How to Increase Traffic to Your E-Commerce Site

Posted on November 21, 2019June 19, 2020 by Andy under Website Basics

E-commerce site owners like you have a competitive advantage for more than 50% of consumers nowadays prefer to buy goods and services online. However, with the oversaturation of online marketplaces, it can be challenging to set your e-commerce site apart from your competition and increase its traffic.

In fact, 63% of companies consider traffic and lead generation as the most challenging aspect of running an online marketing campaign. 40% said earning the ROI of their marketing activities is the second most challenging part, while 28% said securing an adequate budget is the third.

With that said, we have come up with this list of proven ways to increase traffic to your e-commerce site without breaking the bank. Follow these seven steps to take your business to the next level and increase your business’ competitiveness.

1. Start blogging.

Creating high-quality and relevant blog posts consistently drives traffic to online stores. While 92% of content marketers do believe that a blog site is a valuable digital asset to the success of their campaigns, only 50% of them have a well-thought-out content strategy for their respective websites.

Customers are looking for more than just a website to buy a great product or service from. They seek a genuine connection with your brand. They want accurate and helpful information. This makes blogging another effective way to engage your customers. Investing in content strategy and a well-designed blog site will give them a reason to visit your site over and over again.

Consider writing how-to guides and tutorials, product reviews, and industry-related news pieces among other informative and engaging forms of content that your target customers can relate to. People appreciate content that they can relate to, especially if it’s something related to their buying decisions. In fact, 84% of millennials revealed that user-generated content has some influence on what they buy in the end.

2. Invest in SEO.

If you are planning to add content marketing to your overall digital marketing plan to boost your traffic, you must know the important role Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) plays in helping you achieve that goal.

SEO is used by marketers to boost their websites’ online presence by ranking on top of search engine results. This increased visibility leads to greater chances of their websites being found by their target customers, likewise increasing their opportunity to drive traffic and convert visitors into customers.

Many things go into a successful SEO campaign, but even just getting the basics right will give you a great head start. From there, you can decide whether to hire the services of a professional or figure things out all on your own.

Here are some tips:

Search keywords that are relevant to your customers and business.
Incorporate those keywords into your blog posts.
Add external links pointing to the important figures in your industry.
Create a sitemap of your blog site and submit it to search engine sites like Google.
Make a web of internal links so that these search engine sites will index your entire website.
Add your keyword(s) in the image description tag of your product photos.
Write search engine-friendly meta descriptions.
Increase the loading page speed of your site.
Submit guest post articles to authority sites and add links that point back to your own website.

3. Advertise on Search Engine and Social Media Sites.

Another effective way to increase traffic to your e-Commerce site is through online advertising tactics, such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Marketing. Similar to SEO, PPC can help you reach potential customers looking for products or services that you offer through Google. However, ads will cost you some money, though it’s up to you how much budget you’re willing to set aside for it.

Here are some options:

Google Adwords + Pay-Per-Click Ads

Buying ads is one of the best tactics to attract potential customers to go to your e-Commerce site and drive conversions. However, PPC and Adwords services are a tough nut to crack. The bid price for these ads can be a bit too steep for smaller e-commerce owners and trying to compete with the big boys who have a bigger advertising budget can be difficult. But there are a few things you can do to level the playing field: improve your ads’ quality score, serve ads during your work hours so you can monitor them in real-time, use geo-targeting and utilise the exact phrase match type keywords.

Facebook Video Ads

Social media platforms are taking advantage of the rise in video consumption. For instance, Facebook has recently lifted the ban on pre-roll ads on videos published on the platform’s feeds. While this may frustrate some users, it can help retailers promote themselves better. Below are some of the reasons why you should consider video ads as a part of your online advertising strategy:

Online video ads are expected to make up 80% of internet traffic worldwide by 2020.
4x as many online consumers said that they would prefer to watch a video about a product or service than read about it.
Videos posted on Facebook feeds receive 135% more engagement than photos.
67% of internet marketers run video ad campaigns on Facebook.

Google Shopping

One of the newest ways to generate e-Commerce traffic, Google Shopping allows you to create rich product information for your ads, such as a photo of your product, price, and store name. You can also view the images of the products that your customers are searching for, compare prices between multiple retailers, filter the search results, and even set acceptable bids.

4. Create Buyable Pins on Pinterest.

If online ads are beyond your budget, Pinterest offers an affordable alternative. Its buyable pin feature allows users to search for products and purchase them straight from the platform.

The good news is that buyable pins are available for free to online retailers, and it offers promising results. 87% of users on Pinterest have bought products that sellers have pinned, and those who are active in “pinning” enjoy a 9% higher profit than inactive pinners.

5. Run Limited Time Offer Ads.

Customers want to get first dibs on new things. This is why the so-called “experience economy” is growing at a rapid pace. Sometime between 2014 and 2016, the personal spending on experiences like events grew four times more than the personal spending on products and services.

But even if your product falls under the “goods” category, you can still attract your experience-oriented customers by creating new and exciting shopping experiences for them.

Highlight all of your offers. Include them in your online ads, social media posts, or in the headline of your website.

Make your offers extra appealing with a copy that creates some sense of urgency on your customers:

Today Only
While Supply Lasts
Last Day
Ends Sunday at Midnight

These catchphrases are effective in getting both new and existing customers to purchase now.

Additionally, we recommend using a benefit-based call to action, such as:

Claim Your Freebies Now
Sign Up Today for a 10% Discount
Get 30% Off Site-Wide

When creating benefit-based CTAs, it’s best to focus on what your customers will get by accepting your offers (e.g., savings or discount), and then telling it to them clearly.

6. Build Your Email List.

One of the most common mistakes that online retailers make is they focus so much on reaching potential customers that they forget to make their existing customers happy.

A successful email marketing campaign will help you hit two birds with one stone. It allows you to target new customers and keep your existing customers engaged, including those who have abandoned their cart at some point during the checkout process.

Craft a compelling copy to encourage your site visitors to sign up for your newsletter, then use an email marketing tool to keep them informed of your on-going promotional campaigns. This tool is also useful in enticing your existing customers to return to your site and complete any pending transactions.

7. Use a Referral Program.

81% of online shoppers say that a recommendation from someone they know greatly influences their buying decisions. This is why online marketers use referral programs owing to their effectivity in attracting potential customers and engaging their existing ones.

Apparently, new customers gained through referral have a lifetime value that is 25% higher than other customers. Take Dropbox’s referral program as an example. From 100,000 users, they grew to more than 4 million users in just 15 months!

Most importantly, don’t forget to reward any customer and follower who referred your store to their contacts. You may give them discounts, freebies, some credit they can spend for their next purchase, or free shipping on future transactions.