The ease with which a person can start an online store is incredible. With no need for a physical location, it has opened the possibility of owning a retail business to so many people.
As easy as it is to open an online store, it isn’t always easy to gain traction. You are competing with a sea of other online stores. Even beyond that, there are so many other websites for people to visit.
For new online businesses, traffic needs to be one of the first goals. Using a physical store as an analogy, you need to get people to come through the door before you can convert them into customers.
How can a new online store get more traffic to its website? Read on to learn a few of the basic steps you can take to attract more traffic to your online store.
Table of Contents
Target the Right Keywords
Search engine optimization (SEO) is fundamental to getting traffic to most websites. Keyword research is at the core of every good SEO strategy. Discover the search terms that will be most relevant to your business.
Find ways to use those search terms in the content on your site. You can get your site to the top of the search rankings with the right keywords and a good optimization strategy.
Create Good Content
So many people who are new to running an online business fail to recognize the value of good content. First, content creation can be a tool for boosting your SEO.
Beyond implementing keywords in new content, maintaining a posting schedule shows the search engines that your site is active. Good content can also help you attract and maintain an audience. If your content is good, people will want to come back to read more.
Website Performance
Today’s online shoppers have high expectations. If a page takes more than a few seconds to load, it will leave your site. If pages crash or malfunction, they might never come back.
Poor website performance can hurt your business even with great products at good prices. People won’t want to return to your site, which can even hurt your search engine rankings. If you want your business to thrive, you should make an effort to improve website performance.
Link Building
According to experts from Firestarter SEO (https://www.firestarterseo.com/denver-seo/), “Link building is one of the most important elements of winning the battle for higher search rankings.
The search algorithms see backlinks as a clear signal of relevance and value as it concerns search terms. When a page has more quality links from other sites, it tells the algorithm it should rank higher. As is true with any SEO effort, higher rankings will lead to more traffic.”
Targeted Landing Pages
Targeted landing pages can do a lot to help your business reach its goals. As a start, these pages can be ideal for focusing on specific keywords. Beyond that, they can also act as the hub for different advertising efforts.
If you are doing something like PPC ads, social media marketing, or email campaigns, targeted landing pages can be perfect as a destination to steer traffic.
Optimize for Mobile
A significant portion of your customers will encounter your business on mobile. For many businesses, it is more than half of their audience. If your site does not perform well on mobile, they won’t want to use the site, and they won’t come back.
Along with that, mobile search engines prioritize mobile-friendly sites in the rankings. Consider features like responsive design and optimize the text, images, and layouts to work well on mobile devices.
Build Your Name on Social Media
Social media marketing can be another way to send traffic to your site. As a business owner, you should build profiles on your customers’ platforms. Post regularly and engage with other users.
You can talk about your products and post links to your website’s pages. Some businesses will also benefit from using paid ads on social media platforms. With paid ads, you can expand your reach and target users by a variety of traits.
Consider PPC Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising can offer a lot of value to an online store. These ads can be placed on websites, at the top of search rankings, or in other advertising spaces. As the name suggests, your business pays based on the number of clicks the ad gets.
They can be a great way to boost website traffic quickly. This is especially true for PPC ads in search engines. You can use them to move your ad to the top of the results, and it can be a smart way to supplement your SEO efforts.
Online stores need traffic. However, that is only the beginning of getting customers. Once you have them on your site, you need to do everything you can to close the deal. This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) can come in to take your business to the next level.
