Understand SEO, and please Google and enjoy traffic.
I wish that I could have well understood it when I set up my own ecommerce website. I learned it the hard way.
That's precisely what brings me here to stop you from falling into the hallowing pitfalls that I fell into. As an ecommerce website owner, you already have so many things on your plate. Let me help you digest.
So, if you are just another clueless soul hopelessly waiting for traffic on your e-commerce website, this guide is a safe haven. Continue reading. Start succeeding.
Dig into data
Businesses are exploding with data. Naturally, data will flow into your e-commerce website as well. But it wouldn't land up in your lap itself. You got to ask for it.
Some desperate-for-revenue entrepreneurs were only aimed at collecting revenue. Little did they know, data meant future revenues.
So, bless your e-commerce business and collect email and other contact information as much as you can. Be as interested as you'd be in asking for your crush's Whatsapp. For starters, ask for email addresses for 'back in stock' and other exciting notifications.
Shipping's on us
Offering free shipping is more like offering hotcakes. There'll be queues of customer’s impulse buying on your website just to avail that luring 'free shipping.' So, why not?
But here's another piece of advice from my experiences. Don't offer free shipping to just anyone and everyone. Let customers snatch it from you. It's a hot cake, remember?
So, conditional free shipping is your way out. It won't bleed your e-commerce business. You'll only be shipping for free after your shopper has spent a substantial amount.
Trust me
Your customers aren't going to compromise their bank account's security for a lollipop that you're selling. An unsafe payment system is the biggest turn-off.
Not saying that my website didn't have a secure payment mechanism. I just didn't feel the need to flaunt the verification badges there. That's where I went wrong.
Hence, a key takeaway here is to display your badges and seals like your medallion. Customers are likely to shop from websites that show their accredited seal providers. If you want them, you better make them feel safe.
Be a bank when it comes to know your customers (KYC)
You know how personal banks get with you, right? Be a bank. Try to gauge the personal attributes of your customer as much as you can. After all, understanding is critical.
To get some bucks out of their pockets, it is essential to know them inside out. That's the route to go deep into their pockets. Secretive, no?
So, please don't ignore your buyers. You'll only go a long way if you frequently update your customer's database. Don't let that database rest; study the demographics every now and then.
Reviews get you views
Don't we all check reviews when in doubt? If your reviews stand out, so will your e-commerce website. Review pages win: product pages often lose.
Try to get reviews for every product on our site. The lack of review is a good reason for customers to find your products shady.
So, that's precisely what you have to overcome. Make sure you show off both positive and negative feedback on all products. Honesty takes you places.
Highlight the best selling products
Here, I simply mean making the hot-selling products prominently visible to website visitors. Don't think otherwise. This helps your oh-so-confused visitor decide on what's best.
You literally have lost the count when featuring countless products on your website. What you didn't think about was the fact that your customers couldn't make up their minds.
So, help your customers navigate through your webpages. Take them through popular categories and products first. Sometimes, it's okay to treat your customer like a four-year-old.
"How-to" videos are SEO's BFF
Reiterating what I just said, pamper your customers like kids. Hold their finger and walk them through tutorials. Like a good kindergarten teacher, use visuals to make them learn.
In the race to Google, don’t forgot to YouTube. Apparently, your customers were looking for videos there before making their purchase.
So, don't leave any other search engines behind. Have videos shot corresponding to all products. Keep up with the demos. That drives visitors crazy.
Features vs. benefits
Why would you buy a product? Tell me, honestly. Is it because it has the best features on Earth, or is it because it gets the job done for you?
You can boost all the good things about the products on your site, but it always has to be about the customer, not the offering. You may miss a lot of potential sales because of poorly articulating your products.
So, press the right buttons when a customer comes to you with a problem. Bragging infinite features wouldn't make the shopper purchase. Tell the buyer what magic your product can create in his/her life.
Talk things out
Who minds a little chit chat while they shop? For such talkative souls, why not have a chatbot in place? An added support does not harm.
Your target market needs the potential for chatty customer support. Starting a chatbot while having customer representatives in place.
The majority of online shoppers prefer an e-commerce website that has a chatbot over a website that doesn't. The best thing is that a chatbot is available to help round the clock. True best friend feels.
That feeling of missing out
A little bit of fear is harmless. After you launch a specific product on your ecommerce website, create a hype- all call for action. If the deal has to be made, it has to be made NOW.
You may find your website had a lot of traction but to no avail. Customers added products to their cart and probably thought of purchasing later.
Hence, create a now or never situation. Mention phrases like "Limited stock," "Get it while you can," or "Limited time offer." Highlight this with bold fonts. Pressurize readers to seal the deal.
Remind the forgetters
These reminders are more fancily known as retargeting. Targeting brings traffic to your website. Retargeting brings them back for more and more.
You can use paid ads to gain traction, but it felt like your are trying to boiling the ocean. You are sending business messages but to whom?
Retargeting wins because it hits customers in the pain point. Interest is captured and used wisely. Customers see ads for uncompleted advances. How cool, no?
Credit where it is due
If you're rewarding your team and expecting your ecommerce website to grow, you're indeed barking the wrong tree. Your customers have kept your business running. They deserve a lucrative reward scheme more than anyone else.
I'd highly recommend you take some notes from Amazon Prime. Members are really treated like gods. That feeling of exclusiveness -there's nothing like it.
Burnouts at the checkouts
What's up with all these complications at the checkout? It almost feels like I'm being punished for my impulse buying. So, this needs to stop. I've been an experience of this like all other possible blunders. If you see abandoned customer carts on your e-store and wonder what went wrong and where, it is quite possible that your check out process is frustrating your customers.
So, what you got to do? Make payments seamless, cut out all those unnecessary steps, and, most importantly, speed things up. Nobody got all that time.
Make some pen pals
Yes, we all hate those promotional emails spamming into our email boxes. Surprisingly, they do work. Earlier on, I told you to collect data like emails. Now is the time to bring them handy.
You are giving your best shot to your ecommerce website. Don’t make this one table left unturned. You may think promotional emails would sound too desperate, but no business move is too desperate, especially when you have to keep an e-commerce website alive and running. So, hit the nail in the coffin. Use email marketing if you haven't already.
Lights, camera, action
Yes, we all are lazy couch potatoes, and we know it. We try and do the bare minimum. We need constant calls, rather than threats, to action to keep functioning.
Keep up with the technicalities of your website and don’t overlook the human biases at same time. Your call to actions have to be more transparent and more in-the-face. For example, a big red tab would do the job than a green box in the corner.
I'd rather say go a step further and personalize your calls. That will increase your chances of a successful sale by 42%. Can't stress enough the power of customization, just can't.
Abandon me not
Ugh. Did someone just abandon your ecommerce website with a cart filled to the brim? That's such an embarrassing sight. To save yourself from such embarrassment, employ abandonment emails.
All those abandoned carts felt like the end of the world to me. All my SEO efforts felt like running down the drain. If anything, it was a dead-end to me.
Who knew 30% of all abandoned transactions could be revived through simple abandonment emails. Just craft a witty email and bring those runners back—cause, why not.
Present like a meal
Bitesize eatables are everyone's thing. Why not make your e-commerce store digestible as well? Put your proposition out and about.
To be a good presenter of your offering, make your ecommerce website crispy, juicy, tender, sleek, and easy-to-navigate. Customers glance over your website and stay for what your website presents. 75% of customers make their minds in the first few seconds spent on your websites. First impression is the last impression, as we say it.
Final word
So, stop emptying your cash tills on paid ads. Why pay for traction when you can get it for free? Here you have all the SEO secrets unveiled.
Now, the ball is in your court. Implement each of these ones by one. Tick them off your list. Keep revisiting areas according to their performance.
Apart from all these rules of thumb, you have a lot of tools out there for digital marketers. Explore them. At the end of the day, we're expecting a traffic jam on your website. Thank the search engine gods and happy optimizing.
