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How do I get more traffic to my webshop? is a question many entrepreneurs ask. Not only if you just started with an online store, but also the more experienced online entrepreneurs may get some inspiration from our 9 tips. Read how you can get more traffic to your ecommerce store.
Get More Traffic to Your Ecommerce Store
9 Tips to get more sales online
A web shop does not become a successful one on its own. Unless you sell a product that the whole world is eagerly waiting for, you have to work hard to attract visitors to your online store. In this article we will discuss 9 tactics to get more traffic to your ecommerce store.
1. Use Google My Business effectively
Not only for stores that have a physical storefront is Google My Business (GMB) a must, but also for online shops. Make sure you fill out your Google My Business Listing completely, so you can attract potential customers in the vicinity to your business. Incorporate keywords into your texts helps improve the searchability of your business.
Example: If you have an online shop for audio cables, try to think of what people are looking for. They might use Google to locate an audio cable shop nearby their home location (for example Amsterdam). Then you can capitalize on these searches by inserting texts like “Audio Cables of the Best Quality in Amsterdam”. In GMB, your online shop will then be displayed (along with a number of other similar shops in Amsterdam). The people seeing these results can then choose where to buy their audio cables.
Many people then go to see the product in a physical store, and then order it online at a store where they offer the same product for a lower price. (Not great for the physical store owners, but it happens a lot).
If you have a physical store as well as an online shop, then you have the ideal combination, because you can sell directly to the customers who have been searching Google for your product and to find your physical store.
If you do not have a webshop in addition to your physical store, you can significantly increase your sales with little investment.
2. Run a sales campaign to get new customers
Discounts are not a long-term strategy, but they can be very effective in bringing new customers to your online shop. Calculate the cost of your customer acquisition and figure out how much discount you can afford to get new customers. Then announce this sale promotion on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Also write a blog about it and publish it on your ecommerce website.
Be careful about attracting bargain hunters, though, because many of these customers may not have long-term value for your business.
A contest can be a great way to promote your online store and more traffic. Your shop gets maximum visibility through competitions where participants get votes from their friends to win something. Of course you use the social media platforms for this purpose. You can announce the winners in your web shop, which will lead to more online traffic and perhaps even a number of customers.
Remember that the contest must be related to your shop and the products you sell. Having people send in pictures of the most adorable pet doesn’t have much marketing value if you sell camping gear. Remember that social media is not only there to drive people to your online shop, but also to help you create experiences with your business that people can share with friends and family.
4. Give away free samples
Many people are hesitant to order something from an online store if there are no reviews posted yet. They question whether if the shop is reliable or whether the product will meet their needs. To lower this concern, you can give away free samples so people can check it out. This depends on your product and whether the cost of offering a free sample is low. A well-known example of free samples are perfumes and eau-de-toilettes.
If the products you sell are expensive, you might want to put together a small gift that is related to the product’s feature. You can then post a message on social media that this package is available in your online shop for a certain time (or as long as the stock lasts). You can also ask people to share this message, which will give your store more exposure. Tip: make sure that this package can go through the mailbox because of the postage costs.
5. Collaborate with a befriended competitor
Collaborating with a non-competitive but target group-complementary partner can be a very effective way to get more traffic and new customers.
If you sell flashlights in your webshop but not batteries or USB cables, you can collaborate with an online retailer who does sell these items. This seller will partly have the same target group as you. If this shop has been around for a while and attracts a lot of customers, you can take advantage of this by putting a banner on his site for example. In this way, visitors of his shop will be led to yours.
Possibly you can make agreements with this seller about a percentage of the income or a fixed fee for each customer that this banner generates.
6. Write SEO-proof blogs
It’s not a quick fix, but writing interesting content about your shop and your articles will yield huge benefits in the long run. You help improve your SEO score in the Google rankings by highlighting a product in each blog. Your current customers who are very satisfied with your shop and your products might share your blogs on social media.
It will cost some time or money if you hire an SEO agency for conducting keyword research and copywriting, but you will get organic traffic and that will save you a lot in advertising costs. Every online store should have a blog as part of its marketing strategy !
7. Start advertising online
Of course you can also spend part of your marketing budget on advertising for your ecommerce store. Online advertising is one of the most fundamental ways to lead people to a product or service. Experiment with Google Ads and/or Facebook advertising. You can decide what your target audience is and how much money you want to spend on ads.
8. Encourage the first purchase
To turn a visitor to your site into a customer, you can offer a small discount for the first purchase. In this way you make a positive first impression to the user and you might even win over a returning customer. High customer satisfaction can also lead to good word-of-mouth advertising – and increased organic traffic to your web shop!
9. Get word-of-mouth advertising
The best and perhaps most valuable method of gaining customers is when existing customers refer a friend. In this way, your existing customers allow you to pass on some of your marketing activities to them, allowing you spend your time to focus on managing your online store. In addition to word-of-mouth advertising, you can also pay people to refer to your online store. They can write blogs about your items, publish them on their own website or on a social media platform and refer to your shop.
Attract your customers with an SEO-proof ecommerce store
Get more traffic for your online store and a better competitive position on the Internet. With a good ecommerce store and SEO specifically focused on your offerings, we can make this happen.