Proven Traffic Strategies for Your Shopify Store

 When thinking about traffic it is important to realize that their are two types of traffic methods: long term traffic methods and short term traffic methods. If you need to make sales now, then a long term method isn’t something that will help you much. Short term methods require some funding on your part and some tweaking to make profitable.

Optimizing Traffic Requires Extensive Planning

Short Term Traffic Methods

Google Shopping Ads. Google has an ad format specifically designed for ecommerce and product searches. This process doesn’t depend on bidding on keywords but on setting up store descriptions, sitelinks, and product feeds. You can also choose between a targeted approach or set up traffic across google’s wide range of ad inventory. Shopify has created an in depth guide to setting up these types of ads.

Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads are much more complex but can be extremely targeted and effective. They are based on the idea of audiences, you can target a specific audience or you ca create a lookalike audience. For example, if you have an email list of previous customers you could upload this and create a lookalike audience from it. Facebook would match up your customers with similar Facebook users who you could then target with ads. You could also retarget users who visited your site but didn’t purchase anything.. These type of Ads become more successful as your website gains traffic and your target audience becomes clearer. Shopify has again created a step-by-step guide.

Ad Buys. In this method you simply buy ad space on related websites. You can purchase banner impressions, widgets, or even advertorials. There are many sites that offer this including: blogvertise.com, BuySellAds and similar sites

Long Term Traffic Methods

Video Creation. Youtube is one of the largest traffic sources and can no longer be ignored when it comes to a long term traffic strategy. Making compelling video though is time consuming and editing can be quite tedious. Off loading some of these tasks may be the ideal way to go. You can also use online video editing software like clipchamp or capcut to quickly create videos on the go.

Social Media. Growing a social media account as a business can be quite hard and will probably require some paid advertising or the use of bots. Another strategy is to use a hybrid account where you mix personal opinion, politics, and business. Of course, you would need to be cognizant of controversial topics and stay away from heated debates.

Blogging and Content Syndication. Creating content on your Shopify site is well and good but won’t do much in the way of garnering traffic especially if you are just starting out. A good strategy is to syndicate that content to web 2.0 type sites with a link back to the original. Some good sites to post to are: medium, reddit, tumblr, publish0x, linkedin, and quora.

Email Marketing. As people purchase from your store it is crucial to get them on an email list of some sort. This creates more value from each customer by ensuring that at least some customers return and make multiple purchases. Weekly or monthly newsletters can be great way to keep buyers informed on what is happening with your store.

Conclusion

To increase traffic and sales a mix short term and long term methods is required. How much of each will depend on your individual budget and amount of time available. Nothing happens online without traffic and competition for that traffic is fierce. Good content by itself may not bring in sales and throwing money at paid campaigns doesn’t guarantee success. Becoming good at marketing requires patience and experience. Good luck to you in your endeavors.