You have a great website for your business but you are having problems attracting visitors. Indeed, you can’t understand why no one is finding your online store. There can be many reasons for this and below you can see some ways to improve your online footfall.

Alternatively, you may actually have loads of visitors. You might be the busiest shop in your online high street as it were, but, no one is buying. How do you convince people after they arrive that they should buy something? It isn’t as if you have salespeople roaming the shop floor as you would in a physical store.

There are different tactics you need to use to attract visitors and make sales when your business is based online. Here are some ways to get people to arrive at your store and then actually make a purchase, and ideally come back again with their friends.

First, look at your website itself

Before you think about marketing and advertising your business you need to make sure the website itself is running properly. This means looking at the content and optimizing the site to improve the UX or user experience.

Images need to be compressed and saved in the right format and have alt tags added to them. Google cannot ‘read’ images in the same way it can text so you need to give them a description. These are called alt tags and let search engines see the visual content of your website.

All the text on the site should be relevant and contain up to date information with strong keywords and phrases to help search engines find you. Below are a few ways you can improve the content of your site and how it runs. These details will reflect in your SEO and assist you in advancing up the rankings on search engines.

Run a blog on your website

One way to improve your visibility is to have a blog on your site. This should be SEO-driven and contain relevant information. You can write articles yourself or invite writers to submit work. By continually adding content your website is more likely to show up in Google searches and not only that if the content is engaging you will attract repeat visitors.

Improve your Core Vitals

This is an area that will become more important in 2021 and is an area for a professional agency or website designer. It is basically a way for Google to rate the UX of a visitor to a website. While keywords and optimization will remain important this new area cannot be ignored. If you want to be listed near the top then look at the Google Core Vitals.

There are 3 areas and they concern how your website operates when someone initially visits. There are three terms used: LCP, FID, and CLS. Here is a quick look at them.

LCP or Largest Contentful Paint

This means how long does it take to load the main visual area of the visited page. This is just the part in the viewport and does not concern anything below the line. The faster the better but anything over 2.5 seconds will harm your rankings.

FID or First Input Delay

Is where you click on a link and how long it takes for the process to begin. It doesn’t concern how long the process takes, only the initial reaction time. So, if your scripts are still loading you will have an unhealthy delay.

CLS is Cumulative Layout Shift

Every internet user will have witnessed this at some point. When a site loads, parts appear quicker than others, and the visual and text content shift about. This metric concerns how little shift your site has. It is important as it can lead to clicking on the wrong link and lead to frustration in users.

Ignoring these areas of your website will damage how you are listed on Google.

Digital Marketing to drive visitors

Once your website is in tip-top shape you will need to think of other ways to get visitors. Of course, search engines are vitally important but you can be proactive in the ways you get visitors to your pages too.

Digital marketing refers to any form of electronic advertising or activity to grow your brand and increase interest. This can include something as simple as a mailing list to send offers to your existing customers. It can refer to social media, mobile advertising, and adverts within websites and search results.

The importance of using social media to attract visitors

Facebook advertising, Instagram, and other forms of social media should not be overlooked when trying to attract people to your website. There are paid-for versions of advertising and there are also free avenues you can exploit to build your brand awareness.

Social media lets you target specific regions and demographics so you can use your marketing budget effectively. You can also use your pages to interact with fans of your product line and answer any questions they have. Placing links, offers, adverts and calls-to-action on your timeline can bring people to your website. Now, the problem is how to convert those visitors to sales.

Converting your traffic into actual sales

There are ways to help yourself have more sales including the correct use of landing pages and calls-to-action but there are other things too which you may not consider. Look below for some information on how you can  help your website to move up.

Employing a professional agency

If you want conversion-focused web design then you may want to consider using a professional web agency. They can advise you on everything from SEO, Google Core Vitals along to advising on digital marketing.

Use of landing pages

Having great landing pages helps to create sales when used correctly. For instance, if you have a special offer on your Facebook timeline the link should go directly to the sales landing page. The visitor then arrives at an attractive web page with a good headline, strong image, and above and below the line content. Most importantly there ideally be a call-to-action, perhaps an ‘add to basket’ button. Two clicks and some financial details and you have a sale.

Strong customer service

Don’t ignore this area. It can help to build loyalty and deflect any difficulties before they take root. This is why it is important to engage with social media users and respond to Google reviews also. If you have trust with your shoppers they are more likely to repeat-buy and also recommend you to others.

Look at your payment methods

These days, people pay for items in a variety of ways from Google Pay Send, to Bitcoin, to bank transfers. Offering a choice of safe online payment options will make it easier for your visitors to make purchases. Also, if there are any refunds necessary make these swiftly to keep customers happy.

Advertise on other websites and blogs

Find relevant blogs with a strong, steady following and advertise there. If you sell a product that the blog readers are very keen on and the traffic to the blog is sufficient then this can be a good way to attract more visitors. By linking the advertising to a particular sales landing page you are leading them straight to checkout again.

Set yourself conversion goals

Although this in itself won’t convert visitors it is a handy way to monitor conversion data. Use Google Analytics or other tools to set targets and track data to help with bounce rate and sales conversions.

Summary

To find more visitors and sales you will need to have a website that engages your audience but also loads smoothly and can be found on search engines. You will need to build a marketing strategy and make people aware of your brand and drive them towards the sales area of your website. With clever use of social media and landing pages, you can move someone from being a casual reader to a buyer in just a few clicks.