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How to Increase Traffic to Your Online Store [Basics]

10 min read

The world is changing. Stores are moving from physical locations to online stores left and right, or at very least, going hybrid. The market is expanding rapidly, and there is an abundance of online shoppers out there. Generating traffic is a necessity for online stores to thrive in the current world.

If you’re new to the world of business, you might feel intimidated by all of the steps you need to take to become successful. And one of the scariest of all? Increasing your online traffic. Have no fear, as the digital age offers many opportunities for small and big business owners online. If you follow the steps below, you can feel confident that your online business will boom in the future.

How to sell online
Tips from e-commerce experts for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
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Identify Your Most Popular Products

Some products just sell better than others. As an online store owner, acknowledge this fact and spend the most resources promoting your best-selling products. This may be a group of products or a singular product. Once you have identified your big sellers, it is important that you start an online campaign to drive up excitement. You could create deals and online coupons that will catch the attention of online shoppers.

Additionally, you could create a series of blogs that explain why everybody and their mothers will benefit from purchasing this product(s). Blogs are a good tool to use once you have settled on which products will gain you the most customers. They will bring people to your online store and more traffic means more sales. It also helps to include keywords in blogs that will show up when a potential customer searches your name online.

Hold an Online Giveaway

You may be wondering why we are advising you to give away products for free. We are well aware that giving away products is not an act you can do all the time, but it is a good way to produce traffic. People love free stuff, and an online event like this will surely increase traffic. The impact should be immediate, as people will flock to become involved in your online sweepstakes. You could also make it a competition and award users who promote your product on social media. Giveaways have a high chance of going viral, which will definitely invite new customers to discover your awesome online store.

Optimize Keywords

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a must for startup online stores that are attempting to increase traffic. SEO is the art of making your online business/website better for search engines. Your online store will pop up on your customers’ searches more often once you pick out which keywords to optimize. To drive traffic to your online store, you must be a top result that appears when words associated with your company are searched. You could conduct this SEO yourself or hire an experienced analyst to do it for you. There are websites where you can find out where your online store ranks on certain terms. This is a good way to start the SEO process. You could also use these strong keywords in headlines on your website.

Ensure That Your Online Store is Compatible With Mobile Devices

Everyone has a smartphone these days. So, in order to be successful, your online store must be smartphone-accessible, as a marketplace that only works on desktop and laptop computers will not have much traffic. To reach your full potential as an online store, you must develop an effective mobile marketplace. Many people use their smartphones as their primary online shopping tool. Do not limit your online store by ignoring this new trend. Visitors will not stay and generate traffic if your website does not look acceptable on their mobile devices. If your online store is gaining traction and succeeding, then you could even consider developing an app for your store.

Set Up Notifications for Return Visitors

Notifications reminding customers of products, deals, discounts, and more pop up on mobile and desktop devices. This will bring traffic up because it will put your online store at the top of their homepage. They can click on these notifications to come directly to your website. Push notifications are emerging as a popular way to get people to return to your online store.

Monitor What Your Competitors are Doing

This is a fine tactic and is perfectly legal. If a rival online store is getting a lot of traffic, then you should check it out and see what they are doing. Then, you could use their store as inspiration to attract customers to your place. You could find out what keywords they are optimizing, what deals they are providing, and how stylish their store layout is.

Create Social Media Pages

This is something all successful online store owners do. Social media sites, like Facebook and Instagram, reach a wide variety of people and are filled with traffic at all times of the day. Not only should you create social media accounts, but you should also stay active on them. Regularly post announcements about deals and products. Social media also gives online stores an advantage because it allows you to directly communicate with your customers. You can respond to comments, questions, and concerns, all on one page. You must have at least a Facebook page if you would like to generate traffic. On this page, you can list your web address, phone number, reviews, and other information that promotes your online store as a legit business.

Build an Email List

This is a simple marketing technique that gives technology users more opportunities to visit your store. Allow customers to put their email on an emailing list to stay in touch with your business. Email may seem like a thing of the past, but it is still effective at reaching all customers of any age. You can use tools to find out which customers are opening your emails and clicking the links. The emails you send out should contain information about upcoming deals and other promotions. Subject lines are a key factor in emails. They should bring attention to your store and make the customer want to open the email.

Establish a Referral System

Customer referrals are key to increasing traffic for your site. This is a relatively simple way to use your current customers to create traffic. You could also set up rewards for customers that get a certain amount of referrals. Incentivize referrals with deals or free products. Promote your referral program to make sure all customers are aware of it.

Make Important Decisions About Promotions and Your Brand Image

Think about the types of promotions you want to offer. Will your online store offer buy one get one free deals? During the holiday season, will there be special deals that align with the holiday? Which of your products will sell better in a specific season? Will your online store have a store mascot? These are important considerations for your online store. Customers will not visit an online store that has no deals and/or direction. You have to know what your store is before the customers do. Offer promotions and find a niche that allows you to experience tons of traffic and profit.

Know Your Target Market

Based on the product you’re selling, you should know which audience would be best to target. Once you have done this, consider what would be the best media channels to promote your online store. Use social media and contemplate hiring influencers if your target audience has a younger millennial audience. You can utilize more traditional marketing schemes if your target audience is middle-aged. You will generate little-to-no online traffic if you reach out to the wrong people.

Follow these steps for a surge in traffic for your online store. Selling products online is very doable once you know how to actually get people on your site.

 

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About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.

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