Guest Post: How to Optimize your Store using SEO Techniques by Brandon Leibowitz

Guest Post:

How to Optimize your Store 
using SEO Techniques

[source]

In order to optimize an online store for handmade and vintage goods you want to make sure you have done the proper keyword research first.  This is a step often overlooked by many people.  Without knowing what keywords people are searching for you will never have a chance of getting traffic from Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any search engine.  You will rank, but those keywords will have no searches so it is pointless to rank for those.  Use the free Google Keyword Tool to find keywords that have high search volumes while having low to medium competition.  You will even find keywords you may never of thought about giving you new ideas.

Once you find these keywords you want to place them in as many places as possible on your store without looking like a SPAMMER.  This can be tricky so using keyword variations, synonyms, plurals, reorder the words, etc. is highly recommended.  Places to add your keywords include the store name, product titles and descriptions.  An example of a good product title would be “Buy Handmade Art from (Store Name)”.  This incorporates the keyword you are targeting as well as branding your store name in the mind of users.  Keep the page title tag under 70 characters so it will all appear in the search engines and not be cut off.  The meta description should be two sentences between 150 and 170 characters describing your products with a call to action at the end.

Alt tags are a way for the search engines to understand what your picture is about. Search engines cannot read pictures then need alt tags that can help them read what the image is about.  A good example of an alt tag would be “unique handmade gifts”.  Not all stores offer this so call and see if they do.  Also be sure to name the product images with the proper keywords as this can get your products appearing in Google Images.  This can bring in a lot of traffic, more than Pinterest would bring in.

These are all techniques and ways to expand your online store and generate more visitors to your site.  It is up to you to have a properly optimized landing page / store that you test to see how you convert your leads into sales.  Always be testing what products do best and promote those.

Guest Bio: Brandon Leibowitz, enjoys working with crafts and selling handmade items on the internet, mainly unique and vintage items that no one has or can find.  If you want to join the virtual marketplace it is a great place to be at The Craft Star.


Note: All information is the opinions of the "Guest Post" author, unless otherwise noted. PBDesigns Crafts and Other Adventures does not guarantee or may not agree with any of the material covered in this article.