Having an online store is something a lot of people are interested in, whether it’s a full-time business or a side hustle they work on at the weekends.
There are lots of tips online about how to start such a store and even what to sell, but that’s not where your planning ends. You also have to have a strategy to get people to your store in the first place.
Remember that thousands of new e-commerce sites are being published every day, and not all of them can be successful; some will not be noticed at all because there is so much competition. In order to get ahead and to ensure you get as many customers as you need to make a profit and stay in business, here are some of the things you’ll need to do.
Have An Attractive Site
Your online store itself is crucial to the success of your business. It won’t matter if you sell the most amazing and unique items if your site is a mess and no one wants to stay on it for very long. You must ensure that it is easy to navigate, that it contains all the right information, and that it looks good.
Although you can do a lot of this work yourself, it’s usually best to hire a web design agency to do it for you. This will save you time, but it will also give you a professional website that your customers will enjoy using. If you don’t have the know-how to do web design yourself, you’ll probably end up with a website that just isn’t functional or looks out of date, and that even causes people to wonder if you are a legitimate business.
Promote The Site
Perhaps you feel shy about promoting your ecommerce store because you don’t really know what to do or you’re not confident in your products or service. This is something you’ll need to get past very quickly because you’ll have to promote your site in every way you can, and you’ll need to show that you believe in what you’re saying and doing.
Use your social media account and ask people to share; join online groups and talk about your products and services; place ads online in strategic places (this will depend on the kind of store you have and who you’re selling to); use digital marketing; network where you can and let people have all the information they need to understand why they should buy from you.
Get Your SEO Right
SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, is a vital element in attracting customers to your online store. When you use this tactic properly, your site will be found higher up in the search engine results pages – depending on what someone searches for, of course – meaning that they are more likely to click through to your site.
The ideal place to be is on the first page, close to (or, even better, at) the top. To do this, you need to implement a good SEO strategy that includes content, keywords and phrases, inbound and outbound links, images with ALT text, and more. You also need to update your site’s content regularly – at least two or three times a week is best. If you can do this right, your site will be easier to find, and people will be happier to buy from you.