So I've been working with merchants
online for about eight years.
And three challenges I've come across-- they're
partially psychological, but also just reality.
And they come down to, so maybe you're new to all of this.
You're an expert in your field, but there's
a lot of other things going on with running an online store.
The other one is a psychological one,
where you feel small in a sea of really big brands-- the Best
Buys, the Nordstroms out there.
How in the world can you compete in that environment?
And third, you're probably a little confused by it all.
Online stores are surrounded by crazy acronyms-- SEO,
PPC, return on ad spend, all these things--
and they're foreign to you.
You are very smart.
You know a lot about what you do,
but this is a new terrain for you.
What is the solution to these challenges?
And I've been doing this eight years now.
And I have found that it is becoming knowledgeable,
and taking ownership of your destiny,
and using that knowledge to promote
your brand appropriately, and grow your audience.
And how do we do that?
Well, I have a few trends I want to highlight.
And then I'll close with some universal truths,
as much as they can be in the digital age-- truths
that I believe to be apparent for probably
a decade, at least.
So trend number one-- local search.
Local search is obviously on the rise.
50% of all online searches have a local intent,
and I believe 67% of those-- as of last year,
because this data's older-- resulted
in a purchase of some sort.
So folks like Google, Bing, and Yahoo
are catering their results to this fact.
And if we all think about where we were three years ago
and who we are now, we know that the trend
is moving in this direction.
We are more willing to pick up a cell phone and make a search.
And the biggest change would be exchange money
via that mobile device.
So this trend is going to be the norm eventually.
So this is a big thing that we need to just shift our reality
to understand.
The second part is good news.
Local and small business have an advantage here.
Nordstrom-- it is extremely expensive and difficult,
logistically, to be present in every local environment.
So when you're just starting out,
I strongly recommend you spend a lot of time
networking in the local realm.
This is where you're going to get your traction.
Third, where's Adrianne?
My girl.
Adrianne is one of the SEO team leaders on my team.
She's brilliant.
She's actually our local expert.
She just came back from Pubcon, which
for nerdy SEO types, which is kind of where I came up in,
is the biggest SEO environment in the world.
She was a guest speaker there on local.
Sorry.
I'm going on and on, but I'm very proud of her.
If you have any questions about local search, she's your lady.
So hunt her down.
So niche has really picked up steam on social.
You can target by demographics very easily.
You can say, I want to target all the waitresses
in the Detroit area who have liked SpongeBob SquarePants.
It can get very specific.
So you can find your people easily on social.
But they also have a lot of niche marketing
social networks-- so things like Houzz, Polyvore, Reddit,
YouTube-- you can find your people there and get
very down to the grain.
So I like to always think about Houzz is
housing, design, architecture.
Polyvore is very much fashion, beauty, a little bit of toys,
for some reason, I guess.
I don't know.
And Reddit is-- it's everybody.
We have marketed everything from e-cigs
to things I won't talk about, to hiking poles.
You can find your people on Reddit.
A word to the wise on Reddit, though,
is don't go in there selling.
Go in there with an open heart.
Be authentic.
Help people out.
Be part of the community.
They will come at you with pitchforks
if you come in there selling too hard.
So you want to be part of the community,
not selling to the community.
Trust me, the money will flow once you're
part of the community.
But you just can't lead with that foot sort of thing.
Influencers-- it's a fancy word for people
who are really influential in your niche.
So a good example of this might be special needs toys.
I am certain there are probably dozens of influential people
in that circle.
Hunt them out.
Offer them something to review.
Offer their audience a discount.
Make their people your people.
Offer them value, and they will offer you their audience.
It's a really nice, mutually beneficial relationship.
And user-generated content is actually
something I interact with quite a bit.
It's when somebody posts a review
or does something to endorse you.
They become your spokesperson.
Something I interact a lot with would
be ModCloth or Anthropologie-- people posting pictures
of themselves in a dress saying, this is really true to size.
I love it.
I can't believe I lived without it.
You're much more likely to trust those people than a business.
So use your loyal customers to sell your wares and make money.
Brands are what are going to make you stand out.
And I think our panel really kind of articulated
this in a very lovely way.
Your personality will differentiate you
from Nordstroms, from Walmart, from the big guys,
and it breeds loyalty.
You're more likely to do business with people you like,
and the same goes for a company.
You want people to think about your company
as if it were a person that they want to do business with.
So you need to ask yourself, what is unique about me?
Why am I who I am?
And live that truth.
And I know that sounds a little cheesy.
But tell the story, and live it inside out.
When you enact your culture within and brand without,
you're going to have a solid, authentic brand.
You do not want to have an inauthentic brand.
You want something that really lives and breathes, and just
comes naturally with time.
And then the people that you naturally
appeal to will give you money.
It's a great thing.
Probably the easiest way to manifest a brand
is through design.
So design matters.
That's first stop.
You need a design that appeals to your market,
and just is natural with you.
So that's the first stop.
And then once you have a brand, you're
going to build a following.
The easiest way to do that is through social media.
And then other good tactics, I would say,
would be reengaging through email,
and remarketing, which is basically
someone comes to your site, you cookie them
and creepily follow them around showing them your ads later.
If it's done right, it's endearing.
If it's done inappropriately, it's weird.
There are some things that are just going
to last at least for a decade.
Who knows?
In the future, we might all be machines.
But for now, you need your basic SEO in place.
SEO is search engine optimization.
It's a fancy way of saying make it easy for the search engines
to know you're relevant, what you're all about, that you're
important, and that you're quality.
So there are a few free resources we've produced.
Where's Jacob?
Oh, Jacob.
[LAUGHTER]
Jacob King wrote this awesome ebook.
It's available on volusion.com in our resource library.
It's free.
You can do it.
It's meant for e-commerce folks.
You can do it yourself.
And then we also have-- my dear Jacob and Kavi host bi-weekly--
it's a podcasty, webcasty thing, where
you can listen to them chat about SEO-- so much fun--
but also send in your questions directly to them,
and get real-time counseling.
It's free to anyone.
You don't have to be on Volusion.
We want to help you.
We believe in e-commerce.
We want to make you all successful.
So use it.
And they often have really awesome people as guests.
I know that Sam was a guest at one point.
Smullen will probably be a guest for technical stuff.
So it's great.
And here's one of my cliches for the night-- don't put
all your eggs in one basket.
When you have an online store, you
need to diversify your marketing because one change--
if you're really successful in one area,
you are making yourself vulnerable.
Google could decide tomorrow that they're not
going to use x.
And if you've put all your eggs in x's basket
and they smoosh that basket, you're in trouble.
So I would recommend diversifying your outreach
into at least three channels.
More is better if your audience is in more channels.
Don't set it and forget it, like the infomercial.
Even if you're really successful,
you need to keep checking and making sure you're not
getting diminishing returns.
The best way to do that-- analytics-- Google Analytics
is free-- and your customers.
Your customers are going to tell you-- sometimes,
it's crazy stuff.
But a lot of times, it's truth.
So listen.
And good thing to end on, and I think the panel really
articulated this-- is I recommend loving what you do.
I incorporate this into my personal life.
But as an entrepreneur, you're going
to be working pretty hard.
So if you're doing that, it should be something
you're passionate about.
Otherwise, you'll burn out.
I'm sure there's a few anomalies out there that
made millions doing something that they loathed.
But that's no way to live.
So find what you love, and pursue it.
And I would really like to thank everybody
who's come here tonight.
I was really inspired by the panel.
And I'm really pleased that so many people came out.
So thank you guys so much.
I hope you have a great time.
Have more beer.
Thanks.
[APPLAUSE]