First sell is an important milestone, but it can come after a long and hard process. Many owners of online stores are sure they will start selling as soon as they appear online. That is far from true for most of them. It takes effort and hard work to make your online store come to life. To make your path to the first online sell as smooth as possible read our 20 advices on how to make your first sell online.
1. Start writing a blog
Blog with useful tips and tricks that represent how to use the products you are selling online is a great way to create additional value for the products, to gain new followers on social media and to increase sales. Apart from that, Google loves good blog content. It will help you gain better position in Google and with that bigger reach of potential customers. And that are the keys steps towards your first online sell.
2. Create your mailing list
Sending out e-news with actual promotions, presentations of new products and special offers is one of the most effective ways to transform potential customers into buyers, and even into returning customers. It has been said that e-mail listing is one of the best weapons of every successful businessperson, but only few have really master its usage.
3. Transform your Facebook account into business page
Social media is one of the best ways to inform your followers about your products and to improve your brand recognition. Even though the list of social media platforms keep growing, Facebook remains the top social media for business in most of the world.
First important step you should make when it comes to advertising on Facebook is to create a professional business page and not personal profile for your business. That will open more options for advertising and adding additional functionality for promotional purposes. And as you know, good promotion means faster sales.
4. Create good social media plan
I am a huge believer in the power of social media in terms of helping you make your fist online sell. But, with that said, I am also sure that you need a good social media marketing strategy which includes the most important activities for short and long term marketing. If you start using social media without a plan, you will soon find yourself lost in the mess of different unconnected posts, without new ideas, while losing valuable time and money.
5. Take advantage of YouTube
YouTube was gaining popularity over the last few years and has now become the second largest browser in the world. As his popularity increases, storeowners have more and more opportunities to create their own video channels with interesting content that will attract a larger number of potential customers.
Although many people think it is costly to create and maintain a video channel, it can be done on a low budget. Keys are good ideas and good strategic plan that supports other marketing activities and is connected with other channels.
6. Do not forget to be seen
Networking, going to different events and meeting new people can be hunting, but it is an important part of promoting your new business. Special events targeting people and business owners from specific niche can be an effective way of get new clients and new partners, as people there are often more relaxed and ready to meet each other.
Make sure you become a regular guest at events that can help you promote your brand, your products and yourself. Keep an eye on new possibilities to connect with different established brands and influencers that can help you with promotions, especially in the first stages of your company.
7. Give out samples
Did you know, that more than 70% of people decide to buy a product based on the opinion of other users? Giving out samples, especially to influencers and bloggers in you niche, is one of the best ways to spread a positive voice about your product, to reach more potential buyers and to shorten your time until the first sell.
8. Connect with influencers
Once you reach out to the influencers and give them samples, you can also ask them to write a post, take pictures or create short videos about their experience. This will not only help you reach more potential buyers, you will also get interesting content that you can use on your social media or in your email marketing activities.
Working with influencers is without a doubt one of the most effective tactics to improve your brand recognition and to shorten your time until you make your first sell.
9. Master Google Ads
Using Google tools is one of the simplest and most effective ways to promote online shops and stores. But be sure to keep track on all your activities and promotions, regularly check your Google Analytics data and make changes when needed. That is the only way to make your Google campaigns work and reach set goals on a long term.
10. Test, test, test
No matter what kind of marketing activities your are preforming online, you should take advantage of one important feature that online business brings: testing. You can find out exactly where your customers came from, what they were looking for in your store and when they left it. With all this important information you know exactly what to offer them to get them back into the store, which promotions will be interesting for them and what kind of content they are looking for.
11. Refresh your buyer personas
Buying personas are necessary for you, if you want to really understand the needs and wishes of your customers. You should create your buyer personas before opening your online store, but should also update them on a regular basis once you have enough real data about your buyers.
To refresh your buyer personas use data gathered from the analysis of your page, analysis of your followers on social media and from the questions, either send to you directly, either published on forums where your potential customers gather.
12. Award your buyers
We all love gifts. Your customers will love if you surprise them with small gift that will let them know just how special they are to you. When it comes to choosing the right gifts, you should not search for expensive or hard to make products. Simple add-on, promotional code for next buy or e-book will be more than enough.
13. Get comments and reviews
As mentioned, testimonials of other customers and users are one of the most important elements that users are looking for before making a purchase. When you first open your online store, there will not be any comments or reviews from customers, as you do not have any. Great way to change that is to send out free samples to influencers and get their comments and reviews. Later on, you can give out awards to customers that add their reviews.
14. Optimize your page
Page optimization includes everything from creating optimized content, using plugins or implementations for optimization, to making sure all your programming work was done with optimization in mind.
Good optimization is a key factor in how high your web page or online store will appear in browsers. And we all know that sites that are not shown on the first page in Google basically do not exist. So make sure you do all you can to reach you position among the top.
15. Mobile is the future
Number of users on mobile phones is slowly but surely overtaking the number of users on computers, which means you are losing an enormous potential if your page or store is not mobile friendly. Responsive pages have become a new standard, although some storeowners still underestimate their importance. I can guarantee you that you will lose buyers if your page is not optimized for mobile phone.
16. Become guest blogger
Gust blogging used to be a popular career choice for many good writers, but it is now also becoming a great way to promote product on other blogs and pages. Storeowners with a gift for writing can create interesting content for their potential users. Informative and educational topics are the best, but you can also include a promotional offer for readers.
Send those articles to pages that your potential customer read and know. Choose pages that have good positions in browsers and can provide the most beneficial links. Outbound links will help you reach better position in browsers, and a bigger number of potential buyers will see the articles.
17. Become a regular forum guest
Forums should become your secret weapon. They are a treasure chest of useful ideas, as they are full of questions from your potential buyers. Create a list of questions and use it to create new content, from blog posts to short video clips.
I am sure that you will find questions and topics that you would never think of by yourself. You will also see what customers like and dislike on your competitor`s products and pages, what is happening on your target market and what products you should add or remove from your offer.
18. Communicate additional value
Additional value is everything that makes your product worth more that the competitors` products. It can be almost anything: from local ingredients in your delicious smoothies, to special certificates and declarations of quality.
Make sure you communicate the additional value in a clear and simple way that your users will see every time they visit your online store. Include labels that represent certificates, make descriptions clear and easy to read, include visually attractive elements. Additional value will allow you to sell your products for a higher price and attract more customers that will choose you over your competitors.
19. Learn from your mistakes
I can guarantee you that you will make a couple of mistakes as you enter the world of digital marketing and online selling. Although some mistakes can be costly and can send you a few steps back in your progress, they are also valuable lessons about your buyers and followers.
Make sure you always stay on top of your statistical data. Keep track of your users` activities in your online store, on social media and on forums. That way you will find any mistakes soon enough to fix them before they cause too much damage.
20. Remain focused
Path to the first sell will be hard and even long. But do not get discouraged too soon. Internet is a very active place, which is involving every minute. New web pages and online stores are being added daily and only the best make it to the top.
One of the best tools you can use to make your way to the first sell even easier is Qwilink. Application was created especially for storeowners that want to simplify their online activities and make their digital marketing activities even more successful and easy to follow.
