Black Friday/Cyber Monday Prep
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right around the corner, which means it’s time to start finalizing your e-commerce store for the holiday spike. Online shopping during the events in 2020 grew a staggering 22% to reach a total of $9 billion, and it’s expected to surpass that in 2021.
Start Early
A survey conducted by Cision found that more than 50% of consumers are planning to begin their holiday shopping for Black Friday as early as October. This provides e-tailers with a great opportunity to start enticing consumers with coupon codes and special offers for the holiday season.
Run Maintenance On Your Site
You should anticipate high traffic on your site during Black Friday and Cyber Monday and plan accordingly to ensure each consumer has a pleasant shopping experience, free of long load times. According to research, nearly 46% of shoppers have indicated that they won’t return to a slow website, meaning the health of your site is vital to making sales. Take some time to ensure load times are expedient, and that the checkout process is seamless. If you don’t already, this can also be a great opportunity to add additional payment options, such as PayPal or Affirm.
Use Urgent Language
When it comes to your product descriptions, it’s vital to create a sense of urgency and allure that drives consumers toward your product. Consider updating the language on your site to include phrases such as, “Only a few left,” “Limited Time Only,” or “Last Chance.” This will help to tap into consumers’ emotions and drive sales.
Apply Competitive Discounts
While discounts are a given during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, most shoppers are hoping for 20% off or more. If you’re looking to stand out, consider sweetening the deal with higher discounts for first-time shoppers, giving out gift cards with purchases of a certain amount or higher, and more. Once you’ve settled on what discounts your store will be offering, make sure to display them clearly on various parts of your site, like the homepage and product pages.
For help preparing for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, contact us.
Google Title SEO: The Limit Does Not Exist
While there is standard protocol surrounding search engine optimization (SEO) title length, you may be surprised to learn Google is not the one behind it. Typically, title tags are recommended to stay between 50-70 characters total, based on how the titles are displayed on mobile and desktop devices, as anything longer than approximately 70 characters will be shown cut off in the search engine results page (SERPs). This is why many SEO and SEO websites recommend staying within that character limit. However, Google’s ranking algorithms are not limited to that character limit for ranking purposes, so including longer title tags will not hinder how your e-commerce store ranks.
That being said, what is good practice for SEO title length? According to Google’s Gary Illyes, there is no recommended title tag length. Instead, e-tailers should focus on how the title is constructed: that it’s clear, descriptive, concise, and encompasses what the subject of the page is about. For good practice, keep the first 70 characters to describe what the webpage is about, then add any additional information you deem pertinent to the rest of the characters. This will allow what displays on the SERPs to be clear enough to bring a consumer to the page without limiting your tag title to below 70 characters.
In conclusion, Google will take into account the entire title length for SEO, so if you find yourself going over the recommended character limit, don’t fear! For assistance with SEO titles and product copy, contact us.
