There has been tremendous growth in the eCommerce industry in recent years. The global eCommerce industry sales is expected to reach US$ 5.4 trillion in 2022. It has resulted in several offline retailers also joining the online bandwagon. The increased competition has made the incumbent players look for areas to increase sales.
The industry stores a vast amount of client data, including their financial information. It has led to several targeted attacks against the industry. Any data breach is usually associated with lawsuits and severe loss of customer trust. The businesses must install an SSL certificate to retain customer trust that is necessary to grow revenues. We will discuss some of the ways by which you can increase traffic.
1. Check For Mobile Responsiveness
One of the benefits of online shopping is that customers can buy their favorite products while moving. Moreover, search engines too prefer websites that are optimized for smartphones. Therefore, you can easily undergo a Google Mobile-Friendly test to test whether the website is already for mobile phones.
Your website must provide a seamless experience for mobile users too. Always keep in mind that the screens of mobile phones are smaller than desktops. Hence, you must ensure the search bar and the entire page fits well into the display of all devices. The site must have finger-friendly buttons, and the information must be available within one or two clicks.
2. Optimize The Store For SEO
Like all other websites, you must also optimize the website for SEO. The conversions on your website will increase only when it is more accessible to customers. The product descriptions and other pages must be optimized with the relevant keywords. You must also ensure that the page titles and meta tags are utilized to maximize SEO brownie points. Another way to ensure improved SERP rankings is to switch from HTTP to HTTPS (HTTP + SSL = HTTPS). Choosing the right kind of SSL certificate to suit your ecommerce store’s bespoke needs is equally important.
If you plan to expand in the future by adding more first-level subdomains under your primary domain, then the wildcard ssl certificate is the best choice for you. With this single certificate, you can secure your primary domain along with an unlimited number of first-level subdomains under it. This will help you engender trust amongst customers and improve SERP rankings because sites running over HTTPS protocol are given preference over those that still run over HTTP.
The product pages must allow the search engines to crawl the website without any errors. If you must remove some of the product pages, ensure it is done using proper SEO best practices. Also, remember to use URLs easily understood by the search engines and the visitors to the website.
3. Install An SSL Certificate
All eCommerce websites must adhere to the PCI-DSS guidelines to allow online transactions. As explained above, you must install a cheap wildcard ssl that will secure the first-level sub-domains too. It will help secure the customer data on the web server to ensure an encrypted communication exchange with the visitor’s browser.
The Installation of the certificate will also ensure that the visitor will see the padlock on the address bar. It shows that the website is secure, and they can safely transact online. A reputed third-party Certificate Authority also authenticates the website.
4. Write Related Blogs
Understandably, content helps to bring additional visitors to the website. You can write blogs and articles related to the products sold on the website. It is also necessary to gather knowledge about the articles the audience prefers. You must create the blogs keeping in mind the value proposition your online shop brings to the customers.
It would help if you occasionally created guest blogs on similar websites to create backlinks to your website. It is a widely accepted SEO practice that increases your website’s link juice and can lead to an increase in search rankings. The blogs must be enticing to keep the visitor on the page and increase dwell time.
5. Ensure The Pages Load Fast
The conversion rates of your eCommerce site also depend a lot on the page load speed. Studies show that your website must load within three seconds to prevent visitors from abandoning your website. You can check the loading speed at specialized websites like GTMetrix or Pingdom. However, you must also assess the reasons why the website is loading slowly and rectify them.
You must optimize the pictures on the website to ensure that they do not affect the website’s loading speed. Also, check the use of redirects and minimize the use of JavaScript. Also, minify the CSS and HTML and sign up for a Content Delivery Network to ensure faster website loading.
6. Make Use Of Social Networks
Your audience is always available on various social media channels. Most eCommerce websites are quick to utilize these channels and reach out to their audience. The content for the social media pages must change regularly and ensure that it appeals to your audience. Utilise targeted posts and have more significant mindshare among the audience than your competition.
You must also allow the visitors to share the products they like on their social media channels. You can use next-gen software and enable customers to inform their friends about their new purchases. You must also entice them to create content like pictures, videos, etc., with your products and post them on their social media accounts.
7. Make Your Customers Post More Reviews
It is widely known that your audience prefers to hear from other customers how they felt after buying your products. Therefore, you must encourage your customers to post reviews about your products. You can also allow them to post reviews on your social media channels.
How can you ensure that the visitors will trust the reviews? There are also ways to ensure the authenticity of these reviews. The product pages must have a mix of reviews that will increase their genuineness. It will also help you understand the strengths and drawbacks of the products and devise ways for improvement.
Conclusion
The eCommerce industry has been seeing enormous growth. The growth has increased during the pandemic too. However, the industry also sees intense competition among the incumbent players. Therefore, there is always a need to increase traffic to the website, leading to more sales.
We have discussed several factors that increase sales. As the websites strive to increase sales, they must install a cheap wildcard ssl that will help to enhance customer trust. It will also help to ensure the security of the customer data on the web servers.