Public service announcement to small business:
You could be making a lot more money – right now, at this very moment. You could be making money while you sleep tonight. You could be making more money while you are picking the kids up from school. You can be making A. Lot. More. Money.
How?
E-commerce.
Oh, I know, you have heard this before. But did you listen? And even if you listened, did you do it right? Is your physical store or your e-commerce store making you money while you sleep? Is your online presence (website, social) such that people are looking to hire you and buy from you, 24/7/365?
The answer for most of us is no. But I’m here today to help remedy that. I want to share a few e-commerce tips and tricks that are certain to boost your e-commerce sales.
1. Get a second warehouse: One thing that has radically transformed the e-commerce world is the advent of two-day shipping. Think about it – when you order something online these days, you expect to get it in two days, do you not?
Of course you do.
The problem many business people have is that when an order comes in from far away, say across the country, shipping that far in two days can be cost prohibitive. Unless . . . you had a warehouse on that other coast. In that case, two-day shipping would be a breeze.
This then begs the question, how do you find a new warehouse in an unfamiliar part of the country?
Enter Ware2Go. Ware2Go is a new UPS company that connects business that need a warehouse with warehouses that need business. It is sort of like an Airbnb for the warehousing industry.
Just check out Ware2Go.co, sign up, and use the intuitive dashboard to find the warehousing you need, where you need it, with warehouses that have already been vetted for you.
Ware2Go is easy, clever, and affordable.
2. Create individual pages for individual products: When someone does a search for whatever it is you sell, search engines like Google are far more likely to rank your site higher if you have a specific page devoted to each specific product.
For example, you do not want to lump the “speakers and headphones” that you have for sale on the same landing page. That confuses Google. Instead, create and optimize one page for speakers and a separate page for headphones.
Why does this work better? It’s based on how people search. Typically, people don’t search for “speakers and headphones,” right? They would likely search for one or the other. So a page that advertises both together would not get ranked high by Google because the Google algorithm would think that it is not a relevant page for a search for one item or the other.
Individual pages for individual products is the key.
3. Use your words: You need to use highly applicable and descriptive words next to your beautiful pictures of your great products. The description gives the greatest hits about the product, using keywords and key phrases. Google loves that. Your great description will ideally grab their interest so that they not only buy, but also keep perusing for more items on your site.
4. Create creative categories: Don’t just lump your products together by type, instead, again, think like someone who searches. They might search for, not only individual products, but brands, or by age, or by price, etc. So your site needs to categorize your products those ways as well.
Bottom line: This is an amazing time to own a small business for, among other reasons, you can earn money while you sleep via the magic of e-commerce. But that only happens if you create some magic of your own by doing some (or all!) of the things suggested herein.
