Although transitioning to an e-commerce website business model is all the rage these days, it is not always an easy task and requires some useful insight and knowledge of the e-commerce world. Besides having a know how about the ins and outs of maintaining a successful e-commerce website, you should also be looking into new, unique and innovative techniques to drive up customer engagement and turning leads into sales.
The e-commerce website model has in recent years also gained traction because of the phenomenon of “influencers.” These social media stars have turned their online presence into successful e-commerce enterprises. Chiara Ferragni and Perez Hilton are some influential bloggers that have turned their websites into successful and profitable businesses. The e-commerce website model is very competitive in today’s digital marketing world and merely setting up a website is not enough. Once you are up and running, you need a kickass e-commerce marketing and running strategy to get across past the profit line. One particularly well thought out and success driven strategy is based on decisions, which are driven by data.
This strategy will include making decisions about the kind of data you will need to drive traffic on your website. You should be looking for a specific type of data and how you can use that data to your advantage by creating a successful e-commerce business. You need to ensure that the data you use is tailored to your particular brand and targeted towards achieving online growth. This helps in converting leads as well as keeping your existing customer base. To help you get started and on your way to becoming an e-commerce star, here are some useful data-driven tips for a successful e-commerce website:
#1 Use Search Engine Optimization Tools for generating more traffic to your e-commerce website
Search Engine Optimization also known as SEO is a key tool for e-commerce and marketer strategists. SEO tools are valuable because they factor in how potential customers are able to find your website through search on one of the search engines such as Google. SEO is a great way to ensure that your site is relevant and visible within a search and it also drives up and maintains a flow of traffic to your website. It helps in reaching and recruiting people who already have an established interest in the product, services or type of products and services you are selling or marketing (search engine journal).
As compared to social media, SEO is the primary tool for driving traffic to sites via content. The Perez Hilton site is driven by SEO optimized content. This gossip website is both candid and outlandish on its take on the Hollywood glitz and glamour. Optimizing your site requires implementing SEO driven strategies, here are three ways you can implement SEO:
- Keywords
Adding and strategic placement of keywords improves the visibility of your site in search engine results. Speaking from a content perspective, nowadays due to the improvement of algorithms, search engines favor only the well-curated sites. That is why keyword analysis and implementation is crucial. Develop a list of target specific keywords which are related to your potential customer market. Also, review and use keywords as done buy your competition. Additionally, using location-specific keywords is a good way of providing search engines about location and nature of your business thus making it easier for the relevant customers to find your site. Using long phrases and keyword in your content body and title is also a good way to improve visibility in a search (entrepreneur).
- Optimize your Content
Another way of applying SEO is to create meta tags. When creating page title using keywords and relevant research helps in clearly defining the direction and theme of your page when it comes to keywords. Further, the creation of Meta and description tags can promote click through to your site (entrepreneur).
#2 Come up with tailored content for your target audience
Content is a great way to generate traffic. Continuing with the idea of using SEO techniques for e-commerce success, another data-driven strategy is to come up with content that is targeting your potential customer base. First, determine the potential customers and the kind of content they expect to find on your website. For example, Perez Hilton is a celebrity gossip website, and its target audience is looking for the latest happenings in the lives of Hollywood stars and as such the site delivers. Its content is relevant, up to date and juicy enough to engage its audience. Similarly, you need to keep in mind the nature and orientation of your website. Once you have decided your site’s goal, then you can take the next step. If you are selling a certain kind of product or service, then consider adding relevant and helpful content (logic solutions).
Second, identify your potential customers and take stock of your site’s demographics. These are the people who can reach you through your site. A few key points to consider include determining whether your target audience uses the Internet or not, whether they are looking for information or are they more likely to purchase from your site. After determining these reasons, think about the keywords or phrases they are inclined to choose when looking for your product and insert that keyword into your content body. If they are likely to misspell a word, use it to your advantage.
Identify the topics and type of content your customers are interested in. Take stock of their feedback and the type of questions or queries they put forward to you and develop content accordingly. Also, when creating content, take stock of your competition. You already know them and in order to compete more effectively, take a look at their site and content and incorporate those elements within your site as well but in a different, bolder and better way (tangible words).
#3 Optimize for smartphones but keep a Desktop Presence as well
Everyone knows that smartphones are the way to go and more and more people are transitioning from desktops to actively using smartphones and mobiles for search queries. However, shoppers continue to also use desktop versions since they provide more detail and information. Therefore, you need to optimize your site for smartphones. If you are not doing so, then you are losing out on sales. If you are a small business, then you need to go the extra mile for maintaining and optimizing your website for mobile.
Mobile users want the easy and quick fix. They tend to spend more money and are impulse shoppers. Moreover, they multitask on the same device, and smartphones get significant traffic. Furthermore, your site will lose relevance and visibility in an engine search if it is not optimized for mobile. Customers are more satisfied if they have a pleasant experience on mobile. When you optimize for mobile, your site should be easier to navigate and load in a matter of seconds (Huffington post). First off, like with everything else identify your customers and tailor according to their needs. You can optimize your site in a number of ways:
- Make an effort on design and layout
Mobile optimized sites are all about appealing and attractive layout and design. You should opt for fluid layouts since they are more adaptive and always design for touch technology mobiles since they are the future. Designing for touch means that fingers of all shapes and sizes are able to easily navigate your site (blog.shopify).
- Make content readily available to all users
Again content layout is key for mobile optimization. Content should be easily available to everyone, should be structured and defined clearly and the layout should be easy and attractive. Creating sections within a content body is always a good idea. In a mobile interface, one shouldn’t have to excessively zoom in and out to read (tangiblewords).
- Aim for quick and easy access
Functionality is key for every site which is optimized for mobile. Mobile users are looking for a quick, get in and get out experience and if you can provide that, then you win at the end of the day. Functions that you should aim for and that will help meet your goals include having a built-in search tab as well as providing useful information such as customer reviews, feedback options and, contact number and address (hobo-web).
#4 Look into developing a pay per click campaign
The pay per click model of advertising is used to drive traffic to your e-commerce website. It can also be used for building links. You need to pay for the ads which are posted online based on the number of clicks it receives. Building links can turn into a successful relationship. Earning links to your site can give you a tremendous edge regarding relevance and visibility in a search engine result (bigcommerce). To keep your site as relevant and as visible as possible, you need to maximize and double down on your marketing plan with target specific and well positioned online advertisements.
If you want to attract more customers to your e-commerce website, then you need solid and well-placed ads. After some research, you can come up with relevant ads. Most people prefer mobile-friendly ads as opposed to standard ads. HTML ads are perfect for targeting your audience and getting your brand message across to the customers. As such, you should look into incorporating HTML ads into your pay per click as known as PPC campaign. This leads to better display of online ads (webpagefix).
A good PPC campaign will include unique keywords, good organization, and structure as well as constant upkeep and maintenance of your e-commerce website. A good PPC strategy is built on keywords research. How the keywords are organized is the hallmark of a good PPC campaign. Other successful ways you can structure your campaign includes elements such as landing pages and campaigns. Campaigns are at the top of the order in a search account which is paid. Every campaign has Ad Groups which are next in level of order. For better conversion rates, you should build attractive landing pages and then optimize them as well regularly. You should also run these ads on more than one search engine for better visibility. Finally, part from using good keywords, make sure that your ad is appealing and grabs attention (entrepreneur).
#5 Build a powerful online advertising strategy
Psychology plays a big role in the success of an e-commerce website, and it is not only your psychology. You should be focused on the psychology of your shopper as well as potential shoppers. As such consumer psychology should influence your online advertising strategy for better conversion rates. To appeal to your target audience, you need to play with their emotions (shopify). This includes choosing the right kind of phrases and slogans in your ads which will pull at their hearts and minds. Essentially, this means, employing the right kind of triggers in your online ads. This will also tie in with your PPC campaign. You can write a kickass and punchy ad in the following ways:
- Focus on customers’ problems
More often than not, your customers are looking for solutions to problems such as hair fall solutions. They are combing through search engines for these problems and their solutions. So, make sure that you are visible within these searches. You need to tell customers about your product and how it will solve their problems. You should focus on showcasing the value of your product by highlighting its benefits. This will eventually lead a potential customer to your e-commerce website (kissmetrics).
- Offer incentives
People love some sort of incentives. If it is highlighted in an ad, people are more likely to click through to your site. Incentives such as FREE Delivery and other value deals are a big hit with customers. Therefore, make sure that it is visible in your online ad (kissmetrics).
- Imply urgency and exclusivity
Implementing a call to action such as Limited Time Offer or Redeem Coupon Now signifies urgency which plays well with consumer psychology. If you do not include a call to action, you many witness a lower conversion rate. Compelling CTAs and real urgency is a good human motivator (kissmetrics).
To Sum Up
Whether you are a well-established player or anew entry, digital is the future. You need to build an online presence and strike while the iron is hot. With these helpful data-driven tips, you can count on your e-commerce website to thrive.
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