What are the ways to increase traffic to the online store
Since the beginning of the pandemic, online shopping has become especially popular among users around the world. Today, an online store is not a luxury or a fad, but a necessity for representatives of the trade business. However, simply setting up and running an online store is not enough – it must be properly promoted. There are different tools and methods to increase traffic and attendance of a trading platform on the Internet.
But unfortunately, not all promotion tools guarantee a quick result. Some of them have a delayed effect. For example, SEO promotion. This method is considered one of the most effective, but at the same time, it is difficult and expensive. Proper SEO promotion will raise the site to the top of Google, which guarantees the flow of traffic.
A faster way to promote than SEO is contextual advertising. It elevates the site in the search results over the organic output, thus allowing you to be in the TOPs without SEO promotion. However, such ads are labeled as ads. At the same time, they will be hidden for users who use an ad blocker.
Targeted advertising in social networks is another option to quickly attract customers. However, for this type of advertising to work properly, you need to know your target audience well. Improperly configured targeting can attract untargeted traffic. In addition, targeting advertising, like contextual advertising, is blocked when ad blockers are used.
Google has a special service for advertising online stores – Google Shopping. It allows for the placement of more meaningful ads and the addition of photos. Thus Google Shopping can become a good alternative to conventional contextual advertising.
Such a classic method of advertising as email marketing is still effective. A comprehensive approach to this type of promotion will help to attract more customers and increase the traffic to the online store. Here it is important to take into account some nuances: prepare a chain of emails, compose the text, and format the message correctly. All this must be done so that the message attracts attention but does not irritate the potential client. Another important factor is not to overdo the number of letters. Otherwise, they will end up in your spam folder, and the user won’t even see them.
You can also try to send SMS messages. However, this method is used much less often now, compared to more modern methods. Another disadvantage is the need to have a customer base, just like email messages. However, it is extremely difficult and time-consuming to gather a suitable base.
Aggregators and marketplaces are excellent platforms for new online stores, helping to make themselves known, place their products, increase recognition – and thus obtain customers and sales. These sites are also suitable for small online stores.
A simpler counterpart to marketplaces is bulletin boards. This is an inexpensive and often effective way to draw attention to your store. However, such services generally do not require you to trade only on their site. Therefore, you can place a link to your site in the ad and attract more visitors.
There is another, popular promotion method nowadays – it is referral marketing. It works through the recommendations of existing customers. They recommend the online store in exchange for bonuses and discounts. This is an effective and inexpensive method, but it works for stores with a large customer base.
YouTube and Telegram are also among the modern methods of attracting an audience. Popular video hosting has many tools for advertising and a wide audience. You can also order advertising from bloggers, the main thing is to choose a blogger with a suitable target audience. Your own Telegram channel will allow you to attract an audience, get closer to potential customers, start a sales funnel, and set up a bot for the automation of processes.