Online Store Promotion With Semalt
You've already set up a business and opened your online dream store, but orders don't pop up like mushrooms? The fault may lie in the bad promotion aspect of the store. Are you wondering how to promote an online store? We suggest which promotion channels are worth investing in and which activities will work best for your online store!
How to advertise an online store?
One of the first questions we ask ourselves after our platform has been launched is - how to advertise an online store? Solutions that work well with a stationary store, such as leaflets, advertising in the local press, discounts or an interesting promotional event, will not necessarily be a success for an online store.
If you run an online store, you must make it visible in the field in which it operates, i.e. on the Internet. Promoting an online store is your first challenge, and online marketing offers a wide range of possibilities. It's worth getting to know them all, because only then can you choose the ones that will work for a specific store. Let's take a look at a few effective methods of appearing on the Internet.
How to promote an online store thanks to positioning?
Promoting an online store without website positioning?! We do not recommend :) Positioning is to ensure visibility in the most popular search engine, i.e. Google. Used by thousands of people every day. Among these, there are hundreds or maybe thousands of potential customers. So how to advertise an online store using SEO for e-сommerce?
The most important stage is the optimization of the store by a specialist, i.e. an action that will make the store structure friendly for visitors, but also for Google robots. The positioning service is usually the first that is recommended to owners wondering how to advertise an online store.
However, it must be remembered that the work on website positioning must be continuous and consist of many elements. The competition on the web is huge and even a temporary cessation of such activities may result in the website's position dropping further down the page in the search results.
Remember, quality is of paramount importance
High-quality content on the website is very important for the proper promotion of the store. It is about photos as well as descriptions of products or activities of the company. It is important for the positioning of the website, but also for the clients themselves. Reliable information, without distortion and excessive coloring, will make the store more credible in the eyes of the customer, i.e. worth recommending to others. Think about how many times you have been convinced of the purchase by perfectly made photos of the product or by a catchy advertising slogan. Well-thought-out content and graphics can be incredibly effective.
Good promotion of the online store means visibility in many places
How to promote an online store on social media, forums, blogs or portals? Presence in social media is now even an obligation for some companies. However, the proper promotion of the online store on the most popular social media platforms requires intuition and knowledge of behaviors taking place on such social media.
First of all, it is a good place to contact and interact with potential customers. Social profiles should not be treated as advertising boards. Here, the interactions with customers are much more important. It is also worth considering a paid form of online advertising store via Facebook. This popular profile will allow us to present the store as well as specific products to a properly selected group. If you do not know how to advertise an online store yourself, it is worth looking for a marketing agency that will help in the selection and implementation of appropriate activities.
Or maybe a company blog?
If you are wondering how to promote an online store, it is worth considering setting up a company blog. What articles should be on it? It is worth placing content interesting for customers, e.g. a clothing store may publish guides on selecting appropriate clothing for the situation.
Sometimes you can put entries about the internal life of the company, e.g. about consumer awards or distinctions received by the products manufactured by the company. Interesting and valuable content is the key to keeping potential customers on your website and maybe even encouraging them to come back and take advantage of your offer.
Online store promotion using options from Google
How else to advertise the online store? An interesting solution is the possibility of using Google Ads. They allow you to prepare a personalized advertisement that will be displayed in the paid section of the search results.
An interesting solution for promoting an online store is remarketing advertising. It targets customers who visited the store's website, viewed individual products, or even put them in their shopping cart, but ultimately did not make a purchase. The banner prepared in advance is displayed to the client on other websites visited by him/her. Promoting an online store with the use of remarketing is a chance for many customers to return.
How to choose where to advertise an online store?
Advertising an online store is a complex process, so choosing specific actions and developing a strategy can turn out to be quite a challenge! There are many possibilities, but understanding your business seems to be crucial. It is worth answering a few basic questions:
- How long have I been running my shop?
- Are my sales seasonal?
- Who is my competition, and where is it visible on the Internet?
- What do I know about my potential client?
The time in which you operate will largely determine the advertising channels of the online store. If you are just starting, getting the store started may require faster but more effective actions - so social media and Google Ads will be perfect. An online store that has been around for a while may be thinking about marketing activities in the long run. This is due to the already established position on the market, as well as greater financial opportunities. In this case, it is worth focusing on positioning and generating traffic to the website from organic search results.
Some businesses are characterized by the so-called "seasonality of sales". It may be associated with the holiday periods, where the demand for certain products is increasing, and it may also be the result of changing seasons. If you run a similar business yourself, you know perfectly well that your marketing activities depend on a given period. Sometimes they should be more intense (especially in the period of high sales), and sometimes it is not necessary. Seasonality is, therefore, another factor that determines which promotional activities will work best for a given business and on which distribution channels this business should be advertised.
Competition analysis is the basis of many businesses. Remember that companies competing with you in the so-called "Real world" are not necessarily your competitors on the Internet. Tracking the activities of companies close to your industry or displaying key phrases for you is important in the context of gaining inspiration, but also a competitive advantage. And if you want to know which SEO tool to use to make a competition analysis, use the Dedicated SEO Dashboard.
Finally, understanding who your customer is will be significant in determining where to advertise your online store. Do you sell products for young mothers who are involved in social media? Or maybe you have products for interior design, and it is worth visiting a portal related to the construction industry? How does your client buy? Is he/she looking for products in a search engine or on auction portals? Get into your client's shoes and think about his / her shopping path.
3 tips on how to advertise an online store with an agency
As mentioned above, the choice of channels in which it is worth advertising an online store may depend on several factors. Therefore, it is worth contacting a marketing agency, thanks to which you will get professional help. How to approach online store promotion?
Specify what you expect
At the initial stage of choosing an agency, it is good to know what activities you are interested in. It is also the stage of verifying your assumptions. When you define your goals, a professional agency should, first of all, honestly advise you about the time of their implementation and whether they are feasible at all in your business.
Check the progress of the work
In the case of internet marketing, we have many possibilities to measure the activities performed. Therefore, make sure that you will receive reports summarizing the activities performed for your store and what results have been achieved.
Bet on cooperation
This is of particular importance, especially when you need to make changes to the online store website. For example, a website UX audit with a tool like the Dedicated SEO Dashboard may show the need to change specific elements, e.g. buttons on the website, or change the website menu altogether. All changes are aimed at improving the purchasing path and leading to conversion. If you do not like the proposed changes - say it openly, but also do not close yourself to the suggestions! Professionals want the best for your shop and some changes are simply necessary!
Finally, an analysis of the effects of promoting an online store
You already know how to promote an online store. You chose the right agency and together you defined distribution channels and tools to achieve the goal. End of work... nothing could be further from the truth! Remember that the implementation of appropriate tools will not help if you forget about systematicity and analysis of the effects. And here comes the important question, what are the effects for you? Is it the number of visits to the website and the conversions made? Or maybe customer satisfaction is more important to you? Of course, these aspects do not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive.
Also, remember about business indicators which are worth monitoring to see if the cooperation with the agency is going according to your expectations. Another point is to check the effectiveness of individual distribution channels in order to be able to fully efficiently and optimally use the budget planned for your company's promotional activities.
As you can see, the answer to the question of how to advertise an online store is extensive and there are many methods of promotion. It is worth taking advantage of all the possibilities offered by the network and advertising the store in several ways. Then there is a chance to reach a larger group of potential customers.
If you need to learn more about the subject of SEO and website promotion, we invite you to visit our Semalt blog.