25 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Without Ads

When you own an e-commerce store, there comes a time when you have to start marketing it.

 

And you know one of the most popular ways to get fast traffic? Ads. Google, Bing, and social media networks all have them, and they’re a tried-and-tested way of getting targeted traffic to your website.

 

But what if you don’t have the budget for ads? Then, you’ll have to learn other ways to drive traffic to your online store, and there are plenty of available options.

 

Today, I’ll share 25 e-commerce tips to get more visitors to your site without spending a dime on paid ads.

Key Takeaways

• Understanding organic SEO and optimizing your site for user experience can play a crucial role in driving more visitors to your online store.
• Draw up your customer personas to tailor your marketing efforts and meet customers’ needs and preferences. When you understand your audience, you can create personalized, engaging content that resonates with potential customers.
• By leveraging analytics, you can optimize your organic SEO efforts and enhance the overall user experience to attract and retain visitors more effectively.
• High-quality content creation, including blog posts, buying guides, and product reviews, adds value to your audience and improves your store’s online performance.
• By using strategic internal linking, you can establish authority, build consumer confidence, and add credibility to your brand.

 

1. Optimize for Organic SEO

 

To begin driving traffic to your online store, use keyword research to identify relevant terms for your products. Use these keywords in your product titles and descriptions, meta titles and descriptions, and alt tags. These will help you attract organic traffic from the consumers most interested in your products.

 

Remember these pointers, too:

• Optimize your site for user experience. A well-structured site that’s easy to navigate can make a big difference in attracting visitors and keeping them there.
• Regularly posting high-quality content, such as blog posts, buying guides, and product roundup posts, is crucial for attracting and engaging visitors. Quality content gives value to consumers and helps with SEO.
• Building strategic, high-quality backlinks aids website visibility by giving your content authority, which is a ranking factor.
• Lastly, monitor your site traffic and analyze data so you can make data-driven decisions and continuously improve your organic SEO.

 

2. Understand Your Customer Personas

 

If you don’t know who you’re marketing to, you’ll have a tough time reaching them effectively. That’s where a buyer persona, or a customer persona, comes into play.

 

What is a customer persona?

 

It’s essentially a representation of your customer that helps you get inside their minds, understand their motivations, and connect with your audience in a meaningful, relevant way.

 

It also answers questions like:

• What do they do?
• How do they act?
• How do they think?
• What are their motivations as a customer?
• What search terms do they use?

Stats show that:

• A well-crafted persona can generate businesses 56 percent more higher-quality leads.
• Thirty-six percent of businesses say a persona contributes to a shorter sales cycle.
• Twenty-four percent of companies say customer personas generate more leads.

 

By keeping a persona in mind, you can develop your digital strategy to better resonate with your audience. For example, you can tailor your marketing messages, product offerings, and customer services to meet your customers’ needs.

 

3. Improve the On-Page Experience

 

Google makes it crystal clear that the on-page experience is one of the most important factors they look at when determining whether a site should rank.

 

On-page experience includes:

• Core web vitals, including page loading speeds.
• User-friendliness.
• Intuitive navigation so your customers can find their way around easily without getting lost in a maze of links.
• Carefully formatted content (headers, logical order, varied sentence length, and bullets) and high-quality images.
• Clear calls to action to guide your visitors through the site and get them to take action, like signing up for a newsletter or buying a product.
• Accessibility, so your site is suitable for a broader range of users.
• Personalization, according to customers’ buying and browsing habits.

 

4. Leverage Email Marketing Strategically

 

Email marketing allows personalization and increases customer engagement, effectively driving traffic to your online store. It also promotes customer loyalty. By building an email list, you can keep customers in the loop with the latest news and offers, making them more likely to return.

 

How?

 

You’ve already established trust with them, and they know what you have to offer. This customer loyalty and trust also puts your business in a position to promote other products.

 

5. Optimize Your CTAs

 

Recent studies show the average conversion rate for web traffic across all industries is 2.9%. As such, capturing email addresses through your CTAs is crucial because only around two percent of web traffic converts on the first visit. How do these two factors connect? Capturing email addresses is a key way to help you reach out to these users again, giving you a better chance of conversion.

 

You need to experiment a bit to see what works. Even something as simple as the color of your CTA button can make a difference.

 

Try different CTA buttons and phrasing to see what works and test them side-by-side using A/B testing.

 

Don’t stop at colors, though. You can also test your CTA’s:

• Copy
• Placement
• Font type or size
• Including images
• Landing page
• Offers

 

6. Improve Your Checkout Process

 

The average cart abandonment rate is over 70% percent. This can be due to hidden fees, shipping costs, too many steps, and a poor overall experience. The best e-commerce tips build on what you’re already doing, and the checkout process is a great place to start.

 

While people are more comfortable than ever shopping online, they also have high expectations for the process. How do you improve the process? Here are a few tips:

• Get rid of hidden fees and be upfront about pricing.
• Share shipping fees early in the process.
• Limit the number of clicks to convert.

 

7. Add Internal Links to Your Site

 

I’ve mentioned SEO already, but this step focuses on internal linking within your e-commerce website. How can this help in driving traffic to your online store?

 

Sites without proper internal linking don’t rank as high as those with a solid link-building strategy.

 

By creating a web of links on your site, you’re telling Google that you are an excellent resource for what people want to buy and you’re a wealth of knowledge in whatever niche you sell in. That will improve the user experience while also improving your worth to Google.

 

Here are a few tips for adding internal links:

• Identify hub pages—these are important pages you know your users want to see. Add links where it makes sense to point to these pages.
• Your product pages should include links to related products. If you sell tents, for example, you could link to other camping gear.
• Use easy-to-understand anchor text like this example: “Here’s more information about internal linking best practices. It’s clear what you’ll get if you click the highlighted text.”

 

8. Improve Your Product Pages

 

You could be losing a lot of money due to making common mistakes in your product descriptions.

 

Want to know an easy fix?

 

Don’t just list the features, such as the materials used, the dimensions, and the colorways. Shoppers want to know how these features benefit them. Consider how your offerings benefit customers and make those the focus of your product description.

 

For instance, say you have project e-commerce store with a cool product feature. Instead of just listing the feature, highlight how it helps users and even identify areas where they could enhance productivity.

 

Here are a few tips for optimizing product page descriptions:

• Cut the clutter so users can easily focus on what matters.
• Use clear, concise calls to action to tell visitors what to do next.
• Check your page speed.
• Use high-quality product photos.
• Add social proof to build customer confidence.

 

9. Upsell the Customers You Have

 

Many smaller e-commerce stores ignore one of their arsenal’s most accessible selling weapons: upselling.

 

There is a false impression that it isn’t worth the effort, but that’s not true.

 

Upselling can increase average order value, which adds up over time.

 

In the very first year that Amazon tested upselling on its platform, it increased sales by 35 percent.

 

Here are a few ways to increase upsells:

• Offer related product sections on product pages.
• Suggest products on the checkout page.
• Offer free shipping for orders over a specific amount, say $25 or $50.

 

10. Optimize for Mobile Shoppers

 

60.67 percent of web traffic comes from mobile devices; in the U.S., 85.38 percent of internet users access the internet on their mobile devices.

 

You can optimize for mobile by:

• Choosing a responsive design so visitors can view your site properly, regardless of their device.
• Offering mobile payment options like Apple or Google Pay.
• Streamlining your checkout processes to ensure they are suitable for smaller screens by minimizing steps or offering guest checkouts.
• Focusing on faster loader times.
• Optimizing product images: Use compression tools to improve loading speeds.

 

11. Build Out Your Social Profiles

 

Hubspot research shows that 84 percent of consumers are more likely to buy products directly from social apps, more often than from a brand’s website.

 

It’s not just about sales, though.

 

Social media also simplifies the process and helps consumers discover you.

 

Additionally, social media platforms are a fantastic way for you to engage with your audience through compelling content.

 

Plus, social media is your space to showcase products, encourage influencer collaborations, and build up a fan base.

 

If you’re looking for a few starter e-commerce tips, I recommend focusing on these platforms:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• TikTok
• YouTube

 

12. Build Out Your Blog

 

Blogging allows you to share relevant content that will attract an audience. It gives you a platform to inform, educate, and entertain your readers.

 

When done right, blogging can help you attract traffic, convert leads, and retain customers.

 

Blogging also improves SEO because:

• Each blog post becomes an indexed page.
• More indexed pages improve SEO.
• More pages on your site give you the ability to add more internal links, which tells Google you’re a great resource.
• It gives you a platform to share your ideas.
• Blogging gives you another way to build trust and authority in your niche.

 

13. Create a Sense of Urgency

 

Urgency is a powerful motivator and another example of an excellent e-commerce tip.

 

You can create urgency by offering limited-time discounts, flashing “low stock” messages, and using countdown timers on landing pages or popups.

 

Here are a few more ways you can create a sense of urgency:

• Offer limited-time discounts or flash sales.
• Set deadlines for free shipping or next-day delivery.
• Use limited stock notices.
• Use countdown timers on landing pages or in popups.

 

14. Use Influencer Marketing

 

Another powerful way to drive traffic to your online store is through influencer marketing.

 

It’s an effective tactic for many reasons. First, it leverages the trust and authority influencers have built with their audiences. Second, influencers help you reach new audiences you might not be able to reach otherwise. Finally, influencer marketing can lead to increased brand awareness, more traffic, and, ultimately, more sales.

 

15. Add User-Generated Content

 

Adding user-generated content (UGC) to your site and social media is one of the best e-commerce tips.

 

It shows that real people are using and enjoying your products, which builds trust and credibility with potential customers.

 

How do you add UGC?

 

Encourage customers to share their experiences on social media and tag your brand. Use branded hashtags to make it easy for users to find and share your content. You can also showcase UGC on your product pages and social media channels.

 

16. Develop Rewards and Referral Programs

 

Rewarding repeat customers helps encourage loyalty and keeps them coming back. A referral program can help you attract new customers while rewarding your existing ones.

 

These programs don’t have to be complicated.

 

Offer points for every purchase, and allow customers to redeem those points for discounts or free products. For referrals, provide a discount or a freebie for every friend or family member a customer brings in.

 

17. Offer Free Shipping

 

Free shipping is one of the most compelling reasons consumers choose to shop online.

 

In fact, 75 percent of consumers say they expect free shipping on orders over a certain amount.

 

Offering free shipping doesn’t mean you have to eat the cost.

 

Build it into your pricing strategy so it doesn’t impact your margins. You can also offer free shipping as an incentive for higher order values or for first-time customers.

 

18. Develop an Affiliate Program

 

Affiliate marketing is another great way to drive traffic to your online store.

 

With an affiliate program, you can leverage the power of other marketers to promote your products in exchange for a commission. It’s a win-win situation: Affiliates get paid for promoting your products, and you get more traffic and sales.

 

19. Implement Video

 

Video marketing is a powerful tool for driving traffic and increasing conversions.

 

Videos can be used to showcase your products, provide tutorials or how-tos, and tell your brand story.

 

Here are a few types of videos you can create:

• Product demos
• How-to videos
• Customer testimonials
• Behind-the-scenes videos
• Unboxing videos

 

20. Incorporate Chat on Your Website

 

Live chat can help you engage with visitors and answer their questions in real-time.

 

This can lead to increased conversions and a better customer experience.

 

You can also use chatbots to automate responses to common questions and provide 24/7 support.

 

21. Test Out a Flash Sale

 

Flash sales are a great way to create urgency and drive traffic to your online store.

 

They can also help you clear out old inventory and make room for new products.

 

Promote your flash sale on social media, email marketing, and your website to ensure maximum visibility.

 

22. Research, Test, and Pivot

 

The final e-commerce tip is to continuously research, test, and pivot.

 

The online landscape is constantly changing, and what works today might not work tomorrow.

 

By staying on top of trends, testing new strategies, and being willing to pivot when necessary, you can ensure your online store stays ahead of the competition.

 

There are countless ways to drive traffic to your online store without relying on paid ads. Implementing these strategies can significantly enhance your store’s visibility and performance. Focus on what works best for your brand, continuously optimize your efforts, and you’ll see the results in increased traffic and sales.