How to Promote an E-commerce Website: 10 Tips to Get Started

How to Promote an e-commerce Website

It is a well-known fact that the internet has opened up possibilities for e-commerce businesses to reach and tap into a much larger audience than a brick-and mortar store could ever manage. 

Businesses pay detailed attention to their website design, enable a smooth customer experience and ensure seamless transactions. But regardless of an impressive presence, driving traffic to your website can be an uphill task, especially if you have just started out.

Fortunately, there are a few methods that can assure a better reach for your business. If you have been deliberating about how to promote an e-commerce website, here are 10 ways 

that focus on effective marketing approaches to help you efficiently target your audience.

How to promote an e-commerce website

1. Utilise social media

Social media offers a wide array of techniques for businesses to effectively promote themselves online. But the key to a successful social media strategy is consistency. It is essential to maintain a regular frequency of interesting content to be able to build a credible audience.

A good social media approach is also to understand which platforms align well with your business category and where you are likely to find buyers for your products.

73% of all marketers rank “increased acquisition of new customers” as their top outcome for social.

How to market a new product online in India through social media management:

  • Optimise content for higher engagement
  • Make trending topics an important part of your content strategy
  • Focus on the creative aspects of content and design
  • Include a clear call to action 
  • Know the best time to publish content
  • Revisit your approach every few weeks

2. Host interactive sessions

Online webinars and live talks have gained immense popularity over the last couple of years and the flexibility of joining these events from home is an added advantage. 

These events are a great way to talk about your brand in a way that other mediums might not usually support. An online session is highly interactive and users always learn a little bit more about your company at the end of it.

Here are the key advantages of streaming media for a brand:

  • Low-cost, yet an impactful way to build awareness
  • Allows direct engagement with your end-users
  • Higher chances of sales and conversions
  • Offers a platform to communicate about the brand directly and more effectively

For example, if your business operates in the FinTech space, webinars where your leadership team interacts shares information on the industry best practices and the latest reforms & regulations can be highly impactful in building brand awareness as well as trust.

3. Utilise PPC advertising

Pay-per-click advertising can be an effective marketing strategy, especially with Google AdWords. You can measure and analyse their performance to alter the content based on what works best.

Social media also offers PPC where the ads appear on the users’ feeds. For a new business, PPC can get initial and instant traffic to the website and help reach the exact audience that is interested in your product.

Here’s why you should use PPC advertising for your e-commerce business:

  • Tracks results easily and instantly
  • A faster way to get the audience to notice you
  • Can work with a fairly lower budget
  • Offers data insights that can be used to strengthen the SEO strategy
  • Ensure traffic quicker to the website

4. Build a powerful SEO 

Search Engine Optimisation is a continuous process and takes several factors into account to achieve good results. Nevertheless, it is an extremely important tool for your business to be able to reach exactly those users who are searching for your products.

SEO also involves a fair share of competition and can take longer to show results. However, it is free, user-friendly and one of the most organic & proven ways to reach your customers. 

How to promote a product online with an SEO strategy:

  • Research keywords, keywords and more keywords
  • Optimise on-page and off-page content regularly
  • Pay attention to metatags and meta descriptions
  • Use multiple SEO tools to understand trends and select the right keywords
  • Use quality backlinks
  • Monitor the website speed

For instance, a skincare brand that has a strong SEO plan in place will ensure that its target audience finds the brand on top google search results when they search for ‘the best moisturiser’ or similar keywords.

5. Create partnerships

Cross-promotions and partnerships with a brand that has a similar audience to yours are a great way to multiply the reach of your digital online store. 

There can be several channels to form and build partnerships. They include co sponsorships, free gifting of one of the brands and co- branding products for events and occasions.

Additionally, partnerships can also be built by exchanging content on publishing it on the respective blogs as well as reviewing products through videos.

Here are some other ways to build impactful partnerships:

  • Through affiliate marketing
  • Partnerships for charity 
  • Licensing agreements
  • Joint ventures
  • Referral and incentive agreements

An e-commerce brand dealing in home decor for instance can collaborate with a furniture store considering that both the offerings will have a similar audience base.

6. Write impactful content

Companies that blog have far better marketing results; the average company that blogs has 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links and 434% more indexed pages.

Customers often research and want to understand more about a product before they invest into it. If your content gives them the answers through your brand, the chances of turning these readers into buyers is very high.

Content around your product, highlighting its features and strengths validates it for the readers and significantly influences their buying decisions.

How to market a product online with a dedicated blog resource page:

  • Conveys your awareness and expertise on the product
  • Promotes your products in a cost-effective way
  • Contributes to website traffic
  • Encourages customer interaction with your brand
  • Helps rank for Google keywords

Let’s say your brand specialised in planters. The content you write need not just feature the product but everything associated with planters including plants, fertilisers, landscaping and so on which can help the user eventually associate your product with.

7. Launch email marketing campaigns

Email marketing campaigns focus on a particular aspect of a product or brand and help communicate it with the target buyers. They are also promotional in nature with offers that assist in improving the conversion rates.

More importantly, the subscriber list of these campaigns consists of users who have voluntarily asked for information about your product, thus displaying higher intent and better possibility of conversion.

Here are the top benefits of an email marketing campaign for online promotion:

  • Helps share personalised content
  • Creates awareness about the latest launches and offers
  • Builds better customer relationships
  • Can be easily tracked and measured to optimise for results

8. Emphasise on product reviews

Reviews are synonymous with reputation and buying products based on reviews has become a common practice when shopping online. For a buyer, a rating and review is the most honest assessment of a product.

Product reviews reveal information from a user’s perspective that a business is unable to share through their description. It aids the buyer in collecting more details and making an informed decision on the purchase.

Moreover, the popularity of well-reviewed businesses can shoot up instantly leading to more sales in a shorter period.

Here’s why product reviews should be an inevitable part of your promotional strategy:

  • They influence buying decision
  • Help users understand products better and match expectations
  • Help businesses review/alter products according to the feedback
  • Can drastically reduce returns

9. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is the most recent addition to the list of promotional techniques for e-commerce businesses. 

Celebrities who have been traditionally endorsing products are now replaced by content creators that have established a strong connection with their followers and can influence them to purchase the items.

Not only do 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations, 40% had purchased something after seeing it on Twitter, YouTube or Instagram. 

Here’s why influencer marketing can benefit your business:

  • Helps target specifically a younger audience 
  • Influencer promotions are highly engaging 
  • Users get a first-hand review from their favourite content creators
  • Helps your brand market itself creatively
  • Contributes to your social media channels and following

If you own an apparel brand, influencer marketing is a great fit in promoting the range. The content creators who particularly focus on fashion can endorse the outfits by suitably styling them, talking about their fit, quality and other aspects that impact the buying decision.

10. Retarget ads

Retargeting ads is promoting your product through advertisements on external sites to customers who have previously visited your website.

It’s a great way to push them to purchase a product that they have shown interest in. Additionally, you can show the ads to your existing customers as well for repeat purchases.

Here’s why you should retarget ads:

  • Creates brand awareness and brand recall
  • Targets the right and interested audience
  • Gives a business additional chances to pursue the buyer
  • Have higher chances of getting noticed by users

Conclusion

The digital world offers a range of methods to promote an e-commerce website. While each one has its own unique attributes, a business should try to include all the strategies in their promotional plan and eventually decide which ones are most suitable. 

Every approach from the above-mentioned list works differently and can be highly effective in helping a business market itself to varied segments of buyers online. Focus on consistency and work on building a plan that familiarises your brand to as many users.

 

Switch to Paytm Payment Gateway

You May Also Like
A Complete Guide to MSME Registration in India
Read More

A Complete Guide to MSME Registration in India

MSME registration provides several benefits to the companies in terms of taxation, credit facilities to scale the business up. Let us dig deeper to find out more about MSME registration in India.