How I worked with a local Chicago store owner to build e-commerce revenue, rank on page 1 for local AND global searches, and net a 244% ROI with Google Shopping.

Opportunity

• SEO: improve search engine visibility globally & ranking for local searches
• UX: deliver a better, mobile-friendly e-commerce experience for site users
• SEM/Digital marketing: expand visibility and acquire new customers with a targeted SEM strategy
• Business: improve online revenue and attract new customers!

The Way Forward

August–October 2015: Keyword research provided a great foundation for revising the site’s architecture (“before” shot in the first slide) and link structure to better surface e-commerce pages highlighting Teuscher Chicago’s competitive advantage. I also concepted a new Location page to improve on local SEO.

Next, I wireframed changes and rewrote metadata, page content and product description copy (pictured) for UX and SEO. I also added local Schema markup. On the technical side, I 301-redirected broken links and used Webmaster Tools to ensure there were no penalties. By 10/19, organic traffic had improved and sustained 52%.

Here’s also Teuscher Chicago’s lead banner (slide 6), informed by keyword research.

November 2015: I then used SEM Rush data to re-examine keyword performance and made tweaks to ensure Teuscher Chicago took advantage of every opportunity.

December 2015–February 2016: I pitched a Google Shopping campaign to the store owner, showing how SEM could increase visibility of his unique merchandise to new potential customers. (None of the other Teuscher store locations were using Shopping, so the opportunity was ripe for the taking.)

We decided to test using a Valentine’s Day chocolates campaign that could boost exposure significantly to customers not familiar with the Teuscher brand. The results were impressive:

• With a pretty conservative bid strategy, we netted 244% ROI
• Shopping is now ready to go for future seasonal and always-on campaigns
• Total SEM revenue improved 40% year-over-year from their 2015 V-Day campaign

For next steps, they’d likely want to try an always-on campaign for their bestseller, which as we tested was converting and getting long-tail clicks at a very affordable CPC.