B2B and B2C E-commerce Case Studies — SEO, Content Marketing and CRO

E-commerce sites experience the most fierce competition on the Internet. That’s why finding ways to increase e-store website traffic and search engine rankings are always on any online shop owner’s or marketeer’s mind. And with good reason. From link building and targeted ads, to user experience and SEO, there’s an overwhelming number of strategies out there. So how do you find which strategy is right for your business?

Here at Hop Online, we’ve had a number of e-commerce clients whom we’ve helped with this exact problem. And while there is no universal recipe for success, we regularly offer SEO and Content Marketing, Social Media Management and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) solutions to our e-commerce clients as they’re the basis of any great marketing plan. Great content and promotion help you gain new leads, build lasting customer relationships, and grow into a trusted industry brand.

Check out the case studies below to see how this strategy works, and why it would suit any e-commerce business, no matter what niche or industry.

B2B E-commerce Case Study: SEO, Content Marketing and Social Media Management

Case Study #1: White-Label Vitamin & Supplement Seller

One of our clients specializes in selling white-label vitamins and supplements to retailers. They came to us looking to boost their organic traffic.

To create a winning content strategy, we stared where we always do: with a detailed analysis of their buyers and their specific pain points. Once we knew who we were targeting, where we could reach them, and how we could help them, we came up with effective content to gain their trust in our client. The first part of our strategy was to create detailed page content, which would boost our client’s search rankings for important keywords. Then, we started growing their brand presence.

Selling supplements is a tough business, so we created guides on best practices, such as “How to Sell Supplements Online.” These type of articles not only won a large fan base in multiple social media channels (including LinkedIn and Google+), but soon started ranking in Google’s organic results. They’re still bringing in highly targeted free traffic to the site even now, months after they were originally published and promoted.

Our process, in short:

1. Analyze Buyer Personas: Discover pain points, communication channels, sales channels
2. Choose Best Social Media Channels: LinkedIn, Google+
3. Create a Custom Content Strategy: How-to guides, Product-related blog posts, Original image creation

Results from 12+ months of SEO, Content Marketing and Social Media Management Campaigns:

• Organic traffic increase by 23%
• Conversion rate increase by 79%
• Organic ranking for trophy keywords: from page 3 to page 1 in Google.com

If you run a B2B business, the most important part of your online marketing strategy should be to build up your authority. Publish the right type of content in the right type of environment to transform yourself into an industry expert. Show that you know the ins and outs of your business niche, and soon businesses impressed by your thought leadership will be lining up at your shopping cart.

B2C E-commerce Case Study: SEO, Content Marketing, Social Media Management 

Case Studies #2 and #3:  Online Medical Equipment Suppliers

One of our other e-commerce clients actually had one business in two locations — the US and UK. The company offers medical supplies and equipment to physicians and health professionals online. They have existing clients, who make 2+ purchases. They contacted us to help them increase brand awareness and expand top-of-the-funnel client base.

The client was mainly targeting physicians and nurses. We’ve had previous experience in the field, and suggested that they also start targeting medical students. Students, although just starting their medical careers, also need similar supplies, and are very active online.

Targeting medical students in Facebook is a fun job — we had lots of ideas that helped the clients increase their fan base and improve engagement rates for their Facebook profiles.

Our strategy, in short:

1. Target Persona Research: We suggested a new buyer persona our client could focus on (medical students), one they did not target previously
2. Outreach Focus on Facebook: A major B2C social media channel with very good conversion rates for Product ad campaigns.
3. Content Strategy: Custom images for Facebook campaigns to increase fan base and engagement rate; Blog posts for the new target persona (promoted on Facebook); Product comparison articles for the bottom of the funnel Buyer stage describing USPs (Unique selling propositions) of the client (in this case there was a very clear USP — the client offers custom branding of the items they sell).

Results from 3 months of SEO, Content Marketing and Social Media Management Campaigns:

• Organic traffic increase by 10% (Case 1) to 30% (Case 2)
• Social media fan base increase by 8.6% (to over 20,000)
• Social shares on new content: 250–320 per month  

When your business model is B2C you can get very creative! Images, games, apps, videos, you name it. We advise every B2C client to use social media channels for both brand awareness and sales generation, so do be active there.

More SEO and Content Marketing Reads:

• Content Marketing Survival Guide for E-Commerce
• Content Marketing for Financial Startups

Conclusion

Content marketing is where your e-commerce brand can make a difference. In order to have a successful e-commerce brand, you need to invest in content that is useful to your audience. Don’t try black-hat link building tactics that promise fast success, as they may lead to a Google Penalty (read more about dealing with link penalties here). If you offer content that your buyers truly need and appreciate, you’ll gain their trust and you’ll be one step closer to boosting your traffic and sales.

If you need help figuring out what type of content to focus on or who to target contact us for a free consultation. We can help your business take off with flying colors or get back on the track to success — that’s what we specialize in!