Having an online site is an extension of your physical store. Even if you don’t have a physical store and you’re purely an online business, there’s a lot of work to put in to break away from all the online clutter and make sure that your target audience sees you, reads about you, and buys from you. Here are eight effective methods to get noticed.
01. Invest in automated apps and software.
Many of the aspects of online retail are automated, which frees up your time to focus solely on branding and marketing your products, as well as optimizing your site. Investing money in the right apps and software can be an immense help to a budding entrepreneur and saves costs in hiring actual people to do the work. Learn to master the use of accounting software, web programs, and even inventory management such as https://lilypadforfishbowl.com/ to optimize the way you run your store, speed up shipping, and make production smoother.
02. Focus your time on marketing.
When you invest in apps and automated software to help you manage your business both physically and digitally, it frees up your time to focus solely on branding and marketing your products and optimizing your site. Marketing your store is extremely important, especially if you’re a newcomer. From the logo, website look and feel, to the tone of voice, you want all these things to sync in well on your branding, content, social media channels, and store, so that you can convert your traffic to sales. Learn to master the use of ads, and optimize your website with specific keywords. These elements drive more traffic to your store and convert at least 2% of customers daily.
Your objective is to get more traffic to your site to generate a good percentage of sales. SEO can help drive long-term sales simply by having you rank high on search engine results. You can do this by:
- Creating blog content
- Optimizing your product pages
- Updating your pages and keeping it fresh
- Using social media to optimize being found online
03. Create fantastic offers.
One of the best ways to get the word out fast is by offering promos, discount codes, and deals. Everyone loves a good deal, and if this is a new product release or if you’re a new store, giving away promo or discount codes will help customers get acquainted with your brand, products, and services. You want to create motivation to purchase your products, and giving away samples, offering money-back guarantees, and even free shipping are just some of the ways to increase visibility and, most importantly, trust.
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04. Don’t overprice or underprice.
The costs of a product in online retail is usually close to the wholesale price. This allows retailers to sell products at market value and reap a substantial profit. For instance, if your product costs you $10, ideally, you should be selling it at a 30% markup, which is $30. This price increase isn’t only to cover the cost of manufacturing the product, but all the other elements that go into it, such as shipping, packaging, raw materials, and human resources. The idea here is to keep your prices fair and within market value. This way, you’d be able to gain a good profit from the orders you make on your physical and digital store.
05. Choose ePacket.
ePacket shipping is currently the fastest and most affordable online retail method. It ensures quick delivery without high costs. An ePacket shipping on average would cost you under $5 for most products, so this will allow you to make a profit when you sell your product at market value. ePacket deliveries reach customers within 7 to 10 days from the date of purchase, and are, by far, one of the best delivery methods for online retailers.
06. Go the extra mile with customer service.
As anyone going to a restaurant, if they would go back to a restaurant when the food was mediocre, but with exceptional service, the chances are that the answer would be yes. Your customers will remember you, your brand, and your products and services by the way they experience shopping at your site. Did they feel good? Was the experience smooth? Did they feel taken care of? Offering great customer service digitally sometimes feels a little harder than at a physical store, but it’s one of the best ways to stand out, especially if you’re selling the same products to every merchant out there.
To ensure your customers feel appreciated, and to enhance their shopping experience, make your website intuitive and easy to use. You can also extend your customer service by sending thank you cards included in the shipping packages, or it could also be points that they have accumulated from multiple purchases, which entitle them to a gift! Sending them personalized emails to their questions and queries on your website is another way to make them feel welcomed. It can also be simple things like a speedy response to their issues or complaints. Whatever you do, make your customers feel valued and appreciated. It’s because of them that you’re a success.
Good customer service on your physical store and your digital store is something you need to work hard on. When it’s digital, excellent customer service makes you stand out from your competitors.
07. Stay active on your channels.
You need to put in effort on a consistent and daily basis to stay connected with your customers. Websites can only extend the branding experience to a certain length, but to truly connect with your audience, utilize social media as a way to understand and be part of the conversation surrounding your product, service, and the industry you’re in. This is also a great way to continue staying innovative with your products and services.
While you don’t need to spend eight hours a day working on marketing and promoting your site, you still need to commit a number of hours daily to ensure that your store is updated, relevant, and active. As your business grows, so will the number of hours you need to commit to process orders, speak with your suppliers, ensure shipping is en route, and orders arrive promptly to your customers. You’ll also need to ensure that your marketing efforts are in line with your products. Social media is a great way to find out what pain points your customers have in the industry you’re in, and you can then attempt to solve these pain points by delivering it through innovating your products and services. Staying current and relevant and ensuring that you appear at least once a day in your customers’ minds is the key to sustainable brand presence.
08. Start with at least 30 items on your site.
If you’re worried about how many products should display on your site when you first start your digital store, 30 is a good number. Adding too many products too soon will be risky because you want to ensure that your site can accommodate the traffic that comes. Plus, 30 products are a decent number to start with because every product requires quality images, accurate product descriptions, keywords, and tags – all of this will take time. Adding products incrementally is an excellent way to start. It will help you understand your site better, what images work well, what descriptions are of quality, and above all, how your targeted users react to your website. An adequate number of products will give your users enough content to browse, and it will also make it easier for you to troubleshoot your website for any issues.
09. Monitor your competition.
As always, you need to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Monitor your competition’s social media and their websites regularly. Like their page, and you’ll also receive updates on their products and the promotions they have. Again, using apps and software to help you do this is an ideal and practical way. Programs such as BuzzSumo gather industry news and send it directly to your inbox. You can also analyze your keywords, find out the best times to post on social media, or even what content type is commonly viewed by your target audience. By paying attention to what your competitors do, you’ll also have a better idea of how to sell your products in your store. Do not rip-off content, but use it as inspiration to understand what makes or breaks attention. This not only helps bring in the audience to your site, but it also enables you to do better in marketing your products.
Bottom Line
Increasing your store’s visibility should be your top priority when you enter the world of commerce – whether physical or digital. Make no mistake, it takes time and effort to see organic growth, but the rewards aren’t only long-term, but also strong and robust.