Ashley Rosa, Freelance BloggerTraffic is gold when it comes to making sales. It’s the first rung in the sales funnel because, without it, your website is left sitting in the corner of the vast web universe. That’s not what you want really. After all, you’ve put extensive efforts in your product and its quality, and sales are something you deserve. Statistics are by your side too. Ecommerce sales stood at a proud $504.6 billion in 2018. This number is expected to jump to $735 billion by 2023. To attract some of these sales, here are some useful ways to drive more traffic to your ecommerce website:

1. Pair up with Instagram influencers

Influencers are people on social media who have considerable influence on their followers so when they talk about an e-store, they can direct a lot of their followers to its site. Of these, Instagram is the best social network for reaping fruits for your efforts.A study reveals that Instagram gives brands 25% more engagement than other social platforms. It is also known for generating a higher average order value than Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest.The most important point here is to work with micro-influencers in your niche. This will encourage the right audience to visit your ecommerce website. So, if you have a fashion products store, let’s take a leather skin shop for example here, then you need to pair with influencers in the same niche.

2. Start writing stellar blog posts

53% of marketers insist that blogging is their top priority as part of their content marketing plan. Blogging puts up lots of content from your site on the search engine. Naturally, when your content ranks better, more people visit your site.Besides, blogging gives you an opportunity to engage with your audience, which helps you develop a loyal audience. Another factor that speaks in favor of blogging is that 42% of US consumers have researched and purchased services or products online.While you may be focusing on the part where these consumers are buying products, the real deal is that prospects are ‘researching’ before purchasing. Moreover, 14% of shoppers in the US prioritize researching products online over getting them in physical stores. This brings forward a clear takeaway – put out valuable content for your buyers that converts them from readers to buyers.

3. Boost visitors’ experience on your website

Any hiccups in the design of your ecommerce website simply translate into lost traffic. People may visit your site, but they would instantly bounce back if the page loads slowly or the user experience is not welcoming enough.Just a second’s delay in loading a page can culminate in a 7% loss in conversion rate. Plus, it can drop page views by 11%. What’s more, research reveals that an e-store making about $50,000 per day, one-second delay chips in over $1 million in lost sales each year.Besides, ensure that your web design is professional and user-friendly. Most of all, get a logo designed by experts that represent your brand. To this end, don’t hesitate from availing custom logo design services. All these small tweaks on your ecommerce site enhance a customer’s experience, which encourages him to spend more time on your page.

4. Pay attention to your SEO

SEO or search engine optimization relates to taking steps that improve your ecommerce site’s page ranking in the browser. As discussed above, upping your page load speed and blogging are good for your SEO. However, SEO is far more diverse than these measures.In this regard, one of the steps that you can take is research relevant keywords and add them naturally to your website and blog content. Include the keywords in descriptions of your products as well. Add some external links in your content too. These will help showcase authority.Moreover, give meta descriptions on your site a priority. You can use keywords here as well, but the goal is to make these descriptions attention-grabbing so that users can read these and click over to your site. Lastly, you can build links to your content from other authoritative sites as well.

5. Employ augmented reality

Augmented reality (AR) has been making a lot of buzz in the ecommerce section. Essentially, it assists in boosting customer experience by creating a realistic shopping experience. Surprisingly, 55% of the customers intend to visit a physical store because they can’t visualize products available in e-stores.In other words, customers wish to know how a product will look on them before they purchase it. AR helps solve this issue. A case in point is LensKart, which is an online eyewear store that uses this tech to allow buyers to see how different frames look on their face.In this way, users can get an idea of how well the frame suits them and make a satisfied purchase. Sephora and Ikea are other examples of businesses using AR in this context.

6. Make your website mobile friendly

Over 1.2 billion folks visit the internet on their smartphone. That’s four times the population of the US. Chances are that a sizeable chunk of these internet users visits your ecommerce site. If you are still not convinced, then know that four out of five Americans now shop online with half of them making purchases on their mobile gadget.The only problem is that these folks would backtrack from your site immediately if it is not mobile friendly. In fact, the odds of a customer buying from a mobile e-commerce site go down by 62% when they have a poor experience.Therefore, you can’t ignore improving your site’s mobile friendliness to enhance a visitor’s experience. Needless to say, a mobile-friendly website drives in more traffic.Summing up In a nutshell, work on improving your SEO, blog regularly, and work with influencers to drive traffic to your website. Don’t forget to improve website experience for visitors as without that, people landing on your site will instantly back-pedal, dropping your site’s ranking and more traffic subsequently.