UK online retail sales now account for over 26% of all purchases. This does not even include the service industry. Yet with this boom comes increased competition, so how can you ensure you manage to get the traffic you need? Luckily, many methods can get sales going. Read on as we give our guide on eCommerce advertising and strategies.

1. Create Content

Any good eCommerce agency will tell you that content is king. The reason for this is that it ticks all of the digital marketing boxes, addressing many different areas at once.

Content improves brand awareness as it positions you as an authority on your subject. When it gets shared, it reaches more people, spreading the love. All of this drives traffic back to your website, where you can convert it into sales.

Other than the time it takes to create content and any initial costs, it is also free. You don’t have to pay to keep it in front of people like you do with advertising. With the right keywords, it will keep bringing in customers without any payment.

Blogs are the easiest form of content to create, though there are many others. Videos, podcasts, and infographics can all serve the same purpose. Take some time to make sure the content is valuable and see what information or assistance your customers may want you to address.

2. Build an Email List

There was a time when the humble email almost lost its way as an eCommerce marketing strategy. As inboxes began to fill with junk mail it seemed that most lists would get drowned in a sea of spam and ignored. However, now data collection and protection laws have increased, less mail means more power.

Emails’ real strength lies in the fact that it is a high-quality traffic source. People sign up for your list because they want to hear from you. That means most news you send out will get read.

Even with small stores, you should keep an email list. Give people a form to fill in that you can input into a database at the end of the day. If you have a website, plugins can prompt people to sign up.

After that, make sure you are only sending valuable information to people via email. Many people choose to collate it in a monthly or quarterly newsletter.

3. Get on Social Media

Social media can be both a blessing and a curse. Everyone knows they should be on it, but very few people know what to do once they get there. A shotgun approach is also employed where they get on all the major platforms, and then post the same content on each one.

Begin by researching the platforms most used by your target demographic. When you have a small business, then pick one alone to join. Start to fully understand the platform, getting to know its algorithms, how it functions and how its advertising options work.

Make sure you devote time each day to being on the platform. Post, respond to comments and engage with followers and people in related niches. Once you have mastered it and have the time, you can then start on a second social media and work from there.

4. Invest in Website Design

It is easy to assume that the design of a website is not related to your eCommerce marketing strategy. Yet if you don’t invest time and money in it, all of your other work will be for nothing. If people come to your page and cant operate it or find what they want quickly, they will go elsewhere.

Make sure you devote time each day to being on the platform. Post, respond to comments and engage with followers and people in related niches. Once you have mastered it and have the time, you can then start on a second social media and work from there.

5. Try eCommerce Google Ads

SEO is about getting to the top of the search engine results page. Yet Google Ads let you jump the queue by bidding on keywords. This can put your products right at the top and into the gaze of buyers.

Finding the right keywords and arranging Google Ads is a task in itself. Most people give this to a third party, who can monitor them and improve the return on investment for your advertising spend. However, it costs very little to try yourself so you can get to grips with the basics.

6. Try eCommerce Facebook Ads

Facebooks ads are similar to Google ones, but instead of search engines, they appear on the Facebook platform. When people comment on what they like and dislike or give information on their demographics, it is logged by Facebook. You can use this to create ads that can target customers with extreme accuracy.

Both types of ads use a pay-per-click (PPC) method. This means you only pay when people click on the link or perform the requested action.

7. Get SEO Optimised

With a fully optimised website, you will start to get traffic for free. Search engine optimisation is huge and it is constantly changing. It can be broken down into on and off-page categories.

If you don’t have the time or effort to do this yourself, then hire a third party to do it for you. SEO is not something that can be done and forgotten, so they will advise you on best practices while they work on the rest.

Starting eCommerce Advertising and Strategies

Now you know these eCommerce advertising methods and strategies, decide which you can implement on your own. For others, you may need extra staff or a third party to do it for you. Do your research and before long you will see a huge return on investment.

Zesty Marketing can revolutionise your digital presence. With everything from social media management to brand design, we will work to get you noticed. Contact us here to discuss your needs and let us increase your web traffic starting today.