Open source e-commerce software PrestaShop is giving the 200,000 stores on its platform the ability to engage in loyalty marketing on the Web.

Through a partnership with LoyaltyLion, PrestaShop merchants will be able to create a loyalty program that rewards points for purchases, shares, referrals and signups. Customers can then redeem the points for store vouchers. Merchants will also have access to a statistics dashboard that identifies which activities and users are engaged most.

“An online shopper’s experience should not end at checkout. To build brand loyalty, e-merchants need to continuously engage customers. LoyaltyLion’s platform allows our merchants to reward customers for their engagement. We love that our merchants can now launch a completely customized loyalty program that fits their brand,” shares Estefania Londono, Partner Manager at PrestaShop. “I look forward to our growing partnership and the potential for our merchants to grow.”

PrestaShop merchants running version 1.5 and higher can install the module directly from their back office. After a 14-day trial, LoyaltyLion plans start at £99 per month (roughly $150) for merchants processing less than 800 monthly orders.

Current research shows that 40 percent of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize their shopping experience across channels. Additionally, nearly three in four, or 74 percent, of online consumers get frustrated with websites when the content that’s displayed has nothing to do with their interests. It is clear that a personalized website is an advantage to every marketer or entrepreneur leading a successful business today.

Website personalization takes into account that users have different motivations, devices, locations and time constraints. With current technology, marketers can now gather specific information about what a website visitor is searching for and translate their visit into a higher conversion.

“Organizations spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sometimes even millions of dollars, to create robust dynamic web experiences,” explained Itai Sadan, CEO and co-founder of mobile website creation platform DudaMobile. The company recently rolled out inSite that adds dynamic web content based on customer behavior to create personalized viewing experiences.

“Expensive tools and this type of personalization traditionally requires substantial web development and design, which is why we’re excited about bringing affordability to this exploding industry,” Sadan said.

Website personalization on a mass scale is indeed possible with the increasing number of low-cost options available to business owners today. Here are five ways business owners can begin to increase conversion through basic website personalization:

1. Visitor frequency should determine different user experiences. A visitor to a website for the first time will almost always be looking for different information than someone visiting the site repeatedly.

David Reischer, marketing officer at LegalAdvice.com, suggests tracking each user differently to give different user experiences. “We utilize a cookie to track a returning visitor so that we can direct them to the most appropriate and relevant page. This makes site navigation easier for repeat users.”

To increase conversion of first-time visitors include a phone number or business address, a contact form to capture leads, or a video tutorial to explain a product or service to a first time visitor.

“For frequent visitors, add a spot to sign up for a mailing list or add information about new products or services,” suggests Sadan.

2. Geo-location helps bring together online and offline marketing. The ability to know where someone is at the time they visit a website is game-changing for marketers.

“Online we can follow our customer’s individual buying journey, optimizing it every step of the way,” explains Bart Heilbron, CEO and co-founder of BlueConic, the real-time system of online customer engagement. “However, we were never able to use these insights in our offline interaction. With geo-location, we are now able to.”

If someone is only blocks away from a business and searching on a mobile phone, chances are they can be easily converted as a customer if they see an address and even a coupon that says, “Come in today and get 20% off.” For restaurants, an OpenTable button to reserve a table, or a Google Map app that provides step-by-step directions to the store location are critical for conversion.

3. Adjust content based on certain times. Changing the content on a website based on the time of day, week or even season can increase conversions as well. Consider replacing a phone number available to website visitors during business hours with a contact form when the business is closed. This will avoid missing out on potential customers who want to get in contact outside of business hours.

“The ability to offer different products over the course of a day based on targeted trends, habits or culture will increase conversions,” said CEO of internet marketing company WebiMax, Ken Wisnefski. “For example, a restaurant offers a different menu throughout the day as they switch from lunch to dinner.”

4. Recognize holidays and other special events. This is a great way to personalize a website and better connect with a customer’s sentiment. Change the theme to hearts during Valentine’s Day or add an image of fireworks during the 4th of July.

“This could have a positive effect on customer engagement, and in turn conversion,” said Sadan.

5. Capture the visitor source to adapt content. Knowing the original destination source that a visitor has entered a website from should greatly impact the content on the landing page that they see first. This can provide a seamless and consistent experience to the visitor.

With the year 2015 comes a good opportunity for businesses to re-evaluate their search engine optimization efforts. Much has changed when it comes to best practices across the SEO landscape and, if your business doesn’t update accordingly, organic traffic will drop and, at worst, you may find your business removed from search results altogether due to a Google manual penalty for not abiding by its guidelines.

For online businesses that rely heavily on organic traffic to drive leads, this should be a terrifying proposition – but fear not, as long as you address these new rules for SEO in 2015 your business can continue to drive online sales from search engines this year.

1. Your Website Should be Mobile-Friendly

With a sizable percentage of users now using mobile devices to access the Internet, most businesses should be taking steps to optimize their websites for mobile devices by developing responsive sites. However, if that isn’t enough to convince you, it has been noted that having a responsive website can also help SEO rankings slightly. Although it can be a steep initial investment, responsive design has an enormous ROI when you consider that your online business will provide a better user experience that helps convert traffic and a more prominent rank in search results.

2. Your Website Needs A Balanced Backlink Profile

There were a number of algorithm updates last year, and while it isn’t necessarily a new rule, a balanced backlink profile is absolutely pivotal for businesses that want to continue ranking well in Google’s search results. While building the perfect combinations of links can be a difficult undertaking, remember, relevant, fresh, authoritative links go a long way toward moving your business up in the search engines. There are a number of other backlink elements to keep in mind, but staying away from things like directories and blatant guest posting for SEO value while actively attracting natural links should bring most businesses positive results.

3. Your Site Should be Fast

As mobile becomes increasingly important, site speed is also starting to play a larger role in SEO. Google has expressly stated that site speed plays a role in mobile and desktop rankings, and even if it is a small one, it should be a focus for any website that is looking for a quick way to boost rankings. Doing things like image optimization, and minifying code when possible will help sites load faster, and provide a better overall user experience. A great way to start this process is to use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to get an idea of where to start to make your site faster.

4. Your Content Needs to Be Shared

While the value of a social share on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is still being hotly debated, making content sharable in 2015 should be a new rule to abide by in order to get the most out of your brand’s SEO efforts. While a share itself might not directly help your content rank better, the odds of getting natural links due to more exposure is definitely greater – and with relevant, natural links come great rankings. Make your SEO a bit easier by winning links without having to do outreach and content creation to get each one.

5. Your Content is Extensive

Most SEO professionals have known for some time that blogs and other written content needs to be more than 250 words and actually provide value to users. What many still don’t realize is that the length of a post really does matter when it comes to how well it ranks. In an ideal world this makes sense – posts that are around 2,000 words should provide better insight into their subject matter than a 500-word post that is only really able to skim the surface. While posts that hit the 2,000-word mark just to hit the 2,000-word mark probably won’t rank well, it is worth noting that if you have more to say, you should say it. People, and search engines, will thank you for putting out helpful, educational, or entertaining content by sharing it and ranking it higher on search engines.

Build Your Online Brand in 2015 for Great SEO

Deciding which tactics will get better SEO results for your brand in 2015 is certainly a difficult task. The best way to simplify this decision is to ask yourself which tactic will help make your brand stronger overall. The wide majority of SEO best practices in 2015 do more than just help you rank for keywords – they help strengthen your brand. Choose the tactic that will pay the most dividends for business as well as provide SEO value, and you’ll be well on your way to getting the most out of SEO while staying within 2015 best practices.