You spent thousands of dollars on a gorgeous e-commerce website, but the traffic didn’t come. You invested in various advertising and marketing programs.

No sales or conversions. You want to learn how to grow your business online, but you need a little help.

In today’s competitive digital marketplace, people vie for traffic and conversions. A well-developed marketing plan that uses many sources can improve your profits.

You need to understand the various channels and how to put them into place. You can grow your online business and take your traffic and profits to the next level using these 13 tips.

How to Grow Your Business Online Using Social Media

It’s not enough to have a good website, today’s tech-savvy customer wants personal service and a company that cares. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram can showcase your product or service and show the human side of your business.

Customers can leave reviews, ask questions and you can answer. Posts that seek engagement get comments, likes, and shares.

Many businesses scoff at social media and see it as a time waster, but it’s a vital part of growing online. By not taking advantage of these free services, you’re eliminating potential customers, conversions, and profits.

Secure HTTPS Builds Trust with Customers

Google Chrome is the most used Internet browser. Google wants to make sure e-commerce sites are secure. You’re taking private information like names, addresses, and credit card numbers. With so many data breaches, customers are wary about giving away their information.

You’re used to seeing HTTP at the beginning of your URL, but it lacks the security of HTTPS. If your site isn’t HTTPS, then Chrome shows a “Not Secure” message on the URL bar.

Customers won’t place their information on your site. They’re afraid of credit card and identity theft. If you want to know how to grow a business online, then start by getting a secure website.

Trust Seals Adds to Consumer Trust

A secure website is one way of gaining customer confidence. Trust seals from sites such as The Better Business Bureau and other security sites show shoppers that you are an established, trustworthy business.

If your site or business has won any awards, then place badges for that as well. Many times, e-commerce platforms have badges that showcase their security as well.

Customer trust is imperative to grow an online business. You can get people to your site.

If they are uncomfortable entering their payment information, then high traffic doesn’t matter. It’s about conversions.

Gain Organic Traffic with Search Engine Optimization

Having a product or service doesn’t matter much if you don’t have people visiting your site. Organic search traffic from sites like Google, Yahoo and Bing may be your biggest traffic getter.

You want to be on the first page of search results because they’re most often visited. Search engine optimization is how you get there.

New businesses may have an uphill climb to page one. They lack the experience of the competition and backlinks from authoritative sites.

You can still beat them with targeted keyword analysis and implementation on your site’s content. SEO starts with keywords, but it is the careful placement in good content that raises your site to page 1.

Get Your Business Listings Correct

There are countless websites that list your business information. It’s likely you only know of a fraction of them.

They don’t need your permission to put your information on their sites. Many times, this information can be incorrect or incomplete.

To change this information, you’ll need to claim the listing by verifying you’re the owner. You’ll then be able to add information, pictures, etc.

These sites rank well on search engines. You’re losing customers if your profiles aren’t filled out completely or if the information is incorrect. This can be a time-consuming job but there are services that can do this for you.

Reviews Drive Customers and Earn Trust

Like business listings, review sites don’t need your permission to list your business. You can have positive and negative reviews that you’ve never seen. They’re influencing customers, and either helping or stunting your business’s growth.

Major sites like Yelp and Facebook allow you to claim your listings and respond to reviews. A proper response to a negative review can help your business.

It shows you care about your customers and their experiences. This can go a long way to grow an online business.

Focus on User Experience

Google’s search algorithm focuses on many things, including user experience. Your customers also need an easy way to get from product to checkout or else they won’t bother. User experience involves everything a customer does on your site, such as reading your product descriptions, getting questions answered and checking out with products.

Make sure there aren’t any broken links on your site keeping people from moving forward on the sales funnel. Remove any grammatical errors as this lowers respect from customers.

Keep the checkout simple and easy to use. The faster they can get to your checkout and pay, the happier they’ll be. Happy customers mean returning customers that become brand ambassadors.

Build Your Email List

Email marketing is still as effective today as it was a decade ago. Newsletter opt-ins for email addresses aren’t.

People don’t want to give their email address away for nothing. Provide something for them, such as a discount or e-book for signing up. This gets you their email, so you can send them coupons, newsletters, etc.

Don’t skimp on the newsletter either. It’s one more portal back to your store.

Give them something they want to read. Use the content to answer common questions, showcase products and educate your customers.

Automation Grows Your Business, Saves Time

One of the most difficult aspects of e-commerce is finding the time to get everything done. You know it’s important to do social media and other marketing methods, but who has the time?

Automation applications do everything without constant attention. There may be some extra time for setting up in the beginning, but after that, it’s smooth sailing.

There are applications to automate pay per click advertising, social media and follow up sales emails. It’s important to keep an eye on the programs to make sure everything runs correctly and within budgets.

Pay Per Click Advertising Grabs Customers

Google Ads allow you to have ads on websites, search pages, videos, and more. PPC ads are also available on social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram.

The ads work on an auction system where you bid on keywords against other businesses. This bid, along with your ad’s quality score, determines where and when it is seen.

The biggest issue with PPC ads is the cost and setup. A PPC campaign that isn’t run efficiently can cost significant money but have little return.

You need to analyze bids, keywords, negative matching, etc. It can be time-consuming or you can work with an agency to help manage it.

Create a Mobile Friendly Website

Mobile search has outpaced desktop search, making it an important factor in search ranking and customer experience. It’s not enough to have a great looking desktop site, because most people search on their phone. You need a mobile site that is as good, if not better, than your desktop site.

Google made mobile friendliness an aspect of ranking and implemented mobile first indexing. This means when a person searches, regardless of whether it’s on a desktop or mobile, Google examines the mobile site first.

Be More Than Just a Business

With social media, live chat and more, a business can be more than a cold company. You can let your personality show on your social media, website and even newsletters.

People want to connect with the places with which they do business. It’s your personality that will win them over and keep them coming back.

Unless you have a completely unique product or service, then you need to set yourself apart from the competition. In a world of monotone and boring businesses, grow yours by connecting with customers and showing your human side.

Content Is Still King

Google ranks sites that are authoritative. Customers want to learn and be educated before buying a product.

Create great blog posts, articles, videos and more to show them you’re the experts in your niche. Share that content on your social media or link to it in your PPC ads.

This shows your authority, and if customers have questions about your niche, they can land on your page. Articles and blog posts are perfect for keywords and SEO.

If You Build It, They Will Come

If you want to know how to grow your business online, then these tips can get you started. It takes commitment and hard work, but you can dominate your niche.

If you have questions about digital marketing or growing your business, then visit our website and learn everything you’ll need.