Friday, April 15, 2011

Some more ways to increase traffic to your store

Getting the attention of potential buyers to your site is a huge challenge. Consider the following options if your not already doing them - they should be a regular part of your online store marketing strategy.

  1. Newsletters! Building and maintaining a quality subscriber base, then sending regular updates on specials and new products keeps potential buyers informed. It also helps customers remember your still there. Subscribers signed up because they want to hear from you - so make sure you keep them informed.
  2. Utilise social networking buttons - Tweet buttons and Facebook "like" buttons get your fans telling their friends without you needing to do any work.
  3. Continually revise and extend your product descriptions and website content. Google wants to list quality sites - not copies of other sites. Don't go copying and pasting manufacturer product descriptions - it's lazy and will lessen the rank of your site in search engines.
  4. Encourage interaction. Introduce reviews, and user interaction such as customer photos using your products. Write blog articles about your products and encourage user comments. It gives a reason for people to come back to the site, and is great for repeat purchasing.
  5. Identify high traffic forums within your store's niche - and participate as an expert. Put your link (if allowed) in your profile - and be careful not to spam users and get yourself blocked. Most of these forums have rules, give them a read over, then get to work. Your mere presence in these forums, being helpful to users will get attention and visitors paid back to your site.
  6. Similar to the forum idea - establish yourself as an authority on twitter. Create lists of like minded people, follow and engage. Don't be too mechanical, do it with humour, but present yourself as an expert. Link your website appropriately in your profile, but be careful not to spam. When you help people out asking the right questions on twitter, you see your traffic jump in correlation with your efforts.
  7. If you've got capacity in stock or service - every now and then consider a coupon site such as Groupon, Cudo or Stardeals. These high subscription sites will inject a spike of activity back to your site if you've got a compelling deal to offer.
Taking the time to engage with potential customers will see increases in traffic. It's always the first sale that is the hardest to get, and once you've got them there - the repeat business will pay dividends.
|