Are you looking to increase visitors to your site? Trying to come up with new ideas to reach more potential customers?

Here are 11 things you can do that may help get more eyeballs looking at your site…

1. Submit a data feed to Google

Google Shopping (formerly Google Product Search) is an effective way to show your products to people searching on Google. Although it’s now a paid service, there are many great opportunities to place low bids on niche items and get good results.

Not sure you want to try to manage a data feed? Look to a company like GoDataFeed to automate this and submit your data to many comparison shopping services.

2. Start a blog (or update your outdated one)

A blog is a great way to stand out from the competition. That’s provided you don’t just try to sell, sell, sell on your blog.

What should you do instead?

Focus on your customers – Unique ways to use the products you sell, industry news and information, how to guides, etc… Make it interesting to your ideal customer, and then you can sprinkle in some selling to “close the deal”.

3. Use Google Analytics data wisely

What do I mean by wisely? Don’t just look at keywords and revenue. Look at conversion sources, best sellers, highest converting products, worst sellers, and related items. Then use this data to adjust your prices and product offering accordingly.

4. Use Social Media wisely

You don’t have to be active on every Social Media platform. What you should do is find out where your ideal customer likes to hang out, and establish a presence there.

But don’t just “hawk your wares”. Provide value to your customers. Whether that’s timely info, industry tidbits, or responding to questions, give back to the community. Show your customers you care and are passionate about your industry, and they’ll likely be more open to buying from you in the future.

5. Make product descriptions unique

Don’t just use the stock manufacturer text. Personalize your products with custom text and images that make your products stand out.

One word of caution: If there are words/phrases that are used by people to find your products, make sure those “stock” keywords are still in place.

6. Add video to your product pages

Many people love to watch videos as opposed to reading text on a page (I’m not one of them, but I’m likely in the minority on this one). Videos that demonstrate your product, show how to use it, build it, etc… can be effective sales tools.

Set up a YouTube channel for your company, create a few videos, and embed them on your product pages. For extra marketing effect of your video turn to a social media marketing company.

7. Use AdWords effectively

AdWords done right can be quite profitable. Done wrong, it can soak up tons of money with little return.

Analyze your Google Analytics data, suggested keywords in AdWords, and the “Keyword Details” tab for specific keywords to see what is actually performing well. Then adjust your bids to maximize return while limiting your total monthly spend.

Make sure you’re using exact match, phrases, and especially negative keywords to only have your ads appear to those people looking for your products. This can make a huge difference in the success of your ads, and can save you a ton of money.

8. Data mine your search log

Look at the search log in your ecommerce admin panel. See what people are finding (and buying), and more importantly, what people are NOT finding. Then you can fine-tune your search keywords, or discover an opportunity to add to your product line.

9. Reviews – use ’em, solicit ’em

Shoppers love to read reviews. Make sure you offer them on your site for your products.

Don’t have a lot of reviews? Ask for them after each purchase. Both positive and negative reviews are helpful. This is a great way to boost your SEO efforts.

10. Stock template? Look to uniformity and custom look and feel

There’s nothing wrong with using a stock template for your site. However, if that stock template isn’t customized a bit to match your look and feel, and is missing a nice header/footer and good navigation, it can be a turn-off for many would-be buyers.

Take the time to make your images a uniform size. Having a page with multiple products on it all with different heights and widths can really detract from a site’s appeal (unless you’re going for that crazy, unorganized, Craigslist look).

Often times the best investment you can make with your online store is to have a designer create a custom template that truly highlights your value and products.

11. Try a Groupon or Living Social deal

Sure, they’re not the rage they were last year, but deal sites can still bring in a bunch of sales in a short period of time. At the very least they get your products in front of a large group of people.

Just be sure to set limits for the deal, and don’t give away the farm such that the deal makes things worse for your business. These deals can be great loss leaders if done correctly.

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So there you have it. Eleven ideas to help you sell more and reach more buyers. Hopefully a few of them will do the trick for your site. 

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