Drastically increase your e-commerce sales

By Richard
4th March 2014 at 07:22

Online shops have been around for a long time. The problem is that not everybody knows what you should be doing to make sales. There are two sides to it: The shop itself and secondly exposure around the web. We are going to tell you some great ideas and tips for both.

Let's start out with getting visits to your site.

Search Engine Optimisation

There are two ways people will find your online store. This can either be searching for your product type using general phrases or by searching the exact products themselves. The later and how you work it does depend on your industry so we will discuss that later. Meanwhile, let's talk about the site itself.

Now if you're an online store selling watches you're going to have to do a lot of work to become placed highly. You need lots of exposure out there. That's why having a more niche product base is much easier. Unfortunately we can't always have a niche.

For more generalised terms it's best to think about advertising elsewhere or establishing your brand through a marketing strategy. This in the long run will aid your general optimisation.

Give away freebies to get reviews

Reviews are extremely powerful. Any editorial coverage you can attract is going to help massively. Freebies to customers or even other websites that have a presence is paramount. This needs to be in Your budget. Do be mindful though and choose wisely.

Social Media

If you've not heard of businesses gaining exposure from social media then you seriously need to get on the bandwagon and quickly.

Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus Pinterest and linked in are the main contenders. There are others but you shouldn't need to look further. Do check though there's not one that is suited to your industry as they do exist for some.

Pay per click (PPC)

This can mean anything from advertising on Google Adwords to Facebook and everything in between. It's powerful and while not as effective as general Search engine placements, they can really help you drive sales and quickly.

Google Shopping Feed

Probably our favourite when it comes to bringing through sales. We have seen strong evidence that this works wonders for a wide variety if customers. Google shopping now tied directly into Adwords so you do have to pay per click but it works.

You've got the visitor, now what should you do?

Unique Content is key

When creating your product pages ensure your content has been written for your site exclusively. We mentioned earlier in this article that Search Engine Optimisation on the products themselves is important. If you've got products that other websites sell too then you're going to do a lot better in the rankings than your competitors if you just ensure your content is key.

Be informative, offer specification sheets to view or anything else that applies to your product. Not only will it impact SEO, it will help the customer. If the customer has to go to another site to find the information they need, that's a potential lost as sale. Now that's something you don't want to do.

If you've got social share buttons on your page (and if you haven't then you must), people will be more likely to share useful pages and the cycle starts.

Images

Do not overlook the importance of high quality images in any e-commerce website. Ensure you market the product as best as you can. Like unique information mentioned above, images work in the same way.

Videos

Videos are an outstanding way to getting across your product. Some e-commerce sites sell products that are difficult to explain, so a video could really save you here. You'll start to notice a pattern of all the things we are mentioning here. The key is make your product pages good and you'll reap the benefits.

Usability of your buying process

Ensure your customers can easily buy with minimal fuss. Unfortunately we see a lot of sites that don't. If your product has various options ensure they can easily select them. Moving onto the checkout process, limit the number of stages as much as you can. If they are returning customers, ensure the login or signup process is easy and informative

Upsell other products

Your customer may have found you by searching for a range of products or for looking the product directly. Either way, never miss the opportunity to upsell out her products. This can be at the product view level or even at the checkout stage.

There are many methods of doing this including related products, people who bought x also bought, or by offering multi buy discounts of other products.

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