Driving traffic to your online store is a key factor in its success - having a beautiful website won’t matter if potential customers can’t find it in the first place!
In this blog, we will dive into 5 methods you can use to increase traffic to your website/online store.
It's commonsense that an owner of a physical retail store relies on the foot traffic and amount of potential customers that walk into their store to browse their products.
The same applies to e-commerce store owners, except it's the number of potential customers that view your products online.
Before we get started, let’s get familiar with the different types of traffic - we can divide them into:
Organic (search) traffic - when a site pops up in a search engine search results such as on Google or Bing.
Paid traffic - when traffic is generated from paid digital ads, for example Facebook, Instagram, or Google ads.
Direct traffic - when a website url name is entered directly into the address bar.
Referral traffic - when traffic comes from a 3rd party website, such as from a blog or online directory that references/features your website.
Social traffic - traffic directed from organic social media such as a Facebook post, Instagram, Pinterest etc.
While there are many effective ways to generate traffic to your ecommerce store, here are some of our recommendations, tried and tested:
1. Keyword research
Start by making sure the keywords for your products are used in your website content. That your website content is understandable and easily accessible. Include in-depth, product descriptions that relate to your audience/customer and include keywords relevant to your industry to improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This includes how you name the images featured on your site! Without text, Google has no way to find you and drive organic search traffic.
In Google Analytics you’re able to view what terms website visitors have used to find your site in the past, so you can utilize those keywords to help you optimize your content. It can also be instructive to take a look at the terms your competition uses on their websites, in social media, or in emails. My main tip - keep it real! Be sure that your language feels natural when you incorporate keywords. Think about the keywords and search phrases your customer would use to find your products and business.
2. Cross-selling on marketplaces like Etsy
Etsy is an online marketplace for online sellers, where individuals buy and sell unique items. As a marketplace, Etsy generates its own traffic - because of this, many ecommerce stores sell on Etsy in addition to Shopify or other storefronts. Listing products on Etsy is a great way to increase your exposure to potential buyers looking for products within your niche, as they will be able to browse using key search words. Once they are familiar with your brand, potential customers will be more likely to visit your ecommerce store directly.
If Etsy is not a marketplace for you, explore other marketplaces where you think your ideal customer would hangout.
3. Organic social media
Social media is a huge driver of website traffic today and is a free way to easily connect with current and future customers. Typical accounts for new businesses include Facebook and Instagram, but do some research to find where your customers hangout. It's easy to get caught up on social media and try to be everywhere. Remember social media is a tool that can help build awareness and increase traffic to your website. Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube are all great tools to spread the word about your business and generate awareness. To start with find two social media platforms where you think your ideal customer will hang out and build your following, engage and drive traffic to your store in a way that is authentic.
4. Newsletters/Email Marketing
It’s easier to sell to your existing customers than new ones. Remember to send newsletters or promotional content to remind customers that you provide beautiful products/services at key times of the year such as Christmas and Mother’s Day. Also, consider how your product connects to their lives. For example, if you sell products typically sold for a wedding, think about what happens on and after the wedding - you may want to cross-sell photo books with their wedding images, or to follow up a year later with an idea for an anniversary gift. For gifts associated with babies, such as birth posters, think about cross-selling mugs (for tired new parents), baby clothes, first birthday memories, and more. It’s all about how your brand can help your customer in as many moments of their life as possible. For your customer, finding a brand they love that can provide more thanone buying opportunity helps save them time and gives a trusted experience.
5. Digital marketing (paid)
Digital ads are an effective way to market your brand to a specific audience, and a great way to drive traffic to your website, whether it is to a specific product or a landing page optimized for the ad content. The great thing about running ads on sites such as Facebook and Instagram is that you can target specific audiences based on demographics or interests, which can help connect your product with someone who is looking for it.
Driving traffic to your store is key in driving your business's growth and success - I hope you can utilize these tips to help improve traffic.
Let us know if you have any success with these tips in the comments below or if there is something new you learnt that you will implement in your online creative business.