It is not wrong to want more people buying from you. For any business, more sales equals a greater profit. This is why it is important to find effective ways to increase online sales for your company.
When you have a greater profit margin, it means you can do things like hire new employees or invest in your business in order to make your products or services even better.
Thankfully, you can sell on the internet using WordPress. However, it will take a little more effort than just uploading a few pictures and posting prices.
In this article, I would like to list the steps to sell effectively with WooCommerce and WordPress, so that you know what needs to be done before jumping in head-first.
WooCommerce
By default, a WordPress core does not provide an e-commerce functionality. You need to install a special plugin which provides such features for a WordPress site.
WooCommerce is one of the most popular e-commerce solution for WordPress on the market today. It’s easy to use, customizable, free (for basic versions), and has an active community that provides support.
Moreover, the team at WooCommerce strives every day to make their platform better by adding new features and improvements.
WordPress theme
The best way to set up your brand on WooCommerce is by choosing an e-commerce theme for WordPress that reflects your company’s personality and values.
However, these are just some things to consider when evaluating a potential theme for your site:
- First, if you want to sell physical and digital products through WooCommerce, it is important that your WordPress theme is WooCommerce ready.
- Second, make sure the theme fits your needs. Your site must be versatile enough, so that it can deliver its goals towards target audiences in an effective manner, without compromising on quality.
For instance, you may check the Matthew theme if you plan to sell with WooCommerce.
It is a premium block-powered WooCommerce theme, professionally developed and designed for building professional online stores so that you can sell goods or services online.
The theme also comes with a support for WooCommerce blocks. So, you can build custom WooCommerce pages without the need for any code knowledge or graphic design experience.
Alternatively, if you would like to start with a free WooCommerce theme then check Storefront.
Niche-specific store
A niche is the perfect way of defining who your target customer is.
So, it is important to find a niche for your business because it will help lead you in the right direction of success.
If not done correctly, this may result in wasted marketing dollars with little return on investment.
Therefore, if you are not sure yet what your niche is, think about the problems that people have in their lives and look at how to solve those problems with your business.
Buyer persona
It is also important that you understand who your ideal buyer persona is, so that you can better target potential buyers with the right marketing strategies.
A buyer persona is a fictitious person that a business creates to represent their customer base. A company should create different profiles for different types of buyers before starting designing products or marketing them.
If you are unsure who your ideal buyer persona is, try prototyping your product with potential customers by asking them questions about their needs and preferences.
This will help refine who they are as well as what they want out of the product.
SEO
E-commerce is growing. As a result, the competition for search engine traffic has never been fiercer. Thus, if you are selling online, SEO should be one of your top priorities.
SEO stands for search engine optimization which means that the more people are able to find your site when they are searching Google or Bing, the higher chance they will purchase from you.
Your WooCommerce store needs to be optimized for search engines so people can find it when they type in relevant keywords.
This typically involves creating content that uses keywords or other words often used in internet searches, and then promoting this content through various methods so it appears higher in search engine rankings than pages created by competitors.
Site content
The importance of good content for an online store cannot be overstated. The content you post, whether it’s about your store or not, impacts how much traffic you receive and the quality of that traffic.
If you don’t have the right content for your site, then customers will find their products elsewhere, and that means less revenue for your company.
However, your content should not only be great in quality but also readable. Readability is one of the most vital aspects to consider when formatting text.
The presentation and context that you provide for your readers will determine how well they understand what’s written on any given webpage, so you need not only think about font size and line width but also use words in a way which makes sense.
Product (service) title and description
When it comes to online shopping, the title of a product is often the first thing that potential customers read.
If they are not interested after reading your product’s title, then they won’t even bother reading what you have written about your product.
The same goes for describing your products.
You need to make sure that you write titles and descriptions that will draw attention and engage readers so they want to learn more about your products.
Product (service) images
Images are one of the most important aspects for an online store. They are the first thing your customers will see when they come to your site, giving them a visual idea of what you have to offer.
These images can make or break a sale. So, a great looking photo is one of the best marketing tools you can use.
Not only does it provide your audience with a lasting impression, but it also gives them something to share on social media.
However, if your photos are low quality, they won’t be able to do that.
Don’t let people scroll past your products because images are too blurry or pixelated – take control and make sure you have high-quality images every time on your WooCommerce store.
Trust signals
Your online store is a reflection of your business. It is the first impression that you make on potential customers, and it sets the tone for future interactions.
As a business owner, you want to make sure your website is optimized for conversions. One of the best ways to do this is by improving customer trust.
This can be done with a few simple signals, such as:
- testimonials from customers
- credibility badges on the site
- phone number that people can call with questions about products or services
- contact form so visitors can get in touch via email
- SSL Certificate on your site so visitors know they are safe when entering their information and checking out
To sell effectively with WooCommerce, or by using any other platform, make sure to consider integrating trust signals into your store to increase audience and conversions.
Up-sell and Cross-sell
In the world of e-commerce, upselling and cross-selling are two tactics that can help a business increase sales.
Upselling is a process in which a customer is encouraged to buy an upgraded or more expensive product than what they were originally looking at.
Cross-selling is when customers see complementary items for sale on their screen while viewing another item, leading them to purchase both items.
These two strategies can be a great way to establish trust with your customer by providing options for them to spend their money wisely, and make recommendations based off of previous purchases.
By default, WooCommerce allow to set up Up-sell and Cross-sell products or services on your WordPress site, using options provided by a core functionality of the plugin.
Coupon codes
Coupon codes are also a simple and effective way to boost sales. It can be an excellent opportunity for you to engage with your customers in a mutually beneficial manner.
Customers get product discounts while stores can see increased revenue from higher cart value or conversion rates.
Fortunately, WooCommerce provides a coupon management functionality without a need to install additional plugins.
Newsletter
The key to success for any online store is to maintain a loyal customer base, and newsletter is an efficient way of doing so.
The thing is that email marketing is one of the best ways to get in front of customers and their inboxes.
It allows you to send out personalized messages without much effort on your part while also reaching many people at once, expanding your reach beyond just word-of-mouth advertising.
Thankfully, there are multiple ways to integrate a newsletter into a WooCommerce store. One of them is to use a Mailchimp integration.
Customer support
It is not a secret that customers are the lifeblood of any business.
With so many options to buy products, customers can easily go elsewhere for what they need if they don’t feel valued or respected by the company. This is where customer service in e-commerce businesses comes into play.
The role of customer service in an online store is essential for maintaining good relations with customers.
However, it is not just about responding quickly or providing refunds if something goes wrong, but it’s also about making sure that your customers feel valued and respected.
Conclusion
In this article, I have tried to briefly cover why you should consider using WordPress for your own store as well as to provided insights into some of the best practices to sell successfully with WooCommerce.
Now, it’s time to take your business to the next level!
WooCommerce and WordPress can give your store the boost it needs. Not to mention, the perfect WordPress theme can help you unleash more of the potential and give visitors a great experience.
Themes Harbor enables you to create a human-centered and future proof website for your audience using a professional WordPress theme.
Based on your experience, what is one the most important aspect of having an effective WooCommerce store? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.
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