You already have an online store. Now you need to figure out how to market your business to as many people as possible. But with so many types of digital marketing available, it’s easy to get lost in the labyrinth.

Where do you start?

According to Datareportal, at the beginning of 2021, there were 4.66 billion internet users globally — which is 60% of the total world population. More people can access the internet than ever before.

The internet has become the best place to connect the broadest customer base to your products or services. It’s time to start devising ways to reach them on the multitude of online channels available.

Ready to take your online business to the next level?

Read on to learn:

• How digital marketing works.
• How to use different types of digital marketing channels for your online store.
• How to make your digital marketing strategies work for you.

Traditional vs. Digital Marketing for Your Ecommerce Store

Traditional marketing is a semi-targeted method of reaching potential customers.

The offline advertising strategies of traditional marketing include:

• Postcards
• Billboards
• Newspapers
• Radio

Though some businesses still use these traditional methods, online marketing is steadily advancing in popularity. It is an easier, less expensive, and less wasteful way to create brand awareness and drive traffic to your business.

There are plenty of compelling reasons to move toward digital marketing. It is a form of inbound marketing, which means instead of searching for prospects, they can search for you.

Traditional marketing is also limited by location. Digital marketing empowers you to reach out to the right target market and spread brand awareness to a large number of people.

As of 2019, Statista reports indicate 1.92 billion people bought goods and services online. In 2021, that number is expected to jump to 2.14 billion.

That’s a whole lot of potential customers.

5 Types of Digital Marketing Channels For Your Ecommerce Store

In the fast-paced world of technology, you have to stay ahead of the curve — especially if you run an ecommerce store that lives in the online space. If you’re not using the latest digital marketing methods, there’s a good chance your competitors will.

Let’s get into the most popular online channels to market your online store.

1. Social Media Marketing (SMM) for Ecommerce

Datareportal’s 2021 report revealed there are 4.2 billion social media users globally — more than 53% of the world’s population.

What does this mean for you and your marketing team?

Social media offers tons of prospects you can convert to customers. Don’t miss out.

Build up your brand’s presence on popular platforms like:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Pinterest

If you’re doing business internationally, don’t forget about WeChat and QQ Tenecent, which are popular in China.

You can take advantage of free marketing through these social media platforms. Build a following, connect directly with customers to build brand loyalty, or use tags on product photos that lead visitors straight to a shopping cart.

You can also opt for paid ads on social networks. You choose your target audience, and then your ads show up in the right potential customer’s social media feed.

2. Content Marketing for Ecommerce

Content marketing has grown in popularity because of how effectively it can generate traffic and establish trust in a company’s expertise. Good content educates website visitors with high-quality, compelling blog posts. It also uses calls-to-action (CTAs) to encourage readers to explore your products or sign up for email lists.

The content marketing strategy doesn’t involve direct advertisements or product promotion. But it can lead customers through the buyer’s journey.

To make content marketing work, you need to research keywords that improve your blogs’ search engine optimization (SEO). Good SEO will bring readers to your website, but you also need to develop consistently valuable articles to retain your audience and build customer loyalty.

3. Affiliate Marketing for Ecommerce

Affiliate marketing is an excellent option for merchants with ecommerce stores. You connect with a content creator who has an established audience, and they include links to your products. In return, the creator receives a commission when someone uses that “affiliate link” to make a purchase from your website.

For example, Amazon is the largest online store in the world. The Amazon Associates program capitalizes on content creators who direct their audience to the millions of products on Amazon. There is no upfront cost for Amazon, as they only pay out when a sale is made.

4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for Ecommerce

A search engine is a web-based tool that helps users find information on the web. Google, Bing, and YouTube are the most popular options. Search engine marketing (SEM) involves improvements to your website that boost your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).

SEM marketing includes SEO and paid advertising that improves visibility and increases traffic to your website. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising through Google AdWords is a popular option for marketers who are willing to spend money to reach the top of SERPs.

5. Email Marketing for Ecommerce

As you build your business, it’s essential to find ways to grow your email list. Use free content like blog posts, ebooks, or webinars to encourage users to sign-up. As you grow, you can also collect contact information from happy customers.

Email marketing can be a fantastic way to send out special offers to drive sales or announce new products. However, the best email marketing tools can also be used strategically to target prospects based on where they are in the buyer’s journey.

For instance, you can follow-up on an abandoned shopping cart to entice that customer to complete their purchase. You can also use automated emails to request reviews after clients have used your products or services.

Top Tips for Ecommerce Digital Marketing Methods

Now that we’ve covered some of the most popular types of digital marketing strategies, here are a few tips for maximizing your returns.

• Develop an incentive program for loyal customers: Reward your long-term customers through discounts and offers, and encourage them to stay connected with your business.
• Publish testimonials on your website: No matter what you say about your own products, consumers trust other customers more than companies. Testimonials can ease the buying process by increasing confidence in your brand.
• Make use of live chats: Live chats allow your website visitors to get real-time answers to questions they might have in mind. Chatbots can also ease the burden on smaller customer service teams.
• Invest in a user-friendly website design: If your website isn’t user-friendly, your visitors will bounce — and all your marketing will be for nothing. Your website should be easy to view no matter what device a user has.
• Employ tactics that boost trust: Don’t give your customers any reason to abandon their shopping cart. Offer a straightforward return policy, a money-back guarantee, and transparent pricing.
• Introduce a referral program: Incentivize your clients to refer their friends and family with product discounts, store credit, or free gifts. Referral programs have been a significant factor in the success of ecommerce behemoths like PayPal, Dropbox, and Airbnb.

Final Thoughts: What You Need To Know When Marketing Your Online Business

Ecommerce marketing should not only raise awareness of your brand and products, but build trust with consumers. You can use any of these types of digital marketing strategies, including content marketing, social media, search engines, and affiliate programs, to attract customers and grow your business.

But a successful ecommerce marketing strategy begins with a fabulous website. Still searching for a reliable platform to start, manage, and expand your online business? Check out our online StoreBuilder for easy, smart, store-building solutions today.

Over the years, ecommerce merchants, designers, and developers have experimented with thousands of homepage configurations and these 8 elements are widely understood to be essential to a successful homepage that converts visitors.

• Your logo
• Navigation
• Headline
• CTA
• Social Proof
• Photos
• Page copy
• Footer

8 Basic Elements of A Homepage

Logo

First, your logo. Your logo is the face of your brand. It’s the visual representation of everything you want your customers to remember about your business. It should be displayed consistently and often. Most brands develop guidelines for how their logo should be used so that customers see what they expect to see whenever they encounter your branding in the wild.

Navigation

This is the bar at the top of your website that contains text links to the pages of your website. Designing effective navigation means taking into consideration the journey of each user and audience that frequents your website.

Headline

Your headline is the first line of text a visitor to your website will encounter. For example, on Hostdedi.net our headline is “The (Truly) Managed Commerce & Content Hosting Platform”. Creating a compelling headline is harder than you might think. Summing up the mission and character of an entire organization in one sentence takes time and expertise so don’t be afraid to hit the drawing board over and over.

Call to Action (CTA)

A call to action is a simple phrase, usually displayed on a button, that instructs your visitors on which action to take. On the nexcess.net homepage, for example, our CTA is simply “Speak with an Expert”. Other common CTAs include:

• Buy Now
• Learn More
• Read More
• Chat with Support
• Submit

Social Proof

Social proof is any user generated content including reviews, photos, and testimonials that speaks to the quality of your product or service. By adding social proof to your homepage, you’re demonstrating to prospective customers that your products and services live up to their promise because you have evidence that real people have purchased your goods and are satisfied.

Photos (& Videos)

High quality, well lit product photos of at least 1000px by 1000px are essential for any ecommerce business. Any product photography or videography must be of the highest resolution so it can be displayed on either a desktop or mobile platform.

Page Copy

Words! Other than your headline, what information is displayed on your homepage? This element of homepage design will depend largely on your industry vertical and the number and types of products and services you sell.

Footer

The footer section of a website contains essential information a customer might need to contact either corporate or support. Common elements of a footer include:

• Company address
• telephone number
• email address
• About Us
• Customer Service information
• Links to important pages that aren’t in the Navigation section
• Privacy policy
• Return policy

An Effective Ecommerce Homepage Without Coding

We’ve covered the 8 basic elements that make up a basic ecommerce homepage and there is still a lot to learn about each element, much less how to put them together in the most effective manner.

Now you can take the guesswork out of designing your ecommerce website with StoreBuilder by Hostdedi.

StoreBuilder delivers a fully customized, industry-focused ecommerce homepage template in just a few minutes, using a proprietary AI engine, with no coding required.

If everything is important, then nothing is. That’s why you need to determine the best ecommerce success metrics to measure for your business.

To make sure your ecommerce business is as successful as possible, you need to understand which metrics to measure and why. Then you make all of your business-related decisions based on data, not just instincts or casual observations.

What are Ecommerce Success Metrics?

Ecommerce success metrics are data you track to determine the performance of your online business. These numbers tell you whether your business is doing well or not. You then use this data to make marketing, promotional, and other business decisions.

Why are Ecommerce Success Metrics Important?

Without the data, you don’t know what’s working, what needs adjustment, or where you should redistribute resources. To grow your eCommerce business, you need to:

• Set measurable goals (known as key performance indicators).
• Understand how to measure those KPIs.
• Monitor KPIs, making adjustments as necessary.

The 10 Most Important Ecommerce Success Metrics

There is a lot of business-related data you can measure. While you may determine that additional ecommerce success metrics are essential to monitor for your business, here are the metrics you should watch closely.

1. Sales Conversion Rate

The most important metric to monitor, sales conversion rate tells you what percentage of your site’s visitors make a purchase. Most analytics tools provide the conversion rate. You also can manually calculate it by dividing the number of customers who purchase a product by the total number of site visitors. A good conversion rate is 1-5%.

2. Email Subscriptions

Email marketing is an amazing tool for eCommerce stores because it allows you to stay in contact with customers who already purchased or showed interest in your products. You’re able to contact them with future promotions and encourage purchases. Marketers who use segmented campaigns see a 760% increase in revenue. The easiest way to track your email subscription rates is with the analytics built into your email marketing tool.

How to Grow Your Email Distribution List >>

3. Customer Lifetime Value

This is a measure of how much you earn from a typical customer during their life. This number tells you how much you can spend to acquire a customer and to retain them. To determine this number, add up the revenue earned from a customer (annual revenue multiplied by the average customer lifespan) and subtract the cost of acquiring them.

4. Customer Acquisition Cost

A measure of how much it costs on average to acquire a new customer. You want your acquisition costs to be less than your average order amount, so you make money off each new customer. Calculate this metric by dividing your total marketing expenditures by your number of active customers.

5. Repeat Purchase Ratio

You want to retain your existing customers. The repeat purchase ratio measures how many times a customer comes back to your store to make another purchase. To determine this number, divide the number of repeat customers by the total number of customers.

6. Revenue By Traffic Source

Some traffic sources convert more visitors than others, which is where you want to spend your money. Track sales from each medium and determine how many sales you get per 1,000 clicks from each source.

7. Average Order Value

This metric is the average value of each purchase. To determine it, divide your overall sales number by the number of carts. The goal is to increase the amount each customer spends.

8. Product Return Rate

It’s only helpful to make a sale if it’s permanent. The product return rate tells you how many units are sold vs. returned. You can measure the product return rate for overall sales and individual products. These measures help you understand which products are more successful and which ones you may want to remove from your offerings.

9. Loyal Customer Rate

Your loyal customers are your most valuable customers. They’re the ones who love your products, will return for more purchases, and will recommend your products to their friends. Your loyal customer rate tells you how well you’re engaging and motivating customers to return. To determine this rate, divide the number of repeat customers by the total number of customers.

How Do I Increase Sales and Loyalty with eCommerce Lifecycle Emails? >>

10. Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

A measure of how many shoppers add items to their online carts but never make a purchase. You can track this number with Google analytics. You want to reduce the percentage of people who leave items in their carts as much as possible.

How to Choose the Right eCommerce Metrics to Monitor Your Business

While you could measure many things related to your business, it’s important instead to consider which metrics are important to the business outcomes you desire.

You could monitor the metrics above, determine which areas you want to increase or decrease (depending on which means improvement), then set KPIs in those areas. Then you would continue to review and monitor those metrics at least monthly, adjusting your goals as necessary.

If you’re still trying to figure out which metrics are the most important for your business to track, consider:

• Impact — If the metric changed, how big of an impact would it make on your company’s bottom line? If improving the metric isn’t worthwhile, neither is monitoring it.
• Goals — You should have strategic goals for your company. Focus on changing the metrics that support those goals.
• Scale — Some metrics are interconnected, which means improving one will automatically improve others too. If you can improve multiple metrics through small actions, it’s probably worth doing.

How to Use Ecommerce Success Metrics to Manage Your Business

Once you measure your metrics and determine where you want to make changes, you need to know how to make those changes happen. Here’s how to improve each metric listed above:

1. Sales Conversion Rate

You want 1-5% of the customers who visit your site to make a purchase. Of course, the higher the percentage, the better. To increase this percentage, use content marketing to make more people aware of your company and its products, build an email marketing list, or use promotional pop-ups to make shoppers offers when they visit your store.

2. Email Subscriptions

To grow your email list, promote joining the list via pop-ups on your site and social media accounts. Offer a promotion (like 10%) if a shopper signs up to receive future emails.

5 Successful Email Marketing Campaigns and Why They Worked >>

3. Customer Lifetime Value

You can improve how much your customers spend with you during their lifetime by building relationships with them, asking for their feedback, and eliminating concerns or pain points for them.

4. Customer Acquisition Cost

You can reduce the amount it costs to acquire new customers by focusing marketing on those people most likely to become customers. Personalize the customer experience for your target market. And, of course, the more customers you retain, the fewer you have to acquire.

The Cost of Customer Acquisition vs. Customer Retention >>

5. Repeat Purchase Ratio

You can encourage repeat customers by getting them to sign up for your email list, messaging them about recent purchases and future promotions, and encouraging loyalty program membership.

6. Revenue By Traffic Source

Don’t spend all of your time trying to build an audience. Instead, go to where your prospects already are. Monitor where you get the most traffic from and spend your resources there.

7. Average Order Value

Increase order value by offering free shipping at a specific price point, giving product discounts for a minimum spend, suggesting other products, encouraging savings with bulk orders, and promoting a loyalty program.

8. Product Return Rate

For fewer returns, make sure your products are quality and are accurately represented on your site, encourage customer feedback about products, and be transparent about shipping times.

9. Loyal Customer Rate

Customers are more likely to stay loyal if you offer them quality products at an acceptable price while building relationships with them and rewarding them for their loyalty.

10. Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

Reduce shopping cart abandonment by being upfront about pricing and costs, allowing customers to edit and save carts, and making sure your site runs well, and your checkout process is simple.

Measuring What Matters

The correct ecommerce success metrics are the ones that move your business forward according to your goals. The mix of metrics will be slightly different, depending on your business and its needs. It’s also typical for your KPIs to fluctuate, depending on where you’re focusing your resources and what’s happening with your business at any given time.

For example, you may see more cart abandonment during the holidays, but you also likely have many more visitors making purchases. So, both of those statistics would increase, but one makes up for the negative of the other.

The most important thing is to start measuring and adjusting KPIs to accomplish your business goals.

Start With a Site Optimized to Sell

KPIs may tell the story, but a successful online store also requires the right foundation — a site that’s optimized for selling.

To get your store online quickly without coding, and using one of the strongest ecommerce platforms available — WooCommerce — check out StoreBuilder by Hostdedi today.

Shopping cart abandonment is a problem that most ecommerce retailers have to deal with. It happens when a customer starts the checkout process for an order but doesn’t complete the purchase.

According to Statista, the average cart abandonment rate in 2017 was 69.23%, but this number rose to 88% in March 2020. Findings from several studies on shopping cart abandonment show that on average, three out of four online shopping carts are abandoned without a purchase.

Your shopping cart abandonment rate represents an opportunity lost and a gap in potential conversions. A 65% cart abandonment rate leaves a 97.9% gap in conversions, costing retailers $2 to $4 trillion per year.

While you can’t eliminate shopping cart abandonment, you can understand the common factors that influence it. And thanks to research, you can also learn how to reduce shopping cart abandonment effects. In this guide, you’ll learn:

• The significant effects of shopping cart abandonment
• The top reasons why people abandon their carts
• 7 ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment

Shopping Cart Abandonment Effects

The shopping cart abandonment rate is a crucial ecommerce metric to track, as high cart abandonment rates indicate a poor user experience or flawed sales funnel. When cart abandoners unintentionally (or intentionally) fail to convert (as TikTok activists did to the Trump online store), it contributes negatively to an online store’s inventory and data collection efforts.

When there are more items in an online shopping cart than inventory, the shop will assume that it’s available to sell, affecting inventory planning.

Additionally, shopping cart abandonment impacts data collection because ecommerce store owners cannot tell which of their customers were just messing with them, and which actually had a bad user experience.

Shopping cart abandonment also affects a company’s digital campaign spend because retailers will often reach out to potential buyers with a retargeting campaign.

How To Decrease Shopping Cart Abandonment

According to Baymard Institute, the most common reasons for cart abandonment include additional costs being too high, needing to create an account, and a convoluted checkout process.

Here are some proven ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment:

1. Consider Free Shipping

Baymard Institute’s research shows that 60% of carts are abandoned due to unexpected costs such as high shipping fees, which can be explained by a phenomenon called price anchoring.

If a customer sees the retail price at $14.99 and after taxes and fees, it rises to $19.99, the customer will get discouraged because they benchmarked against the first price.

Many studies have found that if customers have to choose, they prefer free (and cheaper) shipping over expedited shipping.

Growing ecommerce sales are driving up ecommerce logistics costs, which eats into profit margins, especially if you ship overseas. So if free shipping isn’t an option, offer discount vouchers and coupon codes instead.

Tips:

• Offer free shipping on standard delivery. Charge additional fees for expedited shipping.
• Charge shipping for low-value products and offer free shipping for high-value products.
• Offer free shipping for a minimum order value.

2. Simplify the Checkout Process

According to Baymard Institute’s survey, 28% of respondents abandoned their online carts because of a complicated checkout process. An additional 37% abandoned their ecommerce shopping carts because the website wanted them to make an account.

Tips:

• Decrease the number of steps required for checkout. Baymard Institute’s research shows that the average checkout flow for new users is 5.1 steps. Offer one-step checkouts, as ecommerce giant Amazon does.
• Offer guest checkouts, so users don’t have to create accounts.
• Autofill form fields, so shoppers don’t have to add in information manually.
• Be transparent about your return policy.

Ensuring a smooth checkout flow pays off — checkout optimization can increase conversions by 35.26%.

3. Increase Website Speed

A good user experience is vital to customers, and fast page load speed factors into that. A study by Akamai found that a two-second delay in load time increases bounce rates by 103%. Additionally, a 100-millisecond delay decreases conversion rates by 7%.

Tips:

4. Optimize for Mobile Responsiveness

These days, more than 50% of consumers access the internet and shop on their mobile devices. In 2021, mobile ecommerce sales are expected to account for nearly 54% of all ecommerce sales.

Mobile ecommerce is lucrative, but without a mobile-optimized ecommerce website, the probability of shopping cart abandonment increases.

Barilliance did a study on cart abandonment rates according to device. While the average cart abandonment rate was around 75%, it shot up to 85.65% on mobile.

Tips:

• Create a stripped-down version of your ecommerce site.
• Do not bog users down with popups or sidebars.
• Ensure call to action (CTA) buttons are the appropriate size to avoid errors.
• Consider using an ecommerce website template with cart optimization built-in.

5. Offer Various Payment Options

By creating an online store, you’re essentially opening your store for global consumers. When it comes to payment, it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.

For instance, some countries aren’t big on credit cards or mobile wallets, which are the preferred payment methods in Australia, Europe, and the U.S.

PayPal and Stripe are among the most popular payment providers, but even PayPal doesn’t support certain countries. If you plan to offer your products internationally, offer multiple payment methods.

Tips:

• Allow customers to pay with a guest account.
• Don’t ask for extra or unneeded information.
• Ensure website security and privacy – every consumer is counting on that from you.

6. Inspire Trust With a Secure Website

Ecommerce stores handle sensitive personal and financial information. Give your potential customers peace of mind by ensuring they can trust your website.

According to Baymard Institute’s study, one-fifth of online shoppers said they abandoned carts because they felt like they couldn’t trust the website.

Tips:

• Incorporate website security features, such as password encryption, two-factor authentication, and SSL certificates.
• Provide contact details, such as phone numbers or email addresses that customers can use to reach you.
• Inspire trust through testimonials, product reviews, and social proof.

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7. Retarget Customers Using Abandoned Cart Emails

If the above tips don’t work, you can try retargeting through cart abandonment emails.

Abandoned cart recovery emails are sent to shoppers to remind them of the items they were interested in buying but did not purchase. Usually, these emails include offers such as discount codes and a personalized link to let the customer pick up where they left off.

Abandoned cart emails can be sent using email marketing platforms, although some ecommerce solutions such as WooCommerce or StoreBuilder may have them as built-in features.

Tips:

• Use other channels to complement your abandoned cart emails (for example, retargeting, push notifications, Messenger applications, and cold calls).
• Leverage automation and personalization.
• Use A/B testing.

Final Thoughts: 7 Tips To Effectively Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment Effects

Shopping cart abandonment is an important metric that online retailers should take into consideration as they plan for and manage their online stores. Because shopping cart abandonment directly correlates to sales and revenue, retailers must optimize the user experience and checkout process.

To address cart abandonment for our customers, Hostdedi has partnered with Recapture, an application that assists in abandoned cart recovery. You’ll get access to Recapture and other features that support sales & conversions when you sign up for StoreBuilder or a Hostdedi managed WooCommerce hosting plan.

As more business is conducted online, effective ecommerce website design is key to growing your brand.

Customers all over the world turn to online stores for their convenience and abundance of options. If an ecommerce website is well-designed and easy to use, you’re much more likely to see those customers purchase month after month.

Let’s look at some tips and examples of ecommerce websites using effective design to drive business to their online stores.

Ecommerce Website Design Tips

No matter the industry or business model, maintaining a sleek, professional, and user-friendly online experience should be a top priority.

Whether you’re an ecommerce veteran or a beginner looking to build an online store, there are a few design elements to keep in mind that will help you achieve the most effective site possible. Here are our top four tips for creating the best ecommerce website design for your business:

Easy Navigation

Create a website that’s easy to navigate from the homepage all the way to your checkout screen. An intuitive design can make even the biggest ecommerce websites seem simple.

Helpful tools here will be drop-down menus, effective headers, and redirect links. Try to keep scrolling to a minimum to prevent customers from losing their place. Think of storing products in convenient categories and keeping landing pages as simple as possible.

Optimize for Mobile

Mobile is king. Perhaps one of the most important ecommerce business tips is the focus on mobile-optimized sites. If your ecommerce site is incomplete, slow, or illegible on mobile devices, you’ll lose potential customers at an alarming rate.

When you optimize your site for mobile users, there are two main benefits: your customers will be able to effortlessly interact with your products and your SEO will improve.

Google has and will continue to take a mobile-first indexing approach to determine SEO ranking placements—basically, if your online store accommodates mobile devices, you’ll have a better opportunity to appear when prospective customers type your product type into the search bar.

Impactful Homepage

The best ecommerce websites have eye-catching and user-friendly homepages. Most users decide whether to stay on a website within the first couple seconds of the homepage loading.

Some elements of a successful ecommerce homepage include high-resolution photography, a cohesive color palette, unique and accessible typography, and clear branding. Lifestyle photographs that highlight your goods or services in action can bring your brand to life.

You can easily do this using ecommerce website templates that have user-friendly features built-in.

Enable Conversions

Conversion is one of the more important ecommerce terms to know. Conversion rates measure how well you convert site visitors into paying customers.

At each step of the way, give your users the opportunity to place items in their cart and check out quickly. Set up your online store with abandoned cart reminders and notifications when customers leave items without checking out. Allow users plenty of opportunities to interact with your site and get on your mailing list.

Well-Designed Ecommerce Website Examples

We’ve covered the importance of web design in ecommerce and some helpful tips to keep in mind. But perhaps the most fruitful ideas for your online business will come when you see effective ecommerce website examples in action.

Here’s a list of 16 online store examples that create a memorable user experience.

1. Buffy

Buffy is a great example of how to market your ecommerce website as a rapidly growing company. Buffy’s comforters, sheets, and pillows take center stage in its site’s photography. The rounded edge of the letters in their typography gives off a nostalgic, soft, and “comfy” feel, a hallmark of their brand voice.

Simplicity and focus on a slim but growing line of products makes for a great website design from this eco-friendly bedding company.

2. Prose

Prose sells custom hair care products for customers looking to build an effective hair care regimen. Prose is the perfect example of an ecommerce website that leads with conversions and leverages customer interaction.

Their repeated call-to-action of “Get Your Formula” leads customers to a simple, clear, and valuable quiz that allows them to see what hair routine they would most benefit from. Prose’s use of models with all different hair types ensures no customer feels left out.

3. Bombas

Bombas started with socks and grew to include T-shirts and other types of clothing accessories. Their online shopping homepage showcases their flagship product, Bombas socks. While you may be eager to bring attention to your newest products, showcasing your most popular product is the best way to capitalize off existing brand awareness.

As a growing ecommerce business, take note of how other companies are expanding their product lines and incorporating them into their web design.

4. Toms

Toms’ shoes very famously started with a mission to not only sell shoes but also provide shoes to those in need. From a small start-up, Toms grew to be one of the most recognizable shoe companies in the world.

You’ll notice in their web design they still find ways to incorporate simple graphics that reinforce their mission and, in turn, their brand. Pictured on their homepage, you’ll see a black and white ribbon reading “1/3 OF PROFITS FOR GRASSROOTS GOOD.” When creating your online store, find ways to incorporate clear messaging like this that reinforces your story.

5. JetBoil

Your ideal webshop design should reflect the look or feel of your products.

JetBoil does just that with a simple and memorable color palette. JetBoil’s fuel tanks and many of its other products are black with orange and white accents. As you can see in their web design, they’ve chosen a black background with white text and orange accents. It’s the perfect way to give your website the personality of your product.

6. Dyson

Dyson’s ecommerce website design is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, unlike Bombas, Dyson has grown into such a familiar brand that they’ve chosen to focus their homepage on new products instead of their bellwether vacuum cleaners. Once your business is big enough, you may not need to lean on your existing lines to prop up new product launches.

Dyson also uses moving imagery instead of photography. On their homepage pictured above, a woman is actively demonstrating their new flat iron as the camera flips from various close-ups on the product in use. Video imagery on your homepage can be an eye-catching feature for online businesses trying to make a lasting impression.

7. Kajabi

Kajabi is a great example of what types of digital products to sell in ecommerce and how to market them effectively using web design.

Kajabi sells course-building software for entrepreneurs looking to create and sell online courses. As you can see, their web design is sleek, professional, and informative. You’ll notice Kajabi showcases their free trial and demonstration. If you’re selling digital products or services, customers who are offered a free trial are much more likely to convert into paying subscribers.

8. Allbirds

Allbirds is another example of an ecommerce website design that leverages its mission to drive business. Even in their sparse text, they choose to call attention to the eco-friendly nature of their shoes.

By incorporating outdoor photography of their products in use, they connect their environmental mission to their customer. Plus, Allbirds’ site is simple and easy to navigate.

9. BarkBox

BarkBox has capitalized on the popular ecommerce trend of subscription boxes. What started with grooming products from companies like Dollar Shave Club has evolved into a major industry with companies like Stitch Fix, BirchBox, and Scentbird staking their claim.

BarkBox’s ecommerce website design prioritizes conversion by offering how-to tutorials, free offers, and discounted subscriptions. Users unfamiliar with the subscription box trend can easily click through the process of selecting their themed boxes for each month.

10. MVMT

No matter what type of ecommerce business you run, your homepage should always showcase your goods or services in a clear, impactful way. That’s exactly what MVMT has done with their homepage.

A variety of both men’s and women’s watches are pictured in a way that resembles a display case. Immediately you get a feel for the different options of watches available to you while still maintaining a simple, cohesive feel.

11. Bloomscape

Bloomscape sells plants and plant care tools, and their website content is focused on making gardening accessible. For beginner plant owners, Bloomscape features video clips of how their products ship and how to care for plants. The video clips keep users engaged and interested in Bloomscape’s products.

The use of white background compliments the vibrant greens from their plant selection. As a business owner, you can almost never go wrong with high-resolution photographs of your products up against a white background.

12. Purple

The best ecommerce websites establish a value proposition. A value proposition is an innovative or unique aspect of your product that can win customers. Purple is a prime example.

Their ecommerce website leans on their colorful name and product, they call attention to their grid technology that makes their mattresses so comfortable. By using photos and videos of what’s actually inside their products, customers begin to understand what makes a specific product in a saturated market so special.

13. Snarky Tea

Snarky Tea is a growing brand featuring teas for detox and other wellness benefits. They effectively use media callouts on their homepage, citing appearances on Shark Tank, Bravo, and in Vogue.

As a growing business, make sure to incorporate media presence into your ecommerce website design as a form of social proof. If visitors to your site see a name they recognize, they will be more likely to trust your brand (and convert into a paying customer!).

14. DJI

DJI is one of the world’s premier manufacturers of civilian drones, a rapidly growing trend. Their innovative ecommerce website design features stunning photography and video footage.

Most of the video footage used on their website has been taken by DJI drones, which is a great way to show prospective customers what they can expect from their products. Users get a feel for how the products function and which drones take different kinds of footage. It’s hard to visit this site and not want a drone.

15. Oura

Oura is a phenomenal example of a simple ecommerce website that highlights one specific product. The Oura Ring tracks your sleep quality and can monitor many important health indicators.

The use of deep blues and sleek typography gives off a feeling of relaxation and comfort, which is ideal for customers seeking better sleep.

16. Ritual

Ritual makes vitamins simple, and their website reflects that. Ritual’s webshop design is characterized by bold, bright yellows. Their close-up photos of their vitamins leave users wanting to reach out and touch them. Evoking a tactile experience in your imagery can be a great design technique.

Different Types of Design Elements for Ecommerce Stores

The ideal ecommerce website design is a combination of different design elements that come together to visualize your company’s purpose. To call attention to your products or services, take the following design elements into account when working on your site:

• Structure and layout
• High-resolution photography
• Optimized video content
• Unique, legible typography
• Clear, concise copy
• Persistent, relevant calls-to-action

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Did you know 20% of new businesses fail within the first two years of operation, and approximately half of all businesses don’t get past the fifth year?

If you read that stat and felt more determined to achieve your goals, you have the perseverance needed to succeed in your business.

However, no matter how long you’ve been in business, you’re bound to run into problems at some point since missteps are a natural part of the business process.

The key to a successful business is to quickly identify your mistakes, learn from them, and avoid making the same errors again. It’s also wise to learn from others’ mistakes to avoid paying the price with your own business.

That said, here’s what we’ll cover:

Mistakes Small Business Owners Make

1. Trying to do it all themselves

2. Making unnecessary investments

3. Mixing personal and business finances

4. Not having an online marketing plan

5. Underpricing/slashing prices

Let’s have a more in-depth look at the mistakes listed above.

1. Trying To Do It All Themselves

Most entrepreneurs feel they must do everything. They believe they’re the only people who know how to get things done correctly. While it’s true you know more about your business than anyone, you need to delegate some responsibilities to others as your business grows.

As a business owner, there are numerous areas you’re not good at. For example, handling customer service calls, social media, or managing taxes can be a bad idea if you’re not qualified to do so.

To avoid doing everything yourself, identify your strengths and weaknesses, then recruit people who are good at what you’re not good at. That will help you focus on where you can add the most value.

Also, hire trustworthy, experienced advisors to discuss your business strategy, growth, and challenges. These people will give you continuous feedback, and you’ll make fewer mistakes in the long run.

2. Making Unnecessary Investments

According to CBInsights, 38% of startups fail because they run out of cash.

One of the reasons for that is overspending when starting a new business. While you have to spend money to make money, that only works if you spend it on the right things.

Wise entrepreneurs treat business purchases like buying any other capital investment — with return on investment (ROI) in mind.

For example, hiring a web developer is an unnecessary expense when you can use a store builder to create an online store without writing a single line of code. With Hostdedi StoreBuilder, you can create an online store that’s customized, beautiful, and unique in just a few clicks.

Be as economical as possible until your small business has grown enough to permit large purchases and still have money left to save.

3. Mixing Personal and Business Finances

When you’re a business owner, it’s natural to consider the company’s assets to be your own. While this is true to some extent, it can lead to serious financial risks if you start treating business finances as your own.

For example, you risk losing valid tax deductions when you mix personal and business expenses in the same credit card and bank accounts.

To deduct items from your taxes, you must be able to prove that those expenses are deductible business costs. With your finances mixed up, it’s difficult to prove what’s what, and the IRS may throw out your business expenses to make sure you’re not deducting personal costs.

To solve that, open a bank account specifically for your business and apply for a business credit card to track your business expenses.

4. Not Having an Online Marketing Plan

Many entrepreneurs with offline businesses are not new to marketing. However, driving traffic to an online store can be a different animal altogether.

With 32.5 million small businesses in the U.S. alone, you’ll need a competitive edge to succeed.

An online marketing plan will enable you to identify your target audience and differentiate yourself from competitors. By defining your ideal customer, you can effectively tailor your marketing strategy to address them directly.

That’ll make your marketing tactics more engaging and more likely to generate a positive ROI.

From there, you must optimize your most effective online marketing asset — your website. Even if you generally rely on client referrals, a website with stunning visuals and valuable content can set you apart from the competition and boost sales.

With Hostdedi, you can power up your website or online store with custom-built technology designed to make every aspect of the digital commerce experience better.

Check out our hosting plans for a faster and more secure website.

5. Underpricing/Slashing Prices

One common mistake new business owners make is underpricing their products or services. They often do this to woo customers, boost sales, or overtake competitors.

However, over 80% of customers compare prices on the internet before buying. In addition, a BigCommerce study revealed 80% of shoppers state competitive pricing is the most crucial store feature influencing their purchasing decisions.

So, slashing prices will eventually undermine your business’ offering, and you’ll end up in the trap of diminishing returns with insufficient profit to keep your business running.

For example, when you underprice your products, the revenue you’ll generate will not be enough to cover the manufacturing, promoting, and delivering costs, leaving gaps that must be filled.

To solve this, do competitor market research to determine what you should charge.

The Most Common Mistake Small Businesses Make When They Start Growing

The most common mistake small business owners make is expanding geographically without proper planning.

Your business’s success mainly depends on your ability to analyze the market and see where your product fits in, which is even more critical when entering a new area.

9% of businesses fail due to unsuccessful expansion, so expanding your business can be a big mistake without proper planning.

Final Thoughts: 5 Small Business Mistakes and How To Avoid Them in 2022

Although you should avoid these startup mistakes while building your business, keep in mind that missteps are unavoidable, so set realistic expectations.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Instead, learn from your mistakes and make necessary changes to your business model. Test new ideas and get feedback to improve your offering and better meet your customers’ needs.

If you run an ecommerce business, you should consider optimizing your website as well.

You can do so by signing up for Hostdedi’ fully managed WooCommerce hosting. Get started today and make your ecommerce website faster and more secure.

As an entrepreneur, building an ecommerce store is an exciting process — especially after investing time and effort into making your website modern, feature filled, and customer ready. But once you open the digital doors to your online shop, how do you go about generating qualified customer traffic? Enter: ecommerce marketing.

Just like digital marketing, ecommerce website marketing allows you to use multiple digital channels to promote your products and grow your business online. From social media and digital content production to search engine optimization and email campaigns, marketing for your ecommerce store is a crucial aspect to growing web traffic and driving conversions.

If this is your first time coming up with an ecommerce marketing strategy, this guide is here to help you get started. Below, we will break down the ins and outs of ecommerce website marketing. Keep reading for 14 of the best ecommerce marketing tips to help you boost online webstore sales fast — and grow your returning customer base.

What is Ecommerce Marketing?

Ecommerce marketing is the process of using promotional tactics—such as an Instagram post or a display ad on Google—to drive traffic and sales for your online store.

It all starts with generating brand awareness, which can increase website traffic. With the right strategy, you can convert that traffic into paying — and hopefully returning — customers.

Ecommerce marketing is a powerful and necessary tool for any online store owner. Let’s dive into some of the best strategies for generating awareness and revenue for your brand.

14 of the Best Ecommerce Marketing Strategies to Boost Sales

To help you establish an ecommerce marketing plan, we have outlined 14 of the best ecommerce marketing strategies that will help you boost traffic, increase sales, and kick-start your online business.

1. Incorporate Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a key ecommerce marketing tactic that allows you to place ads on major advertising platforms. As the name indicates, you pay the platform each time an ad is clicked.

Google Ads is one of the most popular online advertising platforms, as it allows you to create PPC display ads that target users based on their web searches.

A few common PPC advertisements on Google include:

1. Paid search ads
2. Display ads
3. Google Shopping ads

Google Ads utilizes a real-time bidding (RTB) process to sell advertising real estate on the search engine results page (SERP) through private, automated auctions.

2. Optimize for Search Engines

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another crucial element to running your ecommerce business that you can incorporate even before your site launches. At its core, SEO is the process of ensuring your site ranks highly in the SERP when a user searches for a keyword or phrase that relates to your products.

While there are many SEO strategies you can utilize, foundational SEO elements like well-optimized title tags, meta descriptions, and image alt text are key tools to help your pages rank.

It’s important to remember that SEO is long-term ecommerce marketing strategy, but it can pay off if done right. To start, you will need to learn the best practices and rules for the search engine you’re optimizing for (Google, YouTube, Amazon, etc.). From there, it’s all about creating and optimizing the content on your site.

3. Design for Mobile Devices

While creating a desktop- and SEO-optimized ecommerce store with unique design is important for attracting customers, optimizing your store for mobile devices is even more important.

In 2021,53.9 percent of all retail ecommerce is expected to be generated from mobile devices, which means your website needs to function properly on smartphones and tablets of all shapes and sizes.

To ensure your ecommerce store is mobile-friendly, make sure it features a responsive design that adapts to the device it is being displayed on. Additionally, it is important to make important information easier to find on mobile, such as an “Add to Cart” button or your contact information.

4. Create Engaging Content

Content marketing is important to incorporate into an ecommerce marketing plan.

Content marketing involves creating multiple types of organic content to improve your website’s SERP ranking while answering the questions your customers are asking online. Three ways to create content that will help your ecommerce store rank higher and drive traffic include:

• Product Page Copy: Outside of your title tags, meta descriptions, and image alt text, your product pages should feature written copy that incorporates product-driven keywords. This increases the chances of your product pages showing up in the SERP for related search queries.
• Blogs and Long-Form Guides: Writing blog posts and long-form guides that are related to your products can help you connect with new customers and rank higher in the SERP. When outlining a blog or guide, it’s important to focus on creating captivating, engaging, and keyword-rich content that helps to answer your customers’ questions or concerns while showcasing how your product is the solution.
• Guest Posts: Creating guest posts for external websites is a great ecommerce content marketing tactic that allows you to get your website or products in front of new audiences. This strategy can help you increase your domain authority and traffic through backlinks from websites that already rank highly for your targeted keywords.
• Videos: Producing product-related videos for search engines like YouTube can also help you get your website or products in front of your targeted audience. Using high-volume keywords that relate to your products, you can develop topics for visual content that will be engaging and helpful to your customers.

5. Establish Social Media Profiles

Launching business pages on social media can help you grow your ecommerce store and connect with new audiences. Because ecommerce websites are highly visual, platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are great for showcasing your products and expanding your reach.

Many social media platforms also allow you to create shoppable content, such as shoppable display ads in a social feed or tags that take users directly to your ecommerce store’s product pages.

Social media networks you should consider for your ecommerce marketing plan include:

1. Instagram
2. Facebook
3. Pinterest
4. Twitter
5. TikTok
6. LinkedIn

Don’t spread yourself too thin. Be sure to focus your time and energy on platforms that are best for your business’s needs and that generate the most ROI for your store.

6. Reach Out to Influencers

Influencer marketing is a simple way to boost traffic and sales for your ecommerce store, and it can easily tie into your social media marketing plan. Influencers are celebrities or members of a community that have large followings on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or Twitch.

Because they have already built trust with their followers, an organic product recommendation or a sponsored post about your brand will feel less intrusive than a standard ad in a social feed. Just be sure to find a credible influencer that fits into your product niche well, as that’s where your potential customers will be.

7. Take Advantage of User-Generated Content

Another ecommerce marketing tactic that could fall into your overall social media marketing strategy is user-generated content (UGC). Unlike influencer marketing, UGC is a free way to get your customers to market your product or ecommerce store for you. You can take advantage of UGC in multiple ways, including:

Promoting social media hashtags that users can add to their photos or videos of your products.

Creating online competitions where users are entered to win a prize when they display your product to their followers.

Incentivizing customers to leave a review or testimonial about your products or their shopping experience on your website.

8. Partner with Affiliate Marketers

Affiliate marketers are people or businesses who help sell your products on their websites for a commission. These marketers utilize affiliate links to track which customers go from their site to yours and you only have to pay a commission when a product sells on your website.

To generate interest around your business, affiliate marketers might use digital marketing tactics like paid advertisements and content creation that drives traffic to a page that features your products. Additionally, merchants can set their own commission rates for affiliate marketers, which means you can closely control your return on investment.

9. Reward Loyal Customers

Customer loyalty is a major aspect of your ecommerce store’s success. To help you capitalize on repeat traffic and sales, establish a customer loyalty program that rewards your long-term customers.

Whether you provide exclusive offers, discounts, or access to limited product runs, your customer loyalty program will not only help with customer retention, but also provide more opportunities for organic referrals through UGC.

When establishing a customer loyalty program, be sure to think through all the ways you can incentivize your customers, including through a point system, special discount codes, or share-worthy perks.

10. Build an Email Subscriber List

Although email marketing might not be as glamorous as social media marketing, it is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic, make sales, and generate loyal customers.

As internet users are bombarded with social media posts daily, email provides a more intimate avenue to reach your targeted audience — not to mention it gives you more space to deliver a message than short-form social media posts on platforms like Twitter or Instagram.

Ecommerce email marketing starts with gaining new email subscribers. Grow your list by promoting your blog or newsletter, or through other email capture techniques like lightbox popups on your website.

Remember, it’s important to be strategic about how you add website visitors to your mailing list and when you send them emails. You want to maintain the trust of your customers without coming across as “spammy.”

11. Follow Up After a Purchase

After a customer has purchased a product, you can send a follow-up email or message that keeps the conversation going. Not only does that help keep your brand top of mind, but it gives your customer the chance to provide feedback on their purchase experience.

Getting customer feedback can help you make changes to your ecommerce store that will streamline the shopping experience for future customers. Plus, it lets the customer know that you care about them, and that you are willing to help should they feel dissatisfied.

12. Ask About Abandoned Shopping Carts

When a user abandons their shopping cart, reaching out with an email can make the difference between a conversion and lost revenue. According to the Baynard Institute, the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is 69.80%.

In this follow-up email, you can remind them that they have left items in their shopping cart, or that you are there to help them through the checkout process should they require it. Much like following up with a customer after a purchase, this process shows that you care about making the shopping experience as seamless as possible.

13. Consider Local Shoppers

Local marketing allows you to focus on areas where most of your customers or prospects are located. This ecommerce marketing tactic is especially important if you have a brick-and-mortar store, as you want to ensure you retain your local, in-person customers while promoting your business online.

Local marketing consists of strategies like:

1. Optimizing the content on your site for localized keywords.
2. Offering free shipping for customers who live near your storefront, warehouse, or shipping facility.
3. Creating location-based landing pages that discuss your product offerings in areas you regularly serve.
4. Taking out ads in local publications or radio stations to generate awareness for your site.
5. Opening a temporary “pop-up” shop that you promote to customers who live near your main operation.

14. Personalize Your Ecommerce Marketing Strategies

Personalizing your marketing strategies according to your customers’ past actions, preferences, or email data is a great way to drive ecommerce sales. This could be as simple as addressing a customer by their name in the subject line of an email, or by showing them smart content that’s based on an ad they have previously interacted with.

Personalization can even be based on where your customers are located. For example, if you sell clothing in your ecommerce store, it’s important to factor in seasonality and weather when presenting certain clothing items to customers in different states.

Grow Your Online Business with Ecommerce Marketing

Whether you’re trying to attract your first customer or making your 1,000th sale, ecommerce marketing is one of the most important aspects to driving online sales, traffic, and returning customers. Fortunately, there are multiple strategies and tactics you can incorporate in an ecommerce marketing plan—and many are easy and affordable to get started with.

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Ecommerce makes up over 14% of all sales worldwide. That equates to over $4 trillion in revenue made on the internet in the last year. With so much potential for profit online, many are left wondering: what is ecommerce, and how do I get the most out of it?

If you want to start an ecommerce business, the first step is to decide what type of ecommerce you’re going to engage in and what business model you’ll use. Once you know what you’re selling and how you’ll sell it, you can then look for the best ways to grow your online business.

In this guide, we’ll cover the four main types of ecommerce and the 9 different business models that you could apply to them.

The Four Types of Ecommerce Businesses

With so many online businesses emerging in the last two decades, it can be helpful to divide them into categories based on who’s selling to whom. The following four ecommerce models are broad categories that we’ll later narrow down into more specific business models.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Business-to-consumer, or B2C, is the most common type of ecommerce. In this category, a company markets and sells products or services to individual customers for themselves. Clothing stores, home décor, and meal prep stores are great examples of a B2C business.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce is where companies buy and sell from one another. These sales could be goods or services. Two examples include a catering company selling its services to a law firm, and a law firm selling its services to a tech company.

Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

In a consumer-to-business (C2B) ecommerce model, individuals sell their goods or services to businesses. Here, you might imagine a freelance photographer contracting with a professional sports team or a new restaurant.

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

The fourth type of ecommerce business is consumer-to-consumer (C2C), where individuals market and sell to other individuals. eBay is the most prolific example of a C2C marketplace, with Facebook Marketplace and apps like OfferUp and Poshmark following closely behind.

Examples of Ecommerce Business Models

Now that we’ve looked at the four types of ecommerce, let’s look at some examples of ecommerce business models. Getting a feel for successful models in ecommerce can lead you to a few online business ideas.

Traditional Retail

Traditional retail is a business model type that closely reflects in-person shopping models.

A traditional retailer will usually sell goods from several different brands to its customers. Whether you source from wholesalers or small businesses, your job as a traditional retailer is to provide added value to your customers and prospective customers during their shopping experience. That value can come in the form of convenience, quality assurance, expert advice, and more.

For example, Target and Walmart are traditional retailers that leverage convenience. Upscale grocery stores like Whole Foods and Fresh Market leverage quality assurance. Retailers leveraging expert advice include Vitamin Shoppe and REI.

Single Brand Retail

The single-brand retail model is, well, exactly how it sounds: in this model, a retailer sells their brand and only their brand.

The single-brand ecommerce business model is quite popular for people just starting in ecommerce. If you have a small business producing goods or services, it makes sense that you would stick to your brand when first starting out. As you expand your business, you can weigh the pros and cons of selling other brands on your site.

There are countless examples of successful single-brand retailers online. A few that are prominent in the clothing industry are Pendleton, Patagonia, L.L. Bean, Bonobos, and Lululemon.

Wholesale

One of the less accessible types of ecommerce for beginners is wholesale. Wholesalers generally sell in bulk to retailers or individuals at a discount that reflects the size of the purchase.

To become a wholesaler, you need access to large quantities of a specific good. This barrier to entry is often why most ecommerce businesses do not start as wholesalers. But it’s important to know they’re out there.

The prime example of a successful ecommerce wholesaler is Alibaba, a wholesale marketplace with nearly limitless options to find distributors of all product types. Some examples of smaller more niche wholesalers would be companies like Nuts.com and Black Ink Coffee.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping site owners are responsible for marketing and selling products that are ultimately fulfilled by a third-party supplier. The site compiles and brands products that are easy to ship and have a low level of customer support needed.

Popular products to dropship include cell phone accessories, grooming tools, niche products, custom office supplies, face masks, and much more.

Digital Products

Many ecommerce businesses have digital products to sell, such as music, instructional courses, or software. In many ways, this is the height of ecommerce since these products don’t have a long history of being sold in brick-and-mortar stores.

While digital goods may have a higher degree of difficulty when it comes to production, your business’s logistics will be much simpler. No physical goods mean less physical space, materials, and capital needed upfront.

Some popular platforms that help creators sell digital products are Bandcamp and Kajabi.

Subscription Services

Subscription services represent ecommerce models that rely on monthly and annual subscription revenue.

One of the benefits of employing a subscription services model is flexibility and scalability in pricing. After launching your service, you’ll be able to evaluate what level of subscriptions bring you the most returns.

Prominent subscription service businesses include streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu.

Subscription Goods

Subscription goods are similar to subscription services in their sales strategy, but instead of services like entertainment, businesses are offering recurring delivery of goods.

In recent years, the trend of subscription boxes has taken off with the rise of companies like Dollar Shave Club, BirchBox, and HelloFresh. These companies have taken markets like grooming, beauty, and food products and allowed customers to curate their subscriptions boxes to be sent on the timeline of their choice.

Membership Services

The membership services model is similar to subscription ecommerce business models, but these sites tend to have a bit more focus on interaction and community. Some popular examples of membership sites in the Health & Wellness industry include Peloton, KetoConnect, and The Neuro Studio.

Affiliate Sales

An affiliate sells products for a company they actively promote but are not employed by. Affiliate arrangements can take on many forms, some as simple as offering discount codes to your Instagram followers in exchange for kickbacks from a brand. Alternatively, you could actively fulfill orders for a company in exchange for a percentage of profit.

How To Select Your Ecommerce Business Model

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of ecommerce terminology around different business models that have become increasingly popular over the last decade.

After surveying the types of ecommerce available to you, ask yourself the following questions to help select your ideal business model:

• What do I want to sell?
• Who is my ideal customer?
• What kind of pricing will work best for my goods or services?
• Is my business likely to grow rapidly?
• What third-party services will help my business the most?

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Are press releases still a thing? Ask any PR pro and they’ll tell you “yes, they are.” While companies don’t rely as much on traditional news media to spread information these days, the combination of dropping a press release and posting on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offers boundless coverage for news you want to share.

The lines between public relations and marketing have blurred — especially where social media are concerned. Public relations supports and represents the brand’s overall vision, goals, and structure. On the other hand, social media marketing consists of using social media channels to deliver PR messages directly to your audience. Social media marketing allows you to directly connect with your audience with other types of messaging as well, such as that related to sales or promotions. Which approach or combination of approaches you choose depends on the message content and your goals (informational vs. promotional) in distributing it.

So when do you actually need to send a press release? A new product launch. Moving your headquarters. A big-name industry speaker is coming to visit. Things happen within your company, and sometimes you need to share that information publicly. That’s when you need to know how to draft a press release.

Companies used to send press releases (aka news releases) to traditional media outlets to make announcements. The idea was to announce news simultaneously, generating interest and media coverage. Calling sources at each news outlet and repeating the same information was simply not an efficient use of time.

Press releases are an important part of your public relations strategy, especially as an ecommerce store owner.

When to Deploy a Press Release

You don’t just decide to send a press release because it’s a Tuesday or because you haven’t sent one in a while. A press release is a strategic piece of marketing content, and you should treat it as such. It is best if you have a clearly defined reason for sending a press release. That reason typically revolves around news value. Here are some examples:

• Relevance — think about your audience and how the information applies to them. Do they want or need to know the information? Is it useful to them in their day-to-day lives? If so, it is relevant and worthy of a press release.
• Interest — information must be interesting to the audience, or they’ll ignore it. What affects their lives? If it’s a change in an internal process, they’re probably not interested. If it’s a change in an internal process that will alter the way you do business with them, they care.
• Impact — How many people are affected, and how seriously? The greater the impact, the more likely the information is to receive wide-scale interest.
• Conflict — Is there an issue? When something arises, communicate first with transparency and control the message.
• Prominence — People care about the lives of prominent people. If you have a big-name speaker coming to visit, your audience probably wants to know and informing them gives your company clout. Then they’ll also want to know what that big-name visitor said while they were there. That’s an opportunity for two press releases!

Remember that a press release should be about a single event or happening. You should write your press release clearly so the average person (not an industry insider) can understand it. And it should always have news value.

How to Draft a Press Release

Like any type of content, press releases start with the most important information and work their way to the least important information.

There are five parts to a press release:

• Summary News Lead — the main subject of the release. If the audience reads no further than these sentences, they should understand the topic of the press release.
• Benefit Statement — tells the reader why the lead is relevant or important to them. The benefit statement puts the lead in context. Together, they answer the who, what, when, where, and why.
• Body — information that is important, but not worthy of the first two paragraphs. The body of the release includes interesting facts/details related to the announcement and quotes from company leaders.
• Action Statement — tells the reader what to do next. It’s the call to action. Think who to call for more information or a website to visit to sign up for something.
• Boilerplate — a final paragraph that gives a short overview of your company’s mission and history. You’ll write this one time and share it at the end of all of your releases.

6 Steps: How to Draft a Press Release

All of the parts of a press release come together in six easy steps.

• Determine the News Peg What news value does your release topic fulfill? Identifying this information helps you focus your release.
• Write the Headline. The headline is a single sentence summarizing your press release and its purpose. The headline is the first thing readers see, and it should make them want to read your release. The headline should be direct, simple, and contain an action verb. Write in subject-verb-object format for the simplest, most active headline construction.
• Write the Lead and Benefit Statement. These two pieces of the release together shouldn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs. Draw the reader in with the lead, ensure both parts of the release address the who, what, when, where, and why of your announcement.
• Write the Body. This is where you put the remainder of the information you need to tell the audience, including quotes from company leaders. Work from most important to least important and keep the information brief. Your press release should be less than two printed, double-spaced pages. One page really is best.
• Add a Call to Action. Never end a press release without a call to action. What do you want the reader to do when they finish the release? Include a contact name and number for questions. Also, websites for more information are helpful.
• Tack on the Boilerplate. End your press release with who your company is and what they stand for. Remember that you can write this information once and copy and paste it on all of your releases.

Press Release or Social Media Promotion?

You should promote your company every time it’s possible. If you have a good reason from a public relations perspective to send a press release, do it. Use social media channels instead when it makes sense for promotion.

Happenings that Merit a Press Release

• Product Launches or Changes. You want to make sure your audience knows about a new product and why they should consider it. Include the product’s specs, pricing, availability, and why it’s being offered. Your audience also wants to know when their favorite products change. Include what the change is, why it’s happening, when it’s happening, and how it will benefit them.
• Mergers and Acquisitions. Big organizational changes are worthy of a press release because they inform stakeholders of information important to them. Include information about the organizations involved, why the merger or acquisition is happening, outlines of any known changes as a result, and quotes from the leadership teams of the organizations involved.
• Awards and Honors.If you don’t brag about your company, who will? Make sure your company and your employees get credit for winning awards and honors. Include information about the company, the award received, and when the honor was or will be given.
• Newsjacking. Tie in with other news of the day that’s related to your company. Be sure the news happening is actually related to your company or industry. Also, this is best done when the news is positive or when your product/service solves a problem.
• Executive Promotions/Hiring. Your audience wants to know if you make changes in important company positions. Include information about who was in the position, where they went, who the new individual is, and where they came from. Headshots of the people involved also are helpful so the reader can connect faces with names.
• New Partnerships. Your audience wants to know about new business relationships that affect the way your company works for them. Include information about each company, why you partnered, and any changes readers can expect as a result.
• Tell Your Side. Sometimes you need to tell your side of a controversy or make your audience aware of a happening within your company. Be proactive and transparent in sharing this information. Be sure to tell them what happened, how it happened, who was impacted, and your plans for the immediate future. Apologize if necessary.

Promotions and Messaging Better Suited for Social Media Promotion:

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• Hosting Events. Announce events if you want coverage of them and/or if your audience is invited to attend. Announce the happening before, telling who should attend, when and where it will be hosted, how much it will cost to attend, and how to register, if necessary. After the event, post again to tell the audience the outcomes of the event. Think how many people attended, how much money was raised, etc. Don’t miss this important opportunity to promote your organization’s success.
• Event Attendance or Participation. Use social to promote big events which employees are hosting or attending. Include information about the event, who is attending, how they are chosen, and what they will teach or learn. Perhaps more importantly, what will your customers gain from this opportunity for your employees?
• Grand Openings. Announce a new headquarters or a new branch. Include the time, date, and place of the grand opening celebration, who is invited, what will happen there, and the reason for the new location.
• Anniversaries. Celebrate a milestone anniversary for your organization. Include a brief history of your organization, from the beginning to now. If there will be an anniversary celebration, include the time, date and place, who is invited, and what will happen there.

Key Takeaways: How to Draft a Press Release

Press releases are a great opportunity to promote your organization and develop a better relationship with your audience through content marketing.

The most important things to remember are to always have a clearly defined reason to send a release (based on news value) and make sure each release has all of the information the reader needs to take action. Now it’s time to jump in and write. Trust us, you’ll get better at it with every release.