Sell More Products

7 Simple Strategies to Sell More
of Your Products Online

Article by Steve M Nash

So, you sell online - congratulations (and welcome to the 21st century ;-) )!

But does your online store sell enough? Chances are you could do with increasing your sales figures. And this article discusses 7 simple strategies to help you sell more of your products online. And those strategies are:

1. Build Trust In You And Your Website
   
   
2. Get Listed On Comparison Shopping Sites
   
   
3. Sell More Via Affiliate Marketing
   
   
4. Get More Visitors Using Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
   
   
5. Get Your Products Listed On Froogle
   
   
6. Use The Power Of Testimonials
   
   
7. Build A Store That Sells

So, let's consider these strategies in a little more detail.

What do I mean by trust?

1.1) Well, you could simply feature a prominent photograph of your real-world store on the website. (If you can add photos of the staff, or include information about you that is relevant to the products you sell, then even better!)

1.2) You could also provide lots of helpful buying advice, relevant to the products that you sell online.

1.3) You might decide to write a regular online newsletter, to stay in touch with your site visitors.

Trust is important, online; trust will improve your conversion rate, and you *will* sell more products online.

Dealtime, Kelkoo (and Pricerunner) are known as comparison shopping sites - they allow visitors to compare prices online. Add your products to their databases, and these popular websites could well deliver you lots of ready-to-buy customers.

Costs to get listed on comparison shopping sites vary.

If your site offers competitively priced products, then getting listed on a comparison shopping site may well drive serious amounts of 'ready-to-buy' visitors to your site. (Kelkoo UK boasts of being a top-10 UK web property!)

Resource: * Pricerunner - http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/faqbusiness.html

How do you think Amazon sells so much online?

Yes, it builds trust in itself and operates a highly sales- focussed website, but Amazon also utilises affiliate marketing.

Amazon is not the only online merchant doing this. Affiliate marketing is now a mainstream sales channel for many online vendors. As such, serious money can be made as an affiliate, earning commissions on sales or leads generated from his/her site. And that means that affiliate marketing attracts some of the brightest and the best, and they may well want to make money by promoting YOUR products.

There are start-up (and running) costs associated with affiliate marketing, and you will also need to put time and effort into this particular sales channel. But as long as you 'work the numbers out' properly, a well-operated affiliate program could really boost your online sales.

Affiliate marketing works. Find out if it can work for you.

Example:
* Digital Cameras (Amazon associate site, ahem!)
- http://www.best-digital-cameras.co.uk/

4) GET MORE VISITORS USING PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH ENGINES

Paying per click for visitors to your website - via specific keyword searches on sites like Espotting, Overture and Google (ads appear at top, and in right-hand column) - can generate low-cost, targeted visitors to your site.

Do watch your spend however, and make sure that your bids are sensible.

Again, using pay-per-click search engines takes time and a not-inconsiderable amount of expertise, but a well executed pay-per-click search engine campaign can drive highly- targeted visitors to your site, and increase your sales.

Resource:
* Bid at pay-per-click search engines (Article)
- http://www.howipromotemywebsite.com/pay-per-click

What is Froogle? Well, to quote what is says on the website: "froo·gle (fru'gal) noun. Smart shopping through Google."

Yes, Google (and now Google UK) actually lists vendor products on its website, via a Froogle search (now known as Google Product Search)

Your products could appear directly on Google. And there is no cost, either.

Example: * Google Product search for coffee machines - http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=coffee+machine&sampleq=1

Are your customers happy? How do you know - they tell you, yes? So do you put these positive comments on your website, and if not, why not?

If you are lucky enough to have happy customers then tell the world about it, or at least inform site visitors who are considering purchasing from you. Use the power of testimonials to encourage others to buy from you.

You know using testimonials on your site makes sense, so I'll say no more!

7) BUILD A STORE THAT SELLS

Does your online store sell?

Does it convert visitors into shoppers?

Frankly, there is little point in generating thousands of visitors to your site if your store does not sell.

So, where to begin. Well, you won't go wrong if you do these things right:

1. Clear and consistent site navigation
2. Good quality product photos
3. Professional site design; good colour scheme
4. Few barriers to purchasing - e.g. easy-to-access delivery costs; no need to register to use site; as few clicks as possible to make purchase; etc.

I could go on.

Instead, review the examples of stores I consider sell well (below), and consider learning more in the resources section.

Examples:

• Amazon UK (books, CDs, home electronics...)
• Figleaves (lingerie)
• Hotel Chocolat (chocolate)
• Dialaphone (mobile phones)
• Flying Flowers (erm, flowers - cheap too!)

Resources:

• Make Your Site Sell (Written by Dr Ken Evoy, it contains a feature on making your store sell!)
  
  
• Don't Make Me Think (by Steve Krug, all about sensible site design. Highly recommended.)

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So, there you have it. 7 Strategies to help you sell more online. To repeat:

1. Build Trust In You And Your Website
2. Get Listed On Comparison Shopping Sites
3. Sell More Via Affiliate Marketing
4. Get More Visitors Using Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
5. Get Your Products Listed On Froogle
6. Use The Power Of Testimonials
7. Build A Store That Sells

© Copyright 2004-2006 Steve M Nash. All Rights Reserved.

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Thanks for reading,

Steve M Nash
Site Owner, Shop Tour UK