The rise of remote work has seen a significant increase over the past few months. The same is true for businesses. Many big business names that you never thought would go down have shut their doors this year.
E-commerce sites have been making waves even before, but they are making bigger waves now. Social distancing and lockdowns implemented in cities and states have made online shopping convenient. Shopping for necessities and non-essentials from the comfort of your home is safer and much more favorable.
However, not every e-commerce site is a hit. Some online businesses struggle to reach their prospective customers. Some succeed, while some others fail spectacularly. The most likely causes are the following:
- The site is not user-friendly.
- The site is not easy to navigate.
- It does not reach its target audience.
Here’s how to create an online presence that your prospective customers cannot ignore:
Make use of SEO.
Search engine optimization is an essential factor that can help build your online presence. Search engine algorithms change frequently, and it is crucial to master how you can get your website to show in the SERPs of Google. An SEO expert can help establish on-site and off-site SEO for your e-commerce site to bring more prospects. You want your website to rank high in SERPs when people search for keywords relevant to your business.
Know and establish your brand.
To gain recall and loyalty, you must know and establish your brand. Your brand is the reason why your business exists. What are the ideals and values that your company upholds? What is its mission?
Your brand should be aligned with your purpose and values. What makes brand building complicated is that you are not the one who will dictate your brand’s worth. Your customers will determine the value of your brand based on their experience with your product, your service, and your after-sales support. Whenever they see your brand logo, they will relate it to how they felt and how they connected with you.
If your business is about helping people achieve a healthier habit and lifestyle, then that’s the perception your target audience should have about your brand. Your brand will serve as your guide on how to build, promote, and sell your products and services.
With a brand in place, your e-commerce site will have a coherent and unified feel. The last thing you want is for your site to look all over the place. Your competitors invest heavily in their brands. You should be doing the same if you want to get ahead of the competition.
Connect through social media.
One of the surefire ways to connect with prospective customers is to create a social media presence. Facebook, for instance, has more than 2 billion active users. Tapping into even an eighth of this number can bring you a significant number of leads. Social media is a crucial instrument in making your business known online. From Facebook to Instagram, you can easily showcase your products and services to your target audiences.
A social media presence can help earn the trust of your prospective customers. They can easily connect and interact with you through social media. It’s a great way to establish your brand’s reputation, as well as your credibility. Most people search first for what they need through social media so that they can see what you are offering and what past customers are saying about you.
Have a well-designed e-commerce site.
A well-designed e-commerce site can help boost your business. Hire a professional to create a functioning and user-friendly website. It must have a natural flow and must be easy to navigate that even non-internet savvy visitors will have an easy time. It must have a consistent design that is easy to use.
Your e-commerce site must have an easy checkout process that will make the shopping experience of your leads smooth and hassle-free. One of the biggest killers to a sale is a complicated checkout process where too much information is required from the buyer.
Make sure to have a clear checkout button that your site visitors will not miss. Choose a shopping cart that can allow the users to review and update their orders before checkout.
Another thing that you must care to remember is to have your site built for mobile shoppers. More and more people are doing their online shopping from their smartphones or tablets, so it will be wise to ensure that your site is built for them, too.
Building an online presence for your business can be challenging. But having a sound and concrete plan can help make the process smoother and prime your online business for success.
