In 2018, online sales were predicted to grow 15%. With internet-based companies such as Amazon leading the way in customer service and quick delivery, it’s easy to see why customers these days are leaning heavily toward online shopping.

Amazon is currently working to make one-day shipping the standard for Prime members, who also reap the benefits at local stores and on screening devices. About 40% of sales made online are made through mobile devices.

What does this mean for you as a product seller or business owner?

SEO marketing is more important than ever.

SEO, the shortened version of search engine optimization, relies on keywords and site credibility to lead certain groups of prospective customers to sites that will fit their needs. Because of this page titles/headers are important, as are the short site descriptions that come up on search engine pages. Owners and industry leaders need to be aware of how to best market their online sites – especially as the 2019 holiday season approaches!

The holidays technically start around Thanksgiving – the fourth Thursday of November. Countless businesses take part in Black Friday, which begins in the early morning hours of the day after Thanksgiving.

A Shady Past

Black Friday actually has some dark history to it, rooted in financial crisis. In the late 1800s two Wall Street financiers bought up as much gold as they could to drive prices high and sell it for ridiculous profit. Eventually they succeeded and the stock market bankrupted many people.

Later on Black Friday began to be linked to retailers earning a profit (“going into the black”) the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers went out to buy discounted products for the upcoming holidays.

Another version of the day’s history recounts how police in Philadelphia described the chaos that happened the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday. Philly was flooded with tourists and shoppers coming in to see football games. Cops had to work extra shifts to deal with the additional crowds and traffics, and perhaps this version is closest to what we experience as Black Friday today.

SEO for the Holidays

As the owner of Tetra SEO Manchester points out, “There tends to be a lot of technical talk when it comes to SEO marketing – but when it comes down to it, SEO is based largely in common sense and best-practices.” If you can successfully read a room full of people than you can successfully write SEO content.

With more and more shoppers turning to the internet to find their purchases, internet content and driving customers to your site is incredibly important.

What can you do to draw them to your doorstep?

  • For starters, come up with a plan. Be up-to-date on what items are on sale, what is expected to be a big seller, what sells out quickly, etc. See where you can create opportunities for better, more consistent sales.
  • Market your items, whatever your business, as holiday-friendly. Update your content to reflect the coming holidays; reference “best gifts for mom,” “top ten gifts under $50,” “gifts for travelers.” *Hint: Check in on Google Trends to see what’s currently trending, and adjust your keywords accordingly.
  • Keep images as well as information on the products up-to-date. Because customers aren’t going to be seeing the products in person, they’ll want an idea of what they’re purchasing.
  • Utilize social media. SEO is great for social media as you can focus in on keywords and short, punchy terms that will suck customers right in. Support your content with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites.
  • Link both internally and externally. If you’re able to, work with other sites to promote your products and link back to your website. Link internally from one product to like-products.
  • Create “evergreen” site pages if you don’t already have one. Design pages that will fit the holidays year after year, needing only slight changes to content. That way you won’t be wasting time coming back each year and re-designing your site.

When it comes to the holiday season, make sure your business is starting preparations early – with such huge opportunities for sales such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the following week, it’ll be a huge loss to miss out on that customer traffic.

Internet shopping is bigger than ever now with customers preferring to check out online in the comfort of their home as opposed to waking up at insane hours, fighting through the crowds, and most likely finding that the product they wanted is either out of stock or not what they thought.

Not only can you make shopping easier, more efficient, and more satisfactory for your customers, you can drive huge sales directly to your site by taking advantage of some updates and additions to your SEO content. Just keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be so complicated; with the right combination of forethought and motivation, your sales can skyrocket.