That’s it, you have designed a beautiful e-commerce site to sell your great products. Phew! You think that the hard part is done, that you just have to sit comfortably in your chair and watch the sales be done alone. But nobody visits your site. And when that happens, nobody buys …
You still have a lot of work to do before you succeed. Building your e-commerce site is just the first step in a long list. At GetApp, we’ve identified 10 of them to help you promote your site and bring those long-awaited visitors to your virtual store.
FOCUS ON SITE DESIGN
There is no point in deploying a strategy to attract visitors if the site is not able to hold their attention when they arrive on it. Your e-commerce site needs to be fast, attractive, easy to use, while clearly showing where and how to make a purchase.
“The first step is to make the purchase as simple as possible for the customer. Make simple, clear descriptions of your products, and make sure the pages load quickly, “says Matt Behnke, founder and CEO of Orthotic Shop, an e-commerce site that specializes in comfortable shoes and accessories. “All advertising in the world will not change anything if your site is awful.”
According to zdnet, sales of e-commerce sites on mobile progress significantly (+ 39% in 2015), so it is vital that your site is optimized for mobile use – we speak of responsive web design in English.
“This type of design ensures the ease of use of your website from almost any conceivable platform”
says Austin Paley, director of Corporate Marketing at the digital marketing agency Blue Fountain Media.
“In the case that the ideal buyer makes an immediate purchase, if your site is difficult to use on a mobile, there is a good chance that the user is quickly frustrated and does not complete the purchase process. ”
DEVELOPING INCREDIBLE CONTENT FOR SEO
Many people think of SEO as a kind of manipulation that will bring people to your site like magic. Far from there. According to Garrett Perks, Founder and Creative Director of the EvenVision digital marketing company, the days when we paid SEO experts to ensure the success of an e-commerce site are behind us. Boosting your traffic and sales now requires compelling content.
“Salespeople should think about their unique history and expertise, and develop informative, useful and relevant content for the industry,” says Perks. “Answer questions that users ask in their search bar. If what you put in your site is good, Google will do the rest – by connecting users to search for informative and useful content that answers their questions. Addressing SEO in this way, with impactful marketing content, will yield more results on Google than trying to deceive it. ”
According to David Wright (president and chief marketing officer of the online Shopping in Pakistan marketing company W3 Group Marketing), the rules of the game of SEO are constantly changing, which is why deliver unique and interesting content that is liked, put in favorites, tweeted, shared, etc. remains essential.
“Google and other search engines are increasingly focusing on rich, shared content on social networks,” says David Wright. “Strive to write 1500 words or more, with images, videos, and relevant text to get the most out of your posts.”
THINK LONG TRAIN FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS
Using long tail keywords is a useful way to increase your traffic. “Instead of just creating link for generic key phrases (such as” gourmet coffee “) that involves a large volume of research, companies should focus primarily on specific brands and objects,” says Jonathan Bentz , marketing manager at Netrepid, a cloud infrastructure hosting company.
“While there may be a lower volume of research for a specific product (” Colombian Decaffeinated Black Coffee “), the likelihood of a user browsing for the purpose of buying is significantly higher for a long trolling search. Applications like Woorank are effective tools to help sellers get accurate keywords, cost-per-click rates, and to determine how difficult it is to rank organic results. ”
THE PUB CAN REPORT
Shareable and shareable content will help you climb Google’s rankings, but it will take a lot of time. So you’ll need to focus on increasing your direct traffic through well-placed ads.
“Suppose your site is brand new and does not run on organic Google traffic, the best thing you can do is place paid advertising either on search engines or forums like Reddit,” says Quincy Smith, Marketing Director at Uplift ROI, a company specializing in conversion rate optimization through crowdsourcing. “Give a discount in the ad, measure the results and adjust as needed based on the traffic you receive.”
“The organic and the social are both very important and you can not afford to ignore them in the long run, but if you’ve just started and need that little initial boost for your traffic do not hesitate to use some advertising. After that, build the rest over time, “adds Behnke.
BE SOCIAL
Once these efforts have paid off and you have visitors (both organic and direct), the key is to make sure they buy something by making them want to love you or follow you on social networks. “Post a popup with an additional promo or contest for a like or a share and they will then be exposed to your advertising forever,” says Smith. “You will also realize that many will share your contest or promo with their friends.”
“Look at the profiles on social networks: are they complete? What kind of audience do they have? And how can this be used with special offers and content to attract users of these networks to your site? “Adds Tyler Blackwell, inbound marketing strategy expert at Iterate Marketing.
DO NOT NEGLECT PINTEREST AND INSTAGRAM
Social networks are often summarized on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. But do not forget the visual power of Pinterest, Instagram and even Slideshare. “Pinterest is a powerful tool for promoting your e-commerce site. Build your followers community and your influence by delivering quality content and engaging users, “said Leeyen Rogers, VP Marketing at JotForm, a company that creates forms online. “Do not only share your products and offers but also those of others because you want to gain trust as an interesting content resource. Blatant self-promotion does not make good on social networks. ”
LIV Swiss Watches, a small, independent, smart brand, used Instagram to attract customers to its e-commerce site during its Kickstarter launch in late 2014. “We’ve been contacted by some of the most influential watch and fashion influencers. who follow what is happening on Kickstarter and who have promoted our campaign on their Instagram accounts, “reports Esti Chazanow, confusing and brand manager in the company. “We immediately noticed a spike in our Kickstarter campaign, resulting from their promotions. Our campaign was fully funded in the first 11 hours and we received nearly $ 200,000. At the end of it, we had 500 pre-orders for watches. ”
KEEP INFLUENCING RANGE
Maybe your own social media usage and your followers do not generate enough traffic or the brand awareness you need. This is the moment when you have to call the experts – influencers who have a loyal fan base can give you a hand. “Get in touch with influencers who have the kind of audience you are trying to reach,” says Rogers. “Give them samples of your products and exclusive access to offers and events so they can explore your business and spread the word on their blogs, video channels or social media profiles.”
ADOPT THE EMAILING
While social networks are an incredibly useful tool for promoting your e-commerce site, do not forget the power of a targeted and relevant email newsletter or campaign. “It’s incredibly important to set up a number of email campaigns to build trust and interact with potential customers during all stages of the buying process,” says Liz Froment, Project Manager at TheMcMethod.com, who promotes e-commerce sites via email marketing. “This includes setting up” basket abandonment “,” vacation planning “,” re-engagement “and” balance forecast “campaigns.
DO ANALYZES
Once you have ticked all the boxes above, you should have enough incoming traffic to do some analysis. “Google Analytics is great for e-commerce, you can analyze page-by-page performance and identify products that work badly,” says Blackwell. “If you’re having trouble converting your users into buyers, there are many tools: you can get started on Unbounce to create a highly targeted landing page, or maybe you can use Google Adwords remarketing campaigns to target , view and search for ads only for customers who have abandoned their cart. ”
RECTIFY YOUR USERS
In the old days, unless you capture the email address of visitors when they were on your site, once they were gone, it was over, probably forever. Due to advances in online advertising, this is no longer the case. “Now you no longer have to look at customers as losses when they leave your site because remarketing can get them back to your site and give them a new opportunity to buy,” says Wright.
“You can be sure that people who visit your site are starting to see your ads in other places – this reinforces their awareness and familiarity with your brand, increasing the likelihood that they will know you, love you. and you trust enough to do business with you – if it’s done right. Some companies are abusing it, so you have to find a balance. ”
Now that you have read these 10 tips, which seems most important for you to increase your e-commerce traffic?
Finally, to help you in the development of your business, you can also use an e-commerce application.
So you now have all the keys to improve your e-commerce traffic and therefore increase your number of customers. Feel free to tell us what you think about these tips but also to share your own tips and tricks for us.