Growing Organically: How We Helped an Online Retailer See Record Sales

Growing Organically: How We Helped an Online Retailer See Record Sales

• 136% revenue increase from organic search results
• 126% annual sales increase from optimization efforts
• 130% return on investment (ROI)

When our client approached us to redesign their website, they had already tackled the upfront work: rebranding, expanding distribution and reach, and creating content for site visitors. 

Now it was our job to get all these efforts noticed by potential customers and drive fresh traffic to their site. Better still, we wanted new site visitors to become new and returning customers. 

How did we work toward accomplishing this goal? Which factors are most important? Let’s dive in.

SEO: The Elements of Optimization

The concept of SEO has been around – it’s not a new idea. But how Google and other search engines calculate ideal site optimization is always changing. Keyword-laden copy used to be the gold standard, but today there are far more moving parts. A stellar SEO plan can’t be simplified to a few dozen word plugs. 

Search engines are smarter these days. And organic search results are king. When a relevant company turns up high on the search results list without help from ads, it’s clear that optimization efforts are working. Check these stats from our customer:

• 126% increase in year-to-date revenue
• 290% boost to transactions from organic search traffic
• 132% jump in ecommerce conversion rate
• 130% return on investment

SEO is the golden ticket to driving website traffic and then prompting visitors to make that purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or download information. When a site visitor makes a move like this, that’s called conversion, every business owner’s goal. 

Conversion rate optimization – CRO – is a whole other (but very related) topic, and we’ll get into that later. But here’s the bottom line: for what our client spent on our services, they more than doubled sales. That’s a win by anyone’s definition.

Optimizing for Client Goals

During initial discussions, our client was clear that their out-of-date website needed to be reimagined. Besides the redesign, they wanted us to focus efforts on SEO and generally spiff up their online presence. They had already attempted some in-house work on the SEO front, but weren’t seeing enough of a return on that investment. 

When a web-only business owner says they want a better online presence, what they’re really saying is that they want to make more money. We heard that goal loud and clear, and set off finding ways to make it happen. Here’s some general data about what we did:

• Tailored to client’s niche, regional appeal
• Built identifiers into the website for easy recognition by search engines
• Increased revenue from organic search by 60%

Our optimization efforts paid off big time for this client with a majority of their overall revenue now stemming directly from organic search results. To put that simply: when people search for relevant content, our client’s site makes it to the top of their results. Those searchers then become site visitors and customers.

Research and industry know-how informed the technicalities of our optimization decisions – it could be different for every client. But suffice it to say that SEO is vital for every business competing in today’s online marketplace.

Focus On Mobile

When we set about redesigning our client’s site, we knew we needed to make it mobile-friendly. Because their previous site hadn’t been mobile-friendly, they weren’t seeing much mobile traffic. 

Some might think that means that mobile shouldn’t be a focus. To us, this was a huge opportunity that couldn’t be missed. We saw the potential for growth here, and boy was our hunch ever right. With a mobile-friendly site, our client saw:

• 211% increase in mobile sales
• Over 50% of traffic from mobile devices

We still have some work to do though. While many mobile visitors are driving traffic, they aren’t always sealing the deal. But in this business there are always changing variables, and we will continue to work on pinpointing growth opportunities and guiding our client. 

The Truth About SEO

We can’t help but sing SEO’s praises. But we are realistic too – seeing results takes time. Industry experts estimate that it could take a full year to see a clear improvement in traffic or sales. 

We can attest to that with our client’s experience. But let’s also say that once SEO was on-point and search engines took notice, they were off to the races. Focus on the target and the rest will follow – our client’s reach naturally grew and spread.  

As a certified Google marketer, we have specialized industry knowledge and access to tools that allow us to focus on a few key points when we’re working on boosting SEO:

• High-quality images
• Easy-to-navigate site
• Fast load time
• Mobile accessibility
• Accessibility for those who are differently abled
• Pleasing layout
• Smooth purchasing 

Our team worked with our client to inform them about work to be done and anticipated timelines. We needed to work on the back end of their site, using the right tools to make sure that images and descriptions given to search engines would bump the site up in search result listings. After all, most people don’t look past the first page of search results. For a company offering a niche product in a relatively localized geographic area, they needed to show up strong. 

More and more businesses are driven to the online marketplace. Without in-person interactions, a company’s website is all they have to recommend themselves to potential customers. Ensuring that a site ranks well with terms and questions that prospective clients are searching makes all the difference.  

But finding and knowing the right search terms to plan for is a full-time job in itself. And that’s precisely why we’re here.

DIY Decision-Making

Lots of people have heard of SEO, and plenty might feel that they could tackle it themselves. But here’s the thing: they have a business to run. Everyone's an expert at something, and here at Alt Media Studios, we know SEO inside and out. We’re also always learning – as search engines change, we fine-tune our efforts.  

We don’t presume to tell our clients how to run their businesses, because we humbly acknowledge that they are the pros. The same holds true here. Besides, what business owner has the time or bandwidth to fully control every single aspect of their business operations? For the sake of health, wellbeing, business longevity, and overall success, delegating work to an expert is always a good plan.

Opt for Success

Alt Media Studios (AMST) can testify to our client’s growth and success and we can lay out roughly what we did to get there. From the changes we made and our optimization efforts, our client saw a 60% increase in revenue from organic search results alone – one of many positive stats. 

But the accumulated expertise that comes with time and experience is something we can’t always put into words. It’s intuition, an inherent knowledge and skill set that is built bit by bit. So take advantage of the work we’ve done to hone our skills and feel free to reach out.

Whether a business is online-only or a retailer with a storefront, operating without a solid online presence is risky business these days. Learn how AMST can polish your business’ online presence and get you noticed.