There is no denying that we now live in a world very much dominated by the online space. We do so much online these days. We share our lives through the power of social media, and sharing pictures and day to day musings. We shop online, expecting the next day or even same day delivery. We have our groceries delivered to our door. Some people will even make big decisions based on what they have seen and read online, think holiday bookings, for example. With so much of our time spent in the online world, as a business owner, there is only potential here and something that could be capitalized on.
However, not everyone is really aware of exactly how they can ensure that they increase internet sales for the business, and also dominate in this region. The online world is heavily saturated with other entrepreneurs and business owners just trying to do the same thing, right? But, you can stand out and have a piece of the cake, and often by making small changes and implementing different things into the digital platforms that you may already have you can boost your internet sales. With that in mind, here are some of the things to try.
One of the first things that you need to think about would be your website and whether this is up to scratch. If you are wanting to increase internet sales, then your website is the first port of call. Your e-commerce element needs to be on point. It needs to be relevant and full of the correct information. From having the right levels of stock and pricing to including all of the relevant services that you offer. You want to ensure that this part of the website is easy to use, to encourage completion of a sale. As so many consumers can leave online baskets filled without completing checkout.
You also want to ensure that your website is appealing to the eye, as well as easy to use. That your brand is showcased throughout, the pages don’t take too long to load and the content is relevant and up to date. Building websites can be tricky at first, so you may want to enlist the help of a web developer to get your website up to scratch.
Another thing to think about would be whether or not your website is clearly visible when displaying results in search engines. It is all well and good having a great website, but if people are not directed to it for when they search out something that is relevant to your business, it will be a waste. This is when you may want to think about ensuring that you incorporate search engine optimization as a focus for your website content. Websites like SeoExplode could help you with this. SEO can also work for things like social media content, and any content you may share on blog posts that you create for your business.
Another thing you may want to think about would be cross-selling, and using your website e-commerce pages can be the ideal way to do it. First of all, on product or service listings, you can have recommended purchases or “you may be interested in’ listings as well. This might encourage customers to buy other elements on the website. You can also cross-sell at the check out. Again this can be done using informal language such as “other customers have purchased” to entice them to add other things to their checkout. Cross-selling can also be done as an after sale, if the product is more of an order, or even selling to customers and clients after the sale has been completed.
Sometimes you don’t realize the true value there is in reputation and becoming a trusted seller in your industry and niche. When you first start out, you don’t have the benefit of this, as you need to make it a focus to build your reputation from the outset. If possible, try and collect as may feedback comments, testimonials and surveys to understand how your customers feel about you as a business. If you use selling platforms like eBay and Etsy, for example, you can already utilize the seller feedback option to build up a reputation for your business. Once you do have some comments and feedback, make sure you promote it. You can do this on your website, through blog posts and even sharing feedback via social media updates. It can be a great way to boost sales, as customers prefer to buy from trusted retailers.
There is no denying that reviews can be a great option for you to promote your business, but you also need to be aware that there may be customers that don’t always have a positive experience with your business. There will always be things that you can’t avoid happening. A delay in delivery, something arriving broken or unfixed, or even an item not being what someone expected. Reviews can be left in a negative way, however, this doesn’t have to be the end of your story. You can use this opportunity to handle the negative feedback in a positive way. It may be providing a resolution, replacement or refund. The way you handle it could turn what could be a damaging review won the internet, into something positive. Which could then again helps to increase your internet sales. Be aware of what is being said regarding your business online.
You may think you know who your customer is, but are you really aware of the demographic that your business attracts? A great tip is to consider checking reports and statistics that you can draw from your website. If you are unsure about how to do this, then you could ask your website developer to help you out. Understanding things such as age, gender, and even location can help you to target things such as your social media presence. By doing this, you can then attract more of that attention, which could then increase the sales and traffic to your website online.
Your social media presence can also be a big indicator as to whether or not you are doing all that you can to attract customers to your business and website. This could be anything from being consistent, to ensure that you are sharing relevant content at the optimal times. You will want to build up and engaged and organic audience, so things like responding to customer messages and comments can also help increase engagement. You may also want to look into social media advertising as a way to boost traffic to your website. You could look at utilising social media influencers and speak out to their already large and engaged audience. They could review products or services or showcase an advert on their page. You could also look at the different advertising options that the platforms have, specifying who will see your internet ad and how they will be directed to your business.
Your sales page is a big thing for any business when it comes to their website and increasing traffic and sales, so you may need to take some time to really evaluate how easy to use the page is. There are many ways that you can look to improve your sales page, and one element to start with would be the images that you share. While you don’t want to have issues with page loading speeds, you do want to include quality images that will entice the customer into buying. You also want to ensure that the relevant description of the item is up to date and informative with detail. The price needs to be accurate, and the buying process needs to be easy to use. The sales page is the end point on the journey from getting the customers attention to having them arrive on your website, so you will want the last element of the process to be easy to use and efficient.
Finally, make sure that you continue to check your website as often as possible. You will want to always check the content to make sure that it is relevant, that images are up to date, clear and of good quality. Your website needs to be easy to use, and appealing on the eye. Adding to the website regularly and keeping things updated will always be key, but also ensure that any new pages or content doesn’t affect the website with slowing down or being more difficult to use.
Let’s hope that these tips and things to focus on will help you to boost internet sales for your business.
