These answers are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members represent nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year, and have created tens of thousands of jobs. Learn more at yec.co.

1. Prioritize Your Site’s Performance

When setting up an online store from scratch or by using platforms like Shopify, always prioritize your website’s performance. This means getting the basics right for your site and looking into matters like your load time, navigation, broken links, unoptimized images, code density, content delivery network (CDN) concerns and caching issues. A website with a clunky user experience won’t get you anywhere.

– Jared Atchison, WPForms

2. Consider Sales Tax Implications

One thing that new entrepreneurs overlook when setting up their first online store is the sales tax implications of selling online. Depending on your products and your customers’ locations, you may be required to collect and remit sales tax. Meet with your CPA to make sure you understand the sales tax laws and nexus rules before starting your online store. It will save you a world of headache.

– Shaun Conrad, Number2 CPA Exam Resources

3. Think About the User Experience

Prioritize the user experience to ensure success. A well-designed UX fosters customer satisfaction and boosts sales by making it easy for shoppers to navigate, find products and complete transactions. Focus on a clean layout, intuitive navigation, responsive design for mobile and fast load times. This can help convert visitors into loyal customers and they can grow their businesses more effectively.

– Jinny Hyojin Oh, WANDR

4. Ensure You’re Up to Date on Security and Browser Trends

Be up to date on security and browser trends. If a customer is getting a warning by just accessing your website, you’ve already lost a customer. To make sure your online store is secure, you can take several steps, such as updating your site and plugins on a regular schedule, choosing a reliable hosting provider and implementing an SSL certificate. Once you have a secure site, the sky’s the limit!

– Shu Saito, SpiroPure

5. Include Detailed Product Landing Pages

If you’re in the process of starting your first online store, don’t forget to create detailed product landing pages. On each landing page, include a list of features and benefits. Users need to know how your product or service will improve their lives before they make a purchase, and product pages are by far the easiest way to relay this information.

– John Turner, SeedProd LLC

6. Build an Email List as Soon as Possible

One thing to remember when setting up your online store is that it’s never too early to start building your email list. Create a “coming soon” page as a placeholder on your site until it’s finished. Promote your new brand on social media and ask people to subscribe for the latest updates. You’re far more likely to see sales on day one if you have an email list packed with prospects.

– Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

7. Focus on Search Engine Optimization

One tip new entrepreneurs should remember when setting up their online store is prioritizing search engine optimization (SEO) from the beginning. This includes conducting thorough keyword research, optimizing on-page elements such as title tags and meta descriptions and building quality backlinks to the site. Properly optimizing the site for SEO can help increase brand awareness and sales.

– Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

8. Implement Practices to Guarantee User Privacy

One crucial aspect to consider when setting up your online store is user privacy. This is because protecting your customers’ personal information is becoming increasingly essential for building trust and maintaining a strong brand reputation. To ensure user privacy, you must implement strong encryption protocols, use a secure payment gateway and have a clear and transparent privacy policy.

– Kelly Richardson, Infobrandz

9. Keep It Simple

Keep things simple, and don’t get carried away with all the bells and whistles at your disposal. Early on, it’s best to focus on getting a functional site live that makes it easy for visitors to find and purchase whatever you’re selling. A simple approach helps eliminate distractions from your site and helps ensure a frictionless shopping experience.

– Ian Blair, BuildFire

10. Pay Attention to Your ‘Checkout Flow’

When setting up your online store, pay attention to your checkout flow. Most people will leave a website with items in their cart if the checkout process is clunky or missing key features. I suggest including an “always on” shopping cart, a minimal payment form, a progress bar and multiple ways to pay to maximize your conversion rate.

– Daman Jeet Singh, FunnelKit

11. Optimize for Mobile

Optimizing for mobile is crucial when setting up an online store. With more and more customers using their mobile devices to browse and shop, it’s important to ensure your website is mobile-friendly and offers a seamless user experience. Failing to do so could lead to a significant loss in potential sales and customers due to frustrations during shopping.

– Andrew Saladino, Kitchen Cabinet Kings

Looking at the positives, it’s a great way to get your brand and products in front of a far larger target audience, and market to shoppers who are much more likely to be interested in completing a purchase. But, with so many factors involved in running a successful campaign, how do you decide whether an Amazon Advertising strategy is worthwhile for your brand?

To help you decide, here’s a breakdown of what Amazon sponsored advertising is and how it can benefit your ecommerce business.

What is Amazon Sponsored Advertising?ma

Amazon’s online marketplace provides its advertisers with a number of different ad type options, allowing for companies to showcase their brand and products in a way that best aligns to their personal goals and requirements. These options, commonly referred to as ‘sponsored ads’, provide advertisers with ways to market their products both on and off of the Amazon platform.

Your sponsored ads can be displayed in premium spots across the online marketplace, helping you to stay one step ahead of competitors by ensuring that your brand and its products take centre stage in places where they are most likely to be seen by your target audience. For example, this could result in your sponsored ads appearing at the top of Amazon’s search results.

They are also a cost-efficient way of advertising as Amazon sponsored advertising operates on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) model, meaning you only pay when shoppers click on your ads and go through to your product pages.

So, in a nutshell, that’s Amazon Sponsored Advertising. But what about the benefits it can bring to your business?

Boost your Online Visibility

Sponsored advertising can dramatically increase your online visibility. Your listings can appear at the very top of the product detail pages and search results, meaning shoppers are more likely to see your brand and products giving you the edge of competitors.

It’s a great way to drive impressions and clicks, increasing the overall likelihood that an interested buyer clicks on your listing to complete a sale. It’s also a good way to promote new products that shoppers may not yet be aware of.

Boost your Sales

Many Amazon shoppers already know what they’re looking for. They have an exact product in mind and are ready to buy – they’re just looking for the best possible price.

By placing your brand at the top of the search results, you’re making it easier for customers to choose your product over those offered by your competitors. If you’re offering the right product at the right price, shoppers won’t feel the need to look elsewhere – and you’ll see higher sales conversions.

Recap

So, to recap, Amazon sponsored advertising:

• Is a great way to showcase your brand and products
• Allows you to reach a much wider audience
• Gets your product in front of an audience who are ready to buy
• Boosts visibility of your brand and product on product detail pages
• Gives you an important edge over rival brands in the world’s most competitive marketplace
• Can boost conversions and drive sales

As a small ecommerce business, it’s not always possible to find the time to dedicate to the setup and management of a successful sponsored ads campaign. And if you’re new to Amazon too, it’s critical you get things right from the get-go. So, partnering with an Amazon ad agency may be the perfect solution. With a wealth of experience and inside knowledge, these agencies are able to help your campaigns run smoothly and effectively, allowing your brand to succeed online while you focus on running your business!

Can improve brand consistency

Relatively inexpensive and convenient

Requires coding

Might need a separate processor for in-person options

Stripe

Dwolla

WePay Clear

Braintree

Want to know how to stand out on Google? Many small business owners think it’s as simple as having a well-written ad.

It’s not.

To beat competitors on Google Search, you need to leverage SEO best practices across three pillars of a strong digital marketing strategy — your website, YouTube channel and Google Business Profile. Making the most of these marketing channels and the wide range of tools that Google offers small business owners can help you show up on Google and win more search traffic.

How does Google work?

Before we even look under the hood to figure out how Google works, please understand that there is no quick fix to “get your business to the top of Google.” In fact, if anyone ever tells you that they can get you to the top of the search results page, hang up the phone or press the spam button because there’s not a single individual with that superpower.

Google owns 92% of the search market share because of its algorithm, which helps it decide whether to show your business or a competitor to potential customers searching online. The complex algorithm works constantly to sift and sort through billions of websites and online resources, ranking them based on topic, relevance, prominence and performance. Google’s algorithm considers hundreds of ranking factors (also known as signals) to determine your business’s worthiness of showing up. Ranking factors can include:

• Age of your domain (e.g., com)
• Presence of relevant keywords throughout your web pages
• Creation of useful, original content
• Use of structured data
• Mobile-responsive design and more

At last count, SEO experts estimated that Google’s algorithm considers over 200 ranking factors, but this number can fluctuate each time Google updates the algorithm. Because Google is so tight-lipped about its proprietary algorithm, no one truly knows which ranking factors make the greatest impact, but there are some best practices you can follow to increase your chances of standing out on Google.

5 best practices to make your website stand out on Google

We can all agree that getting your website to show up higher on Google’s SERP (search engine results page) is important to win new business. According to Google, over half of online shoppers plan to use Google to research a purchase before they buy, so the higher your website ranks in relevant searches, the better your chance of attracting customers over a lower-ranking competitor.

As a Dedicated Trainer for Grow with Google, I teach a class dedicated to making your website work for you. In the class, I highlight several characteristics of a search-friendly website:

1. Fast load time.
2. Useful, original content.
3. Keyword strategy.
4. Mobile-responsive design.
5. Secure experience.

Let’s take a closer look at how to show up on Google by putting these SEO tactics to work on your small business website.

1. Fast load time

How do you feel when you click on a link, and it seems like the website takes forever to load? If you’re like most consumers, you close the tab and continue your search after just a few seconds. Google strongly considers a website’s load time, especially for smartphones and tablets. In fact, a study commissioned by Google found that faster load times led to reduced bounce rates and higher conversion rates because fast-loading websites create a more enjoyable user experience.

2. Useful, original content

The content on your business’s website — including text, images and videos — plays a vital role in helping your business show up on Google Search results for queries related to the products or services you offer. That’s because, as mentioned above, useful, original content is among the ranking factors Google considers for its SERPs.

To beat competitors on Google Search, make sure your website’s content is as helpful and unique as your business. (While you can find inspiration from your competitors’ website content, copying such content onto your site can actually hurt your chances of showing up on Google.)

Keep your website up-to-date with a mix of content that might include:

• Educational blog posts related to your area of expertise (e.g., “How to make the perfect hard-boiled egg” if you’re a personal chef)
• Behind-the-scenes videos that show your business in action (e.g., prepping ingredients for a catering gig)
• Lots of photos of your products and services
• Beefy product/services descriptions that make clear your edge over the competition
• Testimonials from satisfied customers

You might schedule an hour or two per week to freshen up the content on your website — an investment that likely could pay off on Google Search.

Related: How to create search-friendly content for each stage of the consumer journey

3. Keyword strategy

In a recent post, I covered an easy-to-follow process for researching keywords because they are still instrumental in your ability to show up on Google Search.

After you go through the keyword research process, decide on the main keyword for each page of your website. Use that keyword in your page title, page description, page content, and the page’s URL slug.

Pro tip: Increase your chances of showing up on Google Search by using unique page titles and descriptions for each page of your website.

4. Mobile-responsive design

Google stresses the importance of designing your site in a way that works with all devices and browsers because more than 54% of all internet activity occurs on smartphones and tablets. If your mobile users have trouble using your website, they’ll probably exit before making a purchase or scheduling an appointment, and they most likely won’t return.

Fortunately, most website builders (including GoDaddy websites) understand the importance of mobile-friendly websites, so if you’ve built your website recently or are just getting started, your site should work well with mobile consumers.

Pro tip: If you want to create a mobile-friendly website experience, be sure to test as you build. Open the website on your smartphone or tablet and click around, making note of improvements you can make.

5. Secure experience

When you are “online” and visiting a web page, the web browser you use is constantly communicating with a web server. As information travels back and forth between the server and your browser, hackers can potentially intercept it. No one wants to be hacked, which is why Google places emphasis on securing your website.

The next time you venture onto a website, see if you notice a padlock symbol to the left of the address bar. Or you may see that the website address starts with “https.” Both of these indicate that the website is secure, and Google appreciates that.

To secure your website, you need an SSL certificate. Secure socket layer (or SSL for short) is a technology that encrypts data by making the connection between your browser and the web server secure. Whether someone is filling out a simple contact form, scheduling an appointment, or buying a product on your website, SSL protects their information.

Editor’s note: GoDaddy’s Websites + Marketing solution (including for ecommerce) includes SSL.

How to stand out with a Google Business Profile

If you are a local business with a physical storefront or a service area, you need a Google Business Profile to help you show up on Google Search. A recent study found that a typical business receives 59 actions from its Google Business Profile. Those actions can include visiting your website, getting directions, or perusing your album of photos and videos to get a better idea of your business.

The name of the game is to optimize your Google Business Profile to increase your chances of standing out from your competition.

Because consumers are now trained to look at reviews before considering buying from you, you also want to focus on getting more Google customer reviews every month. By collecting new (hopefully positive) reviews, you let consumers know that you provide a quality experience, and you signal to Google that your business deserves to be shown higher in the search results.

How to show up on Google Search with YouTube

In addition to a search-friendly small business website and a robust Google Business Profile, maintaining an active YouTube channel for your business can help you show up on Google Search ahead of your competitors. Why?

1. Google owns YouTube.
2. YouTube is the second most trafficked website in the world.
3. YouTube is the No. 2 search engine behind Google.

Because YouTube is such an integral part of the Google ecosystem, it makes sense that video content uploaded to YouTube would also show up in Google Search if you optimize your videos properly. In fact, I’ve been able to optimize some of my videos so well that my content shows up at the top of the search results.

For instance, after performing some keyword research, I created this video about “finding the Google My Business login.” It’s not only become one of our top videos on the Bigger Better Biz YouTube Channel (driving new views and subscribers each month) but it’s helped us stand out from competitors on Google Search as an expert in managing and optimizing Google Business Profiles.

Related: How to make money on YouTube — The expert guide

Putting it all together

You started out wanting to know how to stand out on Google Search, and I’m hoping this article has given you some ideas and inspiration to accomplish your goal. Although there are hundreds of ranking factors that play into your ability to show up on Google, these tips for optimizing your website, Google Business Profile and YouTube channel can give you an edge over your competition.

Remember that SEO doesn’t just happen, and your placement at the top of the SERP is not guaranteed. Be patient, build your solid digital foundation, and stay tuned for more tips and tricks to build your bigger, better small business.

Amazon’s marketplace is as lucrative as it is crowded.

To profit as a seller, you have to stand out against over two million merchants. But if you do grab buyers’ attention, you’re bound to make sales since so many shoppers flock to Amazon. According to Seller App, a good conversion rate for Amazon sellers is between 10 – 15 percent, depending on the type of products listed.

The key to reaching Amazon shoppers is maximizing your listings’ visibility. There are so many products on the marketplace, and buyers don’t have the time or patience to sift through every single one. Make it easy for buyers to find your products, and you’ll be on track to win greater sales.

To boost your listings’ visibility, we’ll highlight nine key ways to drive external traffic outside of Amazon and internal traffic within the marketplace to your products. Using these strategies will lead buyers to your listings, so they can make their way down your sales funnel and become a customer.

What visibility means for Amazon listings

For products in your own online store, promotion is straightforward. You spread product awareness outside of your store through ads and other marketing efforts to drive traffic back to your listing pages.

Amazon listings are more complicated. They require both external and internal promotion. And with so much competition in the marketplace, sellers have to craft their listings to be highly visible on Amazon’s website, not just outside of it.

External promotion

External promotion for Amazon listing involves using outside channels to drive traffic back to your listing. It allows you to hook shoppers who aren’t already on Amazon to check out your listing.

Here are a few examples of external promotion methods for Amazon listings:

• Social media: Create ads and connect with influencers to spread awareness of your Amazon products and link back to your listings on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
• SEO: Include keywords your target buyers are Googling to have them rank high in search engine results.
• Getting backlinks: Find opportunities to link to your Amazon listings — such as publishing blog posts — to increase your items’ visibility and drive external traffic to your products.

With external promotion, you can make your listings stand out to shoppers outside of Amazon and maximize your sales.

Internal promotion

Internal promotion on Amazon helps you get more eyes on your merchandise. The process involves you paying the marketplace to present sponsored ads for your products, which are higher in search results.

Say you’re an Amazon merchant and you want to sell women’s sunglasses. You won’t be the only merchant selling the accessory on the marketplace. As shown below, there are over 20,000 other listings offering “sunglasses for women.”

Sunglasses aren’t an exception — Amazon, across all products, is saturated with merchants. To beat the competition, you have to find ways to increase your product listing’s visibility on the marketplace.

Here are two examples of internally promoting your Amazon products:

1. Win the Buy Box. When sellers share a single listing on Amazon because they all sell the same product, there’s always a Buy Box — the first highlighted price option.

Winning the Buy Box means prime visibility, so it’s a key way of attracting buyers on Amazon. Amazon considers a multitude of factors to pick the Buy Box seller — mainly price, but also others like credibility, seller rating, and shipping type. For Mrs. Jessie’s Quick Curls, the hair product company themselves won the Buy Box. As you can see below, they are the seller boldly listed on the upper righthand corner. Competing sellers are listed on the lower right corner — receiving less attention.

2. Rank high on Amazon product search results. Most buyers won’t move past the first page of search results, so getting a high ranking is a critical way to reach shoppers. You can boost your product rankings on Amazon by applying our promotion tactics below.

According to Amazon Seller Central, the marketplace search engine considers text match, price, availability, selection, and sales history to rank listings. These internal promotion tactics ensure shoppers can easily find your listing in Amazon’s crowded marketplace and make a purchase.

9 ways to promote your Amazon listings

An ideal Amazon promotion plan has a mix of tactics — including internal and external methods. You have to understand both marketplace policies — Buy Box winning and search rankings — to maximize sales. Also, look at ways to drive outside traffic to your listing. In this guide, we’ve outlined nine strategies for driving traffic from inside and outside of Amazon to your listing.

Let’s dive in.

1. Optimize your listings with SEO

Search engine optimization attracts a wide range of buyers to your listing. Both shoppers who are already on Amazon and those who are using other sites can find your listing when you include popular keywords. With these additions, search engines — both Amazon’s and others — determine that your listing is a relevant result and rank it higher.

Two key tools identify the keywords your shoppers are searching for most frequently.

1. Google Keyword Planner: This free tool indicates the monthly search volume of keywords on Google’s search engine. Since Amazon listings can rank on Google, this tool is especially helpful.
2. Scope: This is a keyword tool specifically geared for Amazon. It allows you to track keywords’ monthly volume, ranking position over time, estimated sales, and more.

You can learn more about other SEO tools for finding keywords using this guide.

Once you’ve collected your keywords, place them throughout your listing, such as in the title and description. Detecting these popular keywords, search engines will recognize your listing as a relevant result for your buyers’ searches and rank it higher.

2. Buy Sponsored Product ads

Even with SEO, there’s no guarantee your Amazon listing will be placed higher in search results. The marketplace’s engine considers other factors for ranking — selling history, price, and more — so SEO alone doesn’t necessarily lead to higher rankings.

To gain more control over their listings’ visibility, Amazon sellers can pay for the marketplace to sponsor their products and place them higher in search results.

Sellers only pay when shoppers click on their ad, so the payoff with Amazon promotion is guaranteed. Your listings’ visibility is increased, so shoppers on Amazon can easily find your product and potentially make a purchase.

3. Share listings on social media

The average person spends nearly 2.5 hours per day on social media platforms. Given this popularity, sharing your Amazon listings on social media through your business’ accounts is a powerful way of getting your products in front of more buyers.

Since your followers expect to receive value from your posts, it’s best to avoid creating posts on your account that are basically ads for your listings. Instead, it’s better to share your listing in more subtle ways that are still helpful to your followers.

Here are three ideas:

• Use a social media promo code. Merchants with a Professional Selling account on Amazon can create a promotion link to share through social media about a discount they’re offering. Unlike a traditional ad, sharing a promo code gives users value by helping them save money. For more details on setting up this promo code, check out Amazon’s guide.
• Share content that includes your listing link. Post an informative, helpful blog post or video that includes a link to your Amazon listing on LinkedIn, such as a how-to video or listicle. It’s a great way to indirectly promote your products through social media.
• Host a contest or giveaway. Announce on Facebook or Instagram that any user who posts your Amazon listing in their story will be entered for a chance to win a prize. This reward will motivate users to share your listing and spread the word about your Amazon products.

By creating exciting and relevant content on social, you can promote your Amazon listings in a way that feels natural rather than invasive.

4. Run competitor analyses

For internal visibility on Amazon, your listings need to stay ahead of competitors’ products. In buyers’ searches, your products will fall behind competitors’ items in rankings if you aren’t monitoring how those listings are engaging shoppers.

To keep your listings high in Amazon’s search rankings, here are three factors to monitor in competitors’ listings:

1. Price. You want to keep your listings’ prices at or lower than competitors’. Not only because shoppers are looking for the best deals, but you also want to win the Buy Box if you’re sharing a listing with other sellers. Plus, Amazon highly prioritizes price in choosing the box winner.
2. Images. When Amazon shoppers are browsing through search results, they’re not only looking at price — they’re also checking out images. Visuals can be a very persuasive factor in encouraging purchases, so make sure your listing has higher quality images than competing items.
3. Text. If your listing currently isn’t ranking high for your product keywords, it might be because the listing text isn’t considered relevant by Amazon’s search engine. Analyze the text of the current top-ranking listings for potentially relevant keywords you can include to boost your product.

Finding ways to make your listing outshine competitors on Amazon will increase your product rank in the marketplace’s search results.

5. Partner with influencers

Just like products in an online store, Amazon listings can gain significant traffic through influencer marketing. When prominent individuals in your industry stand behind your product and link to your listing, it sends a message to communities of your key buyers that your listing is worth checking out.

To promote your listing through influencer marketing, start by coming up with a list of key individuals in your sector with a large base of social media followers. Brainstorm this list by considering your own personal network or use an influencer platform like Influence.co.

Once you have a list going, check out this guide to learn about the best ways to reach out to influencers and measure results once they share your Amazon listings.

6. Maintain strong product ratings

First impressions matter when you’re on a marketplace as competitive as Amazon. Buyers are browsing through thousands of products, so they won’t settle for items that seem to be low-quality.

A clear way to give shoppers a positive first impression of your Amazon listings is to maintain high-star ratings. When buyers are browsing through Amazon search results, the star ratings are visible for each product.

Along with the price, these star ratings are a major factor in whether shoppers decide to click on your listings. They can’t see your products in person, so this feedback from other buyers is especially meaningful to shoppers trying to make a purchase.

Here are three tips for maintaining high-star ratings on all of your Amazon listings:

1. Describe your item exactly as it is in your listing. False product details and images may boost sales initially, but ultimately they only hurt your Amazon business. Buyers who receive a product that’s totally different from the listing are bound to leave a low rating in disappointment.
2. Provide excellent customer service. If you don’t handle customer requests properly, such as shipping an item late or not being prompt in completing a return, you’ll upset buyers. Avoid receiving a low product rating by delivering the item as expected and promptly resolving issues.
3. Reach out to disappointed buyers. When a customer leaves a poor rating, reach out to the buyer to see if you can still resolve their issue. If you can fix their problem, they do have the power to edit their review. And if they do, it’ll improve your product’s overall score.

Ratings are a key way for buyers to quickly assess your Amazon products. Make sure your items’ scores stay high to keep buyers interested in your listing.

7. Maintain strong shipping performance

Shipping, at first, might seem totally unrelated to promoting your products. But on Amazon, your shipping performance is a key factor in your listings’ visibility.

Amazon wants to keep shoppers happy, so they discourage poor shipping practices by making shipping a factor in winning the Buy Box and ranking high on Amazon’s search rankings. With consistent shipping issues, you’re less likely to win the Box or to rank high in search.

Instead of hurting your visibility, use these three tips to maintain a strong shipping performance on Amazon:

1. Regularly check your shipping performance metrics. In Amazon Seller Central, you can monitor key shipping performance metrics — like on-time delivery rates — to ensure you’re consistently offering great shipping and pleasing customers.
2. Use Amazon FBA. By signing up for Fulfillment by Amazon, sellers no longer have to worry about providing great shipping as the marketplace handles fulfilling your orders. If there are any complaints about your shipping from buyers, the marketplace will remove the rating since they are responsible for shipping issues.
3. Use inventory management software. Adopting an inventory management program, like GoDaddy Marketplaces, keeps you on track so you can avoid understocking and being unable to complete orders. GoDaddy Marketplaces monitors when your stock is low across channels so you always know when to reorder.

Always provide good shipping, and you’ll increase your potential to rank higher in search results and at winning the Buy Box. With this visibility, Amazon shoppers can easily find your products.

8. Monitor your seller rating

Like shipping performance, your overall seller rating on Amazon also impacts your chances of winning the Buy Box and ranking high in Amazon’s search results.

Punishing low-rated sellers with less visibility is a measure to keep Amazon shoppers happy and sustain the marketplace. It ensures buyers are working with merchants who have a positive record and can provide great service.

To keep your listings visible on Amazon, follow these three tips to maintain a high seller rating:

1. Monitor your seller rating. On Seller Central, you can view the factors that contribute to your overall seller ratings — such as Perfect Order Percentage and Late Response Rate — and determine which ones need to be improved to increase it.
2. Be prompt in customer service. Set a daily reminder to resolve customer issues and respond to customer messages. The quicker you give buyers attention, the more impressed they’ll be with your service.
3. Determine whether negative feedback could be removed. Amazon has clear guidelines for providing feedback. Review this post to determine whether any of your negative feedback from buyers should be removed.

Overall, make an effort to keep your seller rating as high as possible. You’ll help your listings stay visible through the Buy Box and Amazon search results.

9. Launch a Lightning Deal

Beyond convenience, many shoppers come to Amazon for the marketplace’s low prices. With this interest, a primary way of attracting Amazon shoppers to your listing is by launching a Lightning Deal.

Lightning Deals are time-based, marked-down products buyers can find in Amazon’s Today’s Deals section. They draw a lot of attention and sales from Amazon’s shoppers not only because they appreciate discounts but also because their limited time frame motivates buyers to make a purchase.

Sellers have to pay a fee, and Amazon has to approve Lightning Deals before they’re launched.

Here are three of the key guidelines sellers need to meet for their Lightning Deals to be approved:

1. Lightning Deals run for four to twelve hours.
2. Lightning Deals can only run once in a seven-day period.
3. You should have your proposed quantity for the deal available at least seven days before the deal is expected to launch.

To learn more about Lightning Deal guidelines and setting them up, review this guide. With Lightning Deals, more buyers will come across your listings in the Today’s Deals section — driven to purchase within the limited promotion time frame.

Play with promotion to boost Amazon sales

Promoting Amazon products is unlike traditional marketing for a single store where you’re mainly focused on driving external traffic. You also have to find ways to increase your listings’ visibility internally on Amazon. The marketplace is competitive, so you have to find innovative ways to make products stand out against other sellers’ items.

To simplify promotion on Amazon, make the most of the nine key strategies here for boosting your listings’ visibility inside and outside of the marketplace. Experiment with these different methods, and track your results to see which ones lead to greater sales. The more you test these tactics, the better equipped you’ll be to win the attention of Amazon buyers — leading you to stay ahead of competitors.

With over 152 million shoppers worldwide and 19 million sellers on eBay, there are plenty of opportunities to sell your products but also a lot of competition. As of 2022, there are a jaw-dropping 1.5 billion seller listings on eBay, and each day the marketplace becomes more and more saturated.

With more merchants selling the same items, eBay sellers have to strategically create their listings to stand out and attract buyers. Visibility, pricing, and photos are a few of the vital components that influence your shoppers and whether or not they will ultimately make a purchase.

To help boost your sales, we cover 10 tips to craft a top-selling eBay listing that builds buyers’ trust in your products and encourages them to make a purchase.

How to create a top-selling eBay listing

The key to securing your online sales, eBay or otherwise, is building buyers’ trust in your business. When trust is high, shoppers focus less on the potential risks of online shopping and feel ready to make a purchase.

How do you build that buyer relationship? Appeal to shoppers’ intuitive reasoning.

According to Harvard Business Review, people rely on their associative reasoning system—based on personal experience and intuition — when making risky decisions, such as an online purchase. This finding means that the intuitive factors of your eBay listings — aesthetics, professionalism, visibility — often have the biggest impact on whether shoppers purchase your eBay products.

Considering this research, we’ve outlined 10 tips that speak to shoppers’ associative reasoning. By improving the intuitive factors of your listings with these strategies, you’ll build buyers’ trust in your eBay business and give a boost to your sales.

1. Use high-quality photos

Because online eBay shoppers can’t see your products in person, your item photos matter a great deal. Through color, image quality, and more, product photos help buyers assess whether they want to purchase the item.

To make the right first impression, here are a few tips for curating your eBay product photos:

• Use high-quality photos. Well-lit, colorful, high-res photos build buyers’ confidence in your products—they can clearly examine your items’ details, so they feel ready to make a purchase.
• Make sure they’re sized correctly. eBay requires photos to be at least 500 pixels on the longest side. Pictures should be 1600 pixels on the longest side to optimize for mobile.
• Offer a selection of photos. Include a variety of photos that show off your products at different angles to provide shoppers with a better sense of your items.
• Keep your images minimal. eBay asks that sellers keep product images clean with an uncluttered background and no text or borders. Besides meeting the marketplace’s guidelines, following these rules eliminates distracting elements and keeps buyers focused on your products.

With a curated selection of product photos, your listings will give shoppers a clear idea of what to expect from your products. Shoppers then have the knowledge they need to feel confident in making a purchase.

2. Apply SEO to your listings

Online shoppers don’t want to browse through pages of products. To save time, they’d rather opt for one of the first results they see. With this reasoning, a listing that ranks high in eBay’s search results will likely attract greater sales than one with a lower ranking.

These search rankings are determined by eBay’s search engine, Cassini. In deciding which listings will rank highest, it considers which would be most relevant to the shopper.

A key factor in determining this “relevance” is keyword usage. When the keywords in your listing match your buyers’ search terms, Cassini considers your product to be more relevant for that shopper.

There are a few key ways to find out which keywords your buyers are frequently searching.

• Use a keyword research tool. You can take advantage of the eBay-specific keyword tool Terapeak or use a more general keyword tool, such as Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner, to generate a list of keywords that buyers are frequently searching.
• Conduct your own eBay search. Do a search on eBay for products that are identical and similar to yours, and note which keywords are most frequently used in the top-ranking listings. Since these listings rank high, these keywords are most likely searched frequently by buyers.

Once you’ve compiled a list of keywords, you can narrow down your list to the most popular words and phrases. Then, incorporate those keywords throughout your listing.

• Title
• Description
• Catalog specifics
• Listing specifics

While you want to distribute these keywords throughout your listing, avoid keyword stuffing. If you aimlessly add keywords that are frequently searched, Cassini will detect that your listing isn’t relevant to your buyers. Add keywords where meaningfully appropriate to keep your listings’ rankings high.

With a relevant distribution of keywords, your listing will be ranked high in target buyers’ search results and will, through greater exposure, achieve greater sales.

3. Promote with eBay advertising

Beyond SEO, you can improve your listings’ visibility with eBay Promoted Listings. Available to Top-Rated Sellers and eBay Store subscribers, this paid advertising program allows you to place your listings where they’ll get more exposure, such as the top of a search rankings page.

Shoppers can easily find Promoted Listings with their advantageous placements, so they’re more likely to buy those items.
But because Promoted Listings isn’t a free service, you want to ensure that you’re getting the highest value possible from the investment. Here are a few strategies for effectively placing promoted listings.

• Pick items that would benefit most from greater exposure. Items that are expected to receive a lot of attention, such as bestsellers and new items, will attract even more buyers with greater visibility through promotion.
• Pick a time for your campaign when shoppers are especially motivated to buy. Launching Promoted Listings when people are especially ready to make purchases, such as the holidays or special events, will most likely result in greater returns.
• Find an ad rate that boosts your ad’s chances of winning without hurting your budget. Consider your expenses and evaluate these average ad rates for eBay promotions to find an amount that works for your business.
• Test and track your results. Monitor your Promoted Listings dashboard in Seller Hub to determine if you need to improve the quality of your listings or adjust your ad price for greater returns.

Since it offers greater visibility for your products, eBay Promoted Listings allows you to attract more buyers to your items and generate more sales.

4. Maintain a high seller rating

Beyond SEO and promotions, visibility can also be impacted by your eBay seller rating. If you have negative feedback, the Cassini search engine will lower your listing’s ranking.

To ensure that your listing is visible (and that you’re keeping customers happy), you should always aim to meet eBay’s Top Rated seller benchmarks:

• Defect rate: Less than or equal to 0.5 percent, with three or fewer defects from unique buyers
• Cases closed without seller resolution: Less than or equal to 0.3 percent and two or fewer cases
• Late shipment rate: Less than or equal to 3 percent and five or fewer late shipments
• Shipping: Tracking uploaded within your stated handling time; carrier validation for 95 percent of transactions with U.S. buyers

Meeting these benchmarks consistently requires planning and diligence. Clearly understand what areas of your performance need improvement with these tips:

• Regularly monitor your ratings in Seller Hub. Check the performance metrics mentioned above in Seller Central consistently, and you’ll be able to catch if one is starting to slip and hurt your rating.
• Set a reminder to check messages from buyers. Shoppers value when sellers respond to their issues promptly. If you often forget to check buyer messages, set a daily reminder to respond.
• Convey an accurate dispatch time and shipping fees. Shoppers are quickly disappointed if shipping takes longer or costs more than originally expected. To keep buyers happy, always communicate accurate dispatch times and shipping fees.
• Ask buyers for feedback. Unless a major issue occurs, shoppers usually aren’t motivated to leave feedback. Give them some encouragement by sending a follow-up message one week after their purchase to request that they leave feedback. As a backup, you can use various tools to set up a feedback reminder to automatically request input from customers.

Implement these strategies, and you’ll be able to maintain a positive seller rating that keeps your listings’ rankings high.

5. Offer generous shipping and returns

When online shoppers are hesitant to purchase, they can often be convinced to buy when offered free shipping and fair return policies. If they end up not liking the item, they will appreciate that it won’t be costly or time-consuming to have it shipped back.

eBay buyers are no exception. The marketplace found that more than 60 percent of shoppers check return policies before completing an order.

If you don’t currently offer free shipping and free returns, consider how and why you might be able to switch to these policies and attract more shoppers.

• Evaluate your costs and whether any could be lowered. Are there any expenses that could be reduced? Finding room in your budget to accommodate free shipping and returns can be worthwhile if it helps you attract more sales.
• eBay now protects sellers who offer free returns if an item is returned damaged or used, enabling them the option to only offer the buyer a partial refund. Top-rated Plus sellers are required to offer free 30-day returns.

Switching to free shipping and return policies may seem risky and costly at first, but the investment is worthwhile. With the protections of these policies, reluctant buyers will have more confidence in your business and make a purchase.

6. Create a custom listing with software

Shoppers are attracted to listings with a professional look. A high-quality design builds buyers’ trust in your business as they associate a polished look with credibility.

Achieving this style, however, can be hard if you’re not a designer. Rather than hire an expensive freelancer, you can save money and still create a professional listing with software. Online programs, such as CrazyLister, provide templates to easily craft an eBay listing at an affordable price.

To take advantage of this listing software, choose your templates carefully.

• Avoid templates with too much clutter. If a template has too many elements — colors, text blocks, CTA buttons — shoppers are going to be distracted from your product and, as a result, might abandon the listing.
• Make sure the template is responsive with mobile devices. To keep your conversion rates high, it’s essential that your eBay listings are mobile responsive. According to BigCommerce, 6 percent of all U.S. retail sales in 2021 can be attributed to mobile ecommerce sales, and as Statista forecasts, that number is expected to jump to 10 percent by 2025.
• Highlight pictures more so than text. Visuals engage people more than text, so make sure your template showcases high-quality product photos to attract buyers.

Use custom listing software templates along with these suggestions, and your listing will have a professional look that builds shoppers’ trust and encourages sales.

7. List with eBay’s catalog

As an alternative to using custom listing software, you can achieve a professional look by listing items through the eBay catalog. Rather than creating your own unique listing, the eBay Catalog lets you share one with other merchants who are selling the same product.

For each catalog listing, eBay selects the product photos from sellers’ submissions, and the product info is presented in a standardized format. With this uniform look, eBay catalog listings look professional in the eyes of shoppers.

To list with the eBay catalog, your item needs to be brand new and match an identical item in the catalog. If your product isn’t already included, you can request that eBay add it in.

Offering a professional and refined look, the eBay catalog can help you impress and delight buyers, so they’re ready to make a purchase.

8. Select item specifics strategically

To maximize your products’ visibility, you’ll want to include relevant item specifics when creating listings. Item specifics are unique identifiers — color, brand, size — that help you distinguish your listing from similar products.

Item specifics will make it easier for buyers to find your item in a few ways:

• Item specifics help buyers find your items on eBay. Using the Refine column on the left of a product search, buyers can select item specifics to help them find your product.
• Item specifics help buyers find your item through a Google Product Search. For your eBay listings to appear through a Google Product Search, you need to include unique product identifiers that the search engine requires.

With more item specifics, buyers are more likely to find your listings through search engines — whether it’s eBay’s Cassini or Google — and move toward placing an order.

9. Have a competitive price strategy

As shoppers scroll through eBay listings, they’re comparing pricing, among other factors. To attract buyers while staying mindful of your finances, you want to find a price point that’s both competitive and fits your budget.

Finding that effective price point boils down to a few steps:

• Determine the cost of your product. Gaining a full sense of the expenses associated with your item will help you determine a price that’s profitable.
• Find out what competitors’ prices are. Search for your product type and note the prices of the top-ranking listings. You can find out pricing insights on your competitors in the Seller Hub. Keep current with updates on pricing guidance by checking out Seller Updates.
• Use psychological pricing to motivate buyers. Different methods, such as the Left Digit effect, can influence how shoppers perceive the value of your product and their willingness to pay. Understanding the psychology of competitive pricing will help you up your game as a seller on eBay and in ecommerce, in general.

After you’ve found a competitive price, you’ll want to consistently reevaluate your competitors and budget to make sure your price still works for your business and buyers. With a competitive price, your listing will attract shoppers and bring them one step closer to purchasing.

10. Make sure your listing is compliant

At the very least, your listing can’t attract shoppers if it’s not legally compliant. Failure to meet these standards can result in your listing being removed by eBay and disrupting your business.

eBay doesn’t pre-approve listings, so it’s your responsibility to make sure your listings are legally compliant. Examples of these legal requirements include:

• Not plagiarizing text or using images from other eBay listings without the owner’s permission
• Using brand names appropriately
• Making sure the listing is accurate to avoid intellectual property concerns

Review the full list of guidelines here for legally compliant listings. By being aware of these standards, you’ll be able to ensure that your listings are all compliant and won’t be removed, and your customers can keep shopping.

Follow these steps for long-term success

It may take some trial and error, but with these tried and true tactics, you’ll start to get the hang of which strategies work best to yield more clicks and purchases. With a strong foundation of listing best practices and tweaking as needed here and there, you will be set up for long-term success and greater profits in the future.

Image by: Bench Accounting on Unsplash

Amazon has come a long way from its humble beginnings as an online bookseller. Since its launch in 1994, Amazon has grown to become an ecommerce behemoth. These days, it’s one of the first places shoppers turn to buy anything from cleaning products to the latest tech gadgets.

And with $470 billion in sales globally, Amazon is the uncontested ecommerce leader and continues to grow and innovate.

This success took years to achieve and is due in part to Amazon’s strategic approach to growth. Although Amazon has now expanded into other avenues like streaming and food delivery services, any ecommerce business, regardless of where they start, can learn from Amazon’s example to grow their business and attract and retain more customers.

Here are six lessons that are at the center of why Amazon is so successful. Use them to make your ecommerce business more popular and profitable.

1. Highlight what other customers love

Long-term growth requires a customer-focused approach. When every aspect of the business prioritizes and anticipates the customer’s needs, your company is set to increase customer satisfaction and retention.

One way Amazon meets the needs of its customers is by tapping into the power of social proof through reviews and recommended products. On each product page, Amazon includes a section of recommended products based on what other customers who viewed that product have also viewed.

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Amazon gives its consumers the evidence and options they need in order to make a purchasing decision. Providing users with a “customers also bought/viewed” section taps into the consumer’s fear of missing out on the best or trendiest options. These sections also work to keep Amazon users engaged and continuously browsing.

Providing social proof pays off for brands. According to a Brightlocal consumer survey, 79% of people trust online reviews as much as word of mouth. Moreover, 94% said they are more likely to purchase from a business with positive reviews, and 92% said they are less likely to purchase from those with negative reviews.

What you can do

We live in an age where people share their experiences online, and reviews hold more weight than brand marketing.

Use this audience preference to your advantage by focusing on ways to make your customers happy. If you do a good job, your customers are more likely to share their experiences, which will help grow your customer base and increase your revenue — by lowering customer acquisition cost (CAC) and potentially boosting lifetime value (LTV).

2. Incorporate data analysis into your decision making

Amazon prides itself on its commitment to innovation and testing. They test every aspect of their business — from pricing to product selection — so decisions are based on customer needs and not what Amazon thinks customers might want.

As Bezos puts it, “Our customers are loyal to us right up until the second somebody offers them a better service. And I love that. It’s super-motivating for us.”

In part, it’s this constant threat of customers switching to the competition that drives Amazon’s innovation. Even though it’s the largest ecommerce retailer, with a worldwide revenue of $469.82 billion, Amazon is constantly in competition with other businesses.

Improving the products they already sell also helps Amazon achieve success. For example, as more customers choose to equip their homes with devices that make modern-day living more interactive and seamless, smart home devices increase in popularity. To compete with a smart speaker like Google Home, Amazon continues to upgrade its Echo to include more distinctive features. As a result, the Amazon Echo dominates the global smart speaker market.

[Source]

When it comes to features, Alexa on Amazon Echo was one of the first versions of voice-controlled tech. Amazon has gone further with its smart speaker tech to release the Amazon Echo Dot, a smaller, more affordable version, as well as the Echo Show to further cater to customers’ need to be connected.

What you can do

Be strategic about testing your products regularly and coming up with new ideas to meet evolving customer needs. For example, run A/B tests by selling limited edition products to test customer interest, send customer surveys, or use a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey to find who your promoters are and how many, so you can cater to their specific needs. Combine these efforts so it’s easier to make decisions and create innovative products, features and services based on data.

3. Get to know your customers

Amazon is constantly tracking and learning about its customers. As customers search and add products to their cart, Amazon uses this behavioral data to make product recommendations. The online marketplace shows customers products related to items they’ve recently browsed and based on their search habits:

At the bottom of the homepage, customers can also see more recommendations based on recent purchases and a history of products they’ve recently viewed. All of this information guides customers to buy more.

This personalization pays off. According to Evergage research, 78% of marketing professionals believe that personalization has a strong or extremely strong impact on advancing the customer relationship. Moreover, 92% say that customers or prospects expect a personalized experience. Whether it’s through email, website, or in person, successful marketers use data to provide better customer experiences and increase loyalty.

What you can do

Personalize your customer’s shopping experience based on their past behavior, location, and interest list of the customer’s recently searched items at the bottom of your product pages. This makes it easy for them to find the items and add them to their cart.

On your homepage, list products customers might be interested in based on what they’ve purchased or browsed in the past. If you let customers set up accounts on your store, consider setting up a past orders menu option. This feature makes it quick and easy for customers to find what they need and buy it again.

4. Build a community of trust through reviews and Q&As

When it comes to purchase decision-making, people often look to one another for guidance. Online reviews and question-and-answer sections can help increase trust and purchases. Research shows the most important aspect of a customer’s purchasing decision is high ratings and reviews. Consumers even prefer positive product feedback over discounts, coupons, or loyalty program offers.

Amazon taps into this trait of human nature by offering user reviews and a question-and-answer section. Through these features, the online marketplace builds a community where consumers can educate each other and move along the customer journey.

Amazon proactively asks recent customers to rate and review their experience. This feedback appears on the product page with a “verified purchase” flag, which adds to the trustworthiness of the review.

[Source]

Amazon also offers a customer question-and-answer section at the bottom of its product pages to give shoppers the option to ask specific questions before they buy something. Past customers provide answers:

[Source]

Both of these options make it possible for shoppers to rely on other customers for information and not solely on Amazon. Shoppers can read about honest experiences from other customers and base their purchasing decisions on feedback from those with similar needs.

What you can do

Send follow-up emails to customers to request a review of your product. You can also post requests for reviews in each customer’s personal dashboard, so when they log in, they’re reminded to submit a review directly on your site. Like Amazon, you should flag reviews to make it clear they’re submitted by people who actually bought the products they’re reviewing.

5. Build a loyalty program to incentivize customers

Loyalty programs increase engagement and profitability for companies. 79% of consumers stated that loyalty programs make them more likely to continue doing business with brands.

Amazon launched their loyalty program, Amazon Prime, in 2005 as a membership service that offered two-day free shipping and other benefits, like no minimum purchases or consolidating orders. In 2015, the service gained even more attention when Amazon Prime Day was launched. For one day only, Amazon Prime members have access to deep discounts and exclusive offers.

Prime has evolved since then to also include exclusive offers at Whole Foods grocery stores, access to their streaming platform and music service, and much more. As of 2021, Prime Day continues to be extremely popular with its members, bringing in $11.19 billion in global sales.

[Source]

Prime isn’t a loyalty program where customers automatically qualify — they have to pay an annual fee to join. But for many consumers, this fee is worthwhile as long as the program offers decent benefits. According to ClarusCommerce, over 70% of customers are even willing to pay a premium to join a loyalty program.

Shoppers are willing to pay for a Prime membership to gain access to all the benefits—special discounts, free shipping, entertainment, and more. The program taps into customers’ classic desires of saving money, fast deliveries, and easy returns.

What you can do

Create a program that offers incentives that get customers to come back to the store regularly and take advantage of special offers. For example, include access to free shipping, limited-time discounts, and other membership perks.

You can also personalize your membership benefits by offering timely gifts. Studies show that, in addition to saving money, 79% of customers want loyalty programs that care about them. Offer customers special rewards and bonuses during important occasions — like a membership anniversary or birthday — to show customers your brand values them.

6. Think of new ways to evolve

Amazon continues to grow as a result of its dedication to trying new things. If you maintain a mindset focused on evolution, you can foster more opportunities for growth. Amazon continues to grow as a result of its dedication to research and development, from scientific discoveries to improving its inventory planning system to developing the Amazon Fire Stick. The marketplace’s commitment to innovation keeps their business running smoothly and continuously growing.

[Source]

In the U.S., Amazon has made returns as simple as bringing your items (sometimes even unboxed) to locations like UPS, Whole Foods, or Kohls. They’ve partnered with these companies and introduced a QR code each place can scan to process your returns.

Source: Kohls/Amazon via Apartment therapy

Amazon’s focus on producing new ways to make the customer experience simple, seamless and entertaining keeps their shoppers engaged. Whether it’s by introducing new TV and movie programming as part of Prime membership or access to new audio content, Amazon is always looking for new opportunities to capture its audience.

What you can do

To innovate, look at what your competitors offer and find gaps you can fill. Listen to what customers are saying on social media, and ask your customer support representatives to log insights they get when customers call in.

Use any avenue where customers share information as an opportunity to learn from them and improve your business and product offerings.

Leveraging examples of what makes Amazon so successful

Since launching in 1994, Amazon has experimented and learned lessons to become the ecommerce giant it is today. Follow in the marketplace’s footsteps by tackling your growth strategically. Start with small changes, test and adjust. Pay attention to your customers and the changing landscape of ecommerce. Be persistent and dedicated with your innovation. If you have patience with the process, over time, you’ll see results.

When you have a great product or service, it is natural that you will want to get the most out of it. However, having an irresistible product or service and a great marketing strategy (never underestimate its power) is not enough to improve your sales and revenue — there’s always room to improve conversion rates.

You need to craft a high-converting landing page to help turn a larger percentage of your audience into customers. Luckily, you have stumbled on this post. In the next few minutes, you will learn about the key landing page elements to improve your conversion rates. Read on!

Effective landing page elements to improve your conversion rates

A landing page exists within a customer journey. It is reflected in what a customer does after they land on the page. As such, an effective landing page should align with the ad you are promoting.

For example, if your ad was about the best SEO services, a landing page that features an email marketing campaign might not lead to a conversion.

An effective landing page needs to be simple and clear with fewer elements to convert visitors into leads. Any distractions or unnecessary elements will draw the attention of your visitors away from your goal.

That said, here are the key elements of a high-converting landing page:

Your headline is everything

Your headline is the face of your landing page, so ensure it is attention-grabbing, clear and concise. After all, your headline will determine whether people will continue to read your copy or not.

As a rule of thumb, ensure that your headline compels people to read what is on your page. That said, here are the key elements of a killer headline:

Clear and simple

In marketing, simple yet clear headlines carry the day. That is why you should ensure that your users can understand what your landing page is all about to ensure they do not click off.

Do not send your visitors down a complicated path that is hard to navigate to the final stage. Instead, let your customers know what the page is all about in a simple, clear manner to improve your conversions.

Captivating

Your first impression matters a lot. Unfortunately, your headline should form an impression within a blink of an eye, and you will rarely have a second chance to make a great first impression.

As such, ensure that your headline is appealing and can get people’s attention instantly. The idea is to make it hard for anyone who lands on your landing to exit.

Resonate with your target audience

A great headline should attract the attention of your website visitors. Think about your specific website visitors and keep them in mind when writing your landing page message. Ensure that your message clearly states what you are offering and the problem it solves.

Provide value

People who visit your landing page are not just visitors; they are people looking for products or services to solve a problem. As such, your headline should clearly state how you will solve their pain points and make their lives easier.

Value proposition

Like your headline, your value proposition is unique to your business and matches what you are trying to communicate in your headline. Ensure that visitors understand a product or service as soon as they land on your page.

Most marketers make the mistake of putting information about who they are above the fold instead of letting them know what product or service they are offering.

Avoid this at all costs. Instead, use this real estate to let your visitors know how your product or service can help them.

The idea is to ensure that your prospect sees the benefit of what they are purchasing or signing up to. To further improve the conversion rate of your landing page, ensure your value proposition is reflected from the ad to the headline and into the body of your landing page.

One thing, though. Avoid using generic benefits on your landing page. Instead, clearly describe your benefits and add figures so prospects can understand what to expect from your product or service.

An impressive web design

If you need a high-converting landing page, you must pay much attention to your landing page design. That said, let’s look at visual elements that encompass a high-converting landing page.

High-quality images

Imagery is a critical part of a high-converting landing page. Images on your landing page should be high quality and relevant to your page. You can make your landing page more appealing using attractive images, illustrations, and infographics.

Educational videos

Visuals have a special place in marketing, with current surveys showing that consumers prefer videos over text. Additional information shows that only a handful of online readers read a copy till the end.

As such, videos offer an effective way to engage your audience and offer a platform to showcase your offers. The idea is to get more online users to spend more time on your landing page and know the benefits of your offer and how it will change their lives.

Enough spacing

No one likes to read a block of sentences. You must ensure that you have the right amount of white space between the text of your landing page, graphics and other page elements.

Social proof

Credibility is another crucial element of a high-converting landing page. So apart from a clear value proposition, social proof will help increase conversions.

The best way to get the most of this persuasion element is to collect testimonials from your previous clients and add them to your landing page. When you boost your credibility, prospects will trust you, making it easier to convert them to customers.

Page load speed

Landing page loading speed determines how good or bad user experience will affect SEO and other marketing campaigns. No matter the number of hours you have spent on your landing page, you will not get the most out of it if your website loads slowly.

In fact, most users are likely to leave your page immediately and head to a competitive page if it loads slowly. Imagine bringing visitors to your landing page only to leave because your website loads slowly.

Too bad, right?

Besides the speed, you need to ensure that your website loads quickly on all devices, including smartphones and tablets. After all, about 50% of website traffic comes from mobile, which is expected to rise in the coming years.

Google PageSpeed Insights will help get the necessary insights to improve your page loading speed. Implementing these suggestions will help improve your page loading speed and impact your SEO.

Clear call to action (CTA)

The CTA is another critical element of a killer landing page. This button offers an effective way to get your visitors to take action and is a sure way to get more leads and drive sales. The CTA button for a high-converting landing page consists of these key elements:

• Text — Your CTA message needs to be concise and action-oriented. The catch is to give your text a sense of urgency and use first-person to give your CTA a personal touch.
• Size — The size of your CTA button should be appropriate for your users. Remember, there are many mobile internet users, so ensure that your text can be seen on mobile devices.
• Color — The need for choosing the right color for a high-converting landing page cannot be overstated. To make your CTA color stand out, consider a color that contrasts with the background of your landing page.

Lead capture form

Lead capture forms provide a quick way to improve your landing page conversion rate. However, ensure not to ask for too much info as this will hurt your conversion rates. Lessen the required fields to ensure that you don’t overwhelm your visitors with questions and increase their chances of abandoning the form.

Asking your visitor’s name, email, contact details, and location will do the trick. You can always ask for more information at later stages of your engagements.

Short, actionable copy

The need for an engaging copy for a high-converting landing page cannot be overstated. You need to work with an experienced copywriter to help create a landing page that can convert.

Your copy needs to be short and actionable.

Any landing page with more than 50 words above the fold will lead to a higher bounce rate. Ask any experienced marketer, and they will tell you that creating a clear and actionable copy for your landing page works any day.

The catch is to ensure that your copy can evoke your audience’s emotions. Ensure that your copy highlights how your prospects can benefit from your products or services and how it will make their lives easier. In other words, your copy should not talk about your product’s features but rather the solutions.

A guarantee

Trust is a crucial component for a high-converting landing page. After all, if prospects cannot trust you, they are unlikely to buy from you. You can make customers trust you by offering a money-back guarantee on your landing page. Regardless of how you do it, a guarantee will help improve conversions.

Here’s what to remember when creating a guarantee for your landing page:

• Guarantees come in different forms. Select the one that works best for your business and include it on your landing page.
• Place your guarantee statement around the CTA to give your prospects some assurance and increase the chances of conversions.
• If you do not have a specific product guarantee, such as a money-back or satisfaction guarantee, you can offer other types of guarantees like a “no-spam guarantee.”

As you can see, you do not need to provide an explicit guarantee or talk about its legalities. A guarantee statement that provides a level of comfort to your prospects will do the trick.

Include trust badges

Trust badges can significantly increase your landing page conversion rates. As earlier stated, people want to purchase something from a brand they trust. In fact, many (if not all) will click on the badges to check your reviews to confirm whether they are legit before deciding to do business with you.

You will experience an increase in your conversion rate by including trust badges on your landing page.

This can include testimonials, media mentions, and corporate rewards. That said, here are some tips when adding badges and seal tests:

• Place the badge close to the “place order button” or any other desired action
• Include the badge or seal in your header
• Make the badge or seal clickable

A/B test everything

You are not yet done. You need to A/B test everything to ensure you have more accurate data on all the changes you make on your landing page. This is especially important if you make more than one element of your landing page and want to know which one has the best conversion rates.

It is crucial to test one major element at a time.

These include the headline, design, layout, etc., to determine which of the changes has the most impact on your landing page conversion rate. The idea is to be certain the change in conversion rate results from a change you made.

Ready to improve your conversion rates?

That is it. These are some of the elements of a high-converting landing page. By following the above tips, you will improve your landing pages conversion rates and return your investment. However, before I let you go, let us look at some reasons why landing may not be converting. These can include:

• Misunderstanding your prospects needs
• Poor headlines
• Non-intuitive design
• Unclear CTAs
• Distractions

By avoiding these mistakes and implementing the above elements, you will improve your landing page conversion rate. The catch is to take your time to understand how users interact with your page and keep testing the changes you make to determine the steps to take.

Products mentioned

For many entrepreneurs, bloggers and ecommerce website owners, buying a domain is an exciting first step to entering the online marketing world. For some people though, it can be an overwhelming time when faced with the question of what to do next: Figure out how to get traffic to your new domain.

Unfortunately, the name alone will not get you much in the form of traffic.

As I’ve joked here on the blog in the past — building a website isn’t like “Field of Dreams.” Just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come.

In fact, most people will not know your domain name, let alone that you’ve launched a website. Therefore, you’ll have to find a way to get in front of them and make them aware of it.

Having traffic makes it more likely for someone to become a customer or take other actions from your site. But what is the best way to get those critical eyeballs to your new domain?

The good news is there are many methods for how to get traffic quickly, and some are easier than others. If that sounds good to you, keep reading and hopefully, you’ll glean some ideas to get traffic to your new domain name fast!

Why does your domain need traffic?

People buy domains for various reasons, but most do so with the hope of building a website that converts visitors into paying customers. In some instances, a site may get a lot of traffic without much work or effort on the owner’s part. Other sites will find it more challenging and it will require more work to attract people.

Still, getting traffic to a new domain is usually the starting point for any business owner hoping to make money online. Here are some reasons you might want to get traffic to your new domain.

1. Conversion data

Whether you’re just starting or have been doing business for years, you may not have had the chance to get conversion data. Knowing how many people come to your site and how they navigate the pages can help you make future marketing decisions.

2. Offers on your site

Offers are one way of getting money from people visiting your site. Whether you’re offering affiliate products or something else, having a site that people see and ultimately buy from can provide income.

However, it’s important to note that not everyone who comes through your site will buy something. Even if someone doesn’t make a purchase now, they might do so in the future.

3. Raising your domain authority

Getting traffic to a new domain name is helpful because it can help you build up domain authority.

If you find yourself getting more of the right kind of backlinks or social media shares, this could all help with increasing your overall authority on the internet.

You also might see an increase in search engine rankings as a result.

4. Building your brand

Getting traffic to a new domain could also be used to help grow your brand online. People are likely to remember sites they visit regularly. Even if you don’t get direct conversions from the site, getting people there for other reasons could be an effective way of consistently staying top-of-mind with your audience.

How to get traffic to a new domain

Now that you understand the merits of why driving traffic to a new domain is essential, it’s time to talk about how to get traffic quickly. Here are some of them:

1. Buying established domains to build your domain portfolio

When trying to get traffic to a new domain name, some companies may choose to purchase multiple established domains as part of an overall plan to build their portfolio. This includes both purchasing generic keywords and brandable names for later use.

Having a network of domains can allow someone to send traffic to lower authority domains (new ones like your website) from one high-authority domain with the hope of gaining a higher ROI from it. This can be a way for someone without high domain authority to compete with more established websites.

While this method can require time, energy and significant resources, it can sometimes yield the results you’re looking for.

2. Paying for traffic with advertising

Paying for advertising can be a great way to get people to visit your new domain. This can be done through paid ads on social media sites or even more targeted campaigns on search engines like Google Adwords.

Marketing with advertisements is often one of the best ways to quickly generate high volumes of traffic, but it can also be one of the more expensive options. This strategy can be complicated for beginners who may not have the experience or know-how to implement it properly.

3. Linking out to other sites

You often can drive traffic to your new site by getting other people to link to you. You can do this by putting up valuable content on other websites that link to yours.

One of the more popular approaches is known as guest posting, where you contribute an article to another site on a topic related to yours in some way. This can help direct readers to check out your new domain name.

4. Social media reach

Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or another social media site, getting attention on social media platforms can help you promote your domain.

Social media is a great way to generate traffic because it doesn’t require too much effort to get started.

It’s also great for beginners because it’s less expensive than other types of marketing.

Many entrepreneurs I have spoken with feel that paying for advertising on social media will yield the fastest results. Though admittedly, most have said Facebook is dying out in terms of click conversions. Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok are still driving traffic, however.

5. Email advertising

If you have access to an email list (yours or someone else’s), you can use it to promote your domain. Emails featuring links to important pages on your site, like the homepage or a contact page, can help generate interest and bring people to your site.

What do I mean by someone else’s email list? You could guest post for an established blog or website, and if they send the post via email, there is the potential to drive traffic. Another idea is to pay for advertising in their newsletter. A third option is perhaps the riskiest, and that is to buy the list.

You always want to use caution when buying email lists to drive traffic as it could get you blacklisted for spam. Still, it sometimes can work depending on their website’s niche and their introductory email.

6. Influencers and partnerships

In some cases, people who have a big social media following or email list may be willing to partner with you.

Sending free products or a trial of your service and encouraging them to share with their audience is one way to collaborate with others.

This can be a compelling strategy for getting traffic to your new domain.

Of course, it’s worth noting that the higher the level of influence, the more likely it is that you’ll need to pay for access to an influencer’s audience.

7. Guest posting and guest podcasting

I alluded to this in the email advertising tip, but hijacking, er, I mean borrowing other people’s audiences is a great way to get traffic to a new domain name quickly. Writing guest posts on established websites and getting featured as a guest on well-known podcasts will often result in backlinks that can drive people to your website.

The most important thing you can do if this is the method you choose is to deliver maximum value to the audience of the podcast or website you hope to be featured on. The truth is that website owners and podcast hosts know most people are fishing for backlinks, and as a result, they are becoming much pickier about who they feature. Therefore, it’s critical you give a decent pitch and give them more than just a watered-down version of content they are already sharing.

And, the more places you are featured, the more likely you are to get featured somewhere else. Read this post on how to start guest posting for a step-by-step guide to establishing your authority.

Note: Many of these tips can be repurposed for guest podcasting too!

8. Get lucky and go viral

This is the hardest method on the list, but I’ve seen websites crash from the amount of traffic they got from going viral. If you have a funny, scary, gross or otherwise wildly engaging idea for social media or YouTube, it could yield untold amounts of interest in your website.

For this method to work best, you’ll want to add your website link to the bio of all of your social media profiles, YouTube description boxes, about pages, etc. After all, if you go viral and no one knows how to find your domain, all that effort would have been for naught.

9. Organic traffic through SEO

I saved this one for last because although it’s not the fastest way to drive traffic, it’s a tried-and-true method for how to get traffic to a new domain. Plus, it doesn’t cost anything directly and will have the longest staying power.

SEO strategies often take content creation into account, so you will need original written content on your website. This content should be helpful to consumers and past the point of being self-promotional. It should focus on providing value and driving people to take action, such as visiting your FAQ page or contacting you for more information.

As with any marketing strategy, traffic-driving tactics need to be tailored to fit your audience and your niche.

What works for someone else may not work for you, so experimentation is often the best way to know if something will be helpful or not.

Conclusion and next steps

If you have been searching for how to get traffic quickly to your new domain, this post may have burst your bubble. That’s not to say that you can’t get traffic to a new domain name fast. It will take effort, and if speed is the primary goal it might take advertising funds, but it can happen.

Getting traffic to your new domain can be a manageable task if you know the right way to go about doing it. With these tips, you should have no trouble getting people to visit your site — though it may take longer than you would like. Your best bet if you plan to make money online is to focus on the long game and start by putting out really good content.

Try to blend these traffic-driving strategies with your content marketing plan so you can attract the right kind of visitors. And, as I often say on my podcast May your page views be high, and your bounce rate be low!

It’s hard to keep relevant when you run an offline retail business.

Having an online store isn’t the exception, it’s the expectation, and when websites and commerce aren’t a part of a business strategy, it becomes increasingly difficult to remain resilient.

For instance, a recent IBM Retail Index report found the pandemic accelerated the shift toward ecommerce by roughly five years.

Meanwhile, in-store Black Friday sales dropped off a whopping 28% between 2021 and 2020 while online sales surged by 21% in the same period.

To adapt, many offline business owners find themselves launching online stores for the first time.

Others are making it easy for customers to order online and do curbside pickup.

And the savviest are experimenting with omnichannel selling, using their website to manage sales on Facebook, Instagram, and the other places their customers already spend their time.

If you haven’t done so already, the evidence is clear that it’s time to bring your brick-and-mortar store online.

In this post, we’ll walk you through everything you need to have a successful transition to selling online.

Table of contents

1. Research your ecommerce strategy

There are a variety of websites and tools you can use to understand consumer online shopping habits. Some sites that provide these insights for free through their blogs include eMarketer, McKinsey, PWC, Comscore, Pew Research, Nielsen IQ, and Think With Google Research Tools.

Take some time to research:

• How do your target customers prefer to shop online?
• When are they most likely to shop?
• Which channels are they most likely to use to discover your site?

For example, your target customers may prefer using a mobile device versus their desktop. Others might prefer to contact your store online through text messages rather than email.

Knowing this will help you to choose the right ecommerce platform to build and host your website, and create customer experiences that meet or exceed expectations.

Install a web analytics tool to learn as you go

Moving beyond third party research, using a website analytics tool will show you how people actually interact with your site:

• How your customers shop on your website after you launch
• What are your most popular product pages
• How they find your site through channels like search, social media, and blogs or traditional media sites

Google Analytics is free and is a popular option for many small business online retailers. To get started, watch this video which highlights some primary uses and benefits.

Ask your existing customers for help

If you already have a social media presence to promote your physical stores, you can also reach out through that channel to ask what your customers are looking for in an online store.

Their comments on various social channels can also give you insights into which products are the most popular and which ones they’d be likely to buy from you online.

Additionally, you can post an online survey on your social channels to find out what they might want in an ecommerce solution. Tools SurveyMonkey or Google Forms are an excellent place to start.

If you already have a customer email database in place, you can also send the survey out through that channel. It’s helpful to offer an incentive to get people to answer your questions, such as a gift card giveaway contest or a coupon code to use once your new site is live.

Research competitive ecommerce sites

Finally, take a look at your top competitors’ ecommerce websites and social media channels to see how they are targeting customers through savvy copywriting, design, and photography.

Make a list of the strengths and weaknesses of each site so that you can iterate on what works well for them and improve on what doesn’t.

2. Choose a reliable ecommerce website builder and hosting service

Once you’ve researched your market, the next step is to invest in the design, build, and launch of your ecommerce storefront.

Select and purchase a domain name

Likely, you’ll want a domain name that is an exact match to your business.

If the domain name you want is already taken or is too expensive, try for an abbreviated version of the name, or a different extension, such as .shop or .store for general ecommerce, or get more specific with .jewelry, .clothing and .coffee.

The price to purchase a domain name typically ranges from $2 to $20. However, there can be hidden costs. Refer to our domain name guide for more details on what to expect.

You can play around with different domain name options via this search box:

INSERT DOMAIN SEARCH BAR HERE

After you’ve selected a memorable URL, you’ll need to find a reliable website hosting service.

Many services — like GoDaddy’s online store — offer tools to build your own website for free.

Some things to look for in an ecommerce platform:

Accessibility: Your website hosting and design service provider should offer affordable (free or for a monthly fee), and easy-to-use templates. That’s for both an intuitive front-end design for customers and a back-end dashboard for managing orders and inventory.

They should also offer a variety of payment solutions and, preferably, a flat fee for service charges.

Customizability: Since it can get expensive to hire a graphic designer and website developer, the design templates offered by your service provider should be easily customizable and intuitive for anyone without a coding or design background.

Mobile-optimized: According to Oberlo, “nearly three out of every four dollars spent online today happen through a mobile device.” That’s why it’s critical that you select a mobile-optimized design theme and template for your new online store.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant: Since credit card fraud and security breaches are a constant threat to ecommerce businesses, it’s crucial to find a service provider, like GoDaddy Payments and Online Store Builder, that comes with PCI compliance built into its ecommerce solution.

The business must also follow proper technical and operational standards, monitored by the PCI Security Standards Council, to secure and protect the data provided by credit cardholders which are transmitted through card processing transactions.

Secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate: SSL is a security protocol that creates an encrypted link between a web server and a web browser. When customers see a tiny lock icon beside your domain name URL in their web browser, they’ll rest assured that their online transactions and information are both private and secure.

Keep in mind that a robust, templated ecommerce store building solution should be available in one quick install, and should include:

• An affordable website template/theme
• Product pages
• Shopping cart
• An encrypted payment processing solution
• Secure hosting for your site

3. Select an enticing store theme and template

Once you’ve selected your URL and platform, you’ll need a theme to suit your online store’s functionality and branding needs.

GoDaddy Online Store Builder offers multiple solutions to accommodate a variety of businesses — from selling goods and services to allowing customers to book appointments online.

If you’re on a tight budget, start with a free theme or basic paid package (starting at $14.99/month) and re-evaluate your needs over time.

If you already have a managed WordPress website, you can also integrate WooCommerce themes and extensions to build an ecommerce storefront for your brick-and-mortar store that processes transactions using GoDaddy Payments.

Once your visual design is sorted, invest heavily in product descriptions and photography to appeal to as many of your visitor’s senses as possible.

If you’re creating copy and taking photographs yourself, here are  Just be sure you have the time to learn how to do it properly by watching videos or reading blogs on popular ecommerce sites.

4. Carefully select the products you want to sell online

While you already sell products in-store, you’ll need to decide which products to sell online. Between shipping, packaging, and a number of other factors, the margins on selling your products online can be very different than what you’re used to.

In those cases, you might want to take customer payments online but offer curbside pick-up, instead. You can also offer bundled solutions like the example below.

Other product and shipping considerations

When putting together your online product sales plan, ask yourself the following questions:

• Will you feasibly be able to package your products yourself, or will you need to employ someone to help you with it? If so, then budget that cost into your shipping fees.
• How are you going to store and track your inventory? You’ll need inventory-tracking software — ideally built into your ecommerce hosting and design solution. You can also use your stock room if you already have a physical storefront. Otherwise, you’ll need some sort of product storage solution.
• How, when, and why are you adding new products to your website? Be strategic about adding the right items and consider seasonal sales items and discounts.

5. Choose your online sales channels

For example, you might want to sell and ship products exclusively online. On the other hand, you might want to offer customers the option of buying your products online and then coming to your store for curbside pickup.

In fact, “85% of shoppers have increased curbside pickup” since the pandemic started. And many of them want that pickup process to be completely contactless.

You can also offer contactless payment and other online shopping solutions in-store for customer convenience and safety.

Of course, the reverse can also be true where you can also have “online exclusive” products which can be used to encourage your in-store customers to shop online.

Select ecommerce payment providers

There are many options to choose from when selling online. The most common way is to sell your products via an online store or to add ecommerce functionality to your WordPress blog using WooCommerce.

In either case, you need a domain name and checkout page where customers can complete their transaction via their credit or debit card or using their preferred third-party payment provider like PayPal, Apple Pay, or GoDaddy Payments.

Many small businesses prefer to use a third-party payment provider. That’s because it minimizes your security risks by storing customer credit card data through an encrypted service via the payment provider and not on your site.

GoDaddy Payments lets small businesses sell via all major credit card and debit card providers, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. It comes with advanced online encryption while maintaining the strictest payment card industry (PCI) compliance standards.

Likewise, your payment product questions and issues are managed 24/7 by GoDaddy’s customer support team.

GoDaddy Payments also offers the lowest fees (2.3% + 30¢ per online transaction) compared to other leading providers, and the money arrives in your account by the next business day. As a bonus, there are no long-term contracts, monthly minimums, or surprise fees to worry about.

It’s easy to set up your account in minutes, and you can manage all of your orders, inventory, customer reviews, and email in one place using the GoDaddy Online Store dashboard.

6. Consider your online payment solutions

If you don’t have the time, money, or resources to launch an ecommerce store right now, you can still sell online to customers using other sales channels.

GoDaddy Payments recently launched a variety of online sales solutions for small businesses.

Sell anywhere with shareable pay links

If you do most of your business with customers via text messages, email, social media or over the phone, you can process transactions using a customizable GoDaddy Payments Online Pay Link. Simply add your store branding and the cost of the transaction, then easily create and share a pay link with customers in minutes.

You can even transform a pay link into a scannable QR code with one click. Then post it or let customers print it anywhere to scan and pay in person quickly.

Via your GoDaddy Payments dashboard, select Pay Links and enter the price, description, and image for your payment request. Then, send your newly created payment link to your customer (through your preferred sales channel), and it’ll take them to a secure checkout page to complete their purchase.

After your customer completes the transaction, you’ll get paid by the next business day.

Related: GoDaddy Payments — Now available with Online Pay Links and Virtual Terminal

Turn your phone or computer into a virtual terminal

The new GoDaddy Payments Virtual Terminal allows you to accept credit card payments right from your computer, tablet, or smartphone.

It’s a simple, secure way to get paid when your customers aren’t standing in front of you (e.g., collecting credit card info over the phone). And you don’t need any extra hardware like a card reader to complete the transaction.

Simply log in to your GoDaddy account and open Virtual Terminal on your Payments dashboard. Then, take your customer’s credit card info, type it into Virtual Terminal, and confirm the charge. Again, you’ll receive your payment by the next business day.

Get a point-of-sale (POS) system for contactless payments

The global pandemic has also influenced a dramatic shift away from in-person cash payments to contactless payments. As a result, small businesses should look for innovative point-of-sale (POS) systems that allow them to evolve with their customers’ in-store payment preferences.

GoDaddy’s POS system offers a variety of payment hardware solutions, including contactless payments, with the lowest transactional fees (2.3% + 0¢) per in-person transaction.

It allows you to quickly and easily take credit and debit card payments, plus contactless payments with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Then you can track it all in your GoDaddy dashboard.

Additionally, you can connect GoDaddy’s POS with your GoDaddy Online Store to help unify and expand your selling and enable customers to buy online, pick up in-store, or book online and pay in-person.

You’ll also benefit from the following hardware solutions:

Dual screens: GoDaddy’s dual-screen POS makes checkout a breeze. Plus, the all-in-one terminal includes a built-in payment processor, scanner, printer, and security.

Tap, dip or swipe payments: You can use the included charging dock to go hands-free. One single battery charge keeps your sales going longer, and you can connect your Card Reader to your GoDaddy Mobile App to start taking quick and easy payments.

Peace of mind: Every GoDaddy POS checkout is PCI secure, and every device comes with a one-year limited warranty and thirty-day refund.

7. Market your new ecommerce site online and in-store

Once you’re ready to take your brick-and-mortar store online, it’s time to let your customers know about it.

There are several ways you can do this affordably — all of which will require an investment of your time at a minimum.

Encourage customer ratings and reviews

Consumers have always trusted opinions and product recommendations from their peers over advertising or PR messaging.

That’s why you should encourage your ecommerce customers to provide ratings and reviews on your product pages and learn how to appropriately respond to all online reviews — both positive and negative.

To use positive reviews and ratings as a promotional tool for your ecommerce business, refer to our comprehensive guide, which includes some helpful case studies.

Boost your social media activity and presence

Whether or not you already have a social media presence, it’s crucial to start boosting your online social activity and brand profile to drive traffic back to your new ecommerce website.

Creating and sharing valuable social media content is both an art and a science. Luckily we have created lots of content with tips and advice to help you do it properly.

You can start by watching the video below to learn how to think like a digital marketer to reach, engage, and convert customers on social media:

Next, read through our time-saving social media tips for business owners, and learn about other best practices to expand your reach and grow your business.

Build an email marketing database

Email is a highly targeted and effective way to increase ecommerce traffic and sales to your new ecommerce website. Start by gathering customer email addresses both in-store and online once you launch your site (if you haven’t done so already).

To incentivize customers, consider offering a 10% to 20% discount on their first order in exchange for their email opt-in to your newsletter. Then you can contact those customers whenever you’re doing a seasonal promotion or new product launch.

It’s equally important to set up an email report in analytics to help you track how your email campaigns perform in driving new sales transactions and site visits. To learn how, refer to our beginner’s guide to starting an email list.

GoDaddy Online Store Builder comes with built-in email marketing functionality. Have a look at this walkthrough to get started.

Use search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is a highly effective yet often time-consuming traffic-driving strategy for your new ecommerce store. More than 80% of consumers frequently search online before they purchase a product or service. Likewise, “SEO drives ten times more traffic to a site than organic social media.”

Your best bet is to start small by creating engaging and educational content through a blog or through online videos, and work on building links back to your website through other websites.

To ensure your new ecommerce site appears in search engine results, read our SEO beginner’s guide or watch this video.

Advertise online

Once you’ve begun to build up your site traffic and are more aware of the most popular and highest-rated products on your site, you might want to invest in paid advertising.

Take a look at your website analytics to see which sites drive the most organic traffic to your online store. Then invest in advertising with those sites to drive even more targeted traffic back to your top product pages.

Watch this video for tips on how to get started with paid online ad spending.

Promote your ecommerce site in-store

Be sure that customers who frequently visit or pass by your brick-and-mortar store know about their new online shopping options.

Promote your new domain name on your retail storefront window or awning, shopping bags, receipts and anywhere else that they might see it when they shop in person.

Prioritize customer service

A happy customer is always your best word of mouth marketing tool. If you can’t hire someone to help you with online customer service, then set aside time each day to answer customer emails and phone inquiries, update order statuses, and enter their shipping details.

Before you take your brick-and-mortar store online, ask yourself:

• How will you send shipping confirmations to customers?
• Who will handle phone and email inquiries, how, and when?
• Do you need a separate business phone line?
• How and when should you answer social media questions and comments?

You can save some time by developing and posting an FAQ section on your website, and creating templated email responses to your most common customer inquiries.

It’s time to bring your brick-and-mortar store online

Ecommerce sales are soaring, and customers have accelerated their online shopping habits and preferences because of the global pandemic. As a result, brick-and-mortar stores must re-think their sales strategies.

Even if your retail store sales are solid, it’s time to offer online and contactless payment solutions to satisfy your customers’ evolving shopping needs.

With the right online and in-person sales strategy, using a PCI-compliant provider like GoDaddy Payments, you can rest assured that your customers’ privacy and security are in good hands.

For even more ecommerce tips and strategies, read our post: “How to start an online store.”