While reviewing profiles of numerous exporters on the Indian Business Portal—a dynamic trade hub connecting Indian exporters with foreign buyers—several shortcomings have caught our attention. These limitations hinder the discoverability of these businesses and curtail the full potential of their endeavors.

Issues to Fix in Your Digital Catalogue to Enhance Discoverability, Credibility & Engagement 

1. Upload Individual Products

Instead of uploading each product, you may have taken a shortcut of uploading just one product for the whole category. This may have saved you a few minutes but will cost you hugely by limiting the discoverability of your products and your business. For example, you are a spice seller and instead of uploading individual products for black pepper, cardamom, turmeric powder etc, you have uploaded just one product, and this will severely limit the discoverability of your products and your business.

Expand your reach by showcasing each product separately for better discoverability.

2. Craft Proper Product Titles

Product title is a vital part of product information and possesses a big influence on the search ranking as well as building initial perception of the product in the mind of the potential buyer. Therefore it is crucial to create proper product titles including relevant keywords, attributes or specification of the product and must be at least 100 characters long. For example, instead of just naming the product as Black Pepper, you can consider naming is as “Malabar Garbled Black Pepper - M1, Premium Quality  Fresh & Aromatic”.

Capture attention with descriptive titles packed with keywords and specifications.

3. Add Compelling Product Descriptions

Product description is another  vital part of product information and has a greater influence on the search ranking as well as customer’s understanding of the product. Needless to mention in most cases the decision to buy or not to buy a product from a particular seller is dependent on that if the product is described properly. Product description should be at least 100 words and should consist of a brief paragraph about the product along with bullet points on the specification of the product, you should also include a few lines on why someone should buy the product from you.

Drive sales with informative product descriptions that highlight benefits and features.

4. Add Meta Titles and Descriptions

Meta titles and meta descriptions are snippets of text that provide information about a webpage. They are crucial for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Not adding proper meta title and meta description will adversely impact the discoverability of your digital catalogue, resulting in low traffic and no or few sales. Meta Title and Meta Description can easily be generated using AI tools.

Boost visibility with SEO-friendly metadata for improved search rankings.

5. Update Your Export Information

Imagine an international buyer has found your business on Indian Business Portal. In addition to knowing that you can supply the product they are wanting to import, they would also want to know about the credentials of your business to ascertain if yours is a genuine business as well as how good you are. Therefore it is crucial that you should update the ‘About Your Export’ information fully and properly. Don’t miss out on uploading certificates, as they help build credibility and trustworthiness for your business.

Build trust with comprehensive business credentials and certifications.

6. Categorise Products Correctly

Failing to categorise products correctly is like if in a supermarket, if we place apples among pulses, then the possibility that the apples will get sold is very grim. It is quite obvious that people who will be visiting the pulses section are looking for pulses and not fruits. Similarly on Indian Business Portal it is crucial that the product should be placed in the right category else it will not be discovered by the right buyer, resulting in few or no inquiries.

Ensure easy navigation for customers by categorising products accurately.

7. Showcase Your Brand with a Logo

Logo is the identity of your business and more importantly your digital catalogue without a logo looks incomplete, now honestly would you do business with an organization that does not have a logo on their digital catalogue, certainly not and that is true with international buyers as well. It is important to present ourselves as a professional organization and therefore it is also important to upload the logo. In case you don’t have a logo then click here to get a professionally designed logo for your business.

Establish professionalism and trustworthiness with a branded identity.

8. Enhance Visual Appeal with Banners

Any sensible person will perceive a digital catalogue without banners as a work in progress or incomplete. Is it sensible to present yourself as a business with an incomplete website in front of international buyers, absolutely not. Therefore it is important to upload banners, in case you are not sure about how to design banners, then click here to get professionally designed banners for your digital catalogue.

Impress visitors and create a polished online presence with eye-catching banners.

9. Streamline Navigation

Imagine you step into a huge supermarket and there are no sign boards or staff to guide you, it will be very difficult for you to find the desired product. The same applies with your online store, if you have not setup the navigation properly then your potential customers will find it is difficult to find the desired products on your digital catalogue, which will result in few or no inquiry/sale.

Guide customers seamlessly through your catalogue with intuitive navigation.

10. Share Compelling Business Content

In the digital realm there are two challenges that you have to surmount as a business, one is discoverability, that is ensuring that your business can be discovered by potential customers on the internet, and second is credibility that is when a potential customer has discovered your business, they should perceive your business as a genuine and trustworthy business. Adding content about your business, often overlooked, plays a vital role in building the credibility of your business and therefore as much content as possible should be added about your business. 

Strengthen credibility and connection with engaging information about your business.

Issues You Should Fix Immediately on Your Profile

1. Verify Your Company
Presenting your business as a genuine and trustworthy business is vital and having a verified tag on your profile goes a long way in building the credibility and trustworthiness of your business. Therefore it is needless to mention that you must verify your business.

2. Upload Your Logo
Getting into a large value transaction involves extensive due diligence and even a slight hint of unprofessionalism or lacklusterness will negatively influence the decision. Not uploading a logo on your business profile is a sign of an unprofessional or lazy outlook and you would certainly not want that to happen, therefore it is crucial that you must upload a logo on your business profile. In case you don’t have a logo then click here to get a professionally designed logo for your business. 

3. Upload a Profile Banner
Profile banners often overlook, depicting the strong urge of a business to impress the potential client and present itself as a professional organization. Whom would you choose a business that has put in the effort to present itself decently and or the business that has not made that effort. The choice is obvious and if you don’t want to be missed out in this obvious selection, then please do upload or choose from precreated profile banners.

4. Add a Profile Picture
A number of researches have also proven that profiles with profile picture get more engagement as compared to profiles without profile picture. So if you are not uploading a profile picture then you are losing out on the engagement and also diluting the credibility of your business.

5. Add Role Description
You may have heard of the saying that “People buy from people they like and trust.” and an international buyer looking forward to doing a large value transaction with you would certainly want to know about you as well in addition to knowing about your business. Adding the role description will further improve the credibility quotient of your business.

6. Include Information About Your Company
In the digital realm potential customers can discover any of your digital properties and your profile is also a very important digital property. Imagine there was a potential buyer looking for your products and they came across your profile, however it was not properly updated and they found one of your competitors profile which was updated, I think their choice is quite obvious, they will choose the business with a properly updated profile. Therefore it is crucial that the profile should be properly and fully updated.

7. Add Licenses or Awards
Imagine you are looking for a supplier of a product and you come across profiles of two exporters, the first exporter has showcased all the required licenses and certificates on their profile and the second exporter has not added any certificates, although the second exporter also has all the required certifications, but realistically you will not do the additional effort of reaching out to the second exporter and asking the certificates, you will just conveniently choose the first exporter. Now the same applies with international buyers also, if you are not displaying the licenses and certificates, you are deliberately trying to lose potential buyers. 

Don't wait any longer—take action now to elevate your digital presence and unlock new opportunities for growth and success!

In order to further assist members, we are also organising a special online session on Wednesday, 3 July from 4:00 - 5:00 PM IST. You can join the session to get answers to doubts and seek clarifications. Register Now

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