How to improve traffic to your online store

The difference between opening an online store and a brick-and-mortar store is that an online store usually opens with little fanfare. Brick-and-mortar stores can be opened inside shopping malls or on a busy city street, with balloons and flyers, and a greater chance of attracting foot traffic. When it comes to opening an online store, on the other hand, it's not just about developing and designing a fantastic store. Sure, you've chosen the right niche for your business, populated your store with profitable products, and equipped it with all the necessary web pages and product images, but chances are, no customers will come if you sit back and wait. What you need to do as an online store owner is get out there and be proactive in promoting your store and acquiring those customers. In this article, we've rounded up some of the most current and effective ways to market your store and get it known by your customers.

Marketing your business online

What comes to mind when you think of the word "marketing" associated with your online business? Some might imagine that promoting your business online is expensive and resource-intensive, and that the more people you want to reach, the more expensive it can be. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are many free and effective ways to market your online store, beyond the paid promotions you've probably heard of. The key to marketing your business online isn't a large ad budget, but consistency and providing quality content to your potential customers. Stick with it, even if your social media posts don't get many likes, or the first few months of your business aren't going great. The worst thing to do is give up. Stick to the growth path you've set for yourself and adjust your strategy when necessary. If you stay consistent, you'll eventually begin to reap the benefits of reaching a larger audience, increasing your followers, and driving more traffic to your online store. Here, we'll provide you with the best options and strategies to incorporate into your marketing plan. Without further ado, here are our top ways to promote your business online:

1) Get on social media

Having an online store isn't enough. If you want to get your brand in front of people and increase awareness of your business online without relying solely on SEO, then you need to start building your brand on social media. Think of social media as your way to reach your customers, rather than waiting for your target audience to find you on Google. Your target audience is most likely on social media: they share and discuss topics and content relevant to your online business. You can use your social media page to directly promote your business, products, and offers. You can also use your social media accounts to share relevant and interesting content, such as your latest blog posts, or to feature influencers who use your product. When used effectively, your social media pages will become a valuable resource for generating traffic and revenue for your online store. Here are the most popular social media platforms to market your business on:

• Facebook: Clearly the most popular social media platform out there, with 1.5 billion active daily users. Facebook offers the most diverse audience to appeal to in a wide variety of ways.

• Instagram: This popular social media platform has over 500 million daily active users. Instagram is a photo-sharing app, so it's a perfect place to share images and videos of your store and products.

• Twitter: This platform has over 800 million users. 81% of Twitter users have made a purchase decision based on products they've viewed on the app. Twitter is a great place to share information about sales, links, products, and events.

• Pinterest: It's a visual search engine and a great place to share your product images. Pinterest has over 200 million monthly users. 93% of Pinterest users use the app to follow creative ideas and plan their purchases.

It may not be possible for you to manage multiple social media accounts simultaneously in addition to running your online store, so try to choose at least two, based on platforms you know your target consumers actively use.

2) Start a blog

Want to promote your online store in a mostly free way that helps you generate more sales? Then start blogging. Your Shopify store comes with a built-in blogging engine that you can work with, regardless of the plan you choose. Starting a blog can be hard work, but it's the kind of work that can really pay off if done right. It's one of the ways your site gets the organic traffic that will help you grow your online store! Blogs typically have a more personal tone than other information-rich content on the internet and are intended to help you connect on a deeper level with your audience. Your blog also needs to be updated regularly and follow current trends if you want to truly see results. However, blogging for your e-commerce business shouldn't be limited to just a handful of content. The beauty of blogging is that it allows your brand to be creative and experiment with different types of content to best reach your audience. However, blogging can be quite a commitment, more than posting daily on your Instagram page. Whether you plan to post daily, weekly, or bimonthly, keep your content flowing consistently. Blogs also rarely benefit from this immediately, so take note and stay motivated, especially in the early days of your blog.

Here are some reasons why starting a blog can be a great way to promote your online store:

Starting a blog for your online store gives you a broader opportunity to connect with your customers in a way that your store alone might not be able to, meaning a blog helps you share more value and information with your consumers. Blogs are shareable: Blog posts are shareable on social media. Not only will starting a blog give you better material to share on your social media accounts, but you'll also increase the likelihood that others will share your content. Search Engine Optimization: Having a blog is great for SEO and can help you rank higher on search engine results pages. Blogs keep customers on your site longer: Someone who discovers your website through your blog has many more reasons to stay longer and read your article, especially if it contains information relevant to your target demographic. It helps you connect with your audience: Blogging gives you a voice to speak directly to your audience and share things that are of common interest to you and them. It establishes you as an authority: Creating a blog and posting regularly will not only help you appear up-to-date and informed, but it will help you build an industry authority that your customers are likely to recognize.

3) Influencer Marketing

Influencers are social media users who have established a loyal following. Many are considered lifestyle experts or gurus, and even celebrities in their field or niche, be it beauty, fitness, technology, and more. Influencers also have the power to extend their trustworthiness and credibility to the brands they endorse. 92% of people who tried influencer marketing on Instagram saw improvements in sales and customer engagement. More than any other advertising platform, Instagram influencers have the potential to have the most profound impact on your customers' purchasing habits. Influencer ads are actually ads people actually want to see. Unlike those annoying pop-ups, social media influencers are less intrusive and less intrusive forms of advertising. In fact, to many, they don't even seem like ads at all, even if they're promoting your products. This is because influencers know how to speak to and engage their audience in a very personal and meaningful way. A study on Instagram influencer marketing found that for every euro you spend on your influencer, you get €6.50 in return. If you feel that using an influencer is too expensive, you can always send free materials to social media influencers: everyone loves free stuff, including social media influencers. There are ways to engage social media influencers to promote your brand by offering them free samples of your products to promote. If you can't afford a famous influencer or a macro-influencer, then micro-influencers are your solution and may even endorse your products if you send them free samples.

4) Email marketing

Email marketing for your online store is a strategy you must implement if you want to increase sales. In fact, email is one of the most effective ways to engage your visitors and turn them into active customers. Your relationship with a customer doesn't end after a transaction is completed through your store, and email marketing is one of the best ways to stay in touch. Email marketing can help you promote your newsletter, blog, and special offers, and is a great way to retarget your customers and bring them back to your site time and time again. For those who are new to the concept of promoting your store via email, email marketing is the practice of sending marketing messages to your existing and potential customers. The goal is to foster loyalty and perhaps even trust by educating your customers, sending them updates on your latest offers, cart reminders, and perhaps even sending them discount coupons. All of this helps encourage customers to return to your site.

5) Native advertising

According to a 2013 study by Infolinks, 86% of internet users suffer from banner ad blindness, and that number has certainly increased since then. If you're someone who relies on online advertising to generate sales for your business, these aren't huge numbers. As marketers who rely on advertising to spread the word about products and services, we have to adapt to the numbers. More importantly, we need to adapt to the preferences of our target market to overcome banner ad blindness and find new ways to reconnect with our audience. One way many online business owners are achieving this is through native advertising . So, what is native advertising? Native advertising is paid advertising that doesn't look like an ad at all. Instead, it perfectly complements the content of the platform on which it appears. Native ads are unobtrusive and, because they match the platform's content, provide valuable information targeted to a specific demographic. You'll find native ads scattered throughout your social media feed, on news websites, and other digital media entertainment sites. These ads aren't placed along the side of the web page, but are front and center, right in the middle of your feed, like any other type of content you'd normally be interested in watching. There are 6 types of native ads most commonly implemented to achieve native goals:

• Power supply unit

You'll be familiar with this type of advertising from Facebook, Twitter, and many other platforms. These native ads are designed to seamlessly and unobtrusively fit within the content of a website or news feed.

• Paid Search Unit

This type of native ad is commonly seen at the top of the search engine results page, such as in Google search.

• Recommendation widget

You'll come across these types of ads when reading articles online. Recommendation widgets are found at the bottom of a page, where you'll find recommendations for articles from other websites.

• Promoted ads

This type of ad features products recommended by e-commerce stores, often with the sponsored tag. You'll see promoted shopping ads on places like Facebook, Etsy, and eBay.

• In-Ad

Native In-Ad ads are standard ads that appear outside of the main editorial section of your site or outside of the main feed. They look like typical web ads, except their content is aligned with the content of the page you're currently viewing.

• The IAB

Includes the custom ads category for ads that don't fit into the categories listed above. This category is for odd-end ads that don't conform to popular classifications. Compared to traditional forms of online advertising, native ads are showing far better results. With native ads, brands and advertisers are experiencing higher customer engagement rates. A recent Facebook report found that native advertising generated 20% to 60% higher consumer engagement than traditional banner ads. Native ads are far outperforming banner ads.

Conclusion

We've talked at length about some of the best ways to promote your online store and improve site traffic. To summarize, acquiring customers should be your top priority—you can even start marketing your store before launching to spread the word about your business. If you run an online store, you need to be where your customers are and take an active role in connecting with them. So join social media, start a blog, and start drafting your email campaign! Don't just build your store; discover new ways to reach your audience and adapt to what you know works best with your target demographic. ‍

Contact us

What's your opinion on the importance of promoting your business online? Are you also working on the best ways to market your store? If so, and you have any questions or concerns, feel free to start a conversation with Yastime! We love discussing future plans for online business ventures and sharing practical solutions to help you achieve your e-commerce and dropshipping goals.