1. Offer Deals on a Regular Basis
Most online marketplaces will give you
the option to hold sales and/or use promo codes to help entice shoppers. Be sure
to do this on a regular basis. From taking advantage of holiday shopping (get 15% off for Father’s Day, 31% off
for Halloween, 50% off of select items on Black Friday, etc.) to simply
offering great deals for no reason at all, this will help ensure you have regular
web traffic.
When you have sales, be sure to
announce and promote them via email so customers can take advantage of your
exclusive pricing right away.
2. Email is an easy way to reach mobile customers.
One reason email marketing has value
for business owners is that it's an easy way to start reaching consumers on
mobile without investing a lot in new technology or software. According to an
April report from Pew Research Center, 52 percent of US cellphone
owners access their emails from their phones. Email marketing also works with
other mobile devices
3. Start
a Blog – Why
A blog is more than a great way to establish yourself as a leader in your industry, it’s also an
indirect way to help promote your online shop. Include one relevant link back
to your store in each blog post (either link the home page of your store or
link directly to a product) and make sure each blog is informative and helpful.
If the content isn’t strong, it’s not going to do you any good. Quality blogs
will help you grow your online business, however, so if you have the time, it’s a great project to invest in.
4. Contact Bloggers About Your Products
Do a search on Google Blogs for
whatever industry your products are in. (For example, if you create candles,
you might look for lifestyle bloggers and/or bloggers who write about homemade
goods) and then reach out to the ones with the largest following.
Be sure to look for how many comments they receive and how large their
following is on their social media accounts to gauge their popularity.
When you contact them, tell them why
you love their blog (be specific), then briefly explain why you feel your
product would be a good fit for a review on their blog. Provide a sample of
your product for free, and if you can afford it, offer to provide another
sample for a giveaway. You’ll get a review, a reader will get a free product,
and you’ll get priceless promotion direct to your target audience.
5. Start Guest
Blogging
Guest blogging can be a great way to
reach a larger audience you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. Research
who the top bloggers are in your industry. Read through their
posts to see what topics they normally write about, and then contact them about
guest blogging opportunities. Most bloggers will let you at least have a link
to your site in your bio, but you possibly may also be able to get one in your
content as well.
6. Offer Video Tutorials/Behind-the-Scenes Shots
People love a good video — they’re easy
to share and they can add depth and clarity to your products,
as well as help them gain popularity amongst your target market. For example,
if you sell headbands for babies, show parents the different ways their babies
can wear them. If there’s only one way, just show adorable babies wearing your
headbands in videos. If you sell dog treats, why not show a little
behind-the-scenes action of you baking them? If you make clothing, show model
fittings, fashion shows, you sewing, etc.
For promoting your hats look at this video YouTube
When you’re done, share these videos on YouTube (create your own account for your
business) and also share on all other social media sites you’re on.
7. Branch Out with Social Media
Social media is essential if you want
to promote your online shop effectively. But, as with anything, it
takes effort and time to build followers. Depending on what you
have time for (or if you can delegate tasks to anyone else to help you), you
will want to check out the following sites to help market your store: (And
continually try new sites to figure out what bests works for your b usiness.)
- Facebook
*****
- Twitter
- Instagram *****
- Pinterest *****
- YouTube *****
- Google+
- LinkedIn
- Amazon
Hats
- Open
an Amazon Store
- StumbleUpon
- We Heart It
- Flickr
- Foursquare
- Quora
- Polyvore
- Periscope
- Meerkat
8. Highlight Products on Social Media
For social media marketing to work, you
need to post
regularly. For most businesses, this will be at least once a day, if
not 2-3 times, depending on how many followers you have. Post enticing pictures
of the products you offer, along with any deals you have going on.Always include a direct link to the specific product for fast purchasing at your online
store.
Ask your followers to post pictures of
themselves wearing your products or using them in their home, depending on what
you sell, to encourage interaction and help further your online reach. Using a
scheduling tool, like Hootsuite,
can help make social media more manageable for you.
9. Hold
Contests on Social Media
Contests are a great way to spread
the word about what you have to offer, drive traffic to your
store, and increase your social media followers. Some sites have specific rules for holding contests, like
Facebook, so be sure you know what they are before beginning your contest.
Offer one of your products as a prize (or put a few together for a prize pack)
and then announce the contest on all of the social sites you use.
Post about the giveaway often to
encourage signups (use the email addresses you get to build your email
database) and then be sure to ask the winner to post a picture of themselves on
your page with their prize once you’ve shipped it. Say something like “More
great products just like this can be found at (insert URL)” to encourage those
who are viewing the post to check out what else you have to offer.
10. Try Paid Advertising on Social Media
Sites like Facebook and Twitter offer
the ability to use paid advertising to target the right consumers
for you. If you try this on Facebook, we suggest selecting a
metric such as ‘website clicks’ or ‘website conversions,’ because you want
people to click through to your online store’s URL, not your fan page.
On Twitter, you could try using
‘Promoted Tweets’ to market your store. Be sure to include concise, yet
enticing content along with the URL to help drive traffic. For example, if you
create clothing, your promoted tweet might look something like this, “What are
the hottest #fashion trends for summer? Find out here: (insert shortened URL).”
11. Include
Your Store’s URL in Your Email Signature
This is a fast and easy one. No matter
what email provider you use, you should have a custom email signature that includes the URL
to your store.
12. Optimize Your Product Names and Descriptions
Use keywords in your product names and
descriptions to help your
store get found in search engines. To research the best
keywords for each of your products, you can use the ‘keyword planner‘ available for free through
Adwords. Use these keywords in each of your product descriptions naturally,
though, or it’ll turn off potential customers. Only use one keyword per
description/product name.
13. Optimize Your Photos
Give your photos good names so search
engines can find you. (E.g., green-womens-shirt.jpg instead of 3929s.jpg) Doing
this can help you reach more consumers who are searching for products like
yours.
14. Add Your Products to Google Shopping
Google Shopping lets you add your product feed to
their site, making it easy for shoppers to discover your store online. Some
online marketplaces, like Scott’s Marketplace, already do this for you. You can
contact your marketplace directly or review the list of sellers’ benefits
listed on their website to find out if this service is included with your
virtual store.
15. Try
Pay-Per-Click Ads
Paid search campaigns (i.e.
pay-per-click ads) on search engines such as Google or Bing can be a great way
to drive traffic and conversions for your store, but warning, they eat up your
budget quite quickly. If you prefer not to have to do this task yourself, some
online marketplaces (including Scott’s Marketplace) do this for you, saving
you time and money.
16. Get Customers to Review You
Word of mouth is a very
powerful marketing tool. Review sites like Yelp, Google Local, and
Yahoo Local are very popular with consumers, and you should aim for your
business to have as many reviews on them as possible.
When a customer makes a purchase, send them a
follow-up email asking them to review their experience with you on ‘x’ review
site of your choosing. Don’t bribe them with free things for a positive review;
focus on outstanding customer service and fast shipping instead and let your
business’ great reputation build organically.
17. Start a Referral Program
What better way to boost your online
traffic than by offering current customers a discount or free item for referring
their friends? Whether it’s a $15 credit when their friend
makes their first purchase of $50 or more, or simply a free item under $10 when
their friend makes a $25 purchase, a referral program can do wonders for
getting new consumers to purchase from your site.
18. Comment in Forums/Groups
Do a search for forums related to what
you sell to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Choose forums that
allow you to either have a custom signature at the bottom with your URL and/or
a linkable username. Be sure to choose a username that makes you stand out.
For example, “ICreateBeautifulThings” or “SassyJewelryMaker” is better than
“Shannon543267.”
Answer questions in the forum without
blatantly promoting what you have to sell — people will naturally begin to
click through to your site over time. When you repeatedly add value to forums,
you become part of the community there, which makes the other users trust and
value what you have to say, and, most importantly, want to find out what you
sell. You can also do this by finding applicable groups on LinkedIn and
Google+.
19. Subscribe to Blogs
For a steady stream of ideas on how to
promote your online shop, subscribe to small business and marketing blogs just like this one! When tips get
delivered directly to your inbox every day, it makes it easy to learn fresh
ways to help get your business more exposure and profit.