Keywords alone won’t create high search engine rankings for your eCommerce web site. Combining keywords, repeated several times on your page, with copy that communicates well and provides good reading for the viewer will boost your rankings for your chosen keyword(s).

Your tags and the body of your page become critical elements for eCommerce success. Your Title Tag should be the keyword or phrase you are targeting. Search engines ‘find’ title tags and display them. Your title tag needs to be at the beginning of your copy, and repeated numerous times throughout your page. Remember that people read search engine results and humans aren’t search engines. If what we are reading doesn’t capture our interest and attention, we click the mouse and go on to something else.

Repeated keywords or phrases and compelling copy are a winning combination. Creating Meta Tags is very much like Title Tags, except they will be longer and more descriptive. This tag is a page description and it’s also available for viewers to read in search engine results. The keyword or phrase needs to be repeated and a compelling description about your product or service needs to catch the eye of the reader. You don’t want him/her to lose interest and move on to someone else’s web site.

Once your site visitors find you (because you have such great keywords and phrases!) the composition of your page becomes paramount. You need to think about including pictures, slideshows and videos. They must be compelling enough for your visitors to want to hang around and not only see what you have to offer, but consider making a purchase. Your Alt tag for your graphics needs to include your primary keyword or phrase again. Staying with the assumption that you want the visitor to make a purchase, you create compelling copy that describes your product or service and suggests how it may be helpful and important to your viewer.

Be sure to use your keywords and phrases again in the first line of your copy and throughout your page. Search engines look for words and phrases that are repeated on a page. We cannot over-emphasize the importance of compelling copy. Text that is boring simply means your visitor will move on to another site. Your graphics (pictures, slideshow, video) will capture your visitor’s interest, but your copy will make the difference between a purchase and a lost opportunity.

Your visitor needs to be able to click on just one link to purchase your product or service. And that link must be available to the viewer on the page that is being viewed. The key is to make a purchase as simple as possible for your cyberspace customers. Using the tags we’ve talked about, keywords and phrases will get them to your page via their favorite search engine. Your eye-catching graphics will pique their interest. And your compelling copy and simplicity of purchase will increase your average visitor value. Truly a successful cause and effect combination!