Your Online Business In Light Of The Slowing Economy
Deep Trouble For The Economy
With everything going on in the news today about the slowdown of the US economy, in light of the recent banking failures and the governments bailout attempts, the question arises as to whether the online economy is experiencing any slowdown as a result.
I thought this was an interesting question to ask and find out what the answer is by doing a little research on my own.
As if things didn’t look bleak enough retail groups are predicting this holiday shopping season could be the most severe since the 1991 recession.
“The benefit from the lead up in gasoline prices will be overwhelmed by the impact of rising employment, tighter credit and other hardships on households”,says Badillo, senior economist for Retail Forward.
One sliver of hope is expected to be online retail. A report by Forrester Research and the National Retail Federation’s report say online sales are better positioned to withstand a slowdown than in-store sales.
As online sites battle for shopper and dollars, the most important factor is the visitor engagement.
Effectively showcasing your products through best practices internal site search and navigation is the key to dramatically improving your visitor’s engagement and click-throughs. With the continuing influx of online shoppers, especially from the search engines, a smaller percentage of shoppers are finding relevant products.
An interesting statistic I found is that nearly 40% of all site visits use an internal site search to Connect with products. A successful Affiliate site needs best practices search functions, which will sort filter and guide the visitor to their desired product.
In addition, an affiliate site Structured with proper Departments and Categories to enhance VEO, or what is called visitor engagement optimization will keep the visitor engaged longer which will result in a greater likelihood that they will find what they are looking for.
Comments
We believe in Link Love. After your 5th comment all your future comments will have follow links.
By Stacey Derbinshire on September 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 am
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
By Rudy Silva on September 25th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Bruce,
It good to know statistics so that we can make better decisions about how to market our products, thanks for the information.