I made a post afew days ago, explaining how easy it was to rank in Google Canada (Google.ca) and how profitable it can be for you to re-position your business from US to Canada.
You might say What do I know about Canada? No worries Visa did all the Research for you.
To sum it up you have 28 million people who shop online, there was over 40 billion dollars in online sales in 2006, I am sure it is a lot higher now.
Data reference 1
Data reference 2
Now consider this, if you invest $1000 per month for SEO from Shopping Cart Elite to rank in US, it is equivalent to spending $5000 per month by ranking in Canada.
Yes this means that you get 5 times better results when you apply the same ranking from SCE for Canada versus US.
Ex:
Google for activewear on Google.com and Google.ca
Google.com will have Lucy, Forever21, Macy, Old Navy, Amazon, Target, Jockey on the first page of results competing with you. In Google.ca? None of them! but you will find our client in the top 3. This means you can rank for the same keywords as the Fortune 1000 with no problem.
Why does this happen? Because a website can only rank in their target country for competitive keywords.
Bottom line is this, if you have no chance of competing in US because you have an unhealthy market, if you need to diversify your revenue with another online business targeting a different geolocation, if you want to become a leader in your industry, if you want sell your highly profitable niche products in a complete different market, etc. THAN IT IS TIME TO REALIZE THAT YOUR US WEBSITE WILL NEVER RANK THE WAY IT NEEDS TO RANK IN CANADA.
You must:
A) Re-position your US website Towards Canada
B) Start Another One
Wait that is not all. Since you are in US, you dont have to charge TAX in Canada since you are selling from the US. Take that :::paw:::
RE-POSITIONING YOUR WEBSITE FOR CANADA IS AS SIMPLE AS CLICKING ON THE EASY RED BUTTON (you know the one from Staples)
1) Change your setting in Google Webmaster Tools
2) Make sure you have a TOLL FREE PHONE NUMBER. Google will know if you have a local US number (why take the risks?)
3) Change your Contact Address to a Canadian Address or Remove it Completely
4) Cater to Canada by finding Suppliers in Canada, Offer Free Shipping in Canada as well as other promotions strictly for Canada. Ex: Add your web page graphics to make it look like your Canada only, since this is your new core market.
5) You can use USPS to ship your products which charge no to little taxes at the border. I read about people declaring the products as gift and value them at $10, making the receiver in Canada pay no import taxes. I am not suggesting you do that but you can read more about it by Googling Canada USPS Gift. Their is also a service called US Border Parcel Pickup, where the customer can actually pick up the package from the border of US to avoid paying taxes - Read More about it Here
6) Consider the fact that in Canada, Winters are Freezing and Summers are Warm and Humid. You can review the weather climate here. It is very similar weather to New York just a little different.
ALL IN ALL Ive randomally checked Canadian retailer websites and they are OVERPRICED due to import taxes, local taxes and shipping. Even though Shipping from US to Canada is double you can still beat the local competitors.
It will take you literally a few minutes to change everything to re-position yourself in Canada and you can always revert back to US.
If you are in Canada, please dont take offense to my blog :) I am simply trying to make a point that Canada is a great market for an online business and if you are in Canada targeting Canada instead of US is a no brainier.