E-commernce analysis

Learning Materials

Required Reading from E-Commerce Evolved textbook

· The Beginner's Guide to Revenue Optimization, pp 77 - 134

Required Internet Reading

· Semantic Search (Links to an external site.)

· How Empathy Mapping Helps Create Better Marketing Stories (Links to an external site.)

· Advanced SEO Methods (Links to an external site.)

· SEO Keywords: How Better Keyword Research Gets You Better Results (Links to an external site.)

Required Internet Video

· Small Business Websites Compete with Big Players (Links to an external site.)

· Click here (Links to an external site.)  for Closed Captioned version of above required video.

Section 1:

Create a Wordle or visual tag cloud using a generator on the site you've been working with (TagCrowd (Links to an external site.) is good because you can simply paste in the homepage URL of your business site, and it will generate the optimized keyword for you). Optional - Once you have your keywords from TagCrowd, you can then get creative and customize the shapes, fonts, colors, etc. using a site like  Word Art. (Links to an external site.)  Otherwise, save your TagCrowd visual for this discussion board which is fine as well.

Create a post and share your tag cloud with the class.

IMPORTANT  - Make sure the image of your tag cloud is large enough that we can read both the small and large text! Include whether or not you gleaned any surprising insights, what they are and why. 

Section 2: Empathy Map, Keyword Research and Body Copy

PART 1:

Create and Empathy Map using a Hub and Spoke Model. 

Using the example from the lecture, create an empathy map using a hub and spoke model. You'll create a hub using a single, specific product or service from your business. Then, you'll create 6 spokes by asking yourself the questions a user might ask in search for that product or service. Remember to put yourself in the shoes of the user and think about what kinds of questions they would ask, and how they might phrase them (which demonstrates search intent). Each spoke should contain one question.

You can get creative with your empathy map's look and feel, it does not have to follow my example in terms of colors, layout and sizes, but make sure there is a clear hub and 6 clear spokes which I can easily identify as a "hub and spoke" model. You can also use any software program to create this, PhotoShop, Illustrator, MS Word, etc. BUT, it needs to be in a digital format for submission. No hand drawn maps will be accepted. 

 

PART 2: 

Perform keyword research, create a top 10 keyword list, and write body copy.

Visit  https://app.neilpatel.com/ (Links to an external site.)  (or if you choose to use another  free keyword research tool (Links to an external site.)  thats totally fine. But Ubersuggest is a good, free resource). Enter your businesses URL in the "enter in a keyword or domain" input,  and generate a list of 10 long-tail,* non-branded** keywords.  You'll want to make sure your keywords are  relevant  to the product or service, and in this case, would be the "hub" of your hub and spoke empathy map from Part 1. When you generate your list, you should prioritize keyword  RELEVANCE  over the popularity score. 

Long tail* keywords  are search phrases with longer word counts. Their length makes them more specific than searches with fewer words. “Buy breathable running socks” (4 words) is an example of a long tail keyword, whereas “buy socks” is a short tail keyword.  Non-branded** keywords  are keywords that relate to your products or services, but don’t include your company’s name.

How you’ll be using your keyword list is by incorporating each keyword phrase into an answer to your hub and spoke questions. It may be beneficial to do your keyword research first, then do part 1, but approach the assignment however is easiest for you to understand the basis for the assignment and grasp the learning outcomes.

Pay close attention to the assignment details laid out as I would like your assignment to be formatted in a very specific way so I can see the relationships between your keywords, questions and answers. If your assignment submission is formatted in any other way than what I’ve specified, I will be deducting points. Once again, combine parts 1 and 2 into ONE digital document in PDF format and submit to canvas. You can format your own document based on my example, or you can grad a pre-formatted word document (google sheet) for you to fill out here:  PRE-FORMATTED WORD DOCUMENT Attached

**Note that I am asking you for a list of top 10 keywords in part 2, but in part 1 I am only asking for 6 spokes, or questions. Therefor, in your final document, you'll need a list of 10 keywords, however, you'll only need to complete body copy and correlating relationships for the first 6 which is outlined in the word document above. **

**DELIVERABLES**

Written in size 11 Arial / Helvetica / or Times font, and double spaced.

Include ALL source citations along with a bibliography.

Part 1 - Empathy map saved in a digital format, i.e., .JPG, .JPEG, .GIF, .PNG, or .PDF

Part 2 - Write Up completed in MS word and submitted as a .PDF. No need to "share" the link with me if you use the word template I provided. Just save the document as a PDF and submit as usual.

If your empathy map size is too large to drop into a word doc where the sizing is such that I cannot read the detail, save that file separately and submit 2 documents (part 1 and part 2) separately. Otherwise, if your empathy map fits nicely inside the word doc and is readable, you can save both parts 1 and 2 as one PDF and submit only one document.