What motivates you to go shopping?

Through a variety of techniques, retail stores, service companies and other businesses with physical locations create various ways to attract foot traffic into their physical brick-and-mortar locations.

E-commerce businesses selling products and services online also create ways to attract customers into their “locations,” but in these cases, the locations are all online and are primarily websites.

By now, there’s nothing new about creating an attractive and well-functioning website to garner sales. However, the difference between the business that barely sells what it can to the one in which inventory is a constant need because sales are robust, is vastly different. 

Here are four ways to drive more traffic to your website:

1.     Don’t dismiss SEO as just another gimmick

I’ve heard many clients tell us that SEO, or search engine optimization, is a mysterious force that doesn’t make a difference. If you’re one of those people, then it’s time to change your mind.

SEO is very much real and viable, and a great way to drive traffic to your website. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you have. Whether you sell fabric or footballs, there are prospective customers who need what you offer. I know this is neither a new concept nor something you don’t know, but you are more likely to be found if you include keywords in your content.

Find out what the keywords are good your business. There are a lot of resources to help you, including ones from Shopify, our partner in providing e-commerce solutions (we also partner with Webgility) that integrate with QuickBooks. For example, check out this article that offers 12 keyword research tools.

2.     Meta Titles are Different Than On-Page Titles

On the same page as keywords, I found this tip on AmericanExpress.com and didn’t really know what this meant until I did a bit more research.

You can increase the traffic to your website by making sure you complete the meta title field in the back end of your site. Most versions of WordPress, for example, have a field visible for meta titles. If you’re on some other content management system (CMS), then check with your provider or someone who can help you figure it out what kind of plug-in to add to your site.

Here’s an example. It may be tempting to use the same title for your meta and page, but try to make them different.

Let’s say you sell food baskets. Your meta title should target the keyword phrase "food baskets that deliver near me," your meta title might be "How to Find a Food Basket Vendor Near Me." Conversely, your on-page blog title could be something like "We only use quality food products to provide the very best experience.”

3.     Give away something free

This is a very old technique that has been done time and time again. In my world of accounting and bookkeeping, we offer a free 30-minute chat that is intended as a meet and greet, but also a way to help us understand your needs.

For the same reasons, if you’re selling a service, then offering a free consultation is a great idea because it will create a touchpoint with your prospect.

If you’re selling a product, this gets a little trickier, but is still doable. I like this article found on Shopify because it offers 18 coupon and discount code ideas for e-commerce stores. Sure, you could use the BOGO (Buy one, get one) strategy, but why stop there? Get creative and have some fun with this!

4.     Consistently create great content

There’s a good reason Certum Solutions provides content on our website; the more content you provide, the easier it is to get found in a search engine. Everything you post is searchable, and if you create your meta and page title properly (see the second tip above), you’ll surely increase the chances of being found.

I know it may be difficult to come up with content on a consistent basis, but here are a few tips that work for me: 

·      Don’t overcommit. Set a goal of posting new content however often you can make it happen, whether that’s weekly, monthly or bi-monthly. The more often you post, the better you’ll be.

·      Write what you know about. If you sell windchimes, don’t write about electric fans. If you sell teddy bears, forget anything related to Barbie, except the recent movie, of course. You’ll spend a lot less time on your writing if you already know more about your topic.

·      Ask for help. If you can’t write everything yourself, ask your staff to help you and give them the bylines, or contract our your writing to a freelance writer. There’s nothing wrong with this technique and will keep you on track.

Now is the time to start 

If all you do is create a website without continually adding to it and improving it, you may as well have saved the money you spent. The primary way to attract traffic to your site is a mix of technology (SEO and keywords), great offers and content.

Certum Solutions would love to help you with questions you have on e-commerce and related solutions. And again in the spirit of offering something free, contact us today.