Creating an online store website is the beginning of a long business journey. The success of the entire project will largely depend on the ability to attract visitors to the pages of this site. Moreover, it is essential to influence only your target audience, not all Internet users worldwide. Everything is simple here: there are no potentially interested visitors - no sales.
In this article, you will learn how to increase the traffic of an online store and establish a reliable system for attracting targeted traffic to your web resource.
How to increase the targeted traffic of an online store: the main tools to attract customers
These are the main tasks of Internet marketing and website optimization, and we will solve them.
- SEO-promotion
SEO is the most effective means of website promotion and development in the long run. Optimization helps to increase traffic to the online store at a minimal cost.
Search engine optimization has only two disadvantages:
- takes time - the first tangible results usually appear after a few weeks of work;
- it is necessary to regularly engage in the promotion to observe a stable growth in indicators and profits.
Otherwise, this is the most reliable and profitable way to attract targeted traffic from search engines, which can be implemented independently and at no extra cost.
Learn more: What is brand management, and why is it needed?
- Content Marketing
Increasing online store traffic with the help of content (texts, images, videos) is one of the most effective ways to create an image of an expert in a particular product niche. It can be published both on the online store's blog and third-party resources related to the topic. In the first case, you will increase the traffic from search engines; in the second, you will get target users to click on active links.
Quality content meets the requirements:
- contains valuable and interesting information for the target audience;
- it is written competently, in a reasonable and understandable language;
- stylistically close to the audience;
- unique;
- evenly filled with key phrases from the semantic core of the site;
- structured, divided into paragraphs;
- has a heading and semantic parts separated by subheadings.
- Crowd marketing
Crowd marketing is a promotion method that aims to increase brand awareness and create a positive impression of the company on the network. In addition, it promotes SEO by increasing the number of natural inbound links and clicks on them. Accordingly, with the help of this tool, you can also increase the online store's traffic.
During the use of crowd marketing, it is necessary to leave comments and reviews with a mention of the brand or a direct link to the website of the online store on various platforms, such as:
- social networks;
- thematic forums;
- question and answer services;
- feedback sites;
- blogs and profile communities.
At the same time, all messages should benefit readers, and it is the primary rule of crowd marketing.
- Contextual advertising
Paid impressions for relevant queries in search engines allow you to attract the target audience by setting up the choice of keywords. Payment is made for the number of impressions and clicks to the site.
Contextual advertising allows you to get a quick result and, with a well-thought-out campaign, see an increase in traffic in the online store from the first seconds of publication.
Disadvantages of this traffic booster:
- usually requires high financial costs;
- there is always a risk that it will not pay off;
- has a short-term effect - immediately after the termination of the impressions, it ceases to be helpful.
But you should not wholly abandon contextual advertising, which is why it is used by both beginners and already promoted online stores.
Learn more: How to allow your customers to finish the purchase on your Magento 2 website securely?
- Targeted advertising and retargeting
Targeted advertising lets you clearly define the target audience and the subject of sites for displaying ads on social networks: Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The settings pre-specify the characteristics of consumer users: gender, age, location, interests, etc.
Retargeting involves interaction with users who have already visited the site; we're interested in any product and performed some targeted action in the online store but did not make a purchase.
- Newsletters via e-mail, instant messengers, SMS
Newsletters allow you to remind subscribers or users who have previously made a purchase. Proper use of contact information, interests, and other characteristics help to return visitors and ensure an increase in online store traffic.
At the same time, it is essential to observe one rule: you can send messages only to those users who themselves left their e-mail or phone number and agreed to the mailing.
- SMM promotion
Maintaining social networks is not only a way to increase traffic to an online store website but also to get real customers. To take full advantage of social networks, you must create groups or pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Then:
- add icons of social networks to your site;
- prepare a content plan;
- regularly publish interesting thematic posts;
- make stories / live broadcasts / other activities;
- communicate with the audience in comments and private messages.
- YouTube channel
Not many online stores use YouTube to grow traffic, but this is an excellent opportunity to tell users about their products and motivate them to buy. You can post on the channel:
- video reviews of goods;
- ratings and selections of TOP products;
- videos with a comparison of goods from one group;
- life hacks and tips related to the theme of the online store;
- customer reviews;
- answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Of course, for this tool to work, each video must have a link to the online store's website and a call to click on it.
Conclusions
We have described the main methods of attracting traffic to the site. But they will not bring the desired result by themselves, even if a solid budget is allocated for the project's development.
In addition, not a single traffic increase tool will work. It will not bring noticeable benefits if you do not take into account the peculiarities of the business niche and do not analyze the work of competitors.
You can use these tools with maximum benefit and return based on this information.
