Growing Your Business Online: The E-Commerce and Digital Marketing That Go Hand-In-Hand
Setting up an online store involves a lot of thinking and decision-making for any business. Having an online store doesn't guarantee visitors.
You could have the products everyone wants in the perfect beautiful website and still not get customers.
The issue is that it does not matter how good your website is, if your customers can't reach or comprehend it, you won't make a sale.
This is why, in our opinion, your e-commerce website and digital marketing should complement each other. One brings people in; the other keeps them.
Below are a few tips regarding your e-commerce website and how to best accompany it with digital marketing.
Your Website Shouldn't be Difficult to Use Before You Even Market It
Your website is a tool to sell your products, so it should be fast, mobile-friendly, and easy for customers to use. Your online store should be simple.
Things that contribute to this are:
- Page loading time – everyone is impatient, particularly online
- Mobile optimization – lots of people browse online via mobile
- Easy navigation and accessibility – products have to be easy to find
- Detailed product descriptions – provide anything a customer would want to know
- Secure transactions – keep your customers' and your data safe
- Easy purchase process – don't keep customers at any roadblocks
You don't need unnecessary bells and whistles; you need something that doesn't frustrate the customer.
Your Product Descriptions and Pages Need to Compel People to Buy
It's important that you optimize the product page, because it is the place where a customer reads and browses the item.
A picture is worth a thousand words and can help sell the product, but a lot of people will need descriptions detailing what you have in pictures.
This could include:
- Materials
- Sizing
- Purpose
- Shipping
- Returns
- FAQs
- Anything else they may be considering in their purchasing decision
This is also where SEO can assist.
If someone is looking to buy an item you carry on Google, the page needs to have all of the information they want on that item for them to be drawn to your website specifically.
All of this helps Google understand what your web page is about, therefore boosting your SEO.
Your page titles, product names, descriptions, and information should be detailed, but also written in a way that is comprehensible, relatable, and in human language – not just keywords, which can lose the reader.
Your Website is Built – Now it's Time to Attract Customers
Now that you have invested time and money into the aesthetics, function, product pages, and described your offerings, the question becomes, how do I get people to come to my website?
Now is when you bring in digital marketing to get those customers online.
You have various options to get your store discovered, and you don't have to do all of them. Below are some examples of digital marketing for e-commerce and how to use them.
1. SEO
Search Engine Optimization, better known as SEO, can drive plenty of organic sales to your website. SEO is the process of improving your website so that it is better found by those searching online.
The upside of SEO is that, once optimized, your website will likely continue to gather traction without having to pay for each visitor. The issue is that the improvements are usually slow and require constant upkeep.
However, with the proper on-page and technical SEO, your online customers will be able to easily find you on Google.
2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
PPC advertising, meanwhile, can quickly drive those who are searching for similar items that you carry. This is a popular option for many businesses, because you only pay when someone clicks a link.
In this case, you could set up ads to appear when people search for your specific products, which would bring them to your website.
The key is you invest your budget in the right ads.
You want to reach those who search for products that your site sells, and the ads will bring them to your landing page without making them feel like they were lied to or misled.
3. Social Media
In regard to social media, you can use it to drive potential customers to your site without requiring they sign up or be committed to purchasing at first.
Share videos about your products, what you do, and customer reviews – all without pushing them to make an instant decision.
You can post anything from how-to's to product demos, company culture, news, blog posts, and promotions if you wish.
You don't need to post something new every day, but a simple video detailing your product is much more impactful than a complex advertisement.
4. Content Marketing Can Influence Decisions and Bring in Customers
Customers have questions, and as an established company you can answer them for them to build relationships and draw them to your online store.
You can publish blogs, how-to's or create informative videos regarding the questions your potential customers have asked.
This can be anything from "how do I choose skincare depending on my skin type" if you carry those products, to what makes your outdoor furniture different and valuable than others in the marketplace.
This marketing strategy is extremely useful because people can use the content to find you in the first place, and will be able to trust you better as they know more about you and your offerings.
The E-Commerce Website and Digital Marketing That Go Hand-in-Hand
It is essential that your e-commerce website and digital marketing work together. Digital marketing drives customers to your website, while the website should convert the prospects into clients.
You can think about digital marketing in the way of thinking that it is a door to a restaurant.
You may bring customers to the door, but in case your restaurant is slow, messy, or unclear, they will never get into the restaurant and make a purchase.
Start with a simple and understandable website, and then you can enhance the product pages and marketing.
Remember that success in the online industry is not achieved with a unique magic action. Your e-commerce store and digital marketing have to support each other.
