About the client

Our client is one of the leading e-commerce companies, which has been growing by 130% year on year since 2013. It specializes in the online sale of furniture and home furnishings. With over 20,000 products available around the clock, 7 days a week, the brand offers a wide range of solutions at affordable prices, giving its customers the confidence that they will make the right choice.

Advertising creations

In terms of formats, in September 2020, two types of campaigns were launched – static square ads and a catalog ad in the form of a carousel. During this year, however, we managed to diversify our advertising creations and introduce visually attractive novelties, such as carousels with pictures of furniture in specific arrangements. In September 2021, the client had already launched such formats as:
– static ads from Stories,
– carousel with static graphics,
– carousel with products from the catalog in arrangements,
– animations and video,
– carousel with products from the catalog.

At the same time, we have kept a comparable advertising budget, and when we compare it with the expenses from September 2020, you can even see a decrease of a few percent. This shows that diversification does not have to come at a high cost. The longer we operate, the better we get to know the target group and its needs, so we can better adjust advertising messages.

The synergy of the client’s and agency’s activities is also important. Our actions include full transparency, long- and short-term planning, and a full understanding of what the business goals are and what the benefits for the consumer are.

Compare the results

Let’s compare the results from September 2020 with the results we achieved in September this year. This year, Facebook ads brought 19.92% more new users than in the corresponding period in 2020. The bounce rate fell from 45.21% to 39.82%, i.e. by 11.93% – a sign that the ads are better and better suited to the user’s needs.

Most importantly, good advertising results also translate into real profit for the company. Compared to September 2020, in September this year, revenues from Facebook campaigns increased by as much as 20.60%, while expenses decreased by 6.95%.

Who can count on success with Facebook Ads?

Facebook is a specific channel and not in every industry of advertising, in this particular medium, bring measurable profits. It is especially suitable for those product categories that are visually attractive and which are usually a pleasure to buy. That’s why Facebook Ads works well for our client. The success of advertisements in this channel can also be counted on, in particular, by companies from the clothing and cosmetics industries, with garden accessories, sports equipment and toys for children. These types of online stores can present their assortment in an interesting way, and thus gain the attention of customers.

Case study – motorcycle shop

We have been cooperating with the motorcycle shop since May 2020, jointly building the visibility of the website for phrases with the greatest potential. When we started, the site was showing 11 phrases in the TOP10, and only 2 of them appeared in the top three search results. This means that organic traffic to the site existed, although it was relatively small. So we took action on various fronts – technical optimization of the website, adding content and external linking helped us achieve significant increases after just one year. Currently, the number of phrases in the top positions is as follows:
TOP3 – 42 phrases,
TOP10 – 188 phrases,
TOP50 – 1092 phrases.

This represents an increase of 1,609% in the case of TOP10 and as much as 2,000% in the case of TOP3. However, we know that the website still has the potential to gain even better results, so we do not give up our arms and together with the client we fight to dig ourselves into the forefront of search results. The average cost of positioning this website is $ 3,500 per month.

Case study – a shop with water filters

Let’s look at the results of our other client who sells water filters. Here we will present a similar period as in the case of the previous example, which is more or less the last year. In October 2020, the website was already well visible in Google: 24 phrases in TOP3 and 130 phrases in TOP10 – this was our starting point in this case.

This is a very good foundation for building visibility in search results, which we have tried to use one hundred percent. In October 2021, the results reached 78 phrases in the top three and 334 phrases on the first page of the ranking. These are increases by 225% and 157%, respectively.

The average cost of SEO for this site is $ 2,000 per month.

Case study – shop with anti-varicose products

Our third example in today’s post is a shop with anti-varicose products. How has the visibility of this page changed over the last year? In October 2020, we recorded the following results:
TOP3 – 41 phrases,
TOP10 – 209 phrases,
TOP50 – 566 phrases.

As in the previous case study, the basic visibility was already built and it was only necessary to take care of the systematic increase in position in the search results. A year of combined efforts of the client and positioner, we achieved increases of 256% in the case of TOP3 and 78.5% in the case of the first page of the ranking. It was respectively:
TOP3 – 146 phrases,
TOP10 – 373 phrases,
TOP50 – 900 phrases.

Here, too, however, we are still fighting for more and more visibility, and this goal is definitely within reach. The average cost of positioning this site is $ 1,700 per month.

SEO of stores on PrestaShop and on other platforms – differences

PrestaShop is a platform that largely allows you to personalize your settings. We have to introduce most of the plugins and add-ons to it ourselves, thanks to which we do not burden the server with functionalities that are not useful to us (such as in the case of WooCommerce). As a result, Presta works a bit faster than WooCommerce, but the latter platform can also be optimized to reduce loading times.

When it comes to comparing PrestaShop with Shoper, these platforms are very similar, and the main difference is that we may have a bit more trouble finding a programmer who knows Presta well. When choosing PrestaShop, you must also take into account the fact that most of the add-ons are paid in this case. If we want to have more free novelties, it is better to put the store on WooCommerce, although this platform is also gradually moving away from free lending of functionality and most of them are free only in the basic, heavily reduced version.

In general, however, both PrestaShop and Shoper or WooCommerce are good for positioning in search results and you can get good results on each of these platforms, as in the examples shown here.

Do you want an SEO store based on PrestaShop technology? Choose a company with experience and results in this regard. Contact us and we will consult you free of charge on the possibilities for your store.

However, in many cases our actions are not everything and despite the application of best practices, a given e-commerce fails. So we have a few insights regarding the success of online stores, which we decided to share, further illustrating our point of view with a fresh case study of one of our clients.

The appearance of the online store – as we see it at Paraphrase-Online.com

Working with such a large number of online stores, we’ve had to deal with more than one website and technology. About those we know really well.

Very often, store owners, having in mind marketing activities that want to conduct in the future, seek our advice on solutions for online stores. Although we know a lot about this, the final decision is up to the customer. Nevertheless, consultation on the choice of CMS or e-commerce platform can save a lot of unnecessary nerves, ill-considered actions and, as a consequence, decreases results.

Consequences of unconsulted changes in an online store [case study]

In cooperation with our clients, we have repeatedly emphasized the importance of exchanging insights and consultation before introducing any changes regarding e.g. the interface of an online store, website or other issues that may have a small impact on the success of Google Ads campaigns or SEO activities. Unfortunately, it also happens that as an agency running a campaign or positioning a website, we are not kept informed of upcoming changes. Consequently, all online sales suffer, which, for example, with an average of $ 100,000 per month dropped to around $ 30,000, while maintaining the same costs for the campaign.

The drop in campaign results in the online store can be seen very quickly, reacting to this drop, but unfortunately not always. In the described case, a complete change in the appearance of the site and certain technical aspects brought unexpected consequences. A more modern look of the site does not always go hand in hand with easier navigation and better customer experience. This is evidenced by the change in time spent on the site by users before and after the modifications introduced. The difference in average session duration was 45 seconds and the number of transactions dropped by 70%.

The best look of an online store – what to consider when changing?

If you want to completely change the appearance of the online store, it is worth basing on the best practices of both UX and SEO (on-page and off-page), as well as analyzing what can affect any major change, e.g. the sales process, returns or marketing activities, e.g. Google Ads or Facebook Ads campaigns.

The optimal appearance of an online store is one that will satisfy the expectations of consumers above all, but also improve the sales process, i.e. allow, for example, obtaining feedback from the customer about the product or improve shipping. Optimal appearance does not always mean the most modern. Of course, a website with a large number of beautiful graphics can convince the customer to buy more, however, it is worth remembering that photos cause a decrease in the speed of loading the website, and may also limit the field to the activities of a specialist in positioning an online store.

In the case of the case study in question, prior to changing the website, consultation with existing store customers was carried out. However, there was no verification of the received insights with proven UX practices, which the industry is talking about. As a consequence, the most important aspects related to the user’s movement on the website were ignored, and only the visual side was taken into account.

What should an online store look like? – best practices.

All you need to do is to check what the largest and most recognizable online stores look like before starting work on a new online store project or before redesigning it. Very often, their appearance is primarily very intuitive. Most of us expect certain solutions and although the modern look attracts us more at first glance, we still prefer shopping on simple pages. The division into product categories, the ability to filter by sizes, colors, etc. have been used for years. Among the more modern solutions it is worth considering the product presentation itself, i.e. the quality of photos or videos showing the product “in action”. By checking the path of users on our website in Google Analytics or based on statistical data collected on the basis of research of other online stores, design the path that the customer should follow from product search to purchase. Most practices say that this process should be as intuitive and short as possible so that the customer can proceed to payment in two or three steps. Optimizing the online store and Google Ads product advertisement will help you bring the customer to the product you offer.

The appearance of the online store and the impact on the Google Ads campaign.

Every major change in the online store can also be seen quickly in advertising channels. Google Ads campaign leads to the online store, i.e. to specific products or their categories, and thus, changing the appearance or certain settings in the store has an impact on the final results of the campaign, e.g. on CPC, number of conversions or other dependent parameters.

The incomprehensible look of the website lengthened the customer’s shopping path and quickly became apparent. In the first two quarters of this year, i.e. before changes were introduced, the average ROAS for the campaign was 1,429.216. Changes on the store’s website occurred at the end of the second quarter. Their effect can be seen already in the third and fourth quarters where the average ROAS was 766.31.

Therefore, we want to warn every store against making drastic changes on the site without prior consultation with any entity that works in our favor and whose actions may be very dependent on these changes. Cooperation between e-commerce and the agency should not be limited to exchanging reports on campaign results or position reports. If you already work together, it is worth using the knowledge and practice of specialists who will gladly suggest what you need to consider and what may affect the success of Google Ads campaigns or SEO activities.

Summary

Many factors contribute to the success of an online store, and any changes should be discussed with us. Not only generated sales, but also customer opinion and experience on the site are involved. The success of Google Ads campaigns or online store positioning activities are also heavily dependent on them. The best appearance of an online store should therefore take into account its functionality and the ability to implement various additional activities that will support sales.