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So your shop is now live! Now what?

We've put together this handy guide to help you on your way to a successful and profitable online business.

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General

The most successful online shops are those that combine both online and offline marketing to draw people to their site.  
 

Bricks and mortar stores can rely on foot traffic, but the internet does not offer that luxury. Over time you may generate traffic from search engines such as Google, but initially you will be relying on more direct methods of traffic, such as existing customers, word of mouth, social media and so forth. 
 

Storbie has done most of the work for you, providing a robust and professional shopping experience for your customers. The important part for you to investigate is the website’s content: 
 

  • Do you have a visually appealing website? 
  • Is there content that describes your business, its products, and the guarantees and return policies?  
  • Will the customer feel confident they could track you down if you did not deliver?  
     

These are the types of checks a customer will do before purchasing from an online shop for the first time. 
 

If you have an existing method of transaction, either in-store or phone orders, you need to convince customers that online ordering will be beneficial to them, and you need to sell it well. 
 

People are creatures of habit, and if provided the option of an existing system that we have used before, or a new system – we always choose what we know and feel more comfortable with. Which is exactly why it is 5x more cost effective to retain an existing customer, than attract a new customer. 
 

A website isn’t separate from your business, it is an extension – Just as you would add signage to your physical store and make sure it looks trustworthy and inviting to customers – you need to do the exact same with your website. 
 

 

Give your website a quick check: 
  1. Are the images high quality? 
  2. Do my products and pages have strong content? 
  3. Is the content on my website relevant to my industry? 
  4. Is my website answering the common questions I hear from customers instore/over the phone? 
  5. Have I updated my website within the last week? 


 

Social Media 

Social Media is an extremely easy platform to gain traction on – with some small businesses gaining thousands of followers through regular posting and promotions!  
 

Having a Facebook page has now become a way for customers to verify your businesses legitimacy. Adding your company to Facebook is a great way to show that your business is active, as well to connect with your customers through a more personal platform, on a more regular basis. 
 

There are a variety of things that you can post to keep your customers regularly updated: 
 

  • New product releases 
  • Product highlights (seasonal, promotional etc) 
  • Customer testimonials/stories 
  • Staff member highlights 
  • Regular business updates 
  • And all of these should be linking through to your website. 

 

Posting this information on a regular basis shows your customers that you are active and allows them to connect with your business. 
 

Although having a Facebook page is a great place to start, it is not where you should place your focus. Social Media algorithms can be too difficult to traverse, with many online retailers losing their entire communication methods to customers due to a change in algorithm. 
 

The goal of using Facebook should be to post content, show you are active to customers, but ultimately direct them to other forms of engagement, such as your website, or an email subscriber list. 
 

 

Analytics – Google Analytics 

Google Analytics provides real time data to help you gain a better understanding of how users are interacting with your Storbie website. 
 

You will be provided with reports on how many people visit your website, how they accessed it, which pages are the most popular, and basic information on the customer segments visiting your website. 
 

You can break down customer information by demographics, interests, behavior etc., to gain insight into the audience you are reaching. Of course, all information is anonymised so you cannot see information for a specific individual person, but it is an enormous help in learning who your customers are, and what they want! 
 

Seeing an overview of the customer groups that you are reaching, and how they are interacting with your website is extremely useful information. If you know who your audience is, you can cater the content to better fit with their needs. 
 

Read our article about Google Analytics here! 

 

 

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) 

SEO is a free method to increase your rankings in search engines. The easiest way to understand SEO is to think about Google’s sole purpose; to provide users with the most relevant websites to their search. Providing relevant results to users is what makes a good search engine, and Google’s efforts in this area is a key part of why it has remained the most popular search engine for so many years.
 

But how are search results ranked? How does Google tell a relevant website from an irrelevant one?  
 

When Google is evaluating results for any search, they base their rankings off certain criteria:  
 

  • Website’s content relevancy to searched keywords  
  • Last time the website was updated  
  • Speed of the website pages loading  
  • Location of the user 
  • Is it mobile friendly? (Majority of searches are now made through mobile, meaning Google now evaluates the mobile version of a website instead of the desktop)  
 

There are countless factors that Google uses to measure a website’s relevancy and credibility, right down to the most minute details. However, these are the main SEO points that will boost your ranking!
 

Here is a video by Google giving an overview of how search works.
 

And here is a further break down by a Google engineer.
 

 

Blog 

Creating a Blog is a great way to show lasting credibility for your site – If you create a blog post twice a month for a year, you have much more dependability! Not to mention, if the content is relevant to your industry, it is likely that the blog posts you write will be of a benefit to your customers and keep them coming back for more! 
 

Posting relevant blog articles to your industry helps to answer customer questions, therefore making customers to have much more faith in your business, and with the likes of product recommendations and promotions, make a purchase much more likely! 
 

Plus, writing a fortnightly blog provides you with content to use across all your platforms! From posting on your website, linking to it from your social media pages, using it within email send outs, even writing for a local newspaper!  
 

These mediums are a great way to reach your customers and drive traffic to your website - and if you already have the content on your blog, it’s as easy as just pushing send! 
 

Click here to read how to create a Blog on your page today! 

 

Google Ads is the paid way to highlight your website in search rankings, but not all ads have the same price tag! Google still wants to provide users with the most relevant results possible.   
 

There are multiple different means to measure success of Google Ads, from cost-per-click and cost-per-view.  
 

  • Cost-per-click is more focused on the traditional Ad format through Google, where you pay when a customer clicks on your advert.  
  • Cost-per-view is more focused on promoting views or impressions of an advert, and a great tool for new brands to gain recognition, or to remarket to an existing customer. 
 

For your website, it is likely that you are wanting to capture the immediate traffic of your customers, and therefore using cost-per-click is more suited to your need 
 

When creating an ad, you are able to set words or phrases that you would like your ad to display for – These are called ‘Keywords’.  
 

Google evaluates all ads using similar keywords when a search is performed, and each ad is ranked against certain criteria and given a ‘threshold’. 
 

 The threshold is the dollar amount Google deems a click through worth for the ad. Basically, the better and more relevant Google thinks your ad is, the lower the threshold and the more likely your result will be at the top. 
 

The threshold is set by certain criteria:  

  • Ad Quality: The lower the quality of the ad, the higher the threshold.  
  • Ad Position: If there is strong competition for a searched term, being the top result comes with a higher price tag!  
  • The Topic and Nature of the Search: There is no universal cost for each time somebody clicks your ad (a click-through), and it can vary a lot between industries. For example, there are many insurance companies, and a customer has ongoing value to them across many years. Due to the fact the competition is strong, and the customers have a high value, insurance companies can pay upwards of $50 for a simple click-through on their Google Ads.  
  • Related Auctions: What the thresholds were on similar auctions for similar searches.  
  • User Signals and Attributes: This section uses the data that Google collects on its users. Location, gender, device, age and even income, are used to set the threshold. When creating a Google Ad, you also have the option to specify your ad to focus on any specific signals or attributes.   
 

Every Google Ad you have ever seen has been evaluated by these criteria and had its price set per click. But what happens if your threshold is higher than your bid? It is simple, your ad does not show.   
 

However, there is a catch; if there are no other ads that can be shown, then you are forced to have your ad displayed and pay the threshold price for a click-through. This is used as a deterrent, meaning businesses cannot just push out any ad. Google has added this feature as users are now trying drive the threshold of ads down, and therefore the quality is going up.  
 

As it is an automatic auction system, you set the bid. Let’s say you set a bid of $2 for a click, your threshold is $1 and a competitor sets a bid of $1.50 with a threshold of $1 also - you win the bid! You pay $0.01 more cent that the second place bidder, and your ad is at the top of the search for $1.51 for a click through. 
 

However, let us say your ad is the only one able to be shown for a certain search – perhaps it is a very specific search and your competitors have set parameters to avoid the keywords used. The threshold is set at $4 for your ad, and your bid is only $1.00 - Even though your bid is less than the threshold set, your ad is still displayed and you have to pay $4 for any clickthrough that your ad receives.  
 

Google ads can be a tricky thing to traverse and understand initially, but it is an effective way to further understand how Google search works, and how you can promote your website. 
 

If you're thinking about creating your own ad on Google, here are some key things to think about:
 

  • Is it viable? – Make sure you are getting something worthwhile out of your potential spend on ads 
  • Is there high competition? – Search on Google, is it likely to cost a fortune per click? Is there a more niche search I can be targeting? 
  • Timeframe – Do you have the time available to you to make a high-quality ad?  
  • Flexibility – If it does not work, be prepared to change the ad and try again.

 

 

Social Media Advertising 

Social media has become a virtual ‘hang-out’ spot for millions of people. Users spend hours on the different platforms, from scrolling feeds, creating events, messaging friends, and even keeping up to date with news articles and the lives of social media – It is a digital playground! 
 

With the high amount of traffic that goes through these platforms, and the information that is stored on everyone, it was only a matter of time before targeted marketing came into play.  
 

Facebook collects such an enormous amount of data on its users, that creating targeted ads can be extremely easy! You can break your chosen segment down to a smaller group as you like, and target a very small group of customers – or you can cast a wide net and see if you catch anything! 
 

The two main platforms for paid website advertising are Instagram and Facebook – and luckily for you, ads for both are created in a single location - Facebook Business.  
 

The Facebook ad creator is extremely user friendly and helps to guide you through all the steps involved (even allowing you to create a single ad that can be shown across both Facebook and Instagram!). 
 

Here is a quick guide to explain the basics of Facebook and Instagram Ads. 
 

Users social media accounts are rich with information – all messages, interests and usage is tracked and stored – meaning that the ads that are created, can become extremely well targeted to a specific audience.  
 

However, there is an additional service that comes with advertising through Facebook and Instagram, Pixel. 
 

Facebook Pixel is a tool that allows you to track all interactions with the adverts you upload, right down to the user’s behavior once they click through to your website! 
 

Go through this 5 minute course around Facebook Pixel, what it is, and how it could benefit you! 


 

Physical Marketing (newspaper, flyers, pens, letters) 

Offering physical touchpoints for your business is a great way to ensure that your name is always top of mind for customers. This method of marketing is not about catching the direct purchase intention, but instead always being present in the customer's mind. 
 

Here are a few options that you will have seen countless companies use: 

  • Pens 
  • Calendars 
  • Notepads 
  • Fridge Magnets 
 

While these might not be the best examples for your business, there are countless options that you will be able to use! The trick is to make it something that is useful to customers that they will keep around for a long time! Think of a calendar, you are getting a year of marketing in a customer's household for an extremely low price! 
 

Another option is to include your business’ branding on everything – From labels, receipts, packing slips/invoices, and even flyers that are given out with their orders – can also be a great place to add a link to your website as well! 
 

While these small touch points are not going to lead to immediate sales, they do help with name retention and making it so your business is always top of mind! 
 

 

Letting customers know about the website 

The focus of many websites can become about reaching new customers; however, this is not always the best policy. It’s likely that you already have a strong customer base, and while growing the customer base is always good, sometimes a simple change in service is all your existing customers need to become frequent shoppers! 
 

In having a website for your business, you gain a lot of functionality! Whether it is the ability to purchase online, select click and collect, or even just browse all the products available: Your existing customers are bound to receive benefits out of it.  
 

However, if you are solely focusing on attracting new customers; how will your existing customers find out about it? 
 

Let your customers instore know about it, either through directly telling them about it, or by advertising the URL on every piece of possible content! 
 

 

Emailing 

When it comes to engaging your customer base regularly, the most effective and time efficient method is to use email. Emailing has become the most-used platform for businesses to engage with their customers.
 

Sending out regular emails is the best way to ensure that you are communicating with your customers on a regular basis, and it is not as hard as you think to set up.  
 

Through Storbie, we offer integrations with different marketing platforms that can help to store the contact information of your customers and help to send them communications on a regular basis.  
 

Click here to learn more about e-marketing platforms, and how to use them to promote your website! 

 

 

Promotions (sales, shipping etc.) 

Running promotions on your website can be a great way to turn a site visit, into a sale. Think of all the times you have seen a free shipping promotion, or a ‘buy 2, get 1 free’. Every business uses promotions in one way or another, but how do you manage this online? 
 

Through Storbie there are a variety of options to run promotions, vouchers, coupons or even discounts, but the key is to think about what it is your customers will value the most. 
 

Click here to review the different promotion options available to you through Storbie, and how to use them on your website.

 

Patience 

While these methods are all key to reaching online success, sometimes it can take a while to gain traction – perhaps the content needs some adjustment, or the promotional material needs to be more targeted – but the main thing to remember is that you won’t know until you try.  
 

Becoming involved in the marketing of your website is a great way to start to understand how your customers behave and what it is that they are wanting from your website, or even from your business. 
 

There is no point waiting around – You are never going to develop the perfect marketing strategy that lasts the next 5 years – or even 1 year. Customers are changing by the month, and what they expect does too.  
 

It can seem like an insurmountable task, but with each step – each thing you try – you are learning more about your business, your customers, and heading towards an effective marketing strategy. 

 

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