Consumers are now looking for the fastest and easiest ways to access product information, enjoy customized experiences and ultimately, find and buy products with zero hassle. 

They expect businesses to recognize them as independent shoppers and therefore curate their experience to their exact needs and preferences. Research shows that 87% of customers believe brands should put more effort into providing a seamless omnichannel experience. 

With this in mind, let’s take a look at what omnichannel Ecommerce is and how your business can implement a solid omnichannel Ecommerce strategy.

What is Omnichannel Ecommerce?

Omnichannel Ecommerce focuses on providing customers with a smooth and consistent shopping experience, whether they’re in a physical store or shopping online. 

Successful omnichannel Ecommerce allows your customers to switch between channels and still receive the same great experience.

So, whether you’re browsing products on a website, your smartphone, or walking into a store, the idea is to make it all work together seamlessly, like different parts of the same shopping experience.

3 Core Benefits of Omnichannel Ecommerce

There are several benefits to utilizing an omnichannel Ecommerce approach. From enhanced customer satisfaction to increased traffic and sales, having multiple touchpoints to interact with your customers is crucial in today’s consumer landscape. 

Let’s look at the top three. 

Enhanced Customer Experience and Satisfaction

Personalization is essential to the modern consumer. 

They expect every interaction with your brand to be personalized to their preferences and expectations. For example, let’s say one of your customers finds your product via their smartphone, pop it in their basket, but later decide to visit your physical store to make the final purchase. 

With an omnichannel approach, the transition between these channels would be smooth, and the customer would experience a consistent product display, pricing, and promotional information. 

More Sales Opportunities

Following this, omnichannel strategies create multiple touchpoints for customers to explore and purchase products. Whether online or in-store, businesses can capture sales opportunities through various channels, expanding their reach and maximizing revenue potential.

Your customer could start their journey on your social media channel, and then end up purchasing from your mobile store. As long as their experience is consistent throughout their journey, they won’t mind where they make their final purchase (and neither will you!).

Increased Brand Loyalty and Customer Retention

Having a strong brand presence across multiple channels helps create trust between you and your audience. However, it’s not simply a case of being omnipresent on every channel. Everything from your messaging, imagery, payment options and branding has to be consistent to gain this trust.

If your brand isn’t consistent across every channel, it can break down that trust and lose potential customers to competitors. A consumer research report in 2022 discovered that 46% of customers who had chosen to buy higher-priced options did so because they preferred to pay a higher price for a brand they trusted.

How your brand is perceived through your various channels is absolutely essential for not just sales, but customer retention.

How to Implement an Omnichannel Strategy

There’s a lot that goes into structuring an omnichannel Ecommerce strategy. 

But don’t get bogged down in the intricacies, it doesn’t have to be that complicated. The key is to build a strong foundation to base your strategy. From here, you can begin implementing your omnichannel strategy with a clear and strategic approach. 

Here’s how to get started:

Identify Your Audience

You can’t expect to turn scrollers into buyers without first knowing who you’re targeting, right? 

So, before you start strategizing, you’ll need to conduct some thorough market research to identify customers’ demographics, behaviors, and preferences. 

Analyze data from your existing customer base, utilize tools like Google Analytics, and gather insights from social media platforms (if you’re using any).

You might also find it useful to create a buyer persona using this data. From here, you can create your ideal customer (or customers depending on your audience segmentation) to create campaigns and strategies that specifically target and align with their needs. 

All of this enables you to be better equipped to create content, promotions, and interactions that resonate with your customers.

Understand Your Customer’s Journey

Knowing how your customers are exploring and interacting with your online store can help you create a solid omnichannel strategy. First, pinpoint the different touchpoints your customers are interacting with through their buying journey.

This includes their journeys on mobile, your website, social media and even physical stores. Each touchpoint should be seamlessly integrated to guide users toward their desired goals. 

If, at any point in their journey, they encounter challenges or obstacles, it becomes your responsibility to pinpoint the issues and implement solutions for a smoother and more enjoyable user experience.

Understanding the stages of customer journeys will help you align your omnichannel efforts and ensure that every interaction contributes positively to your users’ experience.

Make Your Online Store Mobile-friendly

Most users who shop online do so using their smartphones. In fact, smartphones today now account for 87.2% of mCommerce sales (sales through mobiles and tablets).

So, it’s pretty important that your online store is mobile-friendly. 

This means talking to your managed hosting provider or web developer to ensure that things like load speed, site layout and design, responsiveness and UX (user experience) are all running smoothly on mobile. 

Additionally, as an Ecommerce business, your mobile site must have an easy payment option. For example, payment solutions like Apple Pay, PayPal, SumUp, Square and Klarna are not only widely trusted forms of payment, but they’re incredibly user-friendly. 

As opposed to having to manually type out their card details, users can use face recognition or PINs to purchase items swiftly and securely.

Create Engaging and Personalized Content For Your Channels

While you may find success on one platform for a particular piece of content, it doesn’t mean you’ll see the same results on another. Each piece of content you create should be tailored to specific channels. 

For example, social media platforms like Instagram typically thrive on visually appealing and snappy content, whereas platforms like LinkedIn often prioritize more in-depth and long-form content.

By creating engaging and personalized content for each of your channels, you not only maximize the impact of your messaging but also ensure a consistent brand experience tailored to the expectations of your users.

Engage Your Audience With the Right Tools

With there being thousands of engagement tools floating around, finding one that’s tailored to your needs might seem a bit difficult.

However, top of our list are chatbots and/or live chat. In a recent survey, 31% of US B2B marketers are using AI for chatbots, coding, and design. The main benefit of this technology is that it offers instant personalized support to your customers when you’re not able to. 

For example, if a customer has a question about returning an item, they can ask the chatbot and it will provide them with a response tailored to their specific request.

On the other hand, live chat support allows you to speak directly with your audience in real-time. This is a far more personalized support service and allows you to get straight to the query at hand. However, the only downside is that this does require you to be available whenever a customer sends a message.

Ultimately, the choice between chatbots and live chat depends on your specific business needs and resource availability. If you’re a corporate multinational business driving hundreds of thousands of visitors each week, chatbots might make more sense. Whereas SMEs and startups may have more time to answer customer messages personally.

Test, Assess and Repeat

To ensure all your hard work is paying off, you’ll need to dive into your analytics to see what’s working and what needs improving. Google Analytics should cover your customer demographics, behavior and interactions but there are other ways to optimize your online store.

A/B testing is one of the best ways to evaluate and compare different versions of your landing pages. For example, you could experiment with different product descriptions, images or CTA buttons (call-to-action) to see which yields the best results. A/B testing allows you to switch up certain elements of your landing pages based on your customers’ preferences.

You may also want to invest in heat mapping tools like Lucky Orange, as they are great for gaining visual insights into how your customers are interacting with your website. 

Tools like this can identify hotspots where they’ve clicked and also areas that might need improving. From here, you can chop and change elements that are stunning your customer’s journeys to make their experience easier and more enjoyable. 

Conclusion

Customers have come to expect a shopping experience that’s fast and simple, and anything that derails these two pillars can see them leave and never return. Being able to provide a personalized and seamless omnichannel experience is crucial to keep up with this increasingly demanding industry. 

The good news is that there are plenty of tools and helpful information to keep you up to speed with the (often volatile) consumer landscape.

Many small businesses get their start and scale up with SBA loans, which increased lending to Black, Latino, and women entrepreneurs in the past few years in step with efforts to become more equitable.

Flippa found the county within each state where applicants were approved for the most SBA loan funds per capita in fiscal year 2023, which ended in September. The analysis was based on the SBA’s most common loan program, known as 7(a) loans. States are listed in alphabetical order.

SBA’s 7(a) program provides extra security to lenders when they loan money to small businesses that might otherwise be considered too risky to grant. Loans can be for up to $5 million, but in 2023, nearly 7 in 10 loans were for amounts of $350,000 or less. Small businesses can use these funds for real estate acquisitions or improvements, working capital, supplies and equipment, and for other business startup or acquisition purposes.

Barriers do still exist for eligibility, including income, credit history, and location, but SBA loans can be fruitful for founders who don’t qualify for conventional business financing. They can also provide protection against high and volatile interest rates, as SBA-backed loans have maximum interest rates that are predictable and often lower than other loans.

All but two of the #1 ranked counties had populations of less than 500,000—most smaller than 100,000. That’s not surprising, as the Census Bureau classifies about 99% of U.S. counties as small. Still, it signifies that these smaller communities are building successful entrepreneurial environments. In most cases, their small businesses are able to succeed beyond those within the major U.S. population centers—at least in terms of success in gaining SBA funding.

Read on to see whether your county was among those receiving the most SBA loans.

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Alabama: Cleburne County

– SBA loan funds approved: $5.6 million (About $375 per resident)
– Number of loans: 5

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Alaska: Sitka Borough

– SBA loan funds approved: $6.1 million (About $716 per resident)
– Number of loans: 4

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Arizona: La Paz County

– SBA loan funds approved: $3.1 million (About $185 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Arkansas: Lawrence County

– SBA loan funds approved: $8.5 million (About $524 per resident)
– Number of loans: 3

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California: Madera County

– SBA loan funds approved: $29.0 million (About $186 per resident)
– Number of loans: 16

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Colorado: Summit County

– SBA loan funds approved: $20.6 million (About $662 per resident)
– Number of loans: 23

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Connecticut: Hartford County

– SBA loan funds approved: $95.6 million (About $106 per resident)
– Number of loans: 212

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Delaware: New Castle County

– SBA loan funds approved: $49.8 million (About $88 per resident)
– Number of loans: 121

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Florida: Gilchrist County

– SBA loan funds approved: $5.6 million (About $317 per resident)
– Number of loans: 2

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Georgia: McIntosh County

– SBA loan funds approved: $10.0 million (About $888 per resident)
– Number of loans: 3

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Hawaii: Kauai County

– SBA loan funds approved: $4.1 million (About $56 per resident)
– Number of loans: 8

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Idaho: Shoshone County

– SBA loan funds approved: $4.8 million (About $365 per resident)
– Number of loans: 4

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Illinois: Logan County

– SBA loan funds approved: $8.2 million (About $291 per resident)
– Number of loans: 2

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Indiana: Bartholomew County

– SBA loan funds approved: $16.4 million (About $201 per resident)
– Number of loans: 10

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Iowa: Chickasaw County

– SBA loan funds approved: $2.5 million (About $207 per resident)
– Number of loans: 6

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Kansas: Gove County

– SBA loan funds approved: $2.0 million (About $721 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Kentucky: Owen County

– SBA loan funds approved: $5.1 million (About $456 per resident)
– Number of loans: 2

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Louisiana: Claiborne Parish

– SBA loan funds approved: $6.0 million (About $412 per resident)
– Number of loans: 5

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Maine: Knox County

– SBA loan funds approved: $5.3 million (About $132 per resident)
– Number of loans: 19

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Maryland: Allegany County

– SBA loan funds approved: $6.5 million (About $95 per resident)
– Number of loans: 9

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Massachusetts: Nantucket County

– SBA loan funds approved: $3.3 million (About $240 per resident)
– Number of loans: 8

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Michigan: Keweenaw County

– SBA loan funds approved: $4.3 million (About $2,101 per resident)
– Number of loans: 5

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Minnesota: Marshall County

– SBA loan funds approved: $5.1 million (About $559 per resident)
– Number of loans: 4

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Mississippi: Smith County

– SBA loan funds approved: $7.3 million (About $506 per resident)
– Number of loans: 14

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Missouri: Pettis County

– SBA loan funds approved: $17.4 million (About $406 per resident)
– Number of loans: 9

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Montana: Sweet Grass County

– SBA loan funds approved: $4.8 million (About $1,312 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Nebraska: Nuckolls County

– SBA loan funds approved: $2.2 million (About $521 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Nevada: Carson City

– SBA loan funds approved: $13.3 million (About $229 per resident)
– Number of loans: 15

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New Hampshire: Rockingham County

– SBA loan funds approved: $35.3 million (About $113 per resident)
– Number of loans: 117

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New Jersey: Cape May County

– SBA loan funds approved: $26.7 million (About $280 per resident)
– Number of loans: 27

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New Mexico: Torrance County

– SBA loan funds approved: $4.2 million (About $280 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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New York: Essex County

– SBA loan funds approved: $11.5 million (About $306 per resident)
– Number of loans: 8

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North Carolina: Dare County

– SBA loan funds approved: $13.3 million (About $362 per resident)
– Number of loans: 8

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North Dakota: Oliver County

– SBA loan funds approved: $384,000 (About $208 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Ohio: Putnam County

– SBA loan funds approved: $7.4 million (About $214 per resident)
– Number of loans: 10

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Oklahoma: Craig County

– SBA loan funds approved: $4.4 million (About $311 per resident)
– Number of loans: 2

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Oregon: Wasco County

– SBA loan funds approved: $6.1 million (About $229 per resident)
– Number of loans: 7

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Pennsylvania: Jefferson County

– SBA loan funds approved: $6.8 million (About $153 per resident)
– Number of loans: 8

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Rhode Island: Kent County

– SBA loan funds approved: $14.9 million (About $88 per resident)
– Number of loans: 39

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South Carolina: Jasper County

– SBA loan funds approved: $5.5 million (About $192 per resident)
– Number of loans: 5

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South Dakota: Deuel County

– SBA loan funds approved: $1.5 million (About $341 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Tennessee: Decatur County

– SBA loan funds approved: $3.0 million (About $262 per resident)
– Number of loans: 2

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Texas: Menard County

– SBA loan funds approved: $1.5 million (About $745 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Utah: Piute County

– SBA loan funds approved: $1.4 million (About $746 per resident)
– Number of loans: 1

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Vermont: Windham County

– SBA loan funds approved: $9.2 million (About $201 per resident)
– Number of loans: 15

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Virginia: Richmond County

– SBA loan funds approved: $6.9 million (About $777 per resident)
– Number of loans: 22

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Washington: Columbia County

– SBA loan funds approved: $1.3 million (About $331 per resident)
– Number of loans: 3

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West Virginia: Marshall County

– SBA loan funds approved: $5.3 million (About $172 per resident)
– Number of loans: 3

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Wisconsin: Vilas County

– SBA loan funds approved: $13.6 million (About $597 per resident)
– Number of loans: 8

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Wyoming: Sheridan County

– SBA loan funds approved: $13.9 million (About $451 per resident)
– Number of loans: 7

Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Michael Flocker.

Whatever the reason for M&A, it’s not something any company rushes into. There are several steps in the due diligence process and they can be lengthy depending on the size and complexity of the two companies involved. From looking carefully at website valuation to accounts to analyzing market share and business systems, it can be a process that involves a lot of work on the part of those undertaking due diligence.

One thing stands out, however. In order to carry out an efficient due diligence process, each company has to share data, a lot of data. That means you need a mechanism that allows secure sharing of information that is highly confidential and often sensitive. Step forward data room. What is a Data room for M&A and how do you structure one in such a way that it aids the M&A process?

What is a Data Room? 

As the name suggests, a data room is a space where data, usually private and confidential data, is stored and where it can be accessed by those authorized to do so. That space may be physical or virtual, though in this increasingly cloud-based business world, it is more likely to be virtual. In some cases, it may even be a combination of the two.

If you are ‘constructing’ a data room for M&A, then both entities will add documents and major files to that room that are needed to undertake the due diligence process. This allows both parties to examine all the documents and information that allows transparency on either side, and that can lead to a successful merger or acquisition.

Why Use a Data Room for M&A?

No matter the size of the organizations involved, the M&A process requires sifting through huge amounts of data in order for both parties to be sure they want to proceed with any major changes. A lot of that data will be highly sensitive and may include historical company financials as well as information on current employees. The last thing you want is for that data to fall into the wrong hands. So, you want to minimize the risk of any data breaches or leakage.

Having all relevant information and data in one central repository can make the due diligence process a lot easier and smoother. Data can be organized in such a way that those conducting the process can access what they need when they need it. The total amount of data involved in any due diligence prior to a merger or acquisition can be overwhelming at times, as there can be hundreds of files. Having it well organized can be a great help.

The people carrying out the due diligence process will likely have had some level of data analysis training to make their tasks easier. Advanced data analysis techniques, such as Bayesian neural networks, can also be used to aid in the due diligence process and help those involved make better-informed decisions.

Given the complexities that can be involved in the M&A process, having a well-structured data room for M&A and any tools needed to aid those involved means that the overall job should be simpler than without.

Benefits of Using a Data Room for M&A

While some processes may use, even partly, a physical data room for physical files, the majority of such scenarios will see a virtual data room being utilized. There are a number of benefits that come from sharing data and information in this way:

• Security: As already stated, a lot of the data involved is highly confidential so security is one of the key factors when structuring a data room if you want to merge two separate businesses. Most providers offer robust security for your data so that everything you add to the data room is encrypted and 100% secure.

• Access: Another aspect to security is who can access the data. With an efficient data room for M&A, you not only have encrypted data, you also have secure login features, detailed activity logs that show who logged in and when, as well as advanced user permissions if some data is more confidential than others and you want access to that limited.

• Collaboration: Due diligence is a two-way street as both companies want to be sure they are doing the right thing. Using an online data room for M&A ensures that a high level of collaboration can be attained and means that you can communicate with each other, add Q&A sections, request clarification (or additional documents or files), and comment on documents.

Due diligence is an essential aspect of M&A, and a well-structured data room can make the process more manageable. By providing secure access to confidential information, enabling collaboration, and facilitating efficient communication, data rooms ensure a successful M&A process. As businesses continue to evolve and new technologies emerge, companies can future-proof their business with IoT data analytics to make better-informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition

How to Structure Your Data Room for M&A: Five Easy Steps

Due diligence may take time, and periods of relative inactivity will be offset by times when activity is frantic. Having your data room and associated processes well-structured can mean that every aspect of the entire process is easier for all concerned.

1. Think, plan, and draw up a blueprint

As with many aspects of business, planning your data room in advance can help avoid issues. What are going to be the needs of the due diligence being carried out? What data and information do you have to share with each other? It can also help at this stage if you draw up a list of the people involved in due diligence.

You wouldn’t buy a product without first performing research into it. It is no different when looking to purchase, or merge with, another company.

While the majority of people involved are likely to be employees of either company, you may also outsource some of the process to specialists such as accounting firms with previous experience in M&A. While your room may be virtual, drawing up a ‘floor plan’ of the types of files and ranking them in order of importance can help you better implement the actual data room when it’s time.

2. Assigning access

You should have planned a rough list of who will need access to your data room for M&A. You don’t want too few people to be involved, but equally, you don’t want too many (too many cooks spoil the broth!). Identifying the optimum number of people for your particular process means that you can have better transparency and more efficient communication.

There are some things to consider when it comes to creating access levels – particularly limited access – to the data in your data room:

• NDA: Even when a non-disclosure agreement is in place, you may want to limit access to some data and reserve that access for C-suite level staff. 

• Human resources: You also need to realize that much of the HR data, such as employee contracts, are sensitive documents and can’t be shared with users outside of the HR department and senior managers. 

• Compliance: Do either of the businesses deal with data that is protected by law or regulatory frameworks? Just as data analytics and AI for federal agencies are protected by law, so might some of your info.

• Pending deals: This is another question of confidentiality. If either entity has pending deals or business transactions, then you can disclose figures but not company names.

3. Create a filing system

If you’ve planned well, you should already have an idea of how any system will look. You should create a system that identifies data by type (financial, legal, etc.) but also by importance. For example, data on total sales in the previous year is far more important than how much you spent on travel. It’s also a good idea to have a master file that contains the most important and commonly accessed documents and separate files for the most confidential info.

Some of the information to make sure you include is:

• Financial: This will include financial documents including financial statements, loss statements, and details of any outstanding loans.
• Tax: Information on tax audits and a summary of all taxes paid, including property taxes.
• Commercial: Client information, sales strategy, and recent sales.
• Intellectual Property: Details of agreements to use IP owned by a third party and any IP owned by either company.
• Legal: Legal documents such as share certificates, contracts, details of resolved legal cases, and a corporate structure overview.
• HR: All employee agreements, salary, and pension details.
• Marketing: Information on any marketing plans in progress and agreements with affiliates.
• IT: Details of all IT resources, policies, and any planned initiatives.
• Environmental and Health & Safety: Details of all environmental investigations and remediation efforts connected to environmental issues.
• Private and Confidential: This will be one of the top-level folders and will have restricted access. It will include pending deals, information on potential investors, and legal cases.

4. Maintain & update

Due diligence is not an overnight process and can take as long as three months to complete. Of course, things change in business on a day-to-day basis, so it’s essential that you maintain and update the data in your data room for M&A and that outdated documents are replaced or deleted. While there is no rigid rule to this part of the process, reviewing any changes at the end of each week makes good sense.

5. Engage regularly 

While there may be lulls in the due diligence (and overall M&A) process, engaging with your data room is essential. Not only does it allow you to maintain and update the data, as mentioned, but it also keeps communication channels open and enables either party to respond to queries quickly. Another advantage of regular engagement is that it allows you to tweak the folder structure as needed so that all workflows are as streamlined as possible.

The Takeaway

Due diligence is an essential part of the M&A process and having a good data room for M&A is just as essential. Just as you might use engineering management software to manage a project, a well-structured data room lets you manage the due diligence aspects of your planned merger or acquisition.

If you are planning on a merger or acquiring another business, then you need a good data room so that sharing of info is a simple process and so that relevant personnel can collaborate and communicate with each other. By doing so, you can make the entire process simpler, more efficient, and hopefully successful.

The ring serves as a metaphor for his journey, one that began 12 years ago in Holland, ultimately leading to his entrepreneurship in the United States. And a large part of his journey is buying businesses on Flippa.

But it wasn’t always easy.

Back in Holland, at 15 years old, Ramon often found himself in a lot of trouble at school, resulting in constant expulsions.

“I’m very appreciative of where I’m at right now and what I’ve accomplished,” Ramon says. “Even though I’ve failed so many times, for some reason I always knew I’m going to make it. And I just never gave up. If you keep swinging, one day you’ll hit the ball.”

A Millionaire in the Making

And he hit the jackpot.

It started with forums. Ramon was constantly active online, reading and learning about non-traditional ways to make money. He was hungry for success — America proved to be the perfect place to take the leap to entrepreneurship.

That’s when he came across Flippa and quickly discovered a whole new asset class: the world of digital real estate. There are so many ways to break into the industry of buying, scaling, and selling digital businesses, Ramon did it by starting small and learning from doing.

“There’s 3 different types of people. There’s builders, there’s optimizers, and there’s scalers,” says Ramon. “I like to focus on scaling because it’s easier to go from 1-10 versus 0-1. To give an example, the dog business that I currently have, it would have taken me over a year to get to the same point, if I didn’t buy it. ”

So far Ramon has sold a Content site for $90,000, and bought two other Content sites for a combined total of $100,000. Today, he has scaled his business to millions.

Related: Scaling Smart with Anna Rose From Yardline

A Concrete Strategy

Like in the ring, entrepreneurship was strategic. It was about the art of balancing and asking the why. And sometimes that why proved to be overwhelming, and for Ramon, the ring served as a refuge where he could escape and recenter, and when time came to retreat to his entrepreneurial endeavors, he felt even stronger and fueled with determination.

Related: Jeff Wiener Profile Story: Entrepreneurial Success Post-retirement

“As an entrepreneur, it’s very hard to turn my brain off. I’m always thinking about business, or growing my business,” Ramon says. “But if you’re in a cage, you have to be present and you cannot think about business. It’s one of these few moments where I can really turn my brain off.”

Ramon spent hours reading stories of people who started their business, how much revenue their asset generated, and what worked and didn’t. It was about understanding how to perfect his craft.

He quickly learned how to grasp this dance, strategically placing one foot in front of the other, pivoting when necessary, scaling as he saw fit.

For him, Flippa was synonymous with speed. It fit into his entrepreneurial strategy because he found that he could save time by scaling a website that already had an established product.

“In business, it’s not about planning too much, but learning how to roll with the punches,” says Ramon.

“In business, it’s not about planning too much, but learning how to roll with the punches.”

— Ramon Van Meer

One day, Facebook ads could make up the majority of a website’s revenue, and the next, a Facebook update could cause these same ads to halt its money-making machine. These were the punches and the strategy was the pivot.

“Flippa has actually changed my life. It allowed me to start small and get my feet wet. I was able to slowly grow and sell the business I bought on Flippa,” says Ramon.

It took Ramon twenty years to finally hit the ball, but eventually he hit a home run.

This is his story.

Inspired by this story? Read up on others who have successfully bought and sold their businesses here.

If you’re ready to sell, check out our First Time Seller’s Guide.

Like this buyer you too can master proper buyer and seller communications etiquette. We’ll show you how to that here.

Understanding and catering to search intent on your eCommerce website can help bring in more quality traffic.

In this article, we’ll discuss search intent, how it relates to eCommerce SEO, and offer valuable tips and strategies to help you drive more sales from search.

Search Intent for eCommerce Websites

Google likes ranking sites to help people reach their goals, although this is not always easy.

For example, if I search for the term “best business books,” the results I get are a variety of lists containing business books, as shown below:

Other times, you’ll find what’s known as mixed intent. 

Mixed intent occurs when a user searches for a term that may have different objectives.

For example, someone searching for the term “backpack” may want to:

• Visit a website to browse the different backpacks available.
• See a list of types of backpacks available.
• Know where they can buy backpacks locally.
• Learn more about buying backpacks.

This mixed intent is reflected in the search results for the keyword “backpack,” as the search engine result pages (SERPs) contain images of backpacks, product pages, resource guides, a “People Also Ask” section, news about backpacks, best-of lists, and more.

When there’s mixed intent like this — which is often the case for product terms that eCommerce sites like to rank for — Google is telling you the different goals users have when typing a query into the search box.

Types of Search Intent

Most searches fall under one of four main categories:

1. Commercial. The searcher is looking for information to help them make a buying decision.
2. Informational. The searcher is looking for help in answering a question or learning more about a specific topic.
3. Navigational. The searcher is looking to go to a specific place, such as Facebook.
4. Transactional. The searcher is looking to make a transaction.

A lot of eCommerce websites focus their keyword strategy on transactional intent. After all, this is where a lot of the buying is done. 

However, this often provides the smallest set of keywords to go after as they tend to be the most competitive.

More importantly, Google’s priority is to provide information that helps users accomplish a specific goal. The search process for a user isn’t always as simple and linear as marketers want it to be. 

For example, a searcher may start with transactional intent, but before a buying decision is made, they may go back to informational intent because they don’t  have all the information they need to make a decision.

This is often the case with more complex transaction decisions, where consumers are constantly learning throughout  the buying process.

Building Out Your Keyword Strategy

Let’s say your eCommerce that dropships eco-friendly backpacks.

When trying to decide what keywords and pages to create, it’s important to look at the range of search intents that exist for keywords you’re considering. Most importantly, make sure your product actually fulfills the user’s intent.

Fortunately, Google does a lot of the hard work for you when it comes to identifying intent. Pages currently in the SERPs are the best indicator of the range of intents users have.

A good starting point is looking at the range of intents for the first page of your primary keyword. From there, organize those into the four main types of search intents while noting the secondary intent behind the page.

Using the seed keyword “backpacks” as an example, here’s what this would look like:

Commercial Intent

#3) Best Everyday Backpacks

#4) Best Laptop Backpacks

#8) Best backpacks for College Students

#9) Best Backpacks

Informational

#5) How to Choose a Backpack

Transactional

#1) Amazon Product Page

#2) Target Product Page

#6) Timbuk2.com Website

#7) Women’s Backpack on Nordstrom.com

#10) Ebags Website

Here’s an early takeaway according to this analysis:

1. For a term like “backpacks,” searchers are looking to visit a page that lets them view options. Each of the transactional and commercial pages in the SERPs contains a variety of choices. Ranking a page for the keyword “backpacks” when you sell eco-friendly backpacks would be next to impossible as it doesn’t satisfy user intent.
2. There is still need for information as a “How To” guide occupies spot #5 in the SERPs. Websites that have a really good backpack buyer’s guide may then be able to reduce their bounce rate/exit rate.
3. The top categories searchers like to see here include “everyday backpacks,” “laptop backpacks,” and “best backpack for college students.”  While you’re highly unlikely to rank for these terms when selling eco-friendly backpacks, it does provide some insight on what types of backpacks people are most often searching for. You can use this information to structure your website as well as the copy of your landing pages.

Eco-friendly Backpacks eCommerce Strategy

A common mistake made by eCommerce websites is going after large keywords, often known as head-terms, when your product or service doesn’t satisfy the intent of that search. 

This was the case with the example of the eco-friendly backpack company trying to rank for the term “backpacks.” No matter how many links they build to that article, they’re not going to rank for a keyword where they don’t satisfy intent. 

Let’s re-do our SERP analysis with the keyword “eco-friendly backpacks.”

In the SERPs, we get:

1. Eight “best of” lists, representing commercial intent.
2. One Amazon product page for eco-friendly backpacks.

It’s not until result #13 that we see an informational intent, which is a guide to shopping for eco-friendly backpacks. The only transactional page in the top 10 is Amazon at #6.

The first takeaway here: It would still be difficult to rank for this keyword with a product page. Your best chance would be creating a “best eco-friendly backpacks” list, even if doing so involves mentioning your competitors.

It’s not until we get to longer-tail keyword terms where product pages begin to take over the SERPs. For example, for the term, “ocean plastic backpack,” the first six results are transactional product pages featuring only one backpack to choose from.

Here, Google is telling us that people who search this term are much further along in the buying process. Creating a product page for this keyword will indeed satisfy user intent and have a chance to get rank.

Your Next Step

Traditional keyword research — where you’re aiming to find the right mix of high demand keywords with low difficulty — is becoming less important. Google continues to get progressively better at satisfying searchers’ needs, regardless of what they’re typing into the search box.

By completing the steps above, SEO then becomes a game of delivering the most value to your website visitors.

The best SEO strategy is to focus on search intent specifically and structure your website so that your pages match the intent of the searcher. Make sure your website as a whole satisfies the entire user journey.

This was a question I routinely ran up against when I was first starting out building sites from scratch.

Everything logically told me that if I focused on one site, I’d get more success, and faster. Yet, it’s not in my nature of focus on one site, so I kept starting new ones and felt like I was trying to push 3 boulders up a hill at the same time.

Many people told me I’d get there faster if I just focused on one.

I only half agree.

At the end of the day, I got to the top of the hill, and if I’d focused on pushing the wrong boulder, maybe I never would have got anywhere. The more opportunities you have for finding something that works, the better. 

You also learn faster by working on multiple different things, and that knowledge is a huge part of finding success.

That being said, momentum is built through focus, and spreading yourself too thinly is more likely to hinder you than help you. 

So I understand the argument.

When Buying – Diversification Is More Important

When I started buying sites rather than building them, this question reared its head again. In fact, it was one of the first subjects I wrote about. This time, it wasn’t just about focus though, it was about diversification. Diversification is at times the complete opposite of focus, so the answer changes significantly.

When you’re buying sites and focusing on risk, spreading yourself thinly is exactly what you might WANT to do.

There’s an asymmetrical risk with acquisitions, so why risk a Google update wiping out your asset value, when you can buy 2-3 smaller assets and only risk 30% in any given update?

Well, because in some situations, a single site is actually MORE diverse than multiple sites.

Diversification is not just about the quantity of domain names.

It’s also about the diversification of the actual sites in question.

What Needs Diversifying?

To understand this more, let’s take a look at what factors actually need to be diversified.

Typically, the two riskiest factors with a content website are traffic, and monetization. These are usually the biggest two factors with all online business types, but as with all of my articles, I’m going to focus on content sites.

With traffic, what actually is it that is the risk?

Usually, Google. 

As the majority of content websites rely on Google search traffic for their website visits, by far the biggest risk factor is a Google algorithm update leading to ranking drops, and traffic along with it. When traffic drops, revenue usually drops with it. 

But not always, and that’s important. We’ll come back to that.

If you have multiple sites then, the odds of being completely wiped out by a Google update are lower. 

Let’s say a Google update results in a 30% traffic drop. That’s quite a big deal. What if that website is only 30% of your portfolio though? Now you’ve only lost 10% of your overall traffic. 

What’s more, one of your other websites may have gone up by a similar amount. We saw this happen across our portfolio many times throughout 2019, and usually we came out ahead.

But what if your website doesn’t rely heavily on Google? What if you have a large email list, a strong Facebook following, a lot of pinterest traffic, AND google traffic?

Is having multiple sites better than one site now? Well, if all those sites have the same level of diversification, then sure, but this one site is more diverse than 2-3 sites that still rely on one traffic source, and that’s where it’s important to understand the distinction.

You could still argue that it’s better to have 3 such sites than just 1, but then you run into issues of having too many different traffic sources to keep moving. It’s all about finding the sweet spot.

When it comes to operations, it depends on whether you are a solopreneur or have a team.

You can also drill down further when analyzing traffic. If you have an email list, are they random subscribers who signed up for a free gift and occasionally open your emails, or are they raving fans who love everything you publish?

It’s much easier to achieve “Raving fandom” with your website when you only have 1 of them, than it is to achieve across a portfolio. 

Also, when looking at traffic, where is it all going? Does it go to a single page on your website, or is it diversified across dozens of different articles? One website with 100 high ranking pages is still probably safer than 3 websites with a handful of popular articles each. Sure, an algo update could affect that single site more dramatically than a handful of sites, which just adds more weight to my “it depends” argument. 

Monetization Should Be Diversified Too

What about monetization? As you guessed, the same rules apply.

A single site could have multiple sources of revenue, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. 

Compare that to owning 3, or even 30 Amazon associates sites. When Amazon lowers their commissions, it doesn’t matter how big your portfolio is.

But that could also be an argument for owning more sites. The more traffic you have, the more domains you have, the more weight you might have with a network like Amazon, and the more protected your income could be.

It depends, it depends, it depends.

You can also rinse and repeat your successes if you have multiple sites. Let’s say you find something that works and nobody else is doing it. If you’re actively buying sites, you can unlock revenue that sellers might not have noticed. 

Maybe you’re someone who can instantly make tweaks to a newly acquired site in order to double its profit. If you can do that, why not just keep buying new sites?

There are pros and cons to both situations, as you have probably realized by now.

It’s Not ONLY A Diversification Issue

We’ve talked a lot about diversification, and a lot about focus, but there are other aspects to consider. Generally speaking one site making $10k/mo is less effort to run than 10 sites making $1k. If you’re planning to delegate work, your team will likely cost more if you own multiple assets.

We have sites in our possession that earn $20k/mo and only occupy a few hours a week. We also have sites that earn $2k and unfortunately take up much more time than that (guess which ones we’ll sell first?).

As well as resources, you can also consider some other upsides of owning multiple sites. For one, you learn faster. You can cut through the noise and understand which truths apply to all sites. When someone shares a case study showing something they succeeded with once, you have the ability to tell if it is repeatable, and therefore worth your time (or not).

You also start to think about your business differently. When you run a single site, it’s easy to focus on a single topic, product, or audience. This can definitely be an advantage, but when you operate in multiple niches across multiple websites, you treat your whole business differently and make decisions differently. 

In my experience, this leads to levelling up faster.

Final Thoughts – It’s Up To You

I’ve written a lot of words here to conclude “It depends”, but it really does. The main things you should consider though, are what your priorities are, whether you’re buying vs building, and whether you plan to do all the work yourself or delegate. 

If you do decide to own multiple sites, it’s not like you have to go from 1 to 10 overnight anyway. You get a good opportunity to learn the differences as you expand, and you may decide not to add that third site afterall. 

If you also bear in mind the considerations I’ve mentioned above, you should be well equipped to make the right decision as you and your business evolves.

John’s EntrepreneurOnFire.com blog hosts a seven-day-a-week podcast, in which he personally interviews entrepreneurs and experts from all over the web. He also publishes a blog, produces ebooks and other resources, and manages the passionate, inspired and inspiring Fire Nation Elite community.

It’s exhausting just to think about! What the heck is his secret? This week, I got the chance to find out in a quick Q&A session with the man himself.

John, you’ve interviewed more than 300 entrepreneurs. You produce a weekly podcast, you’ve created a dedicated EntrepreneurOnFire app, and you also create ebooks and other resources for your followers. Where on Earth do you find the time?!

I am an extremely efficient person, and I’m a big believer in the idea that “the task will expand to the time allotted”. Therefore, I allot my time wisely and make the most of what I’ve got!

An example is my batching method for the podcast. With a seven-day-a-week podcast, some might think that I’m literally on the line with a new Entrepreneur every single day recording one more episode. Truth be told, I have about 30 episodes scheduled out in LibSyn right now. That’s because every Monday I do eight interviews, starting at 8am, and ending at 5pm.

I then spend the rest of my Monday night editing every one of those episodes. Come Tuesday, my week is free of the “episode portion” of the business so I can concentrate on the other things you’ve mentioned like ebooks, social media, Fire Nation Elite (my elite mastermind group) and other resources.

Wow, that really is efficient! I know you also have a team, which must help with that too. Can you tell us a bit about them and what they do?

I currently have one Virtual Assistant working for me from the Philippines, who I found through Chris Ducker’s VirtualStaffFinder. She’s awesome. I pretty much delegate anything to her that is a repetitive task. So, she does a lot of the scheduling for our social media posts, helps me create the skeleton for my show notes pages, and creates things like the pretty links for every guest’s page on the site.

I also have a partner in the business, Kate Erickson, who is the Content and Community Manager for EntrepreneurOnFire. She writes our blog, creates all of our content for the website (our giveaways, for example), manages our marketing campaigns/CRM and is the lead on Fire Nation Elite, our mastermind group. She’s also my girlfriend, so finding her was pretty easy!

Aha! Well, it sounds like you’ve got a pretty smooth-running team there. I’m getting the impression that process is really important to your ability to get things done, but also to the quality of your output. Is that true?

Yes, it’s absolutely important in terms of getting everything done. Without the batching of the interviews, for example, I wouldn’t be able to accomplish all that I do.

But just because I batch doesn’t mean I slack on quality—that’s number one for me.

I’ve ensured that I have the best possible set up with the best possible audio, and I do every edit myself. Quality is very important to me. The process supports my goals in that it affords me the time during the rest of the week to get other important stuff done for the business, like creating resources and products for my audience.

Well, let’s talk about audience. Your business is pretty heavily niche-focused. How important do you feel it is to have deep experience within one niche in your success?

Niching is so important—it’s required. If you don’t know exactly who you’re speaking to, then you’re speaking to no one.

I think that dedicating yourself to becoming better at what you do every day is the most important thing—always be ready to learn. When I started EntrepreneurOnFire I didn’t know how to conduct an interview. I didn’t even know how to record a podcast. It was through my relentless dedication to, and passion for the process that both interviewing and podcasting have become skills of mine.

So I think it’s more about the depth of your skill (knowing exactly what you want to be known for, and dominating that) rather than breadth.

Wow, it’s difficult to believe that you started out without knowing how to interview people, or how to create a podcast. What’s been your biggest challenge in growing your business to the point it’s at now?

I think for me, the biggest challenge is maintaining quality while continuing to scale. I mentioned earlier than quality is very, very important to me, and so it’s definitely been a challenge to continue to bring myself back to that when there are opportunities all around me that I could go after. I will not go after those opportunities at the cost of quality.

I’ve overcome that by hiring amazing people to help me. I wouldn’t be where I am right now without their help.

That’s a great point. Is there any other advice you’d give to someone building a web business?

Just start. You can’t let fear and doubt keep you from following your passions. It doesn’t matter if your product or your website or your podcast isn’t perfect—you have to get it out there. You can correct course, pivot, improve along the way, but if you never start, then you’ll get nowhere.

Want to read more about how amazing people manage to get so much done? Read our interview with affiliate extraordinaire Rae Hoffman. 

Running a small business is tough. With the flexibility of creating your own schedule and being your own boss, comes big responsibility. But not only are you responsible to your business, you are also responsible to yourself. If you don’t pay attention to balancing personal life with work, your health, relationships, and finances can seriously suffer.

A friend of mine found this out the hard way. She owns a lively coffee house, but in the beginning, she worked 12 hour days and didn’t take a single day off. She was ultimately forced to take a break when her husband threatened divorce unless she start devoting time to their family. Extreme, perhaps, but it got her attention. By prioritizing balance, learning to delegate responsibilities, and better managing her time, she got her personal life back on track.

If you’ve been burning the candle at both ends lately – or wish to avoid that trap – read on for seven tips that can help restore balance to your life.

1. Create a Schedule

Once you start your own business, you won’t have a boss to report to, and can work whenever you want. However, I made the transition to small business ownership several years ago, and my organization suffered significantly at first due to my ineffective management of time. By setting a schedule, I became more efficient, and now know when it’s okay to unplug for the day. To create a schedule, use Gmail’s Calendar. Or, if you don’t have a Gmail account, use the free software WinCalendar (available for download via CNET) or the calendar feature in Microsoft Office Outlook.

2. Commit to Breaks

You may feel guilty by doing so, but taking breaks is important. Trying to get work done when you’re not at your best can waste valuable time.

3. Focus on Personal Health

If your business is Internet-based, you may find that finding time to exercise is more difficult than ever before. Get a gym membership or exercise at home to improve your health and increase your chances of succeeding. Running a small business requires long work days, but by exercising sufficiently, you’ll sleep better each night and wake up each morning with a clear head so you can better tackle the challenges of the day.

4. Improve Your Personal Finances

Is credit card debt nagging at you? Are you struggling to pay monthly bills? If so, these nuisances can impede your ability to fund your new endeavor. It can become more difficult to concentrate on running your venture, in addition to putting unnecessary pressure on yourself to succeed. Get yourself on a personal budget and pay off your debts. By doing so, stepping away from your business to allow for more personal time becomes easier.

5. Improve Your Diet

If your day is filled with quick stops at fast food restaurants because you don’t think you have the time to eat healthier food, you’re not doing yourself any good. Take the time to switch to a diet based on homemade dishes consisting of more fruits and vegetables, and look for a farmers’ market in your area to buy fresh, organic produce for cheap. You’ll save money and potentially decrease your medical bills.

6. Get Out More

If you’re running your operation solo, loneliness or even depression can seep into your life. To prevent this, make an effort to strengthen your relationships with family or friends, or go out and make new ones. Volunteer your time, and keep an eye out for social organizations in your area. As you meet new people, try to keep business topics out of the conversation so that you may give yourself the mental break you deserve.

7. Find a Mentor

If you find yourself working too much or too little, seek a mentor. Check with family or friends for recommendations, or post your request on your LinkedIn profile. Your local chamber of commerce may be able to help too. A mentor can assist with virtually every facet of your small business, including juggling your operation with your personal life. Finding someone who’s been there and done that can cut down on the time it takes you to achieve the right balance.

Final Thoughts

According to a small business survey conducted by U.S. Bank, 45% of respondents said “their business is their life, and their life is their business.” Don’t be one of those people – always be sure to include some “me” time during every single work day. Even if it’s just watching some TV, even mindless entertainment can be an effective way to unwind and refresh. Or, pick up a good book – and not a small business self-help book. Select an author that you like and read their work.

What additional tips can you suggest to balance small business ownership and personal time?

Photo Credit: happykiddo

David is an online marketer, author, and blogger for the popular personal finance and business resource  Money Crashers.

We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about the people behind the scenes who make Flippa happen. There’s information about Flippa on our About Us page, but what about the individuals that bring it all together?  Today, we thought we would start by telling you a little bit more about the two people who started it all: Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz.

Meet Mark

Mark lives in the world’s most livable city, Melbourne, Australia, and is a regular fixture at our Melbourne and San Francisco offices.

Mark is one of Australia’s most respected start-up entrepreneurs. He was recently named 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year by BRW Magazine, Australia’s most prestigious business publication, and regularly advises (and sometimes invests) in startups in both Australia and the US.  Some of the more recent coverage on Mark includes this article in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Newspaper, and features on Shoestring Startups and Dynamic Business Magazine.

Like most Australians, Mark loves the beach and sport and can generally been found waterskiiing or jetskiiing through summer on his weekends or attending Australian Rules Football games through the winter.

You can follow Mark on Twitter at @daxatron

Meet Matt

Matt still lives in the second most livable city in the world (sorry Matt), but  equally beautiful, Vancouver, Canada. He regularly makes the Top 30 Under 30 lists, including Forbes Magazine’s Technology list,  Inc. Magazine’s 30 under 30, and the recent Smart Company 30 under 30. He’s a regular contributor to a number of business publications including Forbes,  Business Insider and Entrepreneur.  You can find links to more of Matt’s articles on his personal blog. He’s an avid wine collector (no word yet on whether he prefers Australian wines!) and traveller, who visited 9 countries in 2011, including Kenya where he watched a pride of lions take down an eland.

Over the past couple of years, Matt has spoken at numerous conferences including Affiliate Summit, PubCon, Underground Online Seminar, and Conversion Conference. Anyone in San Francisco next week can meet up with Matt when he teams up with the likes of oDesk.com CEO, Gary Swart, to discuss building online marketplaces – http://marketplaces.eventbrite.com/

Matt tweets interesting links about startups and business at @sitepointmatt.

How Mark and Matt Ended up Founding Flippa

Many of you know that Flippa originated from SitePoint and quickly became the #1 marketplace in the world for buying and selling websites. What you may not know, however, is that SitePoint was created in 1999 by Matt and Mark, and quickly became the go-to place for best of breed, cutting edge web development resources.

Sitepoint.com has consistently been ranked by alexa.com in the top 1,000 most visited sites in the world and has been ranked as high as the top 100. Matt was only 16 and Mark 26 when the pair partnered and decided to take Matt’s existing site, webmaster-resources.com, and re-launch it as sitepoint.com. In this interview for Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, Matt describes taking calls from ad buyers on his late-90s cellphone, between high school classes, and explains how the partnership came about.

Growing and growing

As SitePoint’s traffic went through the roof and its community forums grew, it wasn’t long before webmasters began offering their sites for sale to other SitePoint community members. This activity led to the creation of the SitePoint Marketplace, which in turn led to the launch of a new business, flippa.com in 2009.

Flippa is not the only company to have grown out of SitePoint: 99designs, Learnable, and Wave Digital also started life at SitePoint.

The most well-known of these companies, 99designs, has attracted some great attention in the last few years, including winning the prestigious Webby Award in 2010, beating out Dropbox and Tumblr.  In 2011, 99designs announced $35 million in funding from the Accel Partners (Investors of Facebook, Groupon, Dropbox).  Investing alongside Accel were Flickr Co-founder Stewart Butterfield, SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg and ex-eBay exec Michael Dearing. This was one of the largest tech funding deals in Australia in recent times, and helped put the Australian startup scene on the map for international investors.

As you can see, Mark and Matt have been around, and know their stuff when it comes to internet startups and business in general. Want to take advantage of this? Leave your questions for them in the comments. We’ll pick the best ones for an upcoming Q&A session with them.