How to Increase Traffic to Your New Shopify Store

In TheDrawingBoard Facebook Group, a group member asked this question:

I know that Etsy has a built-in audience but how do you create an audience for your own new site in Shopify?

I think this question is one we probably all have had (or still have) – and it’s a good one!

Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to increase store traffic and conversions.

Your Website

Attract people to your website – It all starts with a well-designed and optimized website. You have mere seconds to make an impression when someone lands on your site, so you need to be sure everything is in place to keep people there once they land there. Eye-catching, quality photos are a must, and should be a high-priority for optimizing.

Optimize for SEO – Part of having an optimized website is to understand SEO (search engine optimization) and work on that from the very beginning. When you have quality product titles and content-rich product descriptions, the chance that your products will be found in internet searches is much better. Keyword research is very important, as it will help you choose the most appropriate keywords to attract your target audience. After your website is up and running, make sure to periodically do a content audit to ensure you are still on-track with optimum text and keywords.

Add internal links – To help your customers find similar products within your store, make sure you are linking to them. For example, if you sell five different kinds of widgets, each product listing for those widgets should link to the other four widget pages. Internal links not only help your customers navigate through your store, they are also really good for SEO! Also make sure to link to relevant products from your blog posts, and from your product listing page to relevant blog posts (the key here is to have relevant links – not links just for the sake of linking). The anchor text you use for these internal links also plays a role in how successful the links are.

Your Audience

Know who your target audience is – In order to market to the people who are looking to buy what you are selling, you really need to know who your target audience is. Create a persona of who your ideal customer is, then craft your website content, blog content, social media and marketing strategies at that target audience. There is no sense marketing a product to the wrong audience, it’s just a waste of your time (and money). It would be like trying to sell goldfish food to someone who only likes dogs.

Your Social Media Presence

Be where your target audience hangs out – When you know who your target audience is, find out where they spend their time online. Are they on Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest? Reddit? If your ideal audience is mostly on Facebook and you’re targeting Instagram for sales, you’re not going to be as successful.

Engage with your audience – It’s all about relationships. Engage with your audience. Let them get to know you. Be genuine. People like buying from businesses when they know the owner. Answer your audience’s questions. Provide interesting articles you think they would benefit from. Share inspiration with them. Have a laugh with them by posting something humorous (and tasteful). Comment on their blogs. The more you engage with your audience, the more exposure you will have for your business.

Use the right hashtags – By adding #hashtags to your posts, you will gain a much wider reach beyond your regular audience network. Hashtags are a great way to be discovered by new users who might be searching for your products.

Promote your products – As long as you are providing benefits to your audience on your social media platforms, it’s okay to also promote your products there. Mix product promotions with your other high-quality content so your posts aren’t all just about your products. Also make sure to promote your products on the right social media platform. Some things do better on Facebook or Pinterest, other things do better on Instagram, etc.

Your Blog

Offer information to your audience – A blog is one of the best ways to increase traffic to your store. When you provide interesting information to your audience, they will want to visit your website to see what you are talking about. Blogs are a great way to introduce new products (with links to those product pages). Blogs can also be used to share current promotions you are running, or even to create contests to increase engagement. Make sure to promote your blog posts on social media for even more engagement, and don’t forget to have an email signup for people to get your blog posts by email.

Guest blog – Another way to gain exposure for your business is to write articles for blogs in your industry as a guest author. Not only does this help you gain exposure, it also helps your audience see that you are active in your type of work, which can help influence their decision to buy from you.

Your Marketing Strategy

Online advertising – Sure, we all like free exposure to our businesses, and there are a lot of things you can do that won’t cost anything. But at some point, you’re going to need to invest in online advertising. It’s a very quick and easy way to get more visitors to your website. You can advertise on social media (Facebook and Instagram, for example), use digital ads on search engines (such as Google Adwords), or even use remarketing ads. All of these kinds of ads (when done right) will help to boost your website traffic.

Display advertising – In addition to online advertising, you also have the opportunity for display advertising. Things like window decals in your vehicle that advertise your website, business cards or postcards – all of these types of display ads can generate traffic.

Promotions – Occasionally run sales or special promotions to increase traffic. For example, run a limited time discount, or offer free shipping on orders of a certain amount or more, or create bundles of products and offer them at a savings. Be creative! There are lots of different kinds of promotions you can do!

Email Marketing – I believe email marketing is a “must” for businesses. When you send out regular newsletters through email, you are keeping in touch with your customers and they will continue to visit your website – and hopefully share your newsletters with their friends. The newsletters you send should provide useful information and include links to products on your website. The subject line of your email can make or break the success of that email being opened or not. Make sure to really think about the subject line to entice people to open that email. You don’t want to overwhelm your subscribers with too many email messages, so it’s important to find a good balance that works best for you.

Your Analytics

Learn what’s working (and what’s not) – Make sure to use tracked links for your marketing campaigns, then use your website analytics to see which strategies and types of content work and which ones don’t. You should be checking your website analytics on a regular basis – there is so much information you can glean from doing so!

Summary

Remember that all traffic is not created equal. Your goal should not be to increase traffic just for the sake of having a higher number of visits to your store – you want quality traffic. You want your traffic to be from your target audience – people who are looking for and are ready to buy what you are selling.

Increasing traffic, conversions and engagement to your website takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. By practicing these tips on a regular basis, your website will gain traction over time and you will begin to see the benefits.

What tips do you have to increase traffic to your website? Share in a comment below, and let’s start a conversation!