The case of making actual sales online has two facets to it –
1. Increase website traffic
2. Convert your web traffic into customers.
Increasing Website Traffic
Once you have your website set up there are a few things you can do to attract more traffic to your website. Here are the very basic tenets:
Create share-worthy content
Even if your site doesn’t have a blog, create a space where you can put up videos, images, podcasts, etc related to your product. Create content that you would like to share with your friends. Create content that connects.
Share the content
While Social Media might be the buzz word, you don’t have to be on all the platforms. Pick the ones that work for your business and your product. For example, if your model is B2B, you might be wasting your time and money on Facebook and Twitter where you’ll find end users. Instead, you might want to blog and submit to sites related to your industry. You don’t want to be spending valuable energy on avenues that might not reap benefits.
Optimize your content for Searches
You want new visitors, you want unique website visitors. That is the true secret to growth. Search engines are where you will find new visitors. While you don’t want to fill your posts with keywords such that it becomes counter-productive, you do want to keep track of the changing parameters that search engines use to show results for searches. For example, very recently Google changed its algorithm for searches made on mobile phones to give more preference to websites that have a mobile friendly version. You want to be up-to-speed on these changes and of course, be able to quickly apply the change to benefit from it as quickly as possible.
Advertise, offer freebies
You have to spend money to make money. Also, to entice the all important unique visitor to your site you have to create a good advertising copy and offer appealing discounts and deal. Don’t shy away from applying traditional marketing strategies to the online world.
These are the basic things to do when you are trying to rope in more visitors to your site. If you have most of these in place, here are a few more advanced tips to give you that extra edge.
Website Conversion
What good are a thousand visitors if they aren’t buying. The key question then becomes, “how to convert website visitors into customers?” Here are a few tips to convert your website visitors into customers:
Test layouts
Use website analytics to find out how your visitors are navigating your site. What kind of content do they get attracted to?
– Experiment with layouts by moving your website elements around
– Test them to see what brings in more sales.
Give complete information about products
Recognize the fact that your customers are giving up on touching and seeing the product before buying it. As an online retailer, you have to make up for that.
– Add lots of product images from every angle
– Add images of details too
– Add videos where applicable
– Give detailed measurements when necessary – height, width, depth, weight and so on.
State your return policy up front
In line with the need to make up for physical contact, allow returns wherever possible. Also, the return process should be smooth and refund hassle-free. State all of this upfront with zero ambiguity.
Allow and display user ratings and reviews
One of the key decision-making factors – be it a shoe or a vacation – is rating/reviews. Make sure you allow for easy navigation through your comment and review section. Display ratings visually and right at the top.
Display related goods
You buy a phone, you want a screen guard and a phone cover. Make sure your visitor doesn’t have to look around for it by offering it right next to the product they are viewing. Of course, you don’t want to get in the way of the main purchase, but it doesn’t hurt to remind the visitor that they might want the accessory too.
Keep an eye out on abandoned shopping carts
You must have noticed that a lot of your visitors leave a shopping cart around without going through with a purchase. Here are a few things you could do to get that customer back to make the intended purchase:
Many a time a visitor is shopping around and can’t find the specifications for the product on the site. In such a case, they go elsewhere not to return. To avoid this, make sure –
– you have all the information needed by a visitor to make the decision
– offer simple to implement comparisons
– have a handy button that offers help to customers
– send a follow-up “Can we help you?” e-mail quickly
– if the prospective customer hasn’t taken an action, send a couple more emails after a day and a week. Make sure you are not being pushy
– you have competitive delivery charges
– the checkout process as pain-free as is possible
– the site functions optimally without crashing on the user.
Simplify the checkout process
This cannot be emphasized enough
– Keep the steps to a bare minimum and make it a breeze
– The visitor should know where in the process they are at any given point
– Keep the checkout area clutter free.
While a lot of this sounds very basic and rather intuitive, you will be surprised to see how many sites disregard them. Just think about the number of times you went to the online store and walked out without making the purchase. Ponder over why and check if the reason(s) were one of the above. You have your answer to what you need to do to convert your website visitor into your customer.
