Increasing website traffic and online sales is the prevalent purpose of multitudinous companies, either large or small.

With platforms like BigCommerce, Shopify and GoDaddy, now, it’s no rocket science to start up a new store on your own.

You might have recently looked at an entrepreneur running a successful eCommerce store, and you’re trying to replicate the model to make money online. Setting up and running a store is easy, but increasing sales and branding looks simpler than it is.

To succeed and survive in the business, you need to understand how to market your website and generate tons of traffic so that orders befall.

Did you know?

• Roughly 12 to 24 million eCommerce websites are running worldwide, and brand-new comrades are entering every new day.
• More than 68 percent don’t follow a structured conversion optimization strategy. Less than 8 percent sell more than $1,000 per year – < 1M/12-24M.
• Fifty-nine percent of millennial buyers visit Amazon first before making a purchase. So, in every industry and age group, Amazon is your biggest competitor.
• And less than 3 percent of eCommerce store sessions generate a sale.
• Every eCommerce website is designed with a single purpose – to convert online visitors into leads and buyers. UI design, UX signals, search engine optimization (SEO) score, trust value, reviews and hundreds of other parameters affect your conversions, sales and profit.

So moving ahead, we’ll look at a couple of optimization points you can consider and implement to start selling your eCommerce products.

Attractive UI & Design

The design impacts SEO (directly) and helps visitors stay glued to the store. And as you see on every online store, the layout for eCommerce websites differs completely from that of a corporate website or a personal blog. You’re going to showcase your products. As soon as the user lands on the homepage of your website, they should get that feel.

Designers need to focus on a simple yet effective template. The color combination of the theme and fonts needs to be thoroughly examined. Also, every industry demands a specific color scheme. Fashion online stores mostly prefer purple, orange or green colors, but the same color scheme won’t be ideal for a tech store.

Source – Quick Sprout

But if you want full control over your site in the initial stages, and want to focus and build other parts of your website like pages and, importantly, the blog, then the WooCommerce plugin is so apt for you. Integrated payment systems and advanced inventory systems are better supported on dedicated eCommerce platforms, but if you are comfortable with technical aspects, then even WooCommerce will satisfy your requirements.

User Journey

Robert Frost may want to walk miles before he sleeps, but today’s users want to reach the destination in as few clicks as possible. You need to create journeys that give relevant information and allow users to purchase products and services in as simple a manner as possible. It is a good idea to take the help of a marketing funnel strategy to map the perfect user journey.

Enable Search Functionality

Did you consider a search bar for your store?

What would be more fitting than enabling users to search their queries from the search box at the top of the home page?

It will help users:

• Explore products according to their search query
• Save a lot of time searching for the right segment

In a matter of a couple of clicks, a user can land on the desired page.

eCommerce Content Strategy

According to Peter Wilfahrt, the biggest hurdle he sees often is that eCommerce store owners don’t really care about the content. But as you know, Google and your audience do care.

The real obstacle is that users don’t find adequate information on eCommerce stores’ homepage and product category pages, making it arduous for visitors to instantly determine if the store is a good brand and worth further connecting with.

Now, you’re thinking about content assets for an eCommerce website.

How do we do that?

Nice examples include SEO-friendly content assets such as resource pages, knowledgeable guides, and visual assets appearing outside of the category and product template architecture but still somehow integrated.

Please have a look at this blog post:

Now, “151 Types of Flowers” is a long-form listicle post. 

It might be considered out-there, but it strikes way better than the competitor’s post.

You can see the outcome on your own:

• 17,000 organic visits a month
• 49 linking root domains
• Blog content draws 42 percent of ProFlowers’ total organic count.

Similarly, think of your brand’s tone and integrity of honesty throughout your sales copies.

• Scan the competitor websites and get the right length of your product pages’ copy. The topic is a handy tool here to research content ideas. You can get a list of headings, keywords and questions to use throughout your content based on your “focus keyword.”
• Keep it as concise as possible. Don’t overwhelm the visitors with extraneous information.
• Use visuals to illustrate your idea and make it a lot easier for visitors to quickly view the product details.
• A standard practice – highlight benefits over features.
• Use short sentences and bullet points to encourage readability.

The next few points are also connected with content strategy, but let’s examine them in detail.

Headlines Attract Conversions

Without grabbing users’ attention within the first couple of seconds of their first visit, you can’t raise your time-on-site metrics or conversion rate.

That’s where your headline comes in, the very first thing your visitors will notice. This headline copy has to shout a benefit. Make sure it’s big, bold and easy to read. Make sure it’s not too long, doesn’t include industry jargon and must be something improbable to ignore.

The greatest headlines drive users to keep reading.

Take an example from Cubic Mini Wood Stoves. Their index page has a very simple and meaningful message mini stove searchers can’t miss.

Their industry isn’t something luxury accessories, clothing, or electronics. They deal with some lesser-known products, but headlines can make your product stand out and get the attention of potential buyers.

Use Exceptional Product Imagery

I’m not the first guy to tell you this, but images deliver a message explicitly, much more compelling than words.

Buyers like to see what you’ve to sell, and images are your fount of engaging them.

Use high-quality fashion apparel or jewelry photography to showcase your products without saying. Not only the front angle but captured from different angles – play as many as you can and allow users to zoom in.

We’ve talked about the headline in the previous segment. A compelling headline combined with stunning images will tap into the visitors’ emotions and lead them to the next action.

Brands noticed some real success in conversions when they applied photos of their customers on landing pages. Pictures of real people get lots of attention, while overly staged stock photos are mostly ignored.

Plug-In Social Elements

You must master the art of social media and learn to get conversations going in the right way.

Social media profiles need to be actively managed. They are not something that you can set and forget.

The nature and type of your business also decide the effectiveness of your social media campaign. A Facebook page may not do a great lot if you are in B2B businesses with a customer base that rarely interacts on Facebook. But if your target market is active on Facebook, then it is a channel that you cannot afford to oversee.

Products and services that count on emotional triggers need to have a visually stimulating online presence. If you are a tour operator, you would like your customers to see the beauty, charm and excitement of destinations. Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter are great options where you can not only make it clear why everyone should have to travel on their bucket list, but you can also curate user-generated content to keep things personal, human and aspirational.

Social share buttons on eCommerce sites make it easy for users to connect, share and like products and images. Also, remember that videos often make for great and viral content, so do not ignore video sharing platforms like TikTok or YouTube.

Invest Time in Marketing

eCommerce companies need to build a buzz around them to get noticed.

Many of the biggest startup successes you see around you have been built on the back of years of hard work, non-stop networking, brilliant blogging and social media marketing and continuous innovation.

All startup founders know that overnight success is a myth. Years of struggle, failures and pain have gone into creating ‘overnight’ successes like Airbnb, Twitter and Pebble. If you have famous friends who can speak for you, then it will help you get initial traction.

Getting mentions in top magazines in your trade, celebrities sporting your designs or putting up a stellar and entertaining performance on social media are all ways in which you can market your brand.

Networking is critical for all professionals and more so for entrepreneurs. It opens you up to new ideas and helps you learn about unique marketing methods. Most entrepreneurs say that they feel isolated in their jobs as they set out in the lonely pursuit of their dreams. Attending networking events, conferences, seminars and debates keeps you involved and in touch with the wider community.

Startup founders cannot sit idle. You have to reach out and get noticed.

Team Up With Influencers

Influencers are found on all social media platforms. They are celebrities in their own right and have considerable and loyal followers who enjoy, trust and appreciate the content dished out by their favorite online personalities. If your eCommerce startup sells outdoor gear, team up with the avid adventurers, explorers, travelers and sports enthusiasts who have made a name for themselves by providing valuable content to their followers.

Wrapping Up

It’s important to identify your current search traffic and conversion rate and then react. Every business is unique, as is its audience.

Though I didn’t include everything in this post and there are more things that you will need to cover (capturing emails, site speed, looking at heatmaps, analyzing Google Analytics, analyzing your marketing campaigns, enhancing product pages and so on), these nine tips should be fine enough to get you driving in the right direction.

Right? What’s your plan of action? How do you plan to drive your sales?