Shopify for Beginners Q&A Part 4 - How do I get traffic to my store?
🥁 So here it is…. Our final installment in our Shopify for Beginners Series! 🥁
This week we bring you Part 4: How do I get traffic to my store?
This is perhaps the million dollar question, riiiiight? So let’s give it the attention it deserves, because let’s be honest, you need the traffic to make the sales, and you need the sales to make your store successful!
We asked our Head Dreamer Angela and Top Project Manager Karla for their top tips, so we hope you enjoy this final episode of our Shopify for Beginners series!
Pssst…… If video is more your style, check out the Q&As on our YouTube channel!
So the big question…. How do I get traffic to my store?
Honestly, if we had the one answer to this, or the magical formula, we would give it to you (promise 😜 ).
But the truth is, there is no one size fits all - or any guarantees that any particular method is going to work for you and your store.
So whether it’s SEO, or social media, or word of mouth, or influencer marketing, or paid ads…. The list of strategies to get more traffic to your store is pretty endless - and it changes as trends change. TikTok anyone?
Need help optimizing your website to increase your revenue?
That's what we do!
But when it comes to driving traffic, there is a simple answer that people often overlook - focusing on what works.
Too often we see business owners burning rubber and spinning their wheels trying to do all the things, when they just need to pay attention to where their customers are and what works.
So whether that is social media, ads, sending out emails, sending out text messages, getting an app so that people can download it and shop seamlessly on their phones… The list goes on and on. The key takeaway here though is that if you do All The Things, you will exhaust yourself and exhaust your budget too, probably.
So hear us when we say: you do not need to do everything.
In the beginning, sure, you will need to try a few different things to figure out what works, but after that, don’t get taken down by Shiny Object Syndrome - instead, pay attention to your numbers and where your customers are coming from, and double down on that - it has already proven what works.
When you find a little bit of traction somewhere, run with it, and only when you really feel like you have that down and you're maximized, then it's time to add the next thing - and that should be a strategic decision to grow your business, whether that’s growing your marketing team, or trying another social media channel.
For more - definitely check out the blog for tonnes of resources about marketing strategies like retargeting ads or paid versus free marketing.
Just don’t try and do everything, deal?
This is something we are super passionate about because we LOVE to see stores succeed. What breaks our little ecommerce hearts is when boutique owners spread themselves too thin and try everything, and then give up because they think nothing works. When in reality, all that happened was that they got lost in the weeds trying to do everything, and didn’t get a chance to identify the strategy that worked for them.
But now that we have really made our point, maybe we should mention some traffic driving strategies, huh?
We do actually have a post all about this, so definitely go check it out if you are interested in that.
In essence, when it comes to driving traffic, this is something every ecommerce store owner should be focused on. It’s actually part of a trifecta of numbers to be paying attention to: 1) traffic numbers, 2) average cart total, and 3) conversion rate. But you need to know your revenue goals to figure out where you are with traffic. And luckily, we have a super handy tool for this! Our Boutique Traffic Calculator will help you figure out what your revenue goal should be and what your traffic needs to be to meet that goal.
After that, you can start to come up with a strategy of how to meet your goals which will probably be a mix of long term and short term strategies for driving traffic. We still really swear by email marketing and text clubs for driving traffic to our clients’ sites - but remember what we said earlier - it’s different for each store, so you need to focus on what works for you, not what works for someone else.
Another key thing that boutique owners overlook too often is the functionality of their store, and the customer experience. Because you can be driving all the traffic in the world, but if your store doesn’t work properly or your visitors are confused when they are trying to navigate your store, they will bounce. So you need to make sure that your website is optimized in order to make the most of the traffic you are bringing to your site.
Need help optimizing your website to increase your revenue?
That's what we do!
Final Thoughts for Shopify Beginners
Ok. We are drawing to the end of our series on Shopify for Beginners. But before we check out, we wanted to leave you with some final thoughts.
First of all, we are behind you all the way. If you are dreaming of it, thinking about it, planning it all out… We want to say to you.... Just do it!
Yes it will push you, yes there will be long days, and hard days, and days you wish you were doing something else. But don’t give up! The trick to success is just to keep going - but that means you have to get on and start. All the time you spend thinking about it or planning it, could be time doing it. So take a deep breath, exhale out your fears and doubts because we all have them, and go for it!
⭐You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great⭐
-Zig Ziglar
And our very last thing to say in this series is remember to enjoy it. It can fly by in a flash, and you can work all the hours and all the days, but it is so important now and again to take a moment to step back and see how far you’ve come!
The business owner journey is a whole mood and we like to say the honeymoon period never ends - it just unravels in a way that you never could have imagined! But one thing is for sure, you can totally make it to wherever you want to go if you just believe in it and you just keep going. So be willing to make mistakes and be willing to keep going - you’ll get it! And we are so here for it!
We hope you enjoyed our Shopify For Beginner Series and that this was useful to you. If you do have any more questions that we haven’t answered yet please leave us a comment and let us help a boutique owner out!
Cheers to your Shopify success!
💋💋💋
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