Most Common Ecommerce Mistakes by Small Businesses
As a top digital marketing agency in Los Angeles since 2008, we have seen it all when providing SEO services, PPC Services and Ecommerce to our many small business clients. That said, we wanted to share our recommendations to business owners about improving their ecommerce marketing by explaining the Most Common Mistakes in Ecommerce Marketing
1. Ignoring Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Many ecommerce businesses underestimate the power of SEO. If your website isn’t optimized for search engines, potential customers will have a harder time finding your products. It’s nearly impossible to have a positive ROI from PPC Advertising. Google and META have rigged their advertising platforms in their favor for the last five years. Click fraud is out of control on both platforms and neither Google or META Cares because its money in their pocket. You must have a robust SEO strategy delivering organic traffic to your ecommerce site or you will not survive. Common SEO mistakes include:
- Not using relevant keywords in product titles and descriptions
- Ignoring Technical SEO like site speed, mobile-display and proper indexing.
- Ignoring Blogging. Google rewards sites with fresh content
- Not using proper image titles.
How to Fix It: Set aside a monthly budget for SEO, just like PPC, and hire a qualified SEO Agency.
2. Improper Email Marketing
Many small ecommerce businesses fail to utilize email marketing effectively, missing out on a key revenue channel. As we mentioned above, your PPC strategy needs help. Just like SEO, Email Marketing drives organic traffic to your website and is largely free. Some of the mistakes our agency sees with our ecommerce clients include:
- Not doing any email marketing
- Sending too frequently. More than 3-4 times per month is not marketing, it’s harassment.
- Ignoring abandoned cart emails
3. Improper Use of Social Media
Too many small businesses spend too much time on organic social media. This is the channel that small businesses spend the most time on, but it has the lowest conversion rate. The reason is that Facebook, Instagram & TikTok only show your posts to 3-4% of your followers. Some of the other mistakes we see include:
- Focusing solely on sales without offering valuable content.
- Not interacting with customer comments
- Ignoring or not using hashtags properly
- Connecting Instagram and Facebook Accounts.
How to Fix: Keep your organic feeds active, but run PPC Ads on social media to reach your target audience. Less work and more effective.
4. Lack of a Retargeting Strategy
Many small businesses fail to retarget visitors who leave their ecommerce site without making a purchase. Without retargeting, you lose potential customers who were already interested in your products.
How to Fix: Implement retargeting campaigns using Facebook, Google Ads, and email reminders to bring back potential buyers.
5. Ignoring Data & Analytics
Without tracking key performance metrics, businesses struggle to understand what’s working and what’s not. Common mistakes include:
- Not setting up Google Analytics or eCommerce tracking.
- Ignoring conversion rates and customer behavior data.
- Making marketing decisions based on assumptions rather than data.
How to Fix: Regularly analyze website traffic, conversion rates and customer behavior. Use data-driven insights to refine your marketing strategies.
6. Not Managing PPC Campaigns Wisely
While organic marketing is essential, paid advertising (PPC) can significantly boost sales and branding. However, small businesses often make mistakes such as:
- Trying to manage their PPC campaigns themselves.
- Ignoring A/B testing to optimize ad performance.
- Not tracking return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Poor management of their Google Shopping Feed
How to Fix: You absolutely must hire a reputable PPC Agency to do this for you. If you can get one like eMaximize who can handle SEO, PPC & Social, then you have an All Star on your team. You cannot do it yourself or with your niece or nephew who “has a lot of TikTok followers”. The Google and META Ad platforms are very complex and they often suggest changes that are detrimental to your campaigns and budget.
Conclusion
There you have it, six common ecommerce mistakes by small businesses. Avoiding these digital marketing mistakes will lead to better visibility, higher engagement and increased sales. By focusing on SEO, leveraging email marketing, improving social media & retargeting, your business stands a much better chance of having a successful ecommerce marketing strategy.
If you’re business is ready to achieve sustainable growth with a top Los Angeles digital marketing agency with a proven track record, then you came to the right place. eMaximize has been at the forefront of Digital Marketing, SEO & PPC since 2008. We create results driven strategies that truly move the needle for your business and give you a long lasting competitive advantage. We are typically faster, better and cheaper than our competition, because we are structured that way.
If you are ready to get started, kindly send us a note or give us a call and we can start your free analysis and show you how eMaximize can significantly increase your revenue, like we do for all our clients!
Thank You!
