Online Shopping Guide: The Basics

I have always been a fan of online shopping guides. Aside from the fact that they are really fun to read (think amazing graphics), they also remind me of one thing: That retailer giants always stick to what really works. Online shopping guides are really pretty (they really are), informative, and straightforward; they will tell you what works and what doesn’t. But the primary reason why retailer giants use them is not because they hold the readers’ attention but they encourage, if not push, consumers to purchase. No doubt it's another good blog topic.  

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What Online Shopping Guide Is

A shopping guide is essentially an expert-written and -validated solution-based advices that capitalize on the question, “What to shop for.” Every online shopping guide is written with one goal: Provide the consumer the best solution possible. These consumers are profiled not based on their demographics but what they are looking for.

There are thousands of online shoppers who surf for at least three hours a day looking for the best polk car speakers or knowing the best supplement for their age. Online shopping guides are created to specifically target ready buyers, consumers who are literally click away from buying an item on your online inventory.

How Can Online Shopping Guides Be So Effective


If there is one lesson I learned about online selling it is that you need to specifically choose and know your timing. You need to choose your efforts, you need to stay focus. If you are geared towards selling, then sell. Don’t just try.

But what is the key to shopping guide’s success? Online shopping guides not only win customers but most importantly, the most valuable commodity online, customer’s trust. Expert-written shopping guides are what ready shoppers look for; after voluminous amount of research work, online shoppers look for pieces of facts and pieces to confirm that their decision to buy a particular product is right.

At an SEO’s point of view, online shopping guides are perfect for online biz owners since they lead shopping-ready customers straight to their sites. These are really online shoppers, not just surfers. People who have purchased items online at least twice in the course of one year. These are the people online biz owners are working for to find both day and night.

Online shopping guides use shopping-oriented keywords, specific phrases that shopping-ready customers use to know what website sell items that they are looking for online. Their behavior at this stage can be likened to ripe mangoes, ready for picking. Keywords that were used to write shopping guides rank low in terms of global and even monthly searches. But if they score low, how can they be effective? The key is in terms of conversion.

Low-ranking keywords usually rank high in terms of conversion rate. In terms of sales, some times page views and other performance indicators are just another number. Numbers are just numbers, unless they bring something tangible to the table.

Conversion rate is more often than not a better site performance indicator than all those technical stuff brought together. Because after all, at the end of the day, the question remains, “Have you sold anything?”

Online Shopping Guide Makes Selling Easy

Though we know our decision is right, or at least logical, we, more often than not, find ourselves consulting others, hoping that they’ll nod as a sign of their confirmation. Online shopping guides are like the most likely person we’ll run to, whenever we’re fidgeting and wondering if we are doing the right thing. That's why it remains to be a good blog topic. 

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Even the wisest of people have some sort of adviser, whether a close friend or columnist they hardly even know. Online shopping guides invest in this habit, a conventional pattern of consumers whenever they are ready to spend, and throw money away.

Ebay and Crutchfield.com, two giants of the retail industry, two companies who know what online shopping guides are and what it can do for their business. When it comes to business, sometimes online biz owners need to be straightforward to their customers, to tell them what they really need and what they even want. Why? Because you are competing against companies who throw millions of dollars every year in their ad budget.

“Even the most experienced shopper enjoys thumbing through a Zagat or Berlitz shopping guide every now and then, in the hopes of picking up a retail tip,” says Ellen Tien of New York Times.

Subtle and suggestions do not work these days. Be frank and be honest. That is the formula to selling to and winning your customers.

Think subliminal messages work these days? Crutchfield.com works differently. What encourages and even leads their customers to their shopping carts are their frank and honest reviews about what works and what doesn’t. Educating their customers about what is best for them is better than hinting them to buy items that they won’t need anyway. By simply being honest, online business owners can and will achieve one precious commodity that is difficult to find online: Trust.