3 Tips for Small Businesses to Successfully Sell Online
01/10/2021
Over the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a huge shift in businesses selling online, in order to meet increased demand from customers.
However, it requires more than just posting a few products on a small part of the internet. To help small businesses attract online visitors and then ultimately turn them into customers, we have put together this guide to help businesses learn how to target customers, that will make purchases.
We’re going to look at three of the best tips to help your business sell online.
Understand Your Online Customer
The first step to understanding your customer is knowing where to find them. Different demographics will be found on different parts of the internet – for example, the younger generation is more likely to be on TikTok than other social media platforms.
Next, you need to consider how you can help them. This could be done by offering discounts on Facebook in exchange for customers sharing posts.
You could add further value to your online presence by using a blog page. There is the chance, that one blog could make a big impact on someone, which results in trust and earns the company a reputation, that could turn into revenue. The more value in your posts, the larger the following you will receive. After customers recognise this value, it would be worth inserting a call to action or a link to a product page.
Another example would be letting customers know how sustainable your business is. This could be talking about the materials you use, any certifications you have, or who you’re partnered with.
Helping Customers Find You
Marketing is vital for selling online. Google is the very best place for potential customers to find your business. Initially, it would be a great idea to put your company on Google My Business, where you can include business details, such as opening hours and contact numbers. It also displays reviews, which can be a brilliant selling point for your business.
Within Google Ads, you can choose a budget and then target certain areas and keywords. Google even has tools that can be used to find what people are searching for and what keywords are being used. You can broaden short-tail keywords into long-tail keywords.
It is also possible to set your own budget on Instagram and Facebook. It is vital to review the performance of ads and make changes accordingly, such as your target demographic. Start off slow, then improve as you go.
Next, look at creating a funnel for visitors to your site. Concentrate on your Google and social media presence and assess the roles they play in getting traffic to your site. It is important to keep your messaging consistent, as this will boost brand identity.
When you’re posting about your product or service offering, then make sure to keep it simple. Think about the key features you’re offering and use a bullet point effect. Instead of using bullet points, however, you could use emojis. Remember to be consistent with how frequently you post and include strong images.
If you’d like to post any videos, it is best to keep them short – under a minute long – and they should address relevant issues and how to solve them. The videos that tend to do the best are the ones that answer somebody’s questions. Social media is also a brilliant place to answer customer questions, especially when they’re out of hours.
Closing the Deal
Once you’ve attracted visitors to your site, then as long as you get a few details right it should lead to a sale.
Start with how you present yourself. When you tell your story and sell your products, make sure to keep your tone consistent with the brand. Often, customers don’t just want to buy products, they want to know your journey.
It is wise to give as much information in your product descriptions and tell a story. If the product is niche, then it is helpful to explain how to use it. Try and give it a personal touch and include anecdotes where possible, as this builds up trust and respect with your audience. People may then be more likely to share your website on their social media accounts and blog posts. It would be a great idea to take brilliant quality images of products, in order to help land sales.
Look at your site holistically to assess whether your navigation and sales process is streamlined, so it’s as easy as possible for your customers. Go through the process yourself and find any gaps, which could affect you.
Your product pages are vital here. First of all, include customer testimonials on these pages to highlight why previous customers have loved the products. It would also be ideal, if other recommended products appear alongside the products customers are looking at. If the item is on sale, then displaying the discounted price next to the full price will show customers how much of a bargain they are grabbing.
Let customers know everything about shipping options, so they won’t need to click off the product page to find the information. Shipping times and prices can be make-or-break when it comes to a customer deciding whether to shop with your business or a competitor. There is also the option to offer free shipping for a certain spend or to certain countries. If you provide free shipping, then make sure to advertise this on the home and product pages, so it is obvious to visitors.
Finally, make sure to consider all your customers outside of the UK. Never purely restrict yourself to your own country. Make sure you use appropriate language, currency, and domains for the countries you’re selling to. It’s worth noting that key terms may also be different in other parts of the world. For example, if you feature recipes on your site, include ‘zucchini’ as well as courgette.
When building a website and selling online, it is important to be true to yourself and reflect your product and story in your marketing. Be authentic, consistent, and persistent.
And there we go, that’s about it! We hope you have learnt some great ways to successfully sell online and that will you be able to incorporate them into your business plan. We wish you the very best of luck on your money-saving journey.
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