The Sorry State of Ecommerce Site SEO

[mandy]

You see, this last item is the dirty secret of how SEO relates to internet retail. Generating inbound links to a commerce site is many times harder than generating links to an informational site. Unless you are selling a unique product that has a lot of appeal, you have will have to work very hard and creatively to find ways to obtain inbound links without paying for them or bartering for them. While either of these things may be OK, depending on your industry, you simply may not be able to afford to pay for enough links to get where you need to be.

If you are selling products that everyone else is selling and you have no competitive advantage such as being in a position to lowball everyone else, you are in big trouble in 2007. Why? Because other sites are not going to give away links to commercial e-tail sites without a very good reason. In my opinion, internet retailers are struggling in SEO mostly because of their inability to build their sites’ authority through natural inbound links. Fixing meta tags is not going to overcome this problem...

full article: http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/...seo-e-tail

[amy]

He has a valid point. 

[BellisimaJ.]

In my opinion, internet retailers are struggling in SEO mostly because of their inability to build their sites’ authority through natural inbound links. Fixing meta tags is not going to overcome this problem.

As an internet retailer, our SEO strategy is this simple–do the obvious stuff like on-site optimization and then find a way to create a competitive advantage. This strategy will work well in 2007, but more importantly, will still be working in 2010.

Just thinking out loud here.........

As I look around the net lately, it's pretty clear to me (not to mention depressing) that the market is very saturated in most areas of ecomm. So what can give you a competitive advantage? I can only think of a couple of things at the moment (I'm in the throes of a massive/miserable summer cold is today's excuse   ).
1. low-balling all/most of your online competition
2. generating lots of quality inbound links (but how?)
3. finding a niche market that is not over-saturated

Anyone else have other ideas?

I wonder if the usual advice to create a blog that's separate from your ecomm site is really that good? It seems to me to be so much easier to generate good inbound links if you are a blogger rather than an etailer. Am I wrong? And if not, how can blogs optimize to bring readers in and send people out directly to your ecomm site?

[bargainbloodhound]

As I look around the net lately, it's pretty clear to me (not to mention depressing) that the market is very saturated in most areas of ecomm. So what can give you a competitive advantage? I can only think of a couple of things at the moment (I'm in the throes of a massive/miserable summer cold is today's excuse laughing7  ).
1. low-balling all/most of your online competition
2. generating lots of quality inbound links (but how?)
3. finding a niche market that is not over-saturated

4. providing better customer service and/or amore personalized shopping service than your competitors

I wonder if the usual advice to create a blog that's separate from your ecomm site is really that good?

The only reason our shopping blog is on a different site is because [size=6px]we're lazy and[/size] we did a combined blog for all of our stores...[size=6px]maybe someday we'll actually get around to writing something on it...but even if we never write anything in the friggin' blog it looks pretty and that has to count for something, right?[/size]

It seems to me to be so much easier to generate good inbound links if you are a blogger rather than an etailer. Am I wrong?

You're right.

how can blogs optimize to bring readers in and  send people out directly to your ecomm site?

You have to make the blog primarily informational so they'll want to visit it, and at the same time you need to slip in a few pushes towards products in your store.

[FiberGuy]

Anyone else have other ideas?

Yeah...


.... ~punt~

***Sorry... foul mood... I'll be more optimistic tomorrow. 

[BellisimaJ.]

4. providing better customer service and/or amore personalized shopping service than your competitors

 

...maybe someday we'll actually get around to writing something on it...but even if we never write anything in the friggin' blog it looks pretty and that has to count for something, right?

.... ~punt~

Cheer up, FG.