With the beginning of the pandemic, the possibility to order online has become
an essential feature of every website. Prior to the pandemic, the primary goal of
local search engine optimization (SEO) was to drive visibility and traffic to people
in a physical location.
Now companies are focused on providing a seamless experience across multiple
sales channels, to enable the customer to place their online orders as easily as
possible. This also allows customers to choose how they want to receive their
product, with delivery or collection options that best suit their needs. With this
transition, the strategy on how to maximize the online ordering experience has
changed.
In this post, we’ll share our local SEO guide for e-commerce and online ordering
to promote more conversions.
Get the Most Out of Google My Business Listing for Your Online Sales
While searching online for a place to shop, customers are likely to interact with
your business’s Google My Business (GMB) listing as their first point of contact.
It’s essential that you have settings that direct customers to order online or visit
your website. The ordering link should take the customer directly to the ordering
process so that he can start his purchase. There should be as little distraction as
possible, to make it easier for customers to start the process and conclude their
purchase. Guide your customer to a menu page, major category analysis, or
simplified search features.
You can also use your Google My Business Profile to provide information on
available order acceptance options, such as in-store pick-up, outdoor pick-up,
same-day pick-up, or standard delivery. This information is known as Google My
Business attributes, and each applicable retail attribute should be selected for
each of your profiles, in order to present as many useful options as possible to a
potential customer. New Google attributes are regularly updated and added, so
keep track of what’s available and applicable to your brand.
Local Retail Inventory Ads
To make the buying process as easy as possible and increase rankings for specific
products, sellers should choose local inventory ads. With these types of ads
tailored to specific brand locations, customers can see specific products available
at that location. Also, this allows your GMB account to be ranked for specific
products that the customer can search on Google and shows them what’s
currently available in the location where they are interested in picking up their
orders. This creates a simplified customer experience while encouraging faster
conversions.
When a customer clicks on one of the products in the ad, they’ll be directed to
that retailer’s Google showcase. Google provides the prerequisites for setting up a
local product feed, so you can use this feature as part of your listing. Google also
provides metrics that enable brands to measure the performance of these digital
ads.
Online Ordering for Restaurants
Restaurants that have a primary category set as a restaurant, have the ability to
display online ordering directly on their GMB profile. This feature can be managed
directly within the Google Business Profile, by selecting the “Order Food“ option
in the left panel. The button saying “Order Online“ should be indeed set to
activate it. By updating this feature, the user will be shown the various options
available for ordering from the restaurant. The customer can order directly from
the restaurant or can choose to order through partners with whom the restaurant
cooperates.
For sites that are integrated, customers will be able to order directly within
Google. The menu items available at that location will be displayed, with descriptions and prices listed. They’ll also be able to make all available changes to their orders.
Set Up Google Orders for Restaurants
If restaurant owners want the opportunity for their customers to order directly
through Google, they need to follow a few steps.
Before everything, they need to visit Google’s help page to see if they qualify for
the service. First, the restaurant must work with approved food ordering
platforms. This is necessary because only these platforms have integration with
Google. After that, restaurants must complete a contract with Google to begin the
process. Developers can review the documentation to make sure they are able to
meet the necessary startup requirements. There’s also a startup readiness
checklist that Google provides once you’re approved.
Off-Topic: Why to Use Email Newsletter to Increase Conversions in Ecommerce
When it comes to marketing their items, e-commerce shops have a number of
possibilities. So, why do so many people still use email marketing? Simply put, it
works. An email has a high return on investment (ROI). On average, you can
anticipate $42 back for every $1 invested in e-commerce email marketing. We’d
like to lay down the many types of emails that e-commerce stores should use to
boost conversion rates.
Brands can use email newsletters to share company news, testimonials or
feedback, product updates, or how you’re giving back to your communities. A
newsletter is a tried-and-true method of sharing useful information about your
company and products with your target audience. Newsletters can help
businesses interact with customers more efficiently and at a lesser cost than
other means of outreach, such as paid social media advertising.
Another advantage of publishing a newsletter is that it demonstrates your
authority and position in the business, which is especially important if you’re
selling in a niche that’s considered highly competitive. When it comes to selling, a
newsletter is a terrific method to get your products in front of as many people as possible and increase your conversion rate, especially as paid advertising
becomes more and more expensive as e-commerce marketplaces become more
sophisticated.
Frequently, the appearance of your newsletter to the reader is more important
than the content itself. Make sure you choose a design that’s both appealing to
the eye and conveys the essence of your company – which you can do by
exploiting the services of Benchmark. For example, basic visuals perform better in
terms of clicks and conversions than more complex graphics. This is due to the
fact that flashy graphics are more distracting to look at and are more prone to
rendering mistakes, which could cause your newsletter to seem awful when
opened. A responsive mailing is always preferable to one with intricate graphics
that takes an eternity to load.
Conclusion
Online ordering has become an essential part of business strategy. Whatever your
industry, make sure your ads and GMB pages are optimized to create a seamless
multi-channel experience that will help your brand increase sales. This also
improves the user experience, encouraging customer loyalty and a positive mood.