SEO: Links to Success

Search engine optimization aims to boost the traffic and revenue of eCommerce websites without the use of inefficient and costly advertising such as pay-per-click schemes, of which there are several. It is recognised as the best method of boosting online sales. The reason for this is simple; the web is saturated with adverts and generally web users will avoid them as much as possible. It is organic (free) search engine results which people have come to trust because search engine results deliver the most relevant sites rather than just trying to sell a certain company's products. As discussed in the article 'Linking: What Makes the Web the Web', building links is a major part of the process of organically improving search engine rankings using Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Advertising: When Revenue Costs

The temptation to place adverts on your eCommerce site and enter into affiliate schemes can be hard to overcome. It offers a quick form of gaining revenue to help start getting a return on the website which you've invested in. Caution is most definitely advised. The way that an eCommerce website makes money is by getting as much valuable traffic to visit as possible. SEO is by far the best way of doing this and here arises the conflict. By putting adverts on your page in a way that distracts the user from the actual content and services offered by the site you are actively discouraging other sites from linking to your site. This is where the internet differs from television and radio. Though advertising has been woven into the fabric of these media, it is accepted because the user is getting something for free in the form of the entertainment provided. Online, however, there will almost always be a site which has the information within your content without advertisements. Plus, if you're selling goods, people simply don't want the distraction; it makes them far less likely to make purchases on your site and dramatically decreases repeat-purchase figures.

eCommerce: Learn From the Best 

The evidence for these statements is freely available for all to see. Take a look at sites such as amazon and ebay. These sites have huge amounts of daily traffic so advertising might seem as if its going to make them large amounts of revenue. But they are ad-free. The reason for this? Usability and encouraging customers to make purchases is far more important than short term benefits of advertising revenue. Combined with the benifits to SEO efforts of excluding adverts, and the fact that any eCommerce website will be competing with at least one ad-free website and it soon becomes clear that in eCommerce, for many businesses, advertising just don't pay.