At Nicely Done Sites we know that an eCommerce website takes a long time to set up. One of the reasons that you set yours up is that you want it to sell your products. It is an employee that does not go to sleep, need a coffee or a bathroom break and is always on duty. It allows you to keep your store open 24/7. While that is great, you want it to make some money for you but it’s not. So what can you do?
Why Are You Not Selling Anything?
Find out! This is of course easier said than done but an analytics tool can help greatly here. Are you not selling anything because no one is coming to the site? Or is it because you are getting traffic but not converting. The path that you follow should be determined by that.
Don’t give up. Millions of Americans and billions of people around the world do their shopping online everyday. Americans spend on average about $3,000 per year on eCommerce websites and bring trillions of dollars into the economy. You want a piece of the pie but the world of eCommerce has become extremely competitive.
Advertise
We assume that you have heard the phrase that you need to spend a buck to make a buck. Advertising can do that and it can work whether you are getting no traffic to your site or are getting a lot of traffic. Now of course advertising is not free but it can drive traffic to your eCommerce site and by getting people there it can lead to conversions. But make sure that you advertise in the right places. Younger customers should be targeted through social media or online with places like Facebook, Amazon or Google while older customers might be better targeted through print media or television.
I’m Not Getting Any Traffic
If you are not getting any traffic you need to get people to your site. There is no getting around it. How can you do it? The first thing should be to analyze your SEO strategy. Don’t have one, develop one and you should see a big difference. If you don’t have one or need help developing one Nicely Done Sites can help you with that.
By moving yourself higher up in the search rankings you can the better chance you have to get your site in front of the eyeballs of potential customers. Advertising can of course help with that but the best results will come from people who want what you are selling and are actively seeking it out.
I’m Getting Traffic But Not Conversions
So what if you are getting people to your site but you are not getting conversions? Again you need to figure out why. Is it because people can’t find what they are looking for? If your site is not well laid out or is not easy to navigate it makes it hard to buy from your site. Your eCommerce site may need to be redesigned. Nicely Done Sites can help.
Are your products just not attracting eyeballs? Do you have an attractive image or video of the product to grab a visitor’s attention? Is the description of the product accurate and well thought out? If someone can’t find information about the product, what it looks like or even the basics of how to use it they may not buy from you.
Images
An eye catching image can sell an image for you. Think about what, what looks better to you, a poor quality image or a sharp and stunning image? The answer should be obvious. Have you considered shooting the image of the product from multiple angles as well? Nicely Done Sites can help with that and we have all of the equipment necessary to put those images to work for you.
Descriptions
Product descriptions should be as descriptive as possible to target the people it is intended for. It may seem counter-intuitive but by making a description as broad as possible to target as large of an audience as possible you may wind up having it purchased by no one. You have a targeted audience that your product is be intended for, don’t stray from that. If others can use it that is fine but stick to your preferred audience. If you are having trouble coming up with a good description Nicely Done Sites can help you with that as well.
The “Just Looking” Visitor
There are of course going to be people that come to your site and are “just looking” and that is fine. They have found you and that is a good thing. Those people might not be customers today but they could be customers tomorrow. At the same time they might be just comparing products and they might find a better deal elsewhere. If you have a lot of traffic but not a lot of conversions you might just need to check out what your competitors are offering and see if they are enticing some of your customers away. You could be losing customers simply to a better deal elsewhere and need to adjust your store. Better head out onto the Information Superhighway and check it out.
Other Considerations
Every customer is unique in what they want. For some it comes down to the price of what they are buying or how much shipping costs. Others may want to know that if they need help it will be there for them. How easy have you made it to get in contact with you? The ability to get into contact with you might not only save a return but it could also gain you more sales by word of mouth or a positive review. Or it could get you that sale by simply being easy to find and use.
Also how easy is the checkout process? Some people may not want to register on your site and have supply all of their information just to make a purchase. A guest checkout option might work for you. The checkout process itself should be easy, one page to review the items in the shopping cart (with the option to continue shopping of course!), another to submit payment information and a confirmation page. That is really all that you need. If this is hard to navigate your customer may give up and go elsewhere.
If your eCommerce site is not living up to the potential you had hoped for Nicely Done Sites can help. Whether it is just an audit of the site or a complete rebuild we are here for you. You’ve probably seen our live chat box pop up, use that to get in touch or visit our contact page to get started.