SEO vs. Community in the field of online trading: which strategy is better to promote?
Over the course of the year, I have been watching two online trading companies. Both companies have owned online stores for at least two years and have been familiar with the Internet for quite some time. Over these two years, both online stores have been a plus, they have expanded their product range and customer base, and, I’m not afraid to say, have grown from startups to successful businesses. Today I bring to your attention a review of the common features and differences of these stores, and - most interestingly - a comparison of the ways in which the stores went to success. Paying tribute to the current topic today, I will describe how the current crisis has affected both players, in particular the ruble devaluation.
I will make a reservation right away. In this review there will be no real names and titles, and the actual figures in the reports are proportionally changed in a big way in order to preserve the anonymity of my test subjects.
Online stores under the pseudonym "Chamomile" and "Berry" sell hobby goods. Both a few years on the market. Both have mature business processes. Both, according to suppliers, are among the leaders of their market. Shops have approximately equal monthly turnover of 4 million rubles. Attendance - 3500 hosts / day, the rest of the statistics, except for sources of traffic - is similar. The company staff is 5-6 people, not counting the outsourcers.
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Now - individual portraits of stores.
The sum of the average check in “Daisy” is 3,000 rubles. The range of products is quite wide and amounts to several thousand items. In the range there are both expensive technically complex products, and penny consumables. The Camomile website does a good job of presenting the goods and placing the order, moreover, it offers several important services for the buyer, such as accurate calculation of the cost of delivery to a particular region by mail or delivery services, preparation of payment receipts. Slightly worse on the site with texts and photos. But the biggest drawback of the site "Daisies" should be considered design - it is about 8 years old.
Chamomile marketing strategy is expressed in building a community of buyers. The shop sells hobby goods, and as the practice shows, adherents of various hobbies unite to form clubs of interest, creating social networks (in the broad sense of the term) not only on the Internet, but also in real life. "Fisherman fisherman sees from afar", aha. So, completely ignoring the technology of SEO, “Chamomile” spends a lot of money and effort to form a hobby club around itself. The main tool for this was the portal with a forum dedicated to hobbies. The company employs experts who have posted on the site more than a thousand professional articles on hobbies and related fields of science and technology. And, despite the fact that the site and the forum are far from technical and design excellence, the site has been successfully operating for many years, attracting new users, and increasing attendance. The company pays a lot of attention to the portal's audience, organizing at its own expense the congresses of the forum participants and holding events for them at thematic exhibitions and conferences. A professional approach to the formation of content was not in vain - the site is in first place for hobby-specific medium-frequency queries. Not surprisingly, at least half of the traffic shop "Daisies" receives from the portal and a couple of related sites of the company. A little more traffic falls from partner sites and Y.Market. Experiments with media advertising, despite the fact that it was placed on thematic high-visited sites, ended in complete disappointment.
I don’t know how much Chamomile’s profit would have increased, include common methods in its marketing strategy - contextual advertising and SEO, but one cannot but admit that the “shop with a hobby community” strategy is quite successful. On the condition of honest, open and mutually beneficial principles of building a community, the latter not only provides a sufficient amount of demand, but also brings tremendous benefits in terms of the company's image formation and competition.
The average bill at Yagodka is significantly higher than at Chamomile, and is about 10,000 rubles. The range of products is about 1,500 positions, most of which are expensive, technically complex products. "Berry" has created a modern, ergonomic and, as many believe, a beautiful site. All products are equipped with high-quality photos and professional texts, written not without taking into account the needs of SEO. Placing an order with “Berry” is the easiest - registration / authorization, a choice of two delivery / payment options, the operator works further.
The main emphasis in marketing, "Berry" makes the promotion of the site. There was also media advertising, contextual advertising, work with blogs and forums, but now the main direction is SEO. 90% of visitors come from search engines. All possible methods are used - and meticulous work on the purchase of links, and the utmost internal optimization of the site, and serious work with statistics, analytics. Specially trained specialists are working on the texts of the site and, in particular, the texts of links and headings. There were experiments on the creation of satellites.
I must say that no less attention is paid to the functionality and ergonomics of the site. It is safe to say that in these matters, “Berry” is ahead of most of its competitors.
No steps have been taken to create the Yagodka Buyers Club or any community at all, despite the rather significant traffic of the site. At one time, “Berry” collaborated with an independent interest club, but this did not become a determining factor in the development of the store. The main role in the success of "Berry" was played, of course, high-quality website and first-class SEO.
Two experimental came to similar indicators of business fundamentally different ways. Approximately equal size of business, comparable turnover and profit. As far as I can judge (fairly reliably), the costs of achieving the current indicators are also about equal. Different ways, but the same result. On the one hand, both companies have achieved success, on the other - each, it seems to me, has not yet realized the opportunities that it has so far ignored. It is clear that to implement a comprehensive marketing plan does not seem real, and everyone chooses the strategy that is closer to him. But I would be curious to look at how now, having already achieved success, “Chamomile” and “Berry” will, in addition to their roles, take on the roles of each other. I think it will be interesting.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about how both stores were affected by the global economic crisis and, in particular, the devaluation of the ruble. Both stores sell imported goods, therefore, faced with the negative effects of devaluation in full. In addition, although it is believed that buyers refuse to spend their hobbies in one of the last lines, one cannot deny a decline in demand. But what really matters is that if Yagodka’s demand fell very, very seriously, and attendance grew solely due to SEO manipulation, Daisy slipped very moderately, and store traffic and interest in goods on the contrary, continue to grow. The number of calls and completed orders at Yagodka objectively decreased, while that of Chamomile increased, although the average bill lost 15-20%. What it is - luck or advantage of the chosen strategy - I do not know yet.
I hope that the described stories from the life of two online stores will help online merchants to present a variety of marketing strategies on the Internet and will give curious food for thought.
Continued, I hope, follows.
I will make a reservation right away. In this review there will be no real names and titles, and the actual figures in the reports are proportionally changed in a big way in order to preserve the anonymity of my test subjects.
I present the experimental:
Online stores under the pseudonym "Chamomile" and "Berry" sell hobby goods. Both a few years on the market. Both have mature business processes. Both, according to suppliers, are among the leaders of their market. Shops have approximately equal monthly turnover of 4 million rubles. Attendance - 3500 hosts / day, the rest of the statistics, except for sources of traffic - is similar. The company staff is 5-6 people, not counting the outsourcers.
')
Now - individual portraits of stores.
"Chamomile"
The sum of the average check in “Daisy” is 3,000 rubles. The range of products is quite wide and amounts to several thousand items. In the range there are both expensive technically complex products, and penny consumables. The Camomile website does a good job of presenting the goods and placing the order, moreover, it offers several important services for the buyer, such as accurate calculation of the cost of delivery to a particular region by mail or delivery services, preparation of payment receipts. Slightly worse on the site with texts and photos. But the biggest drawback of the site "Daisies" should be considered design - it is about 8 years old.
Chamomile marketing strategy is expressed in building a community of buyers. The shop sells hobby goods, and as the practice shows, adherents of various hobbies unite to form clubs of interest, creating social networks (in the broad sense of the term) not only on the Internet, but also in real life. "Fisherman fisherman sees from afar", aha. So, completely ignoring the technology of SEO, “Chamomile” spends a lot of money and effort to form a hobby club around itself. The main tool for this was the portal with a forum dedicated to hobbies. The company employs experts who have posted on the site more than a thousand professional articles on hobbies and related fields of science and technology. And, despite the fact that the site and the forum are far from technical and design excellence, the site has been successfully operating for many years, attracting new users, and increasing attendance. The company pays a lot of attention to the portal's audience, organizing at its own expense the congresses of the forum participants and holding events for them at thematic exhibitions and conferences. A professional approach to the formation of content was not in vain - the site is in first place for hobby-specific medium-frequency queries. Not surprisingly, at least half of the traffic shop "Daisies" receives from the portal and a couple of related sites of the company. A little more traffic falls from partner sites and Y.Market. Experiments with media advertising, despite the fact that it was placed on thematic high-visited sites, ended in complete disappointment.
I don’t know how much Chamomile’s profit would have increased, include common methods in its marketing strategy - contextual advertising and SEO, but one cannot but admit that the “shop with a hobby community” strategy is quite successful. On the condition of honest, open and mutually beneficial principles of building a community, the latter not only provides a sufficient amount of demand, but also brings tremendous benefits in terms of the company's image formation and competition.
"Berry"
The average bill at Yagodka is significantly higher than at Chamomile, and is about 10,000 rubles. The range of products is about 1,500 positions, most of which are expensive, technically complex products. "Berry" has created a modern, ergonomic and, as many believe, a beautiful site. All products are equipped with high-quality photos and professional texts, written not without taking into account the needs of SEO. Placing an order with “Berry” is the easiest - registration / authorization, a choice of two delivery / payment options, the operator works further.
The main emphasis in marketing, "Berry" makes the promotion of the site. There was also media advertising, contextual advertising, work with blogs and forums, but now the main direction is SEO. 90% of visitors come from search engines. All possible methods are used - and meticulous work on the purchase of links, and the utmost internal optimization of the site, and serious work with statistics, analytics. Specially trained specialists are working on the texts of the site and, in particular, the texts of links and headings. There were experiments on the creation of satellites.
I must say that no less attention is paid to the functionality and ergonomics of the site. It is safe to say that in these matters, “Berry” is ahead of most of its competitors.
No steps have been taken to create the Yagodka Buyers Club or any community at all, despite the rather significant traffic of the site. At one time, “Berry” collaborated with an independent interest club, but this did not become a determining factor in the development of the store. The main role in the success of "Berry" was played, of course, high-quality website and first-class SEO.
Summing up
Two experimental came to similar indicators of business fundamentally different ways. Approximately equal size of business, comparable turnover and profit. As far as I can judge (fairly reliably), the costs of achieving the current indicators are also about equal. Different ways, but the same result. On the one hand, both companies have achieved success, on the other - each, it seems to me, has not yet realized the opportunities that it has so far ignored. It is clear that to implement a comprehensive marketing plan does not seem real, and everyone chooses the strategy that is closer to him. But I would be curious to look at how now, having already achieved success, “Chamomile” and “Berry” will, in addition to their roles, take on the roles of each other. I think it will be interesting.
The most important. A crisis!
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about how both stores were affected by the global economic crisis and, in particular, the devaluation of the ruble. Both stores sell imported goods, therefore, faced with the negative effects of devaluation in full. In addition, although it is believed that buyers refuse to spend their hobbies in one of the last lines, one cannot deny a decline in demand. But what really matters is that if Yagodka’s demand fell very, very seriously, and attendance grew solely due to SEO manipulation, Daisy slipped very moderately, and store traffic and interest in goods on the contrary, continue to grow. The number of calls and completed orders at Yagodka objectively decreased, while that of Chamomile increased, although the average bill lost 15-20%. What it is - luck or advantage of the chosen strategy - I do not know yet.
Conclusion
I hope that the described stories from the life of two online stores will help online merchants to present a variety of marketing strategies on the Internet and will give curious food for thought.
Continued, I hope, follows.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/58879/
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