eMarketer.com recently reported that retail shoppers are checking out stores’ websites first before deciding where to spend their money, even if they plan on going to the brick-and-mortar store. Competition tightens because it is now so easy for consumers to compare prices offered by different retailers.

With so much information available now on the internet revealing prices offered by different stores, there is limited information bias, and retailers have to offer competitive prices in order to survive. This is especially relevant for retailers that sell goods that are exactly identical to those sold by other stores, such as electronics.

According to a May 2008 Nielsen Online survey, even most of those who end up buying in a brick-and-mortar store check the web first. They found that eight out of ten consumers in the survey that had recently purchased electronics in a physical store had checked the retailer’s website beforehand. Consumers don’t need to drive around town to find out price differences. It seems that even if they are planning to stop by their local store, they check the website first to see what’s available, so they don’t waste a trip. With children now growing up surfing the web, we can expect to see this trend increase, and for shoppers to be more and more informed about competitors’ prices.

For a retail marketing blog to be successful, you have to keep up with updates. If you are posting something everyday, your blog will get picked up by the major search engines and gain your website better placement on the SERP and more traffic.

If you find it difficult to sit down and write a post everyday, take advantage of changing the post timestamp and setting posts to publish in the future. This way, you can write several posts at once, and then set some of them to post in the future, basically having your blog publish itself with a new post each day. If you are using Wordpress software for your blog, just change the timestamp to the future (say, tomorrow), and then click “Publish.”

Thanks to this handy little feature, you can publish new, unique content everyday and not actually have to keep up with your blog each day. Just don’t forget to come back and write some more!

RSS feeds have become immensely popular, and now you will see the RSS icon on most blogs so that their readers can stay up-to-date. Does your blog allow readers to subscribe to an RSS feed?

Readers can subscribe to your RSS feed and be notified of new updates to your blog or website. Many people who have a number of sites they like to keep up with find RSS feeds handy, because they can see the latest updates from these sites in a feed reader without having to visit each individual site to check. They also make it easy for readers to see your latest post quickly.

If you want your website to get noticed and you want to attract loyal readers, you need to make sure you have an RSS feed enabled. This site has a lot of information on how to set up an RSS feed.

It seems like more and more, people are finding ways of avoiding advertisements. Tivo and DVR allow TV watchers to fast-forward though commercials. Satellite radio provides commercial-free broadcasting. Pop-up blockers and ad-blocking software stop internet browsers from displaying internet ads.

In this age where consumers are able to dodge ads thrown at them left and right, retail blog marketing is an increasingly lucrative way of boosting sales. Retail blog marketing steps up search engine visibility results and adds quality traffic to your site. And, a better position on Google and other search engines is not seen as an advertisement by consumers, but as a mark of a company’s quality and reliability.

Marketing methods are evolving as quickly as ever with the rapid pace of the internet. As more and more traditional forms of advertisement can be avoided by consumers, other, newer forms of marketing will take their places. I know that I, personally, am much more likely to click on a natural link in a search result than a banner ad or other conspicuous advertisement. It will be interesting to see how these trends develop in the coming years, and how they affect retailers and their marketing choices.

In a recent post, I predicted an increase in online shopping because of increased gas prices. I found an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal that showed that shopping centers are having difficulty leasing storefronts.

Lifestyle centers, a trend in shopping centers that has flourished during the past decade, are becoming less and less successful, according to the Wall Street Journal. These shopping centers contain a mixture of retail stores, fountains, and cafes in an open-air format. You have probably noticed that construction of enclosed malls dwindled in recent years, as this type of shopping center became more popular. But, owners of these lifestyle centers are finding it hard to fill storefronts and attract customers.

This is further support for the idea that online shopping will increase. This could help retailers, as a way to supplement lack of growth into new stores. While leasing a storefront is costly, maintaining a website is fairly inexpensive.

However, I’m sure investors who are having trouble leasing storefronts in their newly-built lifestyle centers aren’t too happy about the website alternative.

As gas prices continue to climb, we should expect to see an increase in online shopping. Especially for retail stores situated in less-than-ideal locations to which consumers would be less likely to drive, revenue from online sales could help ease the stress of a recession.

Also, shops that appeal to a specific niche can benefit from a much larger group of consumers by reaching the entire country with a good website.

However, even if someone who wants what you’re selling manages to find your website, they will quickly navigate away if you make one of these mistakes:

1. Your website is badly organized, and the consumer can’t find what he’s looking for quickly.
Take cues from the big guys on this one Walmart.com and other huge retailers have categories with drop-down menus, a search bar, and special offers or best sellers to click on on their home pages. It is best to have multiple ways that the consumer can locate what he wants to find.

2. Your website is unattractive or unappealing. If your website looks cluttered, outdated, or just plain ugly, most consumers won’t even give it a chance. A website like this makes consumers question the reliability and quality of the company. Make sure your website looks professional, clean, and modern.

If you want your retail website to take off, you not only need a good position on search engines, but also a good-looking website that will hold the consumer’s attention once they click on your link.