SEO -- Doctor Ebiz Q&A

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Promoting a Dual Language E-Store

"Our website, www.uSalus.com is very limited. Still, we need to maximize the value until we can afford to have a better site. How do I best promote the site on the Internet?" -- Fred Thacher

Since your site is based on a Yahoo! Merchant Solutions (Yahoo! Store) platform, you can make a number of needed changes yourself from the merchant's web interface without waiting for a website designer to do it for you. Here are a few ways to improve your site and promote it more effectively. (Of course, some of these changes you may have already made by the time this is published, though I know others can learn from these observations.)

1. Unique Sales Proposition (USP). Nothing on your homepage states exactly what you offer. A visitor has to try to figure it out from your products. Both for the sake of search engines and your site visitors, include a one or two sentence statement of exactly what your store is about. How about: "We offer cool, dry wool underblankets, pillow covers, and sheets for your health and comfort." Without a clear, easy-to-find USP, potential customers will click away to another site that makes sense to them.
2. Site Name. Your site name, u Salus (Salus, the Roman goddess of health), will only be meaningful to those who know their mythology. Explain its meaning and expand on how it encapsulates your product philosophy. A logo and a stronger color scheme will make the site stand out better and be more memorable.
3. Webpage Titles must contain appropriate keywords. Right now your homepage title is "u Salus." If your homepage were to appear in search engine results, no one would click on it, since the words by themselves would mean nothing to them. Instead try: "Wool blankets, pillow covers, and sheets for health and comfort -- U Salus." That will help (a) search engines rank it higher and (b) searchers find it interesting enough to click on it. Instead of a product page titled "Little Ewe's Baby Products" (unless it has strong brand recognition appeal), why not use "Wool crib comforters, duvets, and underblankets for infants -- Little Ewe's Baby Products". When you employ relevant search terms into your product page titles, you'll rank higher for those words.
4. Links to Your Site. To get search engine traffic you'll need links to your site. Beef up your information section on the benefits of wool bedding. Write a 250 to 500 word article on each of its advantages: (a) hypoallergenic, (b) cool, (c) moisture wicking, (d) comfortable, and (e) resistant to mold, mildew, and dust mites. Then seek reciprocal links with other sites that feature the health advantages of wool. Be sure to get listed in directories with your main keywords in the title of your site. Links from related Spanish language sites will help, too.
5. Dual English/Spanish Language descriptions are commendable. However, I recommend offering the same product on two product pages, one describing the product in English, the other in Spanish. Putting product descriptions in both languages on the same webpage tends to dilute the keyword focus in each language, resulting in lower rankings. Separate product pages allow you to take full advantage of titles, description metatags, and body text in each language. Make sure that your checkout system can accommodate both languages also.
6. Pay Per Click Ads. While you're trying to get your search engine rankings higher, consider promoting your site using PPC ads. Research appropriate keywords that people are actually searching on. I am quite impressed with Google's Keyword Tool that will analyze your site for possible keywords in many languages, including Spanish (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal). You also might research what keywords your competitors are focusing on by examining the keywords in their metatags. (Use "View | Source" in your web browser to view the metatags near the top of the HTML code for the page.) Track what keywords they are bidding on for PPC ads with a tool like GoogSpy (www.googspy.com). Imitate your successful competitors' strategies (if they seem smart and affordable in your business model), and then work to succeed even more than they do.

There's lots more to say about your site and ways to promote it, but this will give you a good start. For more about marketing to other languages, countries, and cultures, see the International Marketing section of the Web Marketing Today Research Room (www.wilsonweb.com/cat/cat.cfm?page=1&subcat=mm_Global).