Marketing Your e-Commerce Site

E-commerce sites are a slightly different kettle of fish than an average webmaster’s site that is usually promoting a service or product provided by themselves. Many e-commerce sites are set up as reseller sites, so the aim is to get them going fast, cash in and move on to a new niche before the one you are in is inundated.

You could be missing out, however, by not keeping up with old e-commerce sites. there are a lot of things you can do now to make them more interesting and bring in extra traffic.

1. Start a blog, and hook your online store to it, almost as an addendum. If you come up with a really cool blog, you can end up getting people to buy stuff based on the fact that they think your blog is cool. A woman married to a British man started a blog that simply posted the things he said in his sleep. She tapes them, posts them online – they are hysterically funny and the blog went viral. Hello t-shirt line.

2. Add video to your site. A video spokesperson or ‘talking head’ can give your site more of a welcoming feel, and a video will also keep your customers’ attention. You can use retail video in your home page, your about me page, your FAQ and elsewhere, but it is most effective after the sale as a tool to encourage referrals and repeat traffic – just have an offer such as a coupon code or discount good for next time.

3. Use proper internal linking structure. If you use a multi pyramid style of linking, you can make your site easy to navigate. Add a proper sitemap and both people and search engines can find everything they need.

4. Figure out a new way to approach your target demographic and hook them in. Watch trends, take advantage of hot keywords and promote yourself anywhere you can. You’d be amazed at the venues that come up in social media if you approach matters in a friendly info-sharing way instead of a hard sell.

5. Deliberately set out to expand your niche from day one, but do it in stages, expanding your e-commerce site through logical steps as you find related products and services. The idea is that related niches will feed on the reputation you’ve already established.

If you can manage to swing good affiliate products and work the SEO magic, you should be able to make your e-commerce site thrive.