Making the Grade

Hot tips for maximizing your sales and profits

A unique trait to e-commerce is certainly the need to embrace and adapt to changing technologies. Gone are the days when simple marketing and advertising efforts, or public interface at local events, can improve visibility and sales. We’re in a New Frontier, and it’s mind-numbing.

Learning to increase the odds that your online site is viewed by more potential customers is not a one-step process. There are multiple moving parts, and each can be critical in a different way. But adopting basics is a great start, and expanding into creative territories that intrigue you, or are pertinent to your product niche, will steer you in the proper direction.

By now you are intimately familiar with SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. It’s the honey driving bees to your store. It’s the strategy to zero in on consumer specifics, helping them locate what they need in a short amount of time. And while it’s not super simple, it’s not above your learning curve.
​
In what analysts and experts call “SEO growth hacking,” there are several ways to organize content and text on your site to gain new visitors. Improving your search rankings and increasing conversation rates are objectives for everyone, but the successful will follow best-practice guidelines. By way of example, a well-optimized site will generate conversion rates up to 15 times greater than conventional direct mailing. Be all in.

In business, “going mobile” once meant traveling sales. It’s a different era, and mobile refers to making your site work well on digital devices, which are here to stay. A sharp increase in consumer online purchases conducted with a mobile device means it’s essential to modernize for the shopper on the go. That means creating content that is legible, sensical, and relevant. It means paying attention to the visual elements on your site so they will load more quickly. And it means putting touch-friendly navigation tools to work. Graphics are key in online shopping.
While you’re at it, give these ideas a thought:

• Voice Commerce. Younger consumers are already ahead of the game in using voice input features on their phones. Implementing a voice-search option will endear you to the new generation.
  
  
• Funny Money. Consider accepting cryptocurrency as payment. It’s not as radical as it sounds. Increasingly Bitcoin is becoming more mainstream, and there are others. Some who refuse to submit banking information online have no fear of this payment method. Digital wallets are also a skyrocketing payment platform. Learn more about cryptocurrencies and ecommerce here.
  
  
• Street Creds. Earn the trust of prospective customers by showing you’re a legit biz with credibility. Allow onsite customer reviews – and publicize them. Show off third-party awards on Amazon, etc.
  
  
• Urgency. Adding a graphic that indicates a product is in danger of short supply is a good tactic for sealing that sale. It can be as simple as a countdown, or “Only 10 Left.”
  
  
• Looking Good. Clean up your site to be user-friendly, sophisticated, and comprehensive. Your sales will reflect your efforts. For a primer on responsive web site design, check out this great page from Small Biz Trends.