In today’s modern, busy world, when we’re always running out of time to do everything we planned for that day – every minute means a lot. It is increasingly important to us that if we need a particular product, we can buy it without physically going to any of the stores that offer it. It is important for us to be able to buy it online, as quickly as possible, from wherever we are at that moment.
So, online shopping, especially with the COVID19 pandemic, has become very important and many have decided to take advantage of it. But in a sea of web shops selling the same products as you, it is not easy to stand out from the strong competition and attract customers to choose you. There are many ways to attract customers to your web shop, and we will present some of them below.
If you want to attract customers, but also encourage them to come back to your site and buy your products or services over and over again, it is extremely important to offer them good content. Decide who your target customers are and tailor your content to them. Make it informative, useful, interesting, and appealing. Start a blog and impose yourself as an expert in your field by presenting relevant information. Or hire a third-party blogger with a reputation and an already widespread loyal audience, who could be your potential buyers.
Carefully choose the words that will most effectively present the product you offer and its advantages. Accompany them with quality photo and video material that will intrigue the customer to search your web shop, find and buy the product they need. Encourage customers to get involved in content creation and send you photos and short videos that show how and where they use products purchased from you.
Invite customers satisfied with their purchase through your online store to write a review and encourage others to visit your web shop and buy something from you. Online shopping still raises some doubts and caution in some, a caution which will be repelled by the knowledge that other customers have had a positive experience and are satisfied with the purchased products.
When creating content, be sure to pay attention to SEO. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aims to increase the number of visitors to a page through better positioning of that page on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others.
There are a number of tweaks and adaptation options on the site that can help you achieve a higher ranking on search engines, and thus be the most visited. One of them is the use of keywords that when entered into search engines can help customers easily find the products that they are looking for, which you have in stock. In addition, it is also important to use the meta tag as a summary of website content, visible when displaying search engine results.
We all google every day and, let’s be honest, we mostly open links on the first page that the search engine shows us. And that’s why it’s so important to be on the first page.
In addition to on-site SEO, which represents a longer-lasting and more difficult path to a higher ranking in search engine results, you can also, much faster and easier, achieve the same with paid advertising. If you have a budget for this, you can bid on keywords to ensure the first place among search engine results and thus greater reach.
Facebook advertising can also be very effective. You can determine who exactly will receive the content you advertise, i.e. by gender, age, location (…) and determine that your product is shown precisely to those who have shown interest in products such as yours and who might find them most interesting and actually require them.
In a time when we are all in some way networked with the rest of the world, social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and others are a cheap, while also, very effective mediums for promoting your products. It is always good to have a virtual catalog on a Facebook page, because that way visitors can see everything you offer and easily reach your web shop.
Invite your followers to invite their friends to follow you, expanding your reach. Once you’ve expanded your circle of followers, don’t falter with the posts. Because if you’re not there all the time, their numbers will start to drop. Set an optimal publishing schedule and maintain continuity, making sure the content you market is of quality and interest.
Additionally, consider using influencer marketing, that is, cooperating with influencers. These are people who have a large online audience and influence on the shopping choices of their followers. By reviewing or demonstrating the use of your product, they can present it to a huge number of their followers and encourage them to buy it themselves.
Why not form a partnership that will enable you to reach as many potential customers as possible through others? Connect with one of the stores that have a similar target audience, i.e. customers, but are not a direct competitor to you. This way, you increase each other’s chances of success in a ruthless online marketplace.
For example, if you sell recreational equipment for outdoor activities, a good partnership would be with a web shop that sells sportswear and footwear. Because, someone planning a hiking tour is going to need clothes and equipment for that venture. They will look for an adequate jacket on your partner’s web shop, and use it to get to yours and buy, for example, a sleeping bag. Or they will look for a parasol for hot summer days on yours, and will look for swimwear on your partner’s web shop. The classic win-win situation where both sides win.
We all like to win something, get it free or at a lower price. Take advantage of this and organize occasional awards, discounts or sales on the web shop and thus encourage customers to buy. Offer potential buyers a certain discount for their first purchase, or offer existing buyers certain benefits on their next purchase.
Organize a social media contest and invite followers to join. Such posts are great for sharing on social media and are always a good way to promote your business for free. Keep in mind that it has been proven many times that it is better to offer multiple smaller prizes than one bigger prize because participants get the impression that their chances of winning the prize are higher.
Let at least part of the prizes consist of your promotional materials (t-shirts, caps, ballpoint pens, key chains), some practical and long-lasting items where you can highlight your web shop’s link and turn them into a mobile advertisement.
Although you may do business, or trade only online, do not ignore the good old ways of offline promotion and advertising. People still watch a lot of television and listen to the radio, and an interesting and creative advertisement about your online store on any of these media – will not go unnoticed. As well as an innovative advertisement on the advertising board at a busy place where a large number of cars, cyclists, pedestrians pass by every day…
In addition to the aforementioned promotional materials, create and distribute leaflets, brochures and business cards where you will highlight information about your web shop and what it offers. Print them on your packages, bags, boxes, car… Doing so, wherever possible, print a QR code that will allow customers to easily get to what you are offering by scanning it. They will certainly appreciate saving their valuable time needed to reach your web shop and buy what they are looking for.
Are you ready for the next level of business? Contact us and let’s take a step into the digital future together!
