Create a Free Website for an Online Store
Create a Free Website for an Online Store
Be Local Even If You Are Not
You can increase the SEO of your website by adding location names to pages and content. What this means is to include the areas that you serve if you have an online store or service. Use the names of locations in your mini-pages and the content on these pages. The higher up on the page the better since search engines read pages from top to bottom. Use links on all of your pages to connect them to each other to further increase your location SEO. If your store is totally virtual and you do not have a storefront you can still target areas of the country in this way. You may want to use several major metropolitan areas to do this.
Make Your Website Easy to Navigate
Nothing is more frustrating than going to a website and not being able to get around it easily. Use navigation bars to help your visitors get to the other pages on your website and if your website is large you need a site map. This not only helps people find their way around, but also helps the search engines crawl your pages easily. Make sure your links work and that they lead to the correct pages. Keep your website clean and easy to read. A cluttered website is not only distracting and unprofessional looking, but it is hard to navigate. If you make your own website so that it is easy to navigate people will stay and see what you have to offer and not just click onto the next website.
Feature Your Items
Basic retail principles still apply on the internet. Images and display are just as important in your virtual store as they are at a physical storefront. Everyone likes pictures and with a website you can create a picture gallery, slide show or use many different effects to highlight your specials and high end items. You can create a magazine feel with a photo album gallery or show many items on one page with a matrix effect. Each image can be linked to a page that gives your customers more information about the item and an opportunity to place it in a shopping cart.
Give Your Customers Choices When Paying
You may want to set up a PayPal account and use it for checkout. This enables your customers to pay through PayPal in a secure environment whether they have PayPal accounts or not. PayPal gives them the choice to use their account or the credit card of their choice. If you choose not to use them, be sure that you give customers a few choices of the types of cards they can use. Visa, Master Card and Discover are the three main cards used today and if you want to attract as many customers as possible these should be some of the choices you offer for checkout.
Get the Word Out
Once you've built your site either from scratch or with the help of a free website builder, you want to get people onto your website and take advantage of your online store. One way to do this is to set up a Facebook page for your online store. You can then update your status when you add new items, run specials or just to remind people that they can come to your website to shop. Twitter is the number two social website and a Twitter account will let you Tweet to your contacts about your online store.
A blog on your website is an excellent way to draw traffic to your online store. You can post about anything related to your products or you can post about events in your area or breaking industry news. Always have a place for people to leave comments in order to create a following and community. Post the links to your blogs on your Facebook and Twitter pages to get the word out. You can also use article directories to draw traffic to your website. Articles can be about any services you offer or about any aspect of your business or industry. Link these articles back to specific pages on your website and add the links to the articles to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Collect Contact Information
Offer a special discount if your visitors give you at least their name and email address. This is a great way to collect contact information. This way you can email them about upcoming specials, new items and any seasonal discounts you may be offering. You might also want to consider starting a newsletter each week or every month. This is another way to keep your name in people's minds and stay on their radar. One important note is to avoid sending out too many emails so that it does not seem like you are spamming your contacts. Not only is this annoying but it is a sure ticket to their trash folder.
An online store is a great way to expand your customer base and if you make your own website easy to use and get the word out, you will be sure to create some nice additional transactions for your business. Post all your Ads online Watch Skyline Online Free Plus Review How Do Online Advertising Works? Free Media Converter online HD Video Converter online Time Is Money When You Try To Make Money Working Online! Try These Article Writing Time Saving Tips! Avail Online Discounts On Buses From Bangalore To Shirdi Gambling Directory – Your Guide to Online Gaming Industry Free Website Analysis Tools Online FLV Converter soft online Remarkable Benefits Of Online Gambling Directory Online Media Converter soft Can You Find Good Deals On Cheap Suitcases Online?