You need an SEO marketing audit and a full marketing strategy for your online store. Prospects and clients will come to the team to ask about functionality or their metrics. Developers often see that they don’t have a real marketing strategy and the lowest-hanging fruit with their website or SEO. They then try to guide prospects in the right direction.
Performing an SEO Marketing Audit for eCommerce Store Owners
The first step is basically to see their status in terms of revenue and conversions. Look at the types of projects that we deal with and the types of prospects. Ask your team, “I need an audit in 24 hours for this website that’s earning $8 million annually.”
What is the challenge for business owners to take the next step?
Putting together an entire SEO audit in 24 hours is not feasible. Marketers need to look at and dissect items within not only their Google Analytics but also the back-end of their site, as well as many other third-party tools that assess the health of their SEO. Then the team puts together an audit that can then provide enough detail and insight so they can move forward with the strategy.
A quick audit isn’t going to give you as much insight or guidance. Invest in a retainer for a thorough deep-dive, and then put that into action with an execution schedule following.
Google did a study and report about nurture. The sales cycle is not a one, two, three-step sales cycle anymore. It’s really more complex than that. And all of this is integrated. With a marketing or SEO audit, developers look at conversions and social media, for an omnichannel approach.
When you do an audit like this, what elements take priority?
You’re not just looking at content or the keywords that are ranking. Every element has to contribute to the strategy. A prospect who says “Do SEO for me for X dollars a month for the next six months” lacks that forward planning.
Reach out to 10 other companies right now and ask for SEO quotes or marketing quotes on a monthly basis. Each one of them will send you an SEO quote or a marketing quote. None of them will tell you, “I can give you a quote, but I don’t even know you. Why would I send you a quote when I don’t know anything about your business?”
Red Flags With A Firm’s Marketing Efforts
Suppose a company doesn’t ask for access to your Google Analytics, eCommerce admin or WordPress space, or Google Search Console. Stay away from them because they are not getting to know you. It’s like trying to propose on a first date. They didn’t really get to know a prospect’s metrics, what they want, or what their objections are. This is why you need a professional paid SEO marketing audit.
What are these integrated elements?
A detailed SEO audit has more than a keyword universe or pages to optimize. An audit requires the owner getting to learn not only their site but also their business and margins on certain products.
A marketer would rather prioritize products with higher margins, and mark those that either doesn’t retail well or have supply chain issues. They should tell you about this goal in consultation meetings and appointments.
Many business owners don’t understand that. They blindly go with the cheapest number that they get from an SEO company. This company didn’t ask the right questions, follow up, or learn about the business.
Three to six months later, the eCommerce business crashes. The managers hit this wall where they drop off, wasting all this money for six months. The owners come to Optimum7 skeptical because they were burned.
At the end of the day, it’s the business owner’s fault. The SEO agency sent them a quick audit per established policy and expectations. The owner must hire marketers who study the business, analyze their site, and structure their back-end operation fully before moving forward.
If hiring an SEO firm or a marketing firm, pay for an audit. A good firm will refund you 100 percent of the audit money if you are not satisfied because they are confident in their team, execution plan, and strategy. If the Optimum7 team cannot wow you in the first 90 days or hit those KPIs for you, they will do work for the next 90 days for free.
Auditing Conversion Elements and Nurture Funnels
What about nurture and conversion elements?
SEO is not about ranking for keywords anymore. SEO is an opportunity for you to bring people to your website and then nurture through different keyword universes. The front intent matters more.
Now, we also look at conversion elements. If a marketer sees your keywords are nice, you have potential. With that said, if you lack secondary calls to action, sticky checkout, sticky menu, trust-building elements in your checkout, minimal fields in your lead generation, a marketer will flag this.
If it’s an SEO or a marketing audit, why should you look at usability and conversion elements?
The short answer is the developers build long-term relationships with our clients. They prove and show an ROI. To deliver an ROI, marketers can’t just send traffic to your site. They need to convert that traffic.
That’s the Optimum7 value proposition. The team will move your bottom line. SEO is just a channel in which it’s integrated with nurture funnels. It’s integrated with conversion optimization elements, that everything there just plays a part and plays a role.
You need an omnichannel approach. Everything needs to be in place for this strategy to work effectively. So that’s the reason the team doesn’t just look at traffic or keyword rankings. Other viable elements include your conversion, site speed, and user metrics.
How are these users converting and moving down the funnel? Also, how is the team nurturing these individuals that are leaving the site? What is the response to visitors who abandon the cart or browser? Nurturing them increases customer lifetime value, average order value, and other key metrics that move that bottom line.
Choosing the Right Digital Agency to Audit Your Marketing Strategy
Optimum7 has been in business for 17 years. Some clients have stayed since the inception, paying that monthly SEO or monthly marketing fee for 17 straight years. Four clients stand out with their investment in the firm: Arlynscales.com for 17 years, Tees2urdoor.com for 10 years, Specialistid.com for 14 years, and Worldwidecyclery.com for four years. These are legitimate businesses that do over $5 million in annual revenue, which started with an SEO audit. They earned revenue and paid the team as a result.
You are not going to continue to pay firm monthly fees if marketers don’t increase your revenue or bottom line. Convert your website; post your phone number and a business email, and ask your salespeople to respond.
Fifty percent of current companies don’t even know how to pick up the phone or train their salespeople. An audit will factor in these elements. If you’re working with a professional, they’re not going to do this for free. You’re going to have to pay for the audit.
How much time does it take to build one of these audits, and what is the cost?
It can take five to ten hours of nonstop digging. The time varies based on the business, and size of the site. Is this a brand new brand or an existing, somewhat established eCommerce store?
Marketers calculate based on the website size, the product offering, the number of pages, and products. The price can range between $1,000 to $5,000, again, depending on the business.
If the developers bill you for an audit between one to five thousand dollars, and you’re absolutely not happy with that audit, they will refund it. Marketing agencies prioritize long-term relationships over one-time projects.
When you go out there and talk to a vendor, SEO company, or marketing agency, make sure that they understand your business. They should build a strategy based on your short-term, intermediate, and long-term objectives. Request your SEO and Marketing Audit, today.
