Driving traffic to your eCommerce site

One challenge that all site owners face is getting potential buyers to the website.  Here are a five ideas to boost traffic to your site, including tips on natural search, paid search, social networking, blogs and email marketing.

Natural Search:  A good first step to increasing free traffic from search engines, which is called natural search, is creating pages with good title tags and product descriptions.  Title tags should contain specific keywords or a phrase that describes your product.  When creating product descriptions, avoid simply copying the manufacturer’s description.  Having unique content will help you stand apart from other ecommerce sites and perhaps give you an edge.

Paid search:  Services such as Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter are a great way to buy keyword targeted ads on major search engines.  They make it easy to get started by recommending keywords and a budget.  To stretch your dollar, focus on specific keyword combinations which are usually less competitive and often cost less per click.  For example, as of this writing, the keyword “sweater” costs an estimated $1.21 per click on Google AdWords, while “wool cable knit sweater” costs only about $0.05 per click.

Social Networking:  The online shopping experience is becoming increasingly social.  A Facebook Fan page or Twitter account are great ways to keep your fans updated.  A YouTube Channel is simple and cost-effective way to publish product demos.  The “Share-This” widget lets customers share great product finds with their friends.  While social media requires an investment of time up front, it provides continuing traffic without a high cost.

Blogs:  Blogging gives people another way to find your website and products.  A blog helps direct your readers’ attention to specific products, describing how the product works and instilling confidence in the buyer that you know what you are selling.  The more unique content that you generate, the better.  Buyers will appreciate the extra information you can provide about the products, and it may help boost your natural search engine rankings.

Email marketing:  This is a relatively inexpensive and effective way of generating sales when done carefully.  The key is to build your reputation by sending relevant content and offers while not overloading your customers’ inbox.  Start slow, and focus on customers who have already purchased from you or are following your blog.  Several email marketing solution providers like MailChimp and Vertical Response provide tools that you can place on your website that allows visitors to subscribe to your email list.

These are a few tips keep your business growing.  Feel free to contribute your own.  Good selling!