That was so easy – content.

They don’t have enough content, they don’t have unique content, they don’t update their website with content, and they don’t spend enough time writing relevant content.

Then a HUGE update like the Farmer Algorithm comes out and store owners panic because their sales dropped 20% or more.

Being in business isn’t easy. You can’t just sit at your computer and wait for money to come to you. You have to get off your ass to make money.

If you hop on a bicycle and don’t peddle – what’s going to happen?

Nothing.

If you hop on a bicycle and peddle – what’s going to happen?

You will see movement.

So get up and create movement for your website.

Step 1. Start with your products.

Are you using the manufacturer’s description that everyone else is using? If yes, then you might as well get a refund on your bike. Oh I know…you have 5 products with unique content and all of your section pages have unique content. Great – so 10 pages out of 2,000 are your own. Google is to believe that you have a quality site why….???!!!

Do some keyword research and find out how customers are researching your products. Now go write relevant content on those item pages. Pick your top products to start out with. Do 5 products a day if it makes it easier. Just start writing!

Step 2. Now move on to your section pages.

Keep it short and sweet up top and add more content below the products. This allows your content to stay above the fold.

Step 3. Head on over to your home page.

Are you trying to cover every single keyword phrase that your customer would use to find you? Put the bike down and grab your training wheels. Every single page in your store is a home page. Focus your keywords on pages that are relevant to what people are looking for.

Step 4. Now that our website is relevant and unique we have to keep going.

If we just stop peddling, we are going to stop moving. This is a great opportunity to look up more keyword phrases your customer is using to find you and your products. Create non-pitchy related blog posts that HELP your customer, INSPIRE your customer, and most of all…

Like, Know, and Trust you.

Plus – BIG BONUS card – You will make Google do a happy dance too!

Step 5. Get out there on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn and find your customers.

TALK to them. “My son does that too.” “Wow, I really liked how you did that.” “I have the same pair of shoes and love them!” Get to know 5 new potential customers a day by just saying hello. Share important articles that your potential customers might be interested in. Then every so often slip in a very small pitch for your site. Find ways to pitch your customers without pitching to them.

Step 6. Most Important…

Rinse, Repeat, Rinse, Repeat, Rinse, Repeat, and keep doing it. The moment you stop – so does everything else. If you stop peddling your bike, you stop moving forward.

I am very proud of several of our customers who called after the latest Google changes. They said, “As much as I hated writing all that content, when that change hit – my shop exploded with orders.”

Why? Because they kept peddling even when they didn’t want to.

So get off your ass and go write content.

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“Online holiday spending has remained strong through Christmas and we’ve already seen the season totals easily surpass the levels of the past few years to set a new record for spending at almost $31 billion,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “For at least this holiday season, the American consumer has been able to shrug off the continuing economic challenges of high unemployment rates and depressed housing prices and spend at a rate that has been slightly stronger than we had expected. After the past few years’ struggles, it is gratifying to see e-commerce return to a state that can only be described as a very merry holiday shopping season.”

Top Growing Retail Categories

Computer Hardware ranks as the top growing category for the holiday season to date with a 23-percent increase versus last year. Purchases of handheld devices (such as Apple iPads and e-readers) and laptop computers have driven much of the category growth. Books & Magazines ranks second with 22 percent growth, followed by Consumer Electronics (up 21 percent), Computer Software excluding PC Games (up 20 percent) and Toys (up 16 percent). Other categories in the top ten included Jewelry & Watches (up 11 percent) and Apparel & Accessories (up 8 percent).

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In a recent report by comScore, holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 40 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, more than $21.95 billion has been spent online, marking a 12-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week (week ending Dec. 10) reached $5.15 billion in spending, an increase of 11 percent versus the corresponding week last year, as two individual days each surpassed $900 million.

“Growth rates during the most recent week settled in at around 11 percent, which is consistent with our forecasted spending growth rate for the holiday season,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “With more than $5 billion in spending this past week, it’s clear that while deal-seeking shoppers may have driven stronger than anticipated spending early in the season, Americans continue to demonstrate a significantly greater willingness to spend online this year than in seasons past. This coming week, beginning with Green Monday, should see some of the heaviest online shopping activity of the season and we expect at least one more day to surpass the billion dollar spending threshold.”

“Green Monday” Leads the Way for Online Holiday Shopping

In 2007, eBay coined the term “Green Monday” to describe the Monday occurring around the second week of December, which has tended to be the heaviest (or among the heaviest) online spending days of the year. An analysis of the past five holiday shopping seasons reveals that “Green Monday” has had very high spending levels each year, ranking as the top spending day of the season on two occasions (2005 and 2007), and the second heaviest spending day on two other occasions (2006 and 2008). In 2009, “Green Monday” was only the fifth heaviest day of the season, with the following Tuesday, December 15 ranking as the heaviest with $913 in spending.

Ten Heaviest Online Spending Days on Record

Since comScore began tracking e-commerce spending in 2001, it has witnessed five individual shopping days eclipse $900 million in spending. To date, Cyber Monday 2010 (Nov. 29) is the only billion dollar spending day on record, followed by Monday, December 6, 2010 with $943 million and Tuesday, December 15, 2009 with $913 million. Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010 ($911 million) and Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010 ($901 million) round out the top five. Of the ten heaviest online spending days on record, most have occurred during the early part of the work week with four occurring on Mondays, three on Tuesdays, and two on Wednesdays.

Click the image below to enlarge. Feel free to share on your blog as long as there are no changes to the image.

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Instead of wandering around aimlessly wondering what you will do next, you can simply look at your list and get to work!

• You can prioritize your “To Do” list and make sure that your important tasks are done first.

• You can set goals for yourself and stay on task using the “To Do” list.
• You will become more productive.
• You will become more efficient.

Here are my personal tips for getting the most out of your “To Do” list.

• Go to the bookstore and purchase a really nice journal to write your daily “To Do’s” in. I have found that people love to write inside of something that they feel is special. They want to use it every day (yes even the men in my office)
• I prefer to write my daily tasks by hand the night before. This way I can think about how I will complete the tasks as I am laying in bed.
• Write down all of your tasks for the day. Phone calls, appointments, even daily things you need to do. This will help you to prioritize your day.
• As you complete each task, mark it off by highlighting it with a pink or blue highlighter. The bright color will look amazing at the end of the day and really help you to feel like you accomplished a lot.
• If you want to take advantage of the latest and greatest technology for creating “To Do” Lists (Remember the Milk is AWESOME), you can still use the techniques above. Print your list every morning and have it next to you on your desk as you work.

Work hard on completing your list each day and you will become more efficient and productive in no time!

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Mike mentions that Dell has already proven that Twitter works for them, after producing over $1M on sale alerts and now offering exclusive deals to their 11,000+ followers.

However, Dell is not the only business to find success via Twitter.

Amazon asks Twitter users to Tweet a book title or ISBN number, and they are sent a reply with the average price range on Amazon at that moment for the product in question.

Zappos knows the importance of social networking. Check out their page which shows their employees that Twitter, company info on Twitter, and even people that mention the name Zappos in their Tweet (Twitter Message).

Yahoo Store CleanAirGardening uses Twitter to keep in touch with customers, answer questions, and much more.

How can your store take advantage of Twitter to increase sales? As Mike Ober explains:

“The open nature of the Twitter platform allows others to build cool applications, opening the door for you to create Twitter Coupons to begin your social media marketing campaigns, right now. The best part? The cost is your time, for now at least.”

Next week we will be releasing our new e-book, “Ecommerce and Twitter – Increasing Sales One Tweet At a Time,” which will explain how to sign up with Twitter, Twitter Terminology, Twitter Tools, Twitter Tips, and much much more!!

Make sure you are following me on Twitter for the latest updates!

P.S. Want to be in the new e-book? Tell me how you use Twitter to communicate with your customers, increase sales, and build relationships. Comment here on our blog, send a Twitter reply to @shawnafennell, or shoot me an email! shawnafennell at gmail dot com

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