Creating an eCommerce store and preparing your inventory to meet high demand is only the beginning. After figuring out your brand identity, deciding on a platform, uploading all of the products, and finalizing everything, you’re probably eager to start earning income. But, what if nobody is aware of your eCommerce store? In order to increase your sales, you need a digital marketing strategy that works for your brand, audience, and products.

1. SEO

If you’re starting from scratch, then chances are that your eCommerce store doesn’t have much of an online presence. For new eCommerce stores, that’s completely natural! To build momentum, you’ll want to establish a stronger presence, and enable your customers to find new products. That’s where SEO comes in.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a method through which you can establish a stronger online presence. Over time, you can improve your website’s Google rankings for specific keywords. 89% of consumers utilize search engines to research products before making a purchase, so developing a strong presence is imperative.

But, SEO also carries plenty of other related benefits.

What Are the Benefits of SEO in eCommerce?

First, blogging can provide valuable answers to user questions. When you write a blog post, it should offer some benefit to your customer base. It might provide information about a new product. Or, it might help you compare two alternative products. You could also write “how-to” guides that are relevant to your customer base, depending on your products and their interests.

Second, blog posts can also help you to establish a great structure for your website. When Google bots index new blog posts on your website, they take note of purposeful links that direct users to other helpful resources. So, including links to your blog posts throughout your eCommerce site– on product and informational pages– is helpful.

Finally, writing blog posts on your eCommerce site demonstrates to Google that you are committed to continuous site improvements. This consistency shows that you are dedicated to providing an excellent user experience– which is Google’s top priority. And, if Google determines that your website is prioritizing keyword use over user value, this can negatively impact your rankings.

There are other more technical aspects of SEO, too. Tweaking the website’s coding will convey your website’s goal to Google, increasing your chances of ranking.

2. Social Media Marketing

If you’re active on social media, you probably encounter product pitches constantly. Or, you might find purely informational posts relating to the lifestyle that your products aim to cultivate. Social media marketing is an excellent way to reach new and existing customers, remind them of your brand, and encourage more sales– and, it’s free!

Having an established (and consistent) presence helps you to forge a relationship with your customers. While that might not always translate directly to sales, posts that take customers to your website for a purchase will.

Customers who enjoy their shopping experiences may click on the social media links on your website to follow you. So, you can effortlessly gain followers with well-placed buttons that link to your social media channels. But, to keep those followers, you’ll have to prove that you deserve this attention.

What Type of Content Should My eCommerce Store Share Over Social Media?

There are plenty of ways that you can speak to your customers via social media without getting stale. For example, if you sell homemade children’s toys, then you might find success sharing content about parenting. Posting about fun weekend activities with children and family members may also be successful.

Regardless of your industry, sharing reviews via social media is another effective tactic, and the reasoning is twofold. First, positive reviews demonstrate that your customers are satisfied with your product. For customers who are skeptical about purchasing for any number of reasons, this may be the factor that drives them toward making the right decision. Second, sharing reviews over social media will also serve to develop a sense of trust. Customers who are holding off because they’re reluctant to share their credit card information will take solace in this legitimacy.

If you’re blogging for SEO on your eCommerce store, then this can come in handy for social media as well. Sharing blog posts shows your eCommerce store’s commitment to improvement.

The one constant in your social media strategy should be images. Social media posts with images are more likely to receive engagement, and will resonate with your audience. In fact, social media posts with images get 53% more likes than those without images.

Depending on your industry’s primary audience, the correct platform can vary. Instagram is extremely popular among millennials. Everyone is on Facebook. The team at Long Island eCommerce Solutions can help you determine the ideal social media platform for your audience.

3. Google Shopping/AdWords

When people realize that they want to purchase a product, searching for that product on Google is likely one of the first steps they’ll take. With a Google Shopping ad campaign, you can give customers all of the details that they need– including the price, the name of the product, the name of your eCommerce store, and a picture of the product. And, almost 80% of all retail/eCommerce advertising spending in 2018 was through Google Shopping.

Google Shopping is a great choice for customers who are looking to generate a quick ROI for a few reasons.

How Can Google Shopping Help My eCommerce Store?

First, your eCommerce store will be charged through a PPC system. PPC, or pay per click, is the optimal payment system for digital advertising. Rather than paying a flat or structured fee for exposure that may not lead to any sales, Google Shopping ensures that your money is well spent. By only paying for your ads when customers click, each dollar you spend pushes your product to the right targets.

The second reason that Google Shopping is a no-brainer for your eCommerce store is the ease of use. If you’re using a compatible eCommerce platform, then you can generate a product listing dynamically. Google will extract the data it needs to create the listing. Or, if not, you can easily upload this information to Google, and create a listing yourself.

Google Shopping displays all of the relevant details to customers. This not only establishes your credibility as a store that can cater to their needs, but also piques their interest.

Finally, Google Shopping provides advertisers with all of the tools they need to maximize their ad’s performance. With each advertisement, you can easily view detailed analytics, and determine whether or not it positively impacts your bottom line. Then, you can make a decision about whether or not to continue running these ads. If the ad is performing well, then you should continue running it– or spend even more of your budget. If not, then make the opposite decision. You have complete and utter freedom in allocating your money.

4. Email Marketing

Email marketing can be a lucrative, simple and targeted way to market your products to your existing customer base.

When customers are purchasing a product, requesting email information is a simple step. With a simple opt-in feature, you can amass an email list of customers who will, in the future, be interested in further purchases. 73% of people between ages 19 and 34 prefer email to other forms of communication.

There are plenty of ways to keep your weekly, biweekly, or monthly emails interesting. One way to do this is by notifying customers of new products. Another common tactic is providing exclusive discount codes. No matter how exclusive they really are, this tactic will forge a lasting relationship. Or, you could promote your sitewide product sale to all of your customers.

The best part about email marketing is that it’s a low-effort method of outreach, and there are plenty of free tools you can utilize. An experienced email marketer can easily format a MailChimp email template to sell their products. Personalizing these emails is a low-energy way to increase the likelihood of customers opening the email.

Marketing Services for Your eCommerce Store

The best digital marketers are careful not to put all of their eggs in one basket. For your eCommerce store to push its own boundaries and experience true growth, you need to pursue several strategies. At Long Island eCommerce Solutions, our experienced eCommerce store marketers can develop a unique and focused strategy for your store. Contact us to revolutionize your eCommerce store’s online presence, and increase sales today!