The choice of hosting is important for the success of any online project. Georgi Dyulgerov - a successful entrepreneur and SEO specialist with over 10 years of experience in the field - shares his experience, especially for our audience. He is the founder of the rapidly growing online pet store ZooStore, as well as the media with over 180,000 monthly visits and a growth trend: Saveti.bg.
With numerous successful web projects behind him, Georgi Dyulgerov reveals why he chose Jump hosting for his projects, as well as what marketing and SEO strategies he uses to achieve fast and steady growth in his visits and sales.
Boryana Popova (Hosting Jump): Hello, Georgi! Tell us how you got into entrepreneurship and digital marketing? How did it all start?
Georgi Dyulgerov: I got into web development while I was still at school by creating my first website in HTML and CSS, back when HTML tables were still used. The site was built on a low-competition theme and earned a few dollars a month through AdSense, which motivated me to think and read about how I could get more visitors and therefore more ad revenue.
At the same time, I was reading and experimenting with both programming (mainly PHP and databases) and SEO. After working as a developer for a few years, I gradually shifted entirely to SEO as it was the most interesting to me and I realized that I needed a focus.
Boryana Popova (Hosting Jump): Why is good hosting important for an online store?
Georgi Dyulgerov: The choice of reliable hosting plays a key role both for the SEO optimization of the project and for the trust of the users. When choosing, I considered many factors, such as price, reliability, number of backups, reputation, team, how long it has been on the market, opinions in Facebook groups, etc., etc.
Despite my preliminary analysis, I continue to regularly monitor uptime, security, page load speed, and the level and competence of support.
What I like about Jump's hosting plans is that there is no limit to the number of inodes, which has driven me crazy with other hosting providers over the years.
Another thing I like about Jump's hosting plans is that they support LiteSpeed caching, which greatly improves the speed of my websites.
However, the most important thing for me when choosing a hosting is that there is no downtime - that the servers don't go down often, that they behave appropriately when there is a lot of traffic in the store (especially on Black Fridays and around holidays), and that security is guaranteed.
Boryana Popova (Hosting Jump): What are the 5 often underestimated working marketing strategies for an online store, especially in 2023?
Georgi Dyulgerov:
- For me, email marketing remains the most underestimated. Most online stores find themselves at two extremes: They either neglect it or overdo it. Very rarely have I seen an email newsletter segmented by interest that adds value.
I also don't know why it is necessary to flood customers with frequent and useless emails.
- In second place, I would like to mention SEO optimization. Very few online store owners invest enough in SEO, and by that, I don't just mean the budget, but also the time they invest in knowledge and training.
If you want your store to be successful, you need to become a specialist who is above the national average. This is the only way you can make competent decisions and not trust the agency you work with too much.
An important point to consider when choosing an agency is who is working on your project. Even if there is a great SEO specialist right now, they may change jobs, start their project, etc. You should be competent enough to recognize that something has changed in the quality of service.
- Affiliate marketing - unfortunately, Bulgaria is still many years behind in the development of this sector. There are very few online stores that offer a quality affiliate program with good rates and stability, and accordingly, there are no quality blogs that use it. And it's an endless cycle.
I realize this with my site Saveti.bg - we have traffic, we have positions, we have invested a lot of money and work to lay a stable foundation for the project, we can easily scale it, but in return we get - dubious percentages (3 to 7% don't even cover the costs for my copywriters), non-serious stores (suddenly their affiliate links stop working, or they don't have the product in stock, and I send them hundreds of clicks), inappropriate attitude and small-mindedness.
I don't know why online stores can't understand that they only make money with affiliate programs. Create a quality affiliate program, promote it, and give quality media time to appear in the niche. Get in touch with potential media representatives and present your program to them.
In Bulgaria we urgently need an affiliate marketing association, but first things first. With ZooStore.bg we are about to launch our affiliate program, which we will announce as soon as we reach this stage.
- Attitude towards customers - online stores are already starting to think in this direction, but they greatly underestimate it. Small gestures and a good attitude will be remembered - put a small surprise gift in the customer's package, include a thank you card, and ask for feedback from the customer. Put a nice and appropriate customer service representative on the phone and make sure they are trained.
- Tik Tok marketing - A few brands already have a sense of what works on the social network, but many of them can't yet align themselves with the right strategy or ignore it altogether.
My observations are that brands that add value in the form of advice and brands that create a viral trend through emotion are successful. This video tells the success formula of a candy bar that earns its owner 11 million dollars a year through the viral strategy of Tik Tok alone:
- Bonus: Brand emotion – this is something that, in my opinion, is still greatly underestimated by online stores. They don't focus on branding and they don't focus on emotion. Very few online stores in the country are successful with this, and others lack creativity when they try to imitate them, which doesn't work.
Boryana Popova (Hosting Jump): What marketing tips would you give to entrepreneurs who have not yet opened their online store?
Georgi Dyulgerov: Start with a marketing channel that you're most confident and competent in or that you think your competitors underestimate. Don't try to cover all social networks + SEO + email marketing + video marketing etc. because each channel takes a lot of time and budget before it develops and becomes self-sustaining.
Start with small advertising budgets while you optimize your conversion rate and find out which products convert best. Don't try to advertise too many products and categories at once, but test them gradually.
We would like to thank Georgi for sharing his experience and valuable advice and wish him every success, a successful business, and satisfaction!
