The evolution of the online, digital world has made way for the birth and growth of online businesses. Online companies can now flourish without needing a physical presence in the world and this has allowed for the birth of a variety of new business ventures. E-commerce is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with entrepreneurs jumping on board while the industry is still very much in its infancy stages.

In fact, statistics show that 21.7% of the global population is currently buying online, and that number is expected to grow exponentially by 2021. Research shows that in 2019, ecommerce sales are expected to make up 13.7% of total global retail sales worth over $3 trillion in value. By 2040, it is expected that 95% of all retail will be online sales, paving the way for a totally new way of life.

With this overwhelming amount of expected growth, it is no wonder the rush for entrepreneurs and businesses to join the digital world. If you too are considering taking your business online and starting an ecommerce store, we put together four key steps that you should be taking to ensure that you get traffic to your site to start competing online.

Content Based Mailers

Before we start on what steps you should be taking to increase traffic on your site, we thought we would go into what a dropshipping store is and what benefits it has for you. A dropshipping store differs from other ecommerce stores who have a warehouse and hold stock on their premises. They rather pick up stock straight from the supplier and deliver to the customer directly. This method of e-commerce could be the solution to brand new stores, so it is wise for you to learn how to become a dropshipper before kicking off your business.

The first, and most successful way that most ecommerce stores drive traffic to their site is through their email databases. Every single ecommerce store sends out either daily or weekly mailers and newsletters to their database, encouraging them to visit the site with offers, specials or new product launches.

One of the key aspects of getting mailers right, apart from always finding new email addresses, is the content. Great content is the difference between sending out thousands of emails that just get ignored and profitable click through rates that get people onto your site. Our key advice is to include content that will educate and inform the reader. Once you catch their attention this way, you can coax them through to the product pages. Test and test and test. Monitor your results and see what kind of content, subject line and CTA’s work.

Blog Posts That Mean Something

This really works hand in hand with the previous point. Content is and will always be king. Blogs are one of the most vital sources of traffic for your site and if you are not spending time and money ensuring that your blogs are absolutely up to scratch, you are missing out on a lot of traffic that can come to your site.

The rule of thumb for your blog, however, is that they have to be worthwhile for your someone to read. Let’s use an example. An online pet store, which supplies dog and cat food and accessories started blog posts.  At first they simply created content around their products, but no-one was biting. Then they started writing about and creating videos around educational topics about pets. Subjects like “Why has my dog stopped eating?” “What is the best solution for my overweight cat?” “How can I exercise my dog in the city” became some of the most visited blogs.

These blogs were then shared to various other websites, including vets, the suppliers and other pet sites for increased exposure. They were shared over social media and included in the mailers. The driver to the site? Inside the post, the company included the savvy use of CTA’s. Every post would mention one or more of the products as a solution with a link directly to the product page. This did wonders for their conversion rates.

SEO Rankings That Get You Seen

Let’s face it, if you are sitting halfway down the page on Google, or even on the second page, you are simply not being seen. SEO rankings mean everything for driving traffic to your site. Apart from mailers and emails, organic search can be some of the highest drivers of traffic to your site.

Content is certainly one of the top ways of increasing your SEO ranking. You need to ensure that your landing pages have the right keywords as well as frequency of keywords for Google to scrape through and pick up to rank your site.

But, SEO is not only about keywords. Bounce rates, page loading speeds, images and dead pages all have an impact on your SEO ranking. Luckily, in the complicated world of SEO and all of the rules that Google sets, you can use several SEO tools to audit and heighten your SEO, without spending a fortune on an expert.

CRM Software That Makes Life Easier

One of the most effective ways of driving traffic to your site and converting it into sales is by automating the whole process. There are plenty of CRM software tools on the market for small businesses that will take the hassle out of  basic processes for you. This will give you more time for you, as a business owner to spend time on things that really matter.

CRM software allows you to automate some of the most vital points of contact of your business. From emails and newsletters, to tracking and reports. You can also effectively manage the sales pipeline, monitor and increase conversion rates and get actionable reports, depending on the software you choose as well as your unique needs. Our advice is to list down the processes and funnel of your business, your immediate as well as long term needs and match it with the right software. There are some options which might not be right for you, so just make sure you do your research first.

Wrapping Up

In wrapping up, you need to make sure that you get yourself out as much as possible, and seen by as many eyes as you can. Spend time looking for opportunities to not only add to your content, but to get your content seen by fresh new eyes. Having a dropshipping store can mean reduced costs in storage and warehousing expenditure, so use this in marketing and finding and pushing traffic to your site. Research new and unique methods every single month. The world of ecommerce and online is changing so often that there are new and fresh ideas to try all the time! Keep up with the trends.