There is a simple truth about selling in any form: You need to draw the footfall if you are going to make sales. Suppose your customer has no interest in visiting your shop or your online store, then you are not even in the game.

How you engage your potential customers is one of the secrets to success in eCommerce.  If you want this success, then you first need to appear in searches or on social media feeds. You then need to entice the click.

Here we look at some of the proven strategies for increasing traffic to your Shopify store, getting you noticed and encouraging that visit.

Optimise for a high SERPs listing

Ultimately, you need more exposure for your website. If your shop comes low on the search engine results page, then you are going to get little traffic. You will be relying on word of mouth and your existing customers. 

Step one would be to optimize your store pages using keywords that your customers might use. You can find these keywords and phrases by undertaking some research. Search Engine Optimization is part science and part art. There is a lot of material on the internet that explains how the algorithm works. However, integrating essential keywords and phrases into high-quality content that the audience enjoys reading is a way to succeed. 

To use these keywords, you need to write a paragraph at the bottom of the product pages. This content marketing is a direct way of influencing your position on the list. It is also a way to talk directly to your customer and persuade them of your authenticity and expertise. In short, do not write nonsense in this paragraph, use the keywords wisely.

Then, make sure the backend of your story is optimised too. Add in alt tags for your images and include professionally written meta-descriptions for every product. If your product shows up in a search, make sure that the text beneath the link is your first sales impression on the customer.

Next, you can opt for Google AdWords. This marketing technique is an affordable way to place yourself at the top of the page for your targeted traffic. If you know your demographic, you can push your site up the list for these people to see when they search.

Publish guest posts on relevant

You need to go where your customers go. Therefore, if there are sites within your niche, your name and a link to your shop need to appear there too. On a simple level, quality advice that sets the right tone for your business and positions you as an authority will gain the audience’s trust. The quality of your guest post might be enough to gain some traction with some of your audience.

However, get a link on an authority site to your shop increases your domain authority. Imagine the Google algorithm as a sports league and the link you have placed as a serious amount of points driving you up the list of the best sites. It is like a recommendation or a reference. The link tells the Google algorithm that you deserve a higher domain authority.

The more of these links you can place on guest sites, the more robust your domain score, the higher you will rank. As we have already established, being on the first page of results is essential to your success. It would be even better if you could place organically in the top three positions.

Make a list of the perfect sites for your niche. Reach out to these sites to see if they accept guest posts. Then, write a quality blog that they would want to publish. Make sure the link through to your website is attached to anchor text that flows into the article, else you might find your item rejected.

To search for relevant sites that would publish your guest post type “intitle: write for us + your niche”. Replace “your niche” with the content of your Shopify store. So, if you sell cosmetics, then you write cosmetics. 

Influencer marketing

There is a myth that influencer marketing is only for bigger brands. However, there are tiers of influencers, and you can access one that offers the best value for money for you. Using an influencer marketing campaign is one of the more powerful strategies for getting your products in front of your target market. The higher the number of followers, the more you will pay, but the more people you reach.

There is evidence that the influencer will have a duel impact on your Shopify store. First, it will drive traffic to your site. Second, it increases the average order value. In other words, not only do they visit your store but then spend more when they arrive. Therefore, when calculating the value of money, you need to consider the potential returns.

Use social media consistently

Using an influencer campaign on social media will increase your brand value and sales. It would be best if you then had a presence on social media, across platforms. The messages you communicate on your social media should be consistent with what you asked the influencer to say. In fact, consistency is the key to successful social media marketing. You need to post regularly across platforms, making sure the post arrives at the same time.

Research suggests that Instagram is the best partner for your Shopify store. People who click through from Instagram tend to spend more than other social media, and the set up of this social media site allows for better formatting of shoppable posts. Your potential client can tap on an icon to read the product details and so begin the sales funnel from the social media ad.

You can also connect your Shopify account to your Instagram. This link will allow you to process purchases efficiently. You want to reduce the number of clicks between interest and completion of order, and this partnership will help you do this.

It will also not harm to set up a store on Facebook and encourage click-through sales to your Shopify account. Although not offering as much value as Instagram, this platform has remained a consistent marketing option for most successful eCommerce stores.

The brief takeaway

While setting up an e-commerce store feels complex, it is even more challenging to get it seen. You cannot sit back and hope that the customers will show up when you have so much competition for their attention. Use the tools of search engines and social media to increase your visibility and drive traffic to your store.