So you’ve set up an amazing website for your print-on-demand store.
Now what? Your next task is to generate web user traffic to your page!
Driving traffic to your online store is an important marketing strategy in generating sales.
In this article, we’ll talk about the basics of your merch website and a few great ways to increase website traffic for your store.
What is website traffic?
Website traffic is defined as the surge of web users who visit your website.
Your web traffic can be measured in visits, which are otherwise known as “sessions.” Website traffic is a great way to gauge your business’ effectiveness in drawing your target audience.
Website traffic is a great way, but not the only way to measure success.
The goal of driving traffic to your website is to generate leads and eventually turn them into sales.
This means that while your website traffic does not directly convert to your sales, it is a common trend that the greater your traffic, the more likely you can generate sales.
How does my Merch Store Generate Traffic
That being said, it is a common topic of concern, both for seasoned marketers and newbies alike to look for ways to drive traffic on their page.
The following methods below are proven ways to attract more web users to visit your page.
- Improve SEO
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your website more reachable to those that are interested in your products.
In other words, improving your website’s SEO means improving its visibility to your target audience. The higher your SEO rank, the more visible it is in search engines.
There are different ways to increase your website’s SEO rank.
The best way to do this is to improve your keyword strategy.
Choosing the right keywords is key to getting your message across to the right people.
What are keywords?
Your keywords are the words that your audiences are looking for when they search for products.
Your keywords make all the difference in your product’s website ranking.
When a user searches using the main keyword, the goal is to have it linked to your descriptions, titles, tags, meta titles, etc.
Aside from the main keyword, we also have long-tail keyword variations that focus on more specific and targeted product searches.
For instance, while the main keyword might be “Best birthday gifts”, a long-tail keyword can be “Best birthday gifts for your boyfriend 2021”.
In order to increase your shop’s SEO rank, it’s best to do the following methods:
- List down high-value pages that you want to rank better at
- Optimize your website’s structure
- Use keyword tools such as Ahrefs, Keywords Everywhere, and Semrush to identify the right words when writing your product titles
- Use these keywords on your tags, descriptions, etc
- Use anchor texts when inserting internal links that are related to your keywords
- Increase Social Media Interaction
Think of social media as your second website.
As of July 2021, data shows that almost 57 percent of the total population in the world is actively using social media.
This means that social media would be a great way outlet to promote your products.
The goal of social media marketing is to eventually drive traffic to your merch store and generate sales.
Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest are great places to promote your merch products.
Take note, however, that each platform is distinct and has its own main audience and style.
The key is to understand how your brand connects to your target audience on these social media sites.
Social media allows you to promote your products through different types of content such as text, images, videos, stories, and live streams.
You can also get near to your audience by engaging in conversations and interacting with users.
Community-building is also made possible by social media.
Engaging in Facebook groups and Pinterest boards allows you to see users that have the same interests.
- Use paid ads
One of the most effective ways to increase your social media visibility and reach is to use paid ads.
Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest allow you to use ads in order to reach a wider audience.
Facebook Ads are a famous way to run targeted campaigns for your merch site in one of the most well-used sites on the internet.
Make sure to turn your page into a business page so you can post products to your page and link them directly to your website.
Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.
Henry Ford
Instagram is also a very popular website that focuses mainly on visual photos and videos.
Similar to that of Facebook, you will also need to sign up for an Instagram business account so you can add products, prices, and links to your merch site.
Running paid ads on Instagram is a great way to increase your visibility on the platform.
Pinterest, on the other hand, has a distinct type of audience.
Majority of the users are female, so if these are your type of audience, Pinterest will be a good platform to run ads.
The social media site allows paid campaigns that blend seamlessly with other content.
- Use word of mouth
This might sound like a step that can easily be discounted, but it’s not!
There is power in letting your friends, family, and social circle know that you are trying to drive audiences to your merch website.
A simple share in social media about your website will go a long way.
Especially if you’re still starting out, this step will be a great way to jumpstart your website’s visibility.
- Join discussion sites like Reddit
Reddit is a popular discussion site where people form communities to discuss a wide range of topics.
These communities form niches known as subreddits. You can find a subreddit for practically any topic.
Merch sellers also form their own communities on Reddit.
That being said joining in the discussion and sharing your experiences in merch selling is a great way to not only promote your brand but also to learn from other sellers.
- Conduct Exciting Contests
Creating contests on Social media is a great way to increase interaction on your page.
This is also a perfect opportunity to plug in your merch website.
There are many ways to conduct contests for your merch store.
For instance, you can run a contest campaign on social media that makes participants like your page, share your posts, and view your products on your official merch site.
This increases the visibility of not only your social media pages but also your website.
- Use Influencer Marketing
Using influencer marketing is definitely a great way to attract more audiences.
Influencers have hundreds of thousands of followers on their pages.
This means that by featuring your products and the link to your website, you will be able to reach a wider audience that you won’t be able to tap by yourself.
Influencers have different ways of dealing with promotional posts.
The best way to start this is by contacting them using the details posted on their social media pages.
- Offer Discounts and Special Deals
Similar to conducting contests, offering discounts and special deals is a great way to attract more audiences.
It is consumer psychology that tells us why having items listed on discounts will always be sold more than that at a regular price.
Of course, using this method should be part of your sales strategy.
Only offer discounts and special deals when it is feasible and effective for your store.
- Start blogging
Blogging is another aspect of content marketing.
Creating blog posts to your website is a great way to generate traffic to your store.
You can do this by writing a few posts that are related to your products.
For instance, if you are selling mainly sportswear, a great blog post idea would be “Top 5 things You should take with you when running.”
This is a great way to establish your credibility as a brand, as well as to generate traffic to your website.
- Use Affiliate marketing
One way to incentivize influencers and bloggers to share your merch products and website link to their pages is to give them a share/commission for every sale for the product.
This is how affiliate marketing works.
By using affiliate marketing, you can make people feel motivated to promote your page.
Let’s Wrap it Up
Generating a lot of traffic for your website is a result of consistent efforts.
Using these methods above will help drive users to your page and hopefully generate the sales of your products.
Thank you for reading, and we hope you found this useful. If you have any questions or you want to follow us for more related discussions, follow us on Twitter.
