• Aug 12, 2022

Evolving eCommerce with SEO

12 March 2016 - Updated Oct 2024

Probably like many small businesses we have to make decisions on where to spend our energies and get a balance between keeping the wolves from the door and planning into the future. Decisions are required on dividing up available time and some sort of measure as to whether the time used was successful is required. After developing a passion for coding websites in 1998, it wasn't long before it became clear that not only do you need a good website, it also needs an audience. It needs to be found in search engines (Google did not even exist in 1998).

The combination of eCommerce and SEO is the most effective marketing strategy. We say its the only marketing strategy you need apart from personal face to face networking.

With the dot com boom of 2000 a chance conversation with my User Interface Design lecturer on campus at Griffith University lead to my tutoring, then lecturing career. Only a month from graduating, I didn't let this opportunity pass by. 13 years of teaching followed - a great opportunity to learn. To reinforce key IT concepts. I had the honor of being asked to create and deliver a course for advanced students (eBusiness and Advanced eBusiness). These students were the selected elite, working in various workplaces Australia wide.

University Lecturer 2000-2013

Subjects taught including -:

• eCommerce
• eBusiness
• Advanced eBusiness
• Object Oriented Programming
• User Interface Design

Lecturing is a privilege especially when interacting with students open to new ideas. It is like a mini test lab - forum. One classic example resulted in a site about Jet Boat Rides Gold Coast that performed very well. The student research uncovered many questions a potential customer needed to know prior to purchasing a ticket for a Jet Boat Ride. The site needed to have easy access to those answers plus a sense of adventure. Today I work on a site offering Gold Coast Boat Hire with many features in their site gleaned from teaching User Interface Design.

Programming or Coding

Another opportunity arose to work with a Gold Coast company on improving an online system built with Java Servlets.

Programming in Java, MySQL, HTML, JavaScript, CSS has its advantages. Systems made by large teams can be error prone and a security risk.

Or own inhouse code makes maintenance a breeze.
Not having a fundamental understanding of coding is a disadvantage for an eCommerce SEO.

Special structures can make readable maintainable code-:

AU("Australia", "AUS", 36),

AU("Australia", 36, 3.00, 6.50, 12.83, 13.50, 14.84, 15.50, 16.41, 18.00, 19.50, 21.00 ),


if ((Units > 250)&&(Units <= 500))

{

shippingCost  = Shipping.getByCode(CountryCode).weight500;	

}

The snippets of Java code above are making Shipping calculations. When using the Java enum structure the code can be very readable. In the above case it is simply saying if an Australian country code and between 251 and 500 units the price would be one $6.50 for shipping. This type of code is adaptable.

Hosting

For eCommerce to thrive a hosting environment is needed. Specialist hosting set-ups have an SEO advantage. The sites are faster, easier to maintain and secure.

Slow shared hosts serving up sites with bloated code are a performance and security drain. Also the location of hosts has a direct effect on search results.

SEO

SEO interested me very early (around 2000) when I was trying to work out how to get a site to the top of Yahoo. When Google became more prominent I started working on systems that would work well in Google and continue to this day spending time analysing Google results for various clients and my own sites.

I was a Gold Coast SEO way before anyone really new what that was.

Keeping sites at the top of Google can be very time consuming - yet necessary because it can add so much value to a business. Being one of the original developers doing SEO on the Gold Coast allows us to evolve our systems and techniques.

Business ideas to success

The real test for an eCommerce developer (in my opinion) is whether they can combine the various elements into sites that work.

My first successful eCommerce site was both an industry disrupter and a financial success. It was the first site to sell air conditioners online specifically made to show the specs of the various air conditioner brands.

My second successful eCommerce site was for Hearing Aids and continues to dominate that industry. This too was a hearing industry disrupter "The first site in Australia to display prices for hearing aids". Established 2010 and thriving today! A lot has happened in SEO and eCommerce since 2010. Safe to say we are now not the only site in Australia showing brand name hearing aid prices.

The third successful eCommerce site was Finshop.com.au selling surfboard fins. Two Gold Coast brothers owned the Boardroom at Miami and diversified into selling surfboard fins online. I still recall Matt asking me what I thought of the idea and whether I would be interested on working on a site.

eCommerce formula for success

Some successful sites have been suggestions from the client and others have been suggestions from me spotting an opportunity for a potential client. Just about every idea has been thought of before. Its the implementation that determines success.

A really good rule of thumb or criteria for eCommerce success is-:

• A good business operator
• Research the idea
• A business with barriers to entry (eg. not everyone can get access to the stock from suppliers etc)
• Physical premises + Online presence is better than either of those alone in terms of Google search success.
• Technical advantage over competition (develop an eCommerce site with advanced SEO structures)
• Cost reductions to business ( we work at reducing overheads, developing automated systems to enhance business bottom line )
• Longevity ( these systems have been developed over a long period of time and cannot be easily duplicated by a competitor)
• Incentive - there is clear and obvious incentive for this website to be as effective as possible.

Document every nuance

As a rule when researching systems there will always be other discoveries along the way. By taking the time to document discoveries, you avoid the annoyance of knowing you had a solution for a future problem but did not take notes. Notes can be as simple as a single document with code snippets and explanations.

Our systems can be layered on top of each other. Both font-end designs and back-end admin systems can still work. We are up to our 4th generation of back-end system.

Need a new design for a site - no problem - the new design can be rolled out on top of the previous design. You can't do that with most systems today.

Cost advantage of in-house eCommerce systems

Large systems made by teams are more vulnerable to security issues. They often have to be scraped and completely replaced. Unscrupulous web people exploit customers for monthly update fees. These fees are often only necessary because the system itself is faulty and too easy to hack.

There is nothing wrong with working hard. Working hard and smart can lead to developing a business advantage. There are also many small gains a business can achieve - like finding profitable niches within your own existing operation.

Is it worth discussing how we may be able to help you, as we have helped many others?