5 Ways How to Promote an E-commerce Website Online

The Holy Grail of any ecommerce website is reaching out to new customers. Because a site without visitors is like an uninhabited ghost town - architectural marvels, large-scale buildings and empty streets. Ecommerce websites are created for selling products and services. This differentiates them from other websites. That's why the goal of promoting an ecommerce website on the internet is to attract the maximum number of users, that eventually will become customers. An online store can increase targeted traffic through a combination of different kinds of advertising and social media promotion.

The main ways to promote an e-commerce site are:

• SEO - optimization of a website according to requirements of search engines with the purpose to take top positions in search results.
• Different kinds of internet advertisements: pay per click (Google Adwords), banner, email marketing.
• Promotion on social media networks.
• Promoting your products with e-commerce marketplaces.
• Indirect ads - viral marketing, guerrilla marketing and the like.

Search engine optimization for ecommerce

The main goal of an SEO for an ecommerce website is to take the position which is as close to the first one as possible in search results on commercial requests. In other words, a website should be visible for people who want to buy a product (service).

What is a commercial request? There is no clear definition. For example, a "buy fridge" request is certainly commercial. And simply "refrigerator"? Maybe. It depends on a user: whether he/she is just interested in information about refrigerators or he/she is going to buy it and is exploring that information. "How does a refrigerator work?" is definitely not a commercial request. Based on the above, a commercial request may be any request for information on a product or service in order to purchase now or later.

Things you should take into account with search engine optimization are:

• SEO has a lasting effect. It's quite normal that resulting from optimization websites are at the top of search results for a couple of years. That's why investment of time and effort in this way of marketing has a long-term nature.
• With the help of SEO, it is possible to attract a larger number of targeted visitors.
• Time needed to get into the top of requests may be up to a half of a year.
• It is a particular web page, not a whole website that takes a position according to a user request.
• Optimizing content on a website for search engines is the best way to drive traffic for free.

Pay per click advertising

Pay per click advertising is well illustrated in the above screenshot. They are always in plain view at the top of Google's search results page.

PPC also has its specific features:

• It is predictable. You can accurately calculate a cost of attracting a visitor, orient on it and plan your advertising budget.
• Another advantage of PPC is the almost immediate impact. In a couple of days, you can figure out how to create and customize an advertising campaign, then launch it and count on a certain number of visitors. If you want 5 000 visitors, you can get exactly that number. If you want more, spend more.
• However, if you want to drive an impressive amount of highly efficient traffic, you should monitor advertising expenditures and resort to variations in order to increase the chances of converting visitors into buyers.

Undoubtedly, Google Adwords is not the only one advertising network. Check out other options like Bing and Facebook Ads. They usually charge less for each pay per click.

Promotion on social networks

Promoting an ecommerce website on social media helps to reach a less formal level of communication with customers and to provide information about products or just to get them in the mood with a funny image.

Features of using social media networks to promote your ecommerce website are as follows:

• When you promote your business on social media you get in contact with target audience directly.
• As a result, conversion of this channel of attracting visitors is very high, because all of these visitors are your potential buyers.
• It is necessary to actively participate in the community on social networks. Engage with your audience, leave comments in discussions with a relevant topic, answer questions to build trust.

E-commerce Marketplaces

A marketplace is similar to a super Walmart. A buyer can choose and purchase various products in one place at a good price. For a seller, it is a great place to start because most buyers first of all visit such websites in order to make a purchase at the lowest possible prices.

Things that should be taken into consideration when promoting your ecommerce website on marketplaces:

• The main advantage is that buyers appear immediately.
• Visitors that come from marketplaces are prepared to make a purchase and they are looking for the best deals.
• Competition in terms of a certain request is high. In order to understand how tough the competition is imagine a thousand of sellers per one buyer.
• You also pay for clicks as it is with PPC advertising.

Indirect advertising

Viral and guerrilla marketing are both about establishing a relationship with people that see the advertising. Indirect advertising never tells potential buyers that they should buy a product but it generates interest in a brand and products that it offers.

It is worth noting that:

• Indirect advertising can be described as social currency because people like to share information which develops them or creates an illusion of development.
• If people are interested in your product they will bring their friends, and those their friends.
• All information is presented in a positive manner.
• Content raises strong positive response.

What to do next?

A marketing strategy for e-commerce should not be limited to one method only and should include a variety of ways to reach out to customers. The next thing you should do is to analyze all possible paid and free website promotion tools and decide which of them are most suitable for your business.