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.

In an article on SiteProNews recently, they discussed 8 reasons why you need audio on your website.

Audio can be the difference between making 1 sale or 10, and it does add a ‘wow’ factor, for your customers.
I agree with all of their 8 points whole heartedly.
As a consumer, if I can listen to a retailer describe the benefits of their product to me instead of just reading a lengthy list of pros’, it has helped me make my decision to purchase or not.
Here’s a few of those 8 things that I feel are the most important, but make sure you read them all after you finish reading what I have to say.

1. Customers remember what they hear more than what they read. Did you know that people remember only 20% of what they read while they remember an astonishing 70% of what they hear? That’s three and a half times more! Your audio message will help you to stick into the minds of your customers longer.

3. Audio keeps customers on your site longer. Audio can keep customers on your site longer and you give you more time to make the sale. It can be used as an additional resource or tool for customers to familiarize themselves with your product or service while browsing your site.

6. Audio puts you light years ahead of your competitors. Using audio successfully on your site gives you a competitive advantage. Most internet businesses overlook using this effective marketing tool so be sure you’re not one of them!

7. Audio is easy to use. Being able to put audio on your website isn’t limited to just techies – anyone can do it! Many of the programs available don’t even require you to know HTML or flash. They’re designed to be user friendly so you shouldn’t have any problems taking your website to the next level.

See there in reason #6, where I italicized part of it?
I wanna tell you how to use it successfully, from a customers point of view.
This is so important.

Do NOT set your audio sales pitch to auto play.
Ever.
Do place your audio or video player above the fold, so customers can find it easily, but never set it to auto play.

Auto playing audio or video players are an immediate sales closer, meaning the customers leave the site without you closing the sale.
If you have your audio or video player above the fold, right near the top, and tell your customers in a short paragraph, that they can watch or hear more about your product by clicking play on the player, most customers will choose to watch or listen.

If it auto starts and the customers can’t find the player because it’s at the bottom of the page, or not even visible to customers to turn it off, customers end up leaving the site without listening or watching, and without reading anything on your site, and without making a purchase.

Give your customers the option of watching or listening to more information about your product, and they will.
Force it on them, and they will leave your site, with their money still in their wallets.

Once again, SiteProNews comes through for us on how to get the top search engine rankings on Google.
The old tricks of keyword spamming and invisible key phrases, no longer work, but here are 3 tips that work like a charm.

Content and links are 90% of how to get placed at the top for searches.
Having your keywords in your meta tags is no longer the best way, it’s all about great content, and using the key phrases your readers would use.

Step 1. Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and type in the phrases that you think your target customers would use. It will give you the data on that keyword, and also provide you with additional keywords to consider.
Those are the ones you’ve probably over looked and in some cases, never even thought of, but when people use a search engine, they don’t always use the same words or phrases you are thinking are the best keywords for your site or product.
Try as many specific keywords and phrases as you can think of, and keep looking at the additional keywords to consider. You’ll be surprised at how many words you never thought of.

Step 2. Content, content, content.
It’s been said many times, content is king, and when you’re trying to gain a larger audience, great content will bring them in and keep them.
Make it search engine friendly and real-person natural content. Let it flow as naturally as possible.
Most search engines can tell the difference between content aimed at people or aimed at search engines. Make the most of your content.
In your first sentence, your number one keyword should be placed. Place your number 2 keyword at the top of that first paragraph as well.
Repeat this using one keyword for every paragraph you write.
For your last paragraph, use the least used keyword first, and end the last paragraph with the most important keyword, your number 1 keyword.
Try not to repeat your keywords more than 3-4 times per content article.

Step 3. Get great inbound links and monitor your site.
Having quality inbound links can account for 75% of search engine hits.
Then you need to monitor your site to see where you are in the search engines, and where you will be for those keywords.
Investing in a good SEO tool will pay for itself over time because it will do all the monitoring for you, saving your hours upon hours every week.

In a recent article on Site Pro News, they discuss word of mouth marketing, and how it can affect your business.

As a mother, a woman, a consumer, and a blogger, I know all too well the saying above, “A happy customer tells one friend, and unhappy customer tells everybody.”
Many times when I’ve gone and purchased from a brick and mortar store or from an on-line retailer, if I’ve had a bad experience, I’ve told everyone I know and posted it to my blog letting even more people know about it.
I get close to 60,000 visitors a month on my blog, so when I’m unhappy, believe me, people know about it.
When I have a great experience, I’m even more likely to rave about it and the product.

One of the greatest word of mouth marketing ideas, is to give a blogger your product and ask them to review it and write about it.
Go above and beyond to make sure they get the product quickly and in great shape, make sure they are happy it arrived quickly.
There is nothing worse than ordering something on-line, and having to wait weeks to get it.

In the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to receive quite a few products from companies on-line, and give my honest review of them.
I have been pleased with every single one for many reasons.
First, staying in touch with me.
Giving me shipping and tracking information so I can know when it will arrive.
Making sure the product is packaged securely so it doesn’t end up damaged in transit.
Including a thank you for taking the time to test out their products. (this is huge to me)
And lastly, letting me know after I’ve completed my review, what they thought of it, and what they would have liked to see my review cover if they were unhappy with it, or what ways they could have made my experience better.
Feedback from your consumers should be taken seriously.
They are the keys to making your business even more successful.

Just in the month of February 2008, I’ve been contacted by 3 book publishers in my niche.
What is my niche?
I’m a single parent first, a mom of teenagers, a woman, a health and beauty nut, a movie and music lover, an avid reader, and a consumer with a big mouth, or should I say, a blog that holds nothing back.
I call it like I see it, and if the book is great, I’m going to tell every single one of my readers how awesome it was.
If it was bad, my readers will know exactly why it was bad, and to avoid spending their money on it.
One of the other things I’ve done to help spread the word of products, is to give it away in a contest on my blog when I’m done with it.
My blog readers love contests where they can win an actual product to try out.
I’ve given away books, health and beauty products, and movies, cds, video games and more.

Blogs are the new medium, the new word of mouth, because of how many people we can reach.
If your company can afford to send just 10 bloggers in your niche, one single product to try absolutely free, then you should do it.
You can gain buyers from all over the world if those bloggers love your product.
If you can afford to send one product to a blogger and one for them to give away to a reader, you will gain even more sales and reviews because most blog readers, are bloggers themselves.
You get a second review seen by even more consumers.
If they don’t have a blog, they will still tell everyone they know about your product.
Word of mouth marketing is huge.
A happy blogging consumer, tells literally thousands of people, which translates into thousands of potential consumers.

One of the ways to drum up more business, is by way of your RSS feed.
You can add your affiliate links in the bottom, you can use partial feeds to make readers come to your blog so all links in the sidebar are seen, and you can use your affiliate links inside your posts to create extra sales.

Every time I watch a new movie, I link to it with an affiliate account inside one of my posts.
It sends readers to that affiliate link, and even if they don’t buy that DVD, they usually end up buying something else within a few hours, or even sometimes a full week later, depending on the affiliate cookie hold.

Using images inside your entries is a great way to hold your readers attention. A post with a picture tends to keep your readers on your blog longer than just text.
People like to look at things, especially items that you are reviewing, so they can really see it’s value.
The average consumer believes word of mouth marketing more than just the products description page telling you how great it is.
Real people doing honest reviews, makes people believe it more, and therefore, more willing to go out and buy the item themselves.

So if you are looking for a great way to boost affiliate sales, use pictures of the product you are reviewing, review it honestly, the good, the bad, and the downright awful.
People want to know it isn’t very good so they don’t waste money.
But if it’s great, talk up it’s awesome points, and watch those sales go up.