When planning a party, you’re likely to get a big turn out if you tempt your guests with great finger foods, sugary punches and a well-executed, popular theme (like ‘90s hip hop night). You can compare the efforts taken there to luring visitors to your online store. To drive the most traffic to your site, you’re going to need to put in some work. As is true with planning anything, some tasks require long periods of preparation, while others can be executed on the fly.

Whether you’ve just launched an eCommerce website or you’ve been around for a while, everyone could use an extra boost to increase their eCommerce traffic and ultimately get customers to purchase their products. But every potential visitor is different, and there are many unique ways that you can reach each of them. From social media to SEO, working with influencers and more, these proven ways will surely drive more traffic to your online store.

01. Create a sales campaign

When shopping online, do you immediately click the “sales” tab of said store to find the best prices, or is that just us? Everyone loves a good deal, that’s a fact, plain and simple. Another one is that many visitors will come running to your website if you create an exceptional sales campaign. Whether that campaign is planned just in time for the next holiday or for no particular reason, people will respond. Just make sure that whatever you decide on, that it appears throughout your website. This could be as a banner, lightbox, or ribbon leading to the discounted products. To get you started, here are some campaign ideas you can implement:

Offer a competition or giveaway: People love being rewarded. You can offer an incentive where users receive free shipping or a coupon towards their first purchase if they sign up for your mailing list. This move motivates them to enter your site, and later to shop.

Create a sense of urgency: Whether it’s free shipping until the end of the month or announcing a huge upcoming sale, urgency is a tactic which is sure to drive visitors to your site. When you input a countdown clock on your website for a particularly exciting event or sale, users will be motivated to continue to re-enter your website again and again waiting in anticipation. Let the most impulsive shoppers thrive.

BOGO (buy one, get one) deals: Scarves, hats, shoes: You name it. Most of us are more inclined to buy when we know we’re getting something for free. At the very least, we’ll come check out the website to see what this deal is all about.

Create a coupon available on your website only: Who doesn’t love a good deal? Coupons are one surefire way to lure guests in, whether it’s 15% off or 50% off. By making the coupon accessible through strictly your website, you can ensure that more visitors will come your way and find themselves shopping. For Wix eCommerce users, check out the “Promote” section of your Store Manager to create a coupon.

However, just creating a sale is only step one. Without a proper promotion plan to back this action up, you can end up running down lost roads.This is especially true when you don’t have a brick and mortar shop with a huge sign out front screaming “SALE NOW.” That’s where marketing promotion comes in. Whether you conduct your advertising efforts via social media, email marketing, or other efforts, this promotion is the missing ingredient to your sales’s success. So, are you ready to get more website traffic? Combine the efforts of a creative campaign with the following promotional tips, and you’ll have the formula for success.

02. Go heavy on the Facebook side

Did you know that 75 percent of consumers turn to Facebook before making a purchase?  That’s a good enough reason alone to be active on today’s most popular social network. Plus, it’s one more way for customers to hear from you and stay up-to-date on your business’s news. The following two methods will help you utilize this social network to the fullest.

Create a Facebook page: If any of us can remember the days of phone books, then Facebook is like the Yellow Pages for businesses. Many people will search for your store’s Facebook page for information like your website’s link, phone number, and customer support. This is also a good place to publish and promote any content that links back to your website, such as a sales campaign (as mentioned above), a blog post (providing straight link to your site), or a new item available in your store.

Run Facebook ads: Another great location to reach your target audience on the platform is through paid-per-click advertisements, A.K.A. Facebook Ads. Here you can set a budget of your choosing, then pay for and run ads. The difference between promoting ads and simply publishing to your Facebook page is having the ability to access a larger target audience. The advantage of Facebook is that it allows you to target more specifically than any other platform based on the huge amount of data that it holds. So, since these potential customers are on Facebook to leisurely browse, it’s the perfect place for them to subconsciously start shopping.

03. Make the most out of Instagram

First of all, if you don’t have an Instagram account, then it’s about time to sign up. Instagram is growing fast and on it’s way to taking the throne from Facebook as the #1 social network. Plus, there are several ways to link your Instagram account to your website (and vice versa):

Instagram bio: Once you sign up for Instagram, the first thing you should do is create an Instagram bio optimized for your business, including everything from witty content to a link to your online store – in fact, customers expect to find that link here.

Instagram Stories: This is probably the most popular feature of Instagram that you should take advantage of. This is especially true as a business owner, since one-third of the most viewed stories are from businesses. The best part is that you can include CTAs here to lead potential customers to your website. To do so, you’ll want to build a story with your slides. You can draw customers in with relevant and exciting content crafted for your brand, from videos to pictures, hashtags and more. Then, conclude with a CTA to your online store, like “Shop Here,” or “Link in Bio.” And business accounts with more than 10,000 followers or verified accounts can add a link to their CTA and utilize the ‘Swipe Up’ feature.

Add an Instagram Feed to your website: Browsers can shop your products from your Instagram posts on your Wix website because this app syncs your feed. And since you’ve already posted your pics on the ‘gram, half the work is already done.

04. Focus on the core of your marketing efforts: SEO

Your potential audience is already rapidly searching on Google for products like yours anyways, now you just need to find a way to be one of the first online stores that they see in the search results. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of maximizing the number of visitors that reach your website through efforts to get your site high on the list of specific search results.

To ensure that your SEO plan is brilliant, begin by understanding some critical SEO terms, like keywords. These are short phrases or individual words that make it possible for people to find your online store via search engines. Some are more popular than others, so it does take some digging to find the most suited words. Then, the link between your keywords and visitors happens when you add these short phrases to your SEO titles, descriptions, headings, as well as throughout your website’s pages. Here’s some examples of how to apply SEO tactics to your online store.

To help you on your SEO journey, we have a special gift for you: Wix SEO Wiz. This tool creates a personalised SEO plan for you – for free! Included within the checklist are suggestions for everything from keywords and headings to alt text for your images. It’s worth a try if our good ol’ friend Google has been talking it up, saying: “For Wix users, this is a pretty cool experience because they can see their page in the Search results immediately after they have created it.” However, just remember to keep in mind that even when SEO efforts are done correctly, landing a seat on page one results can take time so you’ll need to be patient.

05. Send out an email blast

Over 80% of professionals claim that email marketing drives customer acquisition and retention more than any other form of digital marketing. As one of the most useful and successful ways to direct your customers to your online store, it’s worth giving a try. If that doesn’t tempt you to get started, how about the fact that it’s completely free?

In order to make sure that your emails hold value and praise upon each potential site visitors mailbox (rather than function as another spam email) you’ll need to take some necessary steps of preparation. First, decide on a direction: Will you be holding a sale or sharing your new product line? Then, choose a platform to create the most exquisite emails, such as one that’s simple to use and lets you customize templates, easily sync contacts, and track your stats. How about one already integrated within your online store, like Wix ShoutOut? Finally, the last step of writing everything from your subject lines to CTAs and visual content within, requires some TLC. Here’s a breakdown:

Subject lines: The gateway to driving traffic to your website, and the success of your email marketing plan in general, starts with your subject line. One recommendation is to follow this formula: [Number or Question + Adjective + Keywords + Promise]. For example, “The 5 Most Durable Hiking Accessories You’ll Love.”

Calls-to-Action (CTAs): The entire reason you’re writing an email is to get potential customers to land on your website. Therefore, you should not only link every photo and important piece of text to your website, but also include a clear and distinct CTA that entices readers to leave this email and go where you really want them to be: your online store. Here are some useful tips to master your CTAs.

Written content: All of the written content in your email should be geared towards getting visitors to click on your CTA. To meet this goal, you should use words that are catchy, intriguing, or trigger certain emotions. Furthermore, subscribers don’t plan on spending more than a couple seconds reading your email, so keep this section short and sweet.

Visuals: As an online store, people want to see exactly what it is you’re selling to them. You should include visuals within your email of your products. And if you’re launching a new product, a visual is an excellent way to shine the spotlight on it. If you’re looking for a guide to photographing your products, check out this product photography 101 guide.

06. Explore the world of blogging

Get out a pen and paper and start writing – digitally speaking, of course. You’re probably wondering how a blog bears any relation to your online store? Well actually, whether you’re starting your own blog or guest blogging, writing content is one surefire way to drive organic traffic to your website and establish yourself as an expert in your industry. But that’s not the only perk. We’ll break down why each of these blogging methods can be highly beneficial to your website traffic.

Start a blog: It’s no secret that blogging is great for SEO when done correctly. The more content you produce, the more links that lead to your online store. Both Google and potential customers will be attracted to this activity. Blogging is also a way to give customers a reason to keep coming back to your website for something more, aside from when they are looking to purchase another item from your shop. You can use your blog as a way to show your brand and promote your products. To do so, you can write about anything that relates to your business. For example, let’s say that you sell hiking gear, you can blog about ‘The Best Hiking Trails in South America’ or ‘10 Hiking Essentials That You Need for Your Next Adventure.” It’s quite simple to get started, as you can see in this definitive guide to blogging.

Guest Blog: Submitting guest posts is one excellent way to reach a larger audienxce than you currently do by tapping into popular websites and new industries. This concept is the process of writing blog posts and submitting them to external publications in hopes that they will be published there. It’s worthwhile to research both publications focused around your industry as well as those you’ve yet to explore. Everyone can submit guest posts to widespread publications, like Buzzfeed, Freelance Writing, and BigCommerce. However, in addition to getting featured on those, we suggest doing some research specific to your industry by searching for publications that share a similar audience to yours. Then, make a spreadsheet listing all the companies and your contact points to get started. Although this is a timely process, doing so usually results in publicity in the form of backlinks (links that lead back to your online store) or a chance to leave a short bio at the end of your post talking about you and your business.

07. Engage with influencers

Stepping out of your network into someone else’s is a great way to gain traffic to your site by expanding your reach to a whole new audience. Like guest blogging, working with social media influencers is an outreach marketing tactic that does just this for your reach. Influencers are those that have established high credibility in their industry as trend-setters, with a large following of users (typically on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube). Consumers tend to take their advice seriously – especially when it comes to their shopping experiences – since it’s usually honest, relatable, and unbiased. In fact, 70% of millennials prefer product endorsements from their “peers” rather than celebrities.

So, how do you begin? Start by researching your social platforms and looking for popular accounts related to your industry. A tip for Instagram is to use WEBSTA, an Instagram web viewer with advanced features, and type in keywords related to your business. After you’ve create a list, you’ll want to start conversations with them, letting them know why they will find your product useful and worthwhile, as well as negotiating how both of you can work together. Common ways to get them to speak about your brand is to send them product samples, pass along special discounts that they can distribute exclusively to their followers, or offer commission for every new person that they get to make a purchase from your store. It’s also possible to create an affiliate program to automate the process, allowing you to work with a large number of influencers in the most efficient manner. These efforts usually lead to them discussing your product in their Instagram Stories, or tagging you in a post, both of which are excellent ways to drive traffic to your online store.

08. Advertise on the most popular search engine

Like your objective with SEO, you also want to reach a potential audience shopping for products similar to yours on Google through a method known as search engine marketing. Although many SEO measures can be free, PPC (paid-per-click) ads will cost you a little bit of money, although it’s completely up to you how much.

This method of advertising can be performed via Google Ads, an online advertising platform where users pay to share their content to a massive span of potential site visitors across the Google Ad Network. (And by massive we mean that it reaches over 90% of Internet users worldwide. Mind. Blown.) It’s not just about being able to access nearly everyone online, but the fact that you can target as specific criteria as you want (location, demographics, keywords, etc.). To get started, check out this step-by-step guide for advertising on Google.

All of this paid advertising might sound like a lot of work and time, which could possibly not be your cup of tea based on the many responsibilities you have as a small business owner. But, if you have a Wix Website, you can use the Traffic Generator app to set up everything for you, from bidding to targeting, keywords and more.

By Jennifer Kaplan

Wix Community Writer