The Top 6 Traffic Sources for Your Ecommerce Business

Hannah Juley
Hannah Juley
January 3rd, 2020
Estimated read time: 4 minutes, 37 seconds

Traffic is ready to flow to your site if you can open the right avenues. The key is finding the best traffic sources for your specific digital product. Review your demographics and take a look at this list.

Organic Search

In an ideal world, everyone would find your site naturally. When they search for their topic of interest, your website would be at the top of the list! But how do you get there? The best way to generate better search results is to produce plenty of keyword-saturated content on your website. Whether it’s webpage content or blog posts, you’ve got to have a great deal of valuable, educational content available— particularly content that’s chock full of the keywords that your customers most often search.

Blog on a schedule, create long-form content offers that will entice visitors to your site to create accounts or offer up email addresses, and position yourself as an expert in your field. These changes will improve your organic search rankings, thus increasing traffic.

If you use a content management system (CMS), these platforms will be able to host and publish your blogs and long-form content. WordPress continues to be the most popular CMS on the market, but you can also choose from a variety of newer options. For example, HubSpot’s free CMS comes with a variety of built-in optimization tools.

Social Media

Social media is a necessity if you’re looking to increase traffic. There are many different platforms available, but don’t be intimidated. Find the platforms that your audience is most likely to be active on and concentrate your efforts there.

  • Twitter— About one-quarter of U.S. adults use Twitter, a figure that’s remained relatively consistent over the past few years. Twitter’s short-message style tends to attract young, educated, busy tech-centric people, which is why its advertising success stories include so many B2B and SaaS businesses.
  • LinkedIn— Don’t just think of LinkedIn as a place for employment ads. Its market – educated, upper-income professionals – includes people who like to be experts. They’re interested in new software and industry trends that keep them on the cutting edge.
  • Facebook— More than 1.2 billion people use Facebook every day. If your software is geared towards people outside the U.S., keep in mind that Facebook is making fast headway in developing countries and emerging markets.
  • Instagram— Now merged with Facebook, Instagram has an audience that skews younger and more female than Facebook. Its photo-focused format attracts storytellers – people like photographers and designers who build scenes for a living.
  • YouTube— Average YouTube watch time continues to grow. According to Google Analytics. YouTube reaches more 18- to 49-year-olds than any cable network in the U.S., and people spend an average of 40 minutes using it each time – a very long period, by internet standards. Use YouTube as a traffic source if your software is focused on learning because people watch it to educate themselves: how to cook, how to do home repairs, how cars work, and so on.
  • Pinterest— If your digital product targets women, Pinterest should be on your list – especially if it has anything to do with popular pins like decorating, clothing, and cosmetics. Women are overwhelmingly Pinterest’s base, according to Alexa, the online analytics tool.

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising, also known as pay-per-click (PPC), is an easy and inexpensive way to direct traffic to your site. Basically, the advertiser pays a preset amount every time a user clicks on one of their ads. It’s a quick way to bring genuinely interested people to your website.

Google AdWords is the best place to begin. It’s free to sign up; start small and gradually increase your spending once you’re comfortable working within the structure. They offer an easy walk-through for beginners at Adwords.google.com.

Email

It’s easy to dismiss emails as a thing of the past, but emails remain a huge part of our everyday lives. There are 74 trillion emails sent every year, and when businesses email people in an ethical and organic way, the messages are welcome.

Ecommerce businesses can email helpful tips, send informational graphics, alert people about webinars, and spark repeat buys along the way. It’s an easy and efficient way to ensure that your customers stay engaged throughout the buyer’s journey, offering little nudges and increasing touchpoints to keep them on track for a conversion.

Mobile Optimizations

At this point, mobile devices are more often used to access the internet than a desktop machine. Are you missing out on an opportunity to bring in more traffic because your ecommerce site isn’t mobile friendly?

When you consider the fact that 64% of conversions are done via mobile devices, the answer is yes. Ensuring that your website is functional on desktop and mobile devices will automatically improve your traffic as well as your conversion rate.

Engage Customers with Comments

Online marketing guru Neil Patel built his business by replying to every comment on his blog – every single comment, every time. In fact, he calculated that by leaving 249 comments, he gained 3,973 site visitors, six consulting leads, and a $25,000 corporate speaking contract.

Patel says comments are a way for people to connect with otherwise-faceless businesses. When you respond with an authentic and human message, you stand out among your online competitors.
Looking for more ways to drive traffic to your digital products and stand out in the SaaS crowd? Click here to download your free guide to online sales, “What You Need to Know About Selling Online.”

Hannah Juley

Hannah Juley

Hannah is a recent graduate from UC-Santa Barbara. Her prior experience in marketing lead her to the FastSpring Marketing Coordinator role. Hannah assists with content, social media and department expenses. Outside of work, you can find her at the beach either playing volleyball or reading a book.

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