
Listed under: Retail Clinic
Published: Monday, June 02, 2008
Topping a web search can do wonders for online sales. E-commerce expert Chris Barling of Actinic shares the secrets
Go Niché
“Specialisation is the name of the game,” says Chris Barling. “Essentially what the search engines are trying to do is show high up rankings that are relevant to what the person is searching for. You might imagine people will search for arts and crafts but they're more likely to search for something more specific. You've got to ask yourself what you want to try to be the most relevant site on. Starting from nowhere you're unlikely to be the most relevant site on a broad range of products but what you might be able to do is become known for a very niche product.
Key It In
If your site has mentions of that product all over it then, if the search engines are doing their job, they should put you higher up on the list for that product. It's an art to get keywords into a page as often as possible without being too blatant. There are also ways you can find out how often certain keywords are searched on so you can optimise on a specific term.
Link Up
Search engines also work by linking – who's linked into your site. So if a lot of sites have said the best place for x product is your site and has a link to your pages that counts for a lot. If nobody's linking to you, you have to submit your site to the search engines so they know about you. You're competing with the rest of the world so if you don't work on it you have no chance of beating the competition.
Actinic is a leading developer of e-commerce products for small and medium businesses
“Specialisation is the name of the game,” says Chris Barling. “Essentially what the search engines are trying to do is show high up rankings that are relevant to what the person is searching for. You might imagine people will search for arts and crafts but they're more likely to search for something more specific. You've got to ask yourself what you want to try to be the most relevant site on. Starting from nowhere you're unlikely to be the most relevant site on a broad range of products but what you might be able to do is become known for a very niche product.
Key It In
If your site has mentions of that product all over it then, if the search engines are doing their job, they should put you higher up on the list for that product. It's an art to get keywords into a page as often as possible without being too blatant. There are also ways you can find out how often certain keywords are searched on so you can optimise on a specific term.
Link Up
Search engines also work by linking – who's linked into your site. So if a lot of sites have said the best place for x product is your site and has a link to your pages that counts for a lot. If nobody's linking to you, you have to submit your site to the search engines so they know about you. You're competing with the rest of the world so if you don't work on it you have no chance of beating the competition.
Actinic is a leading developer of e-commerce products for small and medium businesses
