With the growth of e-commerce and the prevalence of mobile devices, a fantastic website can do wonders for retail marketing. Even brick-and-mortar stores that don't sell products online will benefit from a strong Internet presence. People turn to the Web to find local businesses, so search results can have a huge impact on consumer choice.

Here are a few tips to get your retail website into shape:

1. Use keywords and update your site often. Make sure your webpages include plenty of keywords that customers will use to search for your products. Updating your website frequently, such as with news or recent pictures, will improve its place in search results and encourage people to return repeatedly to the site.
2. Simple, intuitive design. As Paul Dunay wrote in Forbes, customers appreciate a humble, honest presentation that they can trust. You can also use retail customer intelligence to recommend products that make sense to the consumer, which Dunay said is much more effective than promoting the items that your brand wants to sell.
3. Plan for mobile access. Mobile browsing is continually increasing. In a New York Times blog, Eilene Zimmerman emphasized the importance of "responsive" design, or website frameworks that stretch or shrink based on mobile screen sizes. This ensures that your website is accessible and attractive for mobile users.
4. Integrate with social media. The Guardian suggested that social media richly augments search engine optimization for digital marketing. Social media is key for winning customer trust and for word-of-mouth recommendations. Plus, Google now includes social media as a factor in rating search results, the source noted.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Thursday, January 9th, 2014 at 5:24 am .