Your shop is finished and has gone online. Especially in the first few months, it is important to encourage potential customers to visit and, at best, to buy. Good online marketing does not have to be expensive. You and your employees can also take care of it yourself, if your time budget allows. Our tips for beginners show that the first steps are not complicated.
1) Content marketing
Your website is not automatically visible to search engines like Google & Co. You can only be found through external links to your website and through the search engine-optimised design of your texts. So make sure that your shop is sufficiently linked to other pages and that your content meets the criteria of search engines so that your website receives a positive PageRank. And this is how it works:
- Use other people's websites, forums and social media (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter) and post meaningful comments with links to your shop. It is important that the content of your posts relates to your products and that the linking pages also fit thematically to your shop.
- Include social sharing buttons for Twitter and Facebook on your page. This way, visitors can easily share your website content and product information with friends and you will gain valuable links and more visibility.
- Research the most important search terms (keywords) for your products. Keep in mind the language of your customers. Often, prospective customers do not search for technical terms, but for more general terms. Include these on your website to be found by your target group.
- Search engines love text. Write at least 300 words per page and include your researched keywords as well as synonyms to be best indexed by Google & Co. Especially for the homepage and important category pages, you should create appealing and detailed texts. Write activating product descriptions for the top sellers as well.
2) E-mail marketing
As soon as you have won the first customers, you should regularly encourage them to visit your shop again. Also encourage friends and acquaintances to visit your shop pages. The most cost-effective method for this is e-mail marketing.
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As early as possible, you should use a professional newsletter service, such as Campaign Monitor, Clever Reach or newsletter2go. All services offer attractive newsletter templates, sophisticated success controls and helpful tools.
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Publish attractive special offers alternating with content that is helpful for your customers. Give your customers the feeling that they should not miss any of your newsletters. Use time-limited vouchers to reward your customers when they shop with you again.
3) Pay-per-click advertising
Online advertising is a great way to generate targeted traffic to your site - but it's also a great way to spend a lot of money very quickly. With our beginner tips, we'll show you how to use online advertising without overdrawing your accounts:
- If your products are very specific and therefore easy to search for online, Google AdWords will give you a good place to start.
- If you sell rather common products but they are aimed at a special interest group, you should start with Facebook Ads.
- Start with a small daily budget, observe which ad texts and formats bring the greatest success and adjust your advertising measures accordingly.
- Use conversion tracking to keep an eye on the relationship between investment and advertising success.
4) Social networks
There are many reasons why social networks are an effective tool for selling products. The costs are kept within limits and the countless users help to quickly establish a large community for your shop. However, social media is constantly expanding and the marketing opportunities seem overwhelming. Don't get confused, you don't have to be everywhere at the same time. Take your time to sift through the potential of different networks and find out which platform is best suited for your products.
- Facebook - a must! This is where your posts enjoy the greatest potential reach. In addition, the platform offers easy-to-use marketing and tracking tools. We therefore strongly recommend that retailers set up a Facebook Business Page.
- Twitter: Provided you have the time and content to send regular and consistent tweets, you can also use this platform to make yourself known.
- Instagram and Pinterest are particularly suitable if your products have a high visual power. So, for example, if you sell clothes or unusual items whose visual impact is crucial, these platforms can be used very well to attract the interest of potential customers and keep them engaged.
- LinkedIn is an ideal platform to market products and services that are of interest to specific business sectors or groups of people.
With just a few simple steps, you can efficiently and purposefully expand and retain your customer base - and thus come a big step closer to your goal of a successful online shop. Therefore, first give these simple measures a chance before you discover other special marketing opportunities.
With this in mind: stay courageous, enterprising and curious!
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