It’s easier than ever to start an eCommerce store. Just sign up for a hosting account, and your store will be ready in a few minutes. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy to get customers.
You’re competing with at least 12 million other online stores on the internet. The good news is you can make use of website analytics to make better choices for your business.
The question is, why are analytics important for eCommerce websites? Keep reading to learn the answer to your question.
Uncover Your Traffic Sources
It isn’t too difficult to figure out where you’re getting traffic from if you only run advertising on one platform. It’s much more difficult if you’re getting search engine and social media traffic.
Analytics software will show you exactly where your traffic comes from. You’ll be able to gauge which websites are showing the best results from your efforts, so you know where to focus your energy.
Group Audience Segments
Not all customer demographics will respond to your products in the same way. People of different ages, sexes, and geographical locations will react differently to your content. Your tracking software can help you figure out which demographics take what action.
This data will help you optimize your website and advertising campaigns. When you create messaging specifically for different demographics, you can speak more to what they want in a product.
Split-Test Pages
You should never be satisfied with your website design. There’s always a test you can do to improve your conversion rate. Unfortunately, this is hard to do without any kind of tracking software.
A heatmap is a tracking script that informs you of what actions your visitors take on individual pages. You can see where they look and where they hover their mouse. Use this information to test small changes to your website to figure out which versions produce the best results.
Track Ad Campaigns
It isn’t enough to get click-throughs on your ads. If you have no method to track what visitors do on your website, you won’t be able to figure out what marketing campaigns are successful.
ECommerce analytics software provides you the ability to set up goal pages. Set a dollar amount for these pages, and you’ll be able to figure out how much money your ad campaigns generate while your campaigns are live.
Learn What Visitors Search For
Your search bar isn’t only there to give your visitors an easy way to find items. It’s also there to help you understand the type of products your visitors are searching for.
Using a tool like Knowi will help you gain insight into the search trends on your website. You’ll be able to see reports detailing search terms and use them to figure out what popular items are and what trends are happening in your industry.
Why Are Analytics Important? Now You Know
Now that you can answer the question, “why are analytics important to online stores?” you’re ready to get started. Sign up for an analytics software package today so you can start tracking the people on your website. The more information you have, the better business decisions you’re going to make.
Do you want more tips for running an eCommerce store? Read our latest articles to discover our newest tips.
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Want to make your own business without the stress of an office or employees? Why not start selling through Amazon?
In fact, there are already 8.7 million sellers on the Amazon marketplace worldwide.
By establishing an Amazon FBA business, you can reach customers around the world. Then, you can market your business, attract buyers, and start generating sales.
Not sure how to establish your new Amazon FBA business? With this selling on Amazon for dummies guide, you can give your new business a strong start.
Read on to learn how to sell stuff on Amazon!
Draft a Business Plan
Before you actually start selling, it helps to have a plan. Drafting a business plan will help you chart the path ahead. It also gives you a chance to recognize any obstacles that might stand in your way.
Before reading this selling on Amazon for dummies guide, sit down and consider your business. A strong business plan starts off with a mission statement. What are you trying to accomplish?
What promise are you making to your customers?
Next, you’ll need to determine which products you sell. You’ll also need to develop a marketing, sales, and financial plan.
Once you know what you want to sell, try to gain an understanding of the current marketplace. A market analysis will help you recognize the latest trends. What are consumers looking for right now?
Don’t forget to research your competitors, too. Which strategies are they using to reach customers? Are those strategies working, or falling flat?
Try to use a SWOT analysis to determine your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Recognizing these factors can help you sell through Amazon successfully! Otherwise, your weaknesses and threats might slow you down.
Define Your Target Audience
In order to reach your target audience, you need to determine who your customers are. If you’re focusing on a broad target market, try segmenting your audience into buyer personas. You can define your buyer personas based on demographics such as age, gender, location, or household income.
What products are your ideal customers already buying? What interests and hobbies do they have?
Learning more about your audience will help you appeal to their interests. Once you understand your audience, you can develop a marketing strategy to spark their interest. A strong marketing strategy will help you boost sales and retain long-term customers.
It can also help to determine how COVID-19 is affecting sales. How are your customers shopping on Amazon? What trends could help benefit your business plan?
Know Your Niche
There are millions of products you can choose to sell online. When establishing your Amazon FBA business, don’t split your focus. Instead, try to build your business around a niche in the marketplace.
Choosing a niche will help you create a more focused marketing plan. It will also help you reach a smaller target audience. Dedicating your time to a smaller target audience will make it easier for you to appeal to customers who need your product.
You can also use personalized messaging to connect with these consumers.
Meanwhile, having a niche will help you stand out from the hundreds of competitors selling similar products.
First, make sure the niche product you choose is profitable. You might need to research the latest market trends for your niche. You can use tools such as Google Trends to determine how often people search for the product you’re considering.
If the search volume is low, consider choosing a different product.
Don’t forget to choose a product you’re interested in. Otherwise, you might not feel passionate about selling through Amazon or helping those customers.
Once you decide on a product, learn as much as you can about it. Don’t forget to look at competitors for your niche.
Which consumers are already using that product? What unique value can you offer consumers that your competitors can’t? Highlight that value proposition in your marketing to stand out from the crowd!
Find Suppliers
Now that you have a product, you can start selling it! First, you’ll need to find an online product supplier. Head over to one of the B2B platforms to find a supplier who has your product.
You might need to compare a few different options to find a supplier you want to work with. Once you have a few options, contact each one. Ask for a sample of the product to compare quality and costs.
How much is the minimum and maximum for each order? Is the price within your budget?
Once you find your supplier, you can place your first order!
Place Your Order
You don’t have to place a giant order the first time. Instead, place a smaller order and give yourself the chance to test the market.
Your first few orders give you chances to gather feedback. You can add a note with these purchases to encourage shoppers to share their thoughts. Then, use their comments to make improvements to your business.
Ask people to post their reviews, too. Five-star reviews will show potential customers you have a high-quality product.
Take the time to manage your inventory regularly. If you don’t track your sales, you could run out of stock sooner than expected.
Build A Buzz
For your shop to succeed, you need to get people to want to shop with your store. The best way to do this is to market yourself online, using various SEO and marketing techniques. One great way to get interest is to run discounts and deals, as this adds extra value and builds excitement and hype that can get people to talk about your store.
Something that you must do is market alongside holidays, especially Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday. Black Friday is especially important for businesses to earmark, as this is where the appetite for online goods swells, so learning about black Friday marketing ideas can help you get the edge during this competitive period.
When you build a buzz and get your store known, you can expect a steady stream of revenue.
Register Your Account
Before you start selling, you’ll need to register your Amazon FBA business.
You can become an individual seller or pro seller. Once you’re set-up, create your product listings.
About 23% of consumers look to Amazon for inspiration. To inspire them to shop, make sure your product images are high-quality.
Make Adjustments
As you gather feedback from your customers, make sure to adjust your selling strategy accordingly. Using this selling on Amazon for dummies guide is only the first start. Improving your marketing strategy and adding new products to your store over time will help you expand your business.
You can also use this guide to learn how to win on Amazon!
Selling on Amazon for Dummies: The Top Tips for Sweet Success
Remember, this article to selling on Amazon for dummies is only the beginning. These tips can set you on the path to success. Then, keep expanding your business plan to generate more sales and regular customers!
Looking for more ways to establish your new business? Explore our latest guides for entrepreneurs today!
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The chances are that in the last few months, thanks to the pandemic, you’ve probably heard a whole lot about virtual businesses. You may have heard how these kinds of non-physical businesses have helped the people behind them to survive the first wave of the pandemic, and offer a fantastic business opportunity. You may even be thinking about starting a remote business of your own, and taking a leap of faith into an industry that you’ve been wanting to join for a while.
You might be excited at the prospect of launching a virtual business, but that doesn’t mean that you can simply dive straight in and launch one instantly. You need to be smart about this – the fact is that launching a business means taking the time to really think the idea and concepts through. The fact is that before you dive in and start setting up a business, you need to take the time to understand what’s involved in running a business virtually and what it takes to see success.
What is a virtual business in its entirety? Simply put, it’s a business that is run without a dedicated physical office space – usually, the business is run from home or from a co-working space. Remote businesses are always a popular option as they offer far lower overheads than physical businesses and thus, are a great way for small businesses to begin trading.
That being said, it’s important to understand that just because the cost of launching a virtual business is lower, that doesn’t mean that it’s as simple as you might think. The fact is that there’s a lot that you need to consider when it comes to starting any business, however a virtual one comes with a lot of ins and outs that you need to think about.
Wondering what these are? Have a read of the tips and advice below, and implement them in how you approach your virtual business.
Organise your budget
There’s a common misconception that when it comes to launching a virtual venture that you don’t need a budget. However, this isn’t true – in order to launch a business, you need to have a carefully throughout budget in place. Even if you’re thinking of running the business entirely from home – instead of from a co-working space – you will need a budget to work with. The fact is that there are certain costs that every business needs to cover.
For instance, you will need a high spec computer or laptop or both. You will need to pay for a website domain and the design – which we will discuss in more detail below. You will need to think about insurance costs. You will need to cover the cost of communication tools that you – and your team members, if you have any – will need to use. The cost of launching a virtual business will be lower than launching a physical one but it still comes with costs and requires a budget, and it’s important to remember that.
Get your website designed
If you’re someone who is confident on their computer, then you may feel like you want to try and design your own website to cut costs and reduce overheads. However, what it’s important to bear in mind here is that for a virtual business, the website is, in essence, the business – it’s the first place the potential customers will go and it will act as your business’s virtual HQ. So you need to really consider whether you’re in the right position to create your own website or whether you should outsource the task.
Should you decide to hire an expert to create your website for you, make sure that you take the time beforehand to consider what you want your website to be like. Spend some time looking at competitor sites and list the pros and cons that each one offers, and consider what you could do to enhance your website and its design further.
Ensure that you have adequate support IT place
One mistake that you don’t want to make when it comes to launching your virtual business, it’s failing to have adequate IT support in place from the get-go. You might know a little about IT but the fact is that when you’re running a business you need to make sure that you have professional help on hand as and when you need it.
The thing is, you cannot afford for your website or software to go down for long periods of time, because downtime like this can be seriously detrimental to your business’s success. That’s why investing in IT support through a well-known and experienced company is so important, ensuring that whatever happens, you have all of the help and support that you need and can get any issues fixed in a fast and efficient way.
Focus on marketing
It’s also vital that you take marketing seriously regarding your business. A lot of new business owners make the mistake of thinking that marketing isn’t required for their business’s success, however the fact is that this couldn’t be further from the truth. If no one knows about your business, how can it be a success?
If you want to give your new venture the very best chance of achieving success, it’s vital that you make marketing a priority from the get-go. Set aside a monthly marketing budget, outsource the task to an expert, and put an overarching marketing strategy in place that’s designed to drive traffic to your website and help to convert leads. Make sure that you source a marketer that knows what they’re doing and has the ability to create huge growth for your business’s audience.
The fact is that launching a virtual business is easier than launching a physical one in many ways, as there’s a lot less that you need to do. However, that being said, making a success out of a virtual business can be far harder than making a success out of a traditional business.
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Amazon is the world’s ‘all-you-can eat’ buffet of products and any seller or marketer’s throne for kingdom-hood. With millions of transactions every day, an Amazon listing is ‘your voice’ to the world. A powerful product listing copy that converts is crucial to being an A-List Seller. And to put a halt to your depleting sales numbers.
In the world of online business, particularly Ecommerce and a large online platform like Amazon, your product listing page is highly dependent on a calculated and well implemented Amazon Product Keyword Strategy.
Below we will look at 4 of these crucial strategies.
1. Know Your Competition’s Market
Knowledge is power! Being aware of the “market landscape” and knowing who your competitors are and what they are offering, is a powerful weapon!
Knowing your competitors inside out can in turn help you create your products, services and marketing in a way that is stronger and far more powerful than what’s out there currently.
Constantly keeping an eye on your competition will provide you a wealth of knowledge and an ocean of information that gives you an effective ‘vantage point’ to make your products or services more ‘appealing’ and visible to the same audience that you and your competition are competing for.
You’ll be able to tailor your Keyword Strategy according to what your competitors are doing and not doing.
Now, let’s come to the tactics. What should you know about your competitors? Here are a few areas you can analyze and stay abreast with:
The back end, front end or merchant keyword strategies your competition is employing for their product launches and campaigns
The products or services they provide and how they market them to customers
Their brand and design values
Whether they innovate – business methods as well as products
2. Research Relevant Keywords
Keyword research is an important part of your Amazon product launch. Investing the time to properly assess the most important keywords in your niche can maximize your revenue potential. It can also position your product to be the highest asked item for valuable search queries.
But it’s a science and an art!
Have you have seen Amazon product listings with the super-long, keyword-stuffed, one-size-fits-all, uber-optimized product title, you may wonder what human would read such a title and be convinced to purchase the product. This is a valid question. Humans don’t naturally like long sentences.
Sellers who know this use these long titles so that their product shows up in more searched. They’ve done keyword research to identify the exact search terms they want to target. By incorporating variations into their title, description, bullet points, FAQs, and even images, they are improving their chances of being seen by potential customers.
Here are 3 ways you can do solid Keyword Research for your next product launch on Amazon:
Google Keyword Planner
Google’s Keyword Planner is a free tool that shows you estimated search volumes for any word or phrase. It can also help you find other related phrases.
Keyword Scout
While Keyword Planner and Site Explorer are great, simplistic methods for finding keywords, Keyword Scout is also effective.
It is an Amazon keyword tool that uses real Amazon PPC data to discover powerful keyword opportunities.
Hiring an Ecommerce Specialist
This 3rd approach in Keyword Research is the most rewarding, hassle-free, cost-effective, time-freeing and results oriented. Hiring a qualified Ecommerce Specialist frees you from the time, hassle and effort of Keyword Research, while giving you an edge over your competitors with a solid, skilled, experienced and expert Ecommerce Specialist that will do all the work for you.
3. Prioritize the top Keywords
Give strong priority to the keywords with the highest most relevance and potent search potential, based on all your research. Make sure these keywords are placed first in the product listing’s Title, as well sprinkled nicely throughout each of the 5 bullet point descriptions.
This will result in your product ranking higher on Amazon and on Google while being algorithm friendly. More powerful and prioritize keywords automatically mean more brand visibility and higher product sales.
4. Adding Keywords in Title
Just as with Google title tags are very important, but instead of 60 characters you get 195 with Amazon. Also, unlike Google, the longer and more detailed the title, the better. With Amazon it doesn’t have to be compelling or grab a viewer’s attention; it just must give off enough information for someone to make a purchasing decision.
For this reason, using all the 195-character limit is encouraged. If you look around Amazon, you’ll notice that the products with long, keyword-rich titles outrank those that are simple and clean. Below is an example that shows just that:
Now, it can be hard to get used to this after coming from optimization for Google, but it’s an important step. According to an Amazon help page, you should follow a formula to help create your titles.
For example, the style for many products may be: Brand + Model Number + Model Name + Product Type, Color
One example of using this formula for a title would be: KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan 5-Quart Mixer, Empire Red
Again, it’s not the prettiest title and it’s very different than something you would use on Google, but this is how it works on Amazon!
You only must have your keyword appear once in your title (that’s right, keywords in your description are less important), so again, that’s why you see some of the companies above using several different keywords all in one title.
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Marketing is one of the most dynamic fields in the world, and one that changes every day. New technologies are constantly allowing us to reach audiences in new ways. It also allows you to gauge and understand the impact of campaigns, and make adjustments on the fly.
Techniques like email marketing, content marketing, and search have been around for years now, but we are still seeing some innovation in how they are implemented. Let’s take a look at some of the marketing trends that will dominate 2020 and beyond.
Shoppable Post
Chances are there isn’t a single person in your entourage that is not using social media in some sort of way. It has reached virtually all classes and demographics, and has been used as a marketing tool pretty much since its inception. What is not as clear, however, is how many people actually do their shopping through social media platforms.
This represents a huge untapped potential, as 72% of all Instagram users have performed at least one transaction via the app. In one study, it was found that 70% of the Pinterest users surveyed used the platform to make purchasing decisions.
Platforms have been taking note, and are trying to make it as easy as possible for your audience to shop. This is why they’ve introduced shoppable posts that allow viewers to make purchases directly on posts. This allows you to shorten your sales funnel, and prevent leaks. These types of posts are expected to become the norm in the near future.
Augmented and Virtual Reality
While we were in an experimental stage with AR and VR, we are now starting to realize their potential and moving to concrete applications. Both technologies are becoming more common in marketing, and major retailers have already started using it as part of their strategy.
Ikea, for instance, has an augmented reality app that allows shoppers to visualize how a certain piece of furniture will look in a desired space. This could revolutionize the world of online retail, and change the way people shop forever.
Facebook is also betting on AR, and announced last year that it will make AR ads available to advertisers site-wide. According to Facebook’s VP of product marketing, Ty Amhad-Taylor, the goal is to move audiences from product discovery to purchases faster. “Shoppers are now expecting a visually inspired and personalized experience wherever they shop,” he said. “And this is either on their mobile devices and in stores.”
AR allows advertisers to bring both experiences closer together, and allows marketers to drive sales as well. These ads look like any regular Facebook ads, with the exception of the “tap to try” button. Shoppers will then be able to “try” the item in real time.
A More Demanding Job Marketplace
Marketing in 2020 requires students to have a more well-rounded set of skills than ever. While a solid marketing formation is a prerequisite, here are some of the skills that will be expected of marketing professionals:
Brand storytelling
Social media management
Data analytics
Serving progressive customers
Soft interpersonal skills
According to this piece by Emerson College Online, the marketers of tomorrow will still need to have solid interpersonal skills like listening and communication, even with all the recent advances in technology. Emerson College also puts a lot of importance on progressive audiences, and according to them, marketers who understand how to speak to an increasingly progressive and diverse audience will have a leg up on the competition.
Brand storytelling that is inclusive of all experiences will be needed, and major brands are already pushing towards more diversity in their campaigns.
But one area where marketers of tomorrow will need to be especially proficient in is data analytics. Companies don’t only need to compile data, but they must be able to actually analyze it, and use it to generate results. Data can be used to check if a marketing campaign was successful, and spot trends. Online marketing has the advantage of being easily quantifiable, and knowing how to use data can make a big difference on outcomes, money spent, and return on investment.
Interactive Content
Today’s shoppers are looking for variety and new experiences when they go online, and one of the ways this can be done is through interactive content.
As a matter of fact, a recent Content Preferences Survey found that 91% of responders are looking for more interactive and visual content. Here are some of the reasons interactive content is so powerful:
Interactive content is new and different, which allows it to stand out
It allows you to keep visitors on your pages
It’s immensely shareable
It can help build brand awareness
It is more engaging
For all of these reasons, we can expect more brands to use interactive content in the future. We can also expect to see more tools and techniques that will make the production and implementation of virtual content easier.
Personalization
Personalization falls in line with interactive content, but focuses on providing highly relevant ads to customers. Shoppers have now become experts at phasing out adverts that have nothing to do with them or their interests, and this is one of the reasons why traditional advertising is losing some of its power. The only solution is to personalize ads as much as possible to build a connection.
In a study that was performed on 1000 people, 90% of them said that they viewed personalization as a positive. But more importantly, 80% of them said that they would be likely to buy if a company was able to offer a personalized experience.
What’s beautiful is that modern marketing methods, such as email marketing for instance, lend themselves very well to personalization. The rise of customer relationship management tools only makes it more powerful.
Lists can be precisely segmented and laser targeted to specific audience based on their prior purchase decisions, interactions, or the stage in the sales funnel. Used in conjunction with a cost-effective mass advertising tool such as email marketing, it allows businesses big and small to have the kind of reach that was only possible for major companies not too long ago.
Smart Bidding
People who are familiar with online marketing tend to also be familiar with automation. But new changes by Google are set to make automation and smart bidding the norm. Google Ads are now using machine learning to optimize your bids. This will allow you to:
Have more control over conversion action
Allow you to adjust bids automatically when sales stop or start
Optimize bids across multiple channels based on specific conversion actions
Maximize conversion
Avoid having to set a max CPC manually for each keyword
Old Methods Still Going Strong
While new online marketing methods are becoming increasingly popular, that doesn’t mean that old methods are becoming obsolete. Many of the tried and true techniques will still be going strong in 2020. Let’s look at some examples.
Content Marketing
Content will continue to be king in 2020, and continues to be one of the most effective ways to build a brand. Few methods allow you to establish your expertise and authority like quality content does. Content will also continue to drive search results, and play a central role in SEO efforts.
Video Marketing
Another method that isn’t going anywhere is video content. While interactive content will be getting a lot of attention, there is still a large need for traditional video content as well. Video content is not only being used to target customers, but is now being used as a recruitment tool as well.
Marketers who know how to use live video to their advantage will have a serious edge over their competitors. As a matter of fact, it was found that live videos on Instagram Live and Facebook Live were able to retain audiences at 3 times the rate of traditional videos. The average watch time on Facebook live content has quadrupled over the last year as well. People also interact with these videos a lot more. It was estimated that these videos produced 6 times as many interactions as regular videos.
SERP Position Zero
SEO is still going strong, but now, the objective is different. While the goal for many is still to get on the first page, many are trying to go a step beyond and get snippet mentions. These snippets offer additional information related to search queries, and feature a link to the page from which the information was pulled.
Local search will also continue to play an increasingly important role for businesses in 2020. This also means that business will do everything in their power to get more local mentions, and also work on improving their brand’s image with the public. This means more emphasis on reputation management, and concrete steps to improve their customers’ experience, which is great news for shoppers everywhere.
These are only some of the trends you should watch for in the world of marketing in 2020. Make sure that you’re always on top of the most recent changes, and find ways to incorporate them in your marketing strategy.
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It’s easier than ever to start an eCommerce store. Just sign up for a hosting account, and your store will be ready in a few minutes. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy to get customers.
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