Insights for Small Business E-Commerce Websites

Photo by Shoper on Unsplash

It’s common for small businesses to establish e-commerce websites only to shut down within a year. The high monthly subscription fees often catch them off guard, and they need to realise the importance of driving traffic and optimising the site for search engines to improve visibility.

One crucial factor to consider is choosing a brand name and maintaining consistency with it while evaluating its potential impact on future product diversification. For instance, if your brand is named ‘Shiny Shoes,’ expanding into clothing might pose a challenge.

The name could limit your brand’s exposure and lead customers to associate it primarily with shoes rather than clothing, potentially affecting their perception of your broader product range. This highlights the importance of a brand name that allows for future growth and diversification.

What Is The Impact Of Changing A Business Name?

There are several significant impacts associated with changing a business name:
SEO and Backlinks: When you change your business name, it can impact your search engine rankings. Backlinks connected to the old name might no longer work, resulting in broken links on your website and negatively affecting your SEO efforts.

You might be able to do a 301 redirect, but this disruption in the backlink profile can reduce your site’s authority and visibility in search results.

Brand Recognition: Altering your name can confuse existing customers and disrupt brand recognition. It may also weaken the brand equity established under the previous name, necessitating significant marketing efforts to rebuild the brand identity.

Customer Perception: Customers could interpret a name change as a sign of instability or rebranding challenges, potentially impacting their trust and loyalty. This underlines the importance of considering the potential impact on customer perception before changing names.

Operational Disruptions: The name change process involves updating marketing materials, websites, legal documents, and other business assets, which can be time-consuming and costly.

Traffic and Engagement: If not managed effectively, a name change can temporarily decrease website traffic and customer engagement as the market adapts to the new name.

Key Factors To Consider When Choosing An E-commerce Platform For Your Small Business

Consider several important factors before selecting an e-commerce platform for your small business. Starting an e-commerce website is a marathon, not a sprint.
Choose a vendor that provides all the essential features you need within their monthly fees rather than requiring additional apps that can drive up costs.

Don’t focus solely on appearances; other critical aspects, such as tools that assist with search engine optimisation and marketing capabilities, are equally essential to consider. This will ensure that you choose an e-commerce platform that meets all your business needs.

As a blogger who supports small businesses by purchasing their products and featuring them in my articles, I always communicate with businesses to inform them of the feature.

However, I often find it frustrating that they are unaware of the value of do-follow backlinks in my blog posts, change their business names in the blink of an eye, or do not inform me that they changed their Instagram username.

Why Do Small Businesses’ E-commerce Sites Need Backlinks? What Are Back Links?

Backlinks, or inbound or incoming links, direct users from one webpage to another. They play a crucial role in driving traffic from our loyal readers to the websites of various businesses. These links serve as a bridge between our content and the products or services offered by these companies.

While they are essential for enhancing user experience and establishing credibility, they can also pose challenges when businesses change. When a business alters its name or ceases operations, the backlinks associated with it become inactive, resulting in what is commonly known as deadlines.

Deadlinks can negatively impact the overall performance of our blogs. Not only do they disrupt the seamless flow of information for our audience, but they can also harm our search engine rankings. Search engines value active and relevant links, and the presence of deadlinks can signal to these algorithms that our content may be outdated or unreliable.

We must regularly monitor and update our backlink profile to mitigate the adverse effects of deadlinks. This involves identifying dead links, contacting the businesses for updated links, and replacing dead links with active ones. By proactively managing our backlink profile, we can ensure that our readers have access to accurate and up-to-date information.

Additionally, establishing solid relationships with businesses and encouraging them to notify us of any changes can help prevent deadlinks from occurring in the first place.

While I may not have a marketing or e-commerce background, I aim to assist others by sharing this valuable information from personal experience.