In this article you will be able to learn how to properly create a brand. Keep in mind that if you fail at this point when creating a brand, it might be difficult to recover. Therefore, it is a must that you have to do it right from the beginning. Although it is not impossible to make some changes later but doing it right the first time and right from the start could bring about a huge positive impact to your business.

Coca-cola, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Apple, etc. -are just few of the many brands that are known to have dominated the market over the years in so many ways. You may be able to use some of the principles that they used to help you get to where you are right now. However, since your ecommerce business is still in its infancy, you will need to use a different strategy while also taking into consideration your budget. Since your business will be starting on a low budget you have to make it more niche specific.

Narrow Down Your Niche

Why would others choose your ecommerce business? Why would they buy from you? What sets you you apart from Amazon or Ebay? You have to narrow down your niche and think about what makes your ecommerce website so special. Narrowing down your niche is so important especially that your business is still new and will be operating on a small budget. In other words, your site is not for everyone. So, narrow down your niche right from the very beginning.

Your website should imply something specific about you. When creating a brand for your business, think about your target market. Your website has to look more like what your ideal customer really wanted. It should give your target market an idea that you have read their (more…)

With the increasing popularity of Instagram why not use it to your advantage! This article will cover 7 tips on how to use Instagram to increase traffic to your website.

1. Track your links.

This is one of the biggest mistakes marketers seem to make, they don’t track the incoming flow of Instagram visitors. By simply inserting a traceable link to your website in your Instagram Profile you can create in-depth reports about how much traffic is coming into the site through your profile. Using a 301 redirect will allow you to strategize and know what steps will be required to add more impact to your Instagram page.  I have a whole video and short article on how to track the progress of your e-commerce website link on your Instagram page on Google Analytics in the link below.

How To Track Instagram Link Clicks In Google Analytics

2. #Hashtags

Properly using hashtags is key to expanding your brand awareness. Effectively using the correct researched hashtags can increase your Instagram visibility. Using the correct hashtag will ensure a long term drive of relevant traffic to your website. Searching for hashtags Instagram users will find your photos and click on your interesting photo and follow your profile. After seeing enough of your pictures on their feed they are likely to find out more about you. You are able to use up to 15 hashtags, 5 in the main description and 10 in the comments. Using this tactic can create a stronger Instagram presence and increase the chances of being found on Instagram.

3. Videos Do Well

With Instagram introducing the addition video they bring you another method to advertise. By sharing an eye catching story, users that are scrolling will stop and view your profile. There are different ways of making videos, get creative with it. If (more…)

Google Analytics is the most powerful free tool you can use for your ecommerce store. Although many people have already used this tool but many are still not completely aware of the tricks on how they can get as much profit from their store by using this tool. With Google Analytics, you will be provided with data that is crucial to your ecommerce site. Here are my five best tricks on using Google Analytics:

 Where is most of your traffic coming from?

Traffic to your site may come from direct sources (i.e. people actually typing in your website url) or organic (i.e. traffic coming from regular Google search results). The importance of knowing where most of your traffic comes from is for you to also know how to increase it. With the use of Google Analytics, you may be able to find out that most of your traffic comes from organic, direct or other sources. For example, there are cases when most of your site’s traffic comes from Facebook. By knowing where most of your traffic comes from you will also be able to decide or create steps on how you can better capitalize on such traffic. Why is it that most of your traffic comes from Facebook? Is there something that you did that lead to the increase of traffic from Facebook? Can you also do the same thing on Pinterest, Twitter,  Instagram and to any other areas of your business? Decide what steps to take so that the same thing will also occur on your other sources of traffic. When talking about traffic, remember the 80/20 principle. 80 per cent of your results will come from 20 percent of inputs.

Where does your highest converting traffic come from?

Let’s say you are getting a thousand people from Facebook but then they are not (more…)

The Home Page is extremely important. It is the number one page that people land on when they come to your website.But, how do you make one that will surely make your web visitors get hooked to it and never leave right away? Below are five easy steps on how you can create a killer home page.

1. Create a Static Clickable Banner

The banner should have a clickable link. Most ecommerce sites have banners on them and most of the time people will tend to click on them, so make sure that your banner is clickable. Some websites have banners that slide between different ones but then based on my research static banners do better than those that slide. But, if you think that sliding banners do good for your website, let me know under the comments section.
It is also in the banner where you will display your USP or Unique Selling Proposition. For example, my website is all about hand- made clothing from USA, so I made sure to put hand made from the USA on my banner. What makes your product unique or special? Make sure to put that on your banner. It is also in your banner where you will highlight your best selling products, special promos and discounts.

2. Display Your Best Selling Products

Display your products on your home page. What products do you have are more likely to become best-sellers? Go ahead and display them on your homepage. Based on experience, the products I placed on the home page were the ones which I found to be the highest-ranking products in Google. The products that you put in your home page will create an impression among your target market that those are the most important products that they should buy. Therefore, if there are certain products that you (more…)

Twitter is a popular tool amongst many people in today’s world. It has become a great way for businesses to engage with their customers and reach out to celebrities. This platform can be beneficial for your business if you use the following tips in this guide.

Tip 1: Hashtags

For those of you who aren’t familiar with hashtags, they are necessary to use. For example, in my world, I sell dance clothing so I would put #danceclothing or #dance. People search for hashtags, so if someone wants to see something related to dance, they will come across your tweet. Some other suggestions are funny hashtags for effect, and asking your customers to use a hashtag. I don’t recommended using your own brand as a hashtag if you are still new but a great idea is asking your customers to use it for example, #bdancewear. Over time, more and more people will use it and then you have your own hashtag.

Tip 2: Influencers

Connecting with influencers is the number 1 reason I use Twitter. You can connect with high level people. Particularly in my case, dance blogs and famous dancers that normally wouldn’t respond to an email are more likely to respond through twitter.

Tip 3: Promoting Content

Every time we have a new blog post, we post about it on Twitter and Facebook announcing the article. This could all be automated as well making it easier for yourself. You can also get backlinks. If you post about your new article on twitter, google will see that a twitter account posted about the article. If you can get 100 backlinks to your article, it is going to be valuable. You can also ask your followers to share this article with people who might be interested.

Tip 4: Follow for Follow

Another tip to get followers on Twitter is to (more…)

This episode of Ecommerce News I’ll talk about some few new marketing strategies. Instagram Stories, Snapchat Takeover and some personal news that I think will benefit you.

Instagram just released the “Stories” aspect to the their feed . This is very similar to Snapchat’s My Story Feature, with the Stories being only temporary videos and photos that are strung together to form a gallery that tells a story. With this new feature you don’t to fear the sense of “oversharing” and you can get as creative as you want. These photos and videos will be gone from your profile and feed within 24. So those not so professional stories will be gone and have no effect on your profile. The benefit to yours business is these stories go to the top of the news feed. The story has a bigger impact and
As you may know the Snapchat takeover has become very popular with companies who let celebrities or artist take over their Snapchat for the day. This can also be of benefit to you, by letting your customers share their stories on your profile. Giving them exposure and increasing your Snapchat followers. At Bdancewear we let some of the Dance Studios take over for the day, showing either competitions or their every day at the studio. This increased not only brand loyalty but also makes our snapchat a little more interesting for others to follow.
On a personal note, I have finally moved to Santa Monica, so if you are in the LA area I would love to meet up and network. Feel free to send me an email. We have also hired a Marketing Assistant at Bdancewear and a Personal Assistant at Ecommerce. If you can afford to hire someone, do it! This could potentially double your output. Also having a managerial (more…)

Do you want find a way to build trust with your existing customers while at the same time showcasing your business to a broader network? Youtube is the platform that allows you to do that! If you can find a way to incorporate your products or relate them in videos, you will advance your business. Videos are valuable because they produce visual engagement between your business and customers. In this video, I will share 7 tips that will help you build your Youtube network and in return, traffic to your website.

Tip 1: Thumbnails

Thumbnails are one of the most important things you can do because people are looking at a series of thumbnails trying to choose what to watch so yours needs to stand out. Some ways you can accomplish that are including faces/eyes, good colors, and good contrast to name a few. These simple techniques alone can make your thumbnail pop out someone will be more likely to click on your video.

Tip 2: Not too Long

Videos shouldn’t be too long because it makes the viewer less likely to want to watch it. I personally would recommend 5 minutes or under realistically but the general principle is no longer than 10 minutes.

Tip 3: DIY

DIY’s have a lot of search engine power. Majority of people are visual learners so it is best to show them how to do something in a video. If you can think of a way to do a DIY with your product or relating to it, it will be a great move for your business. By doing this, you are also building authority and trust with viewers who are also potential customers.

Tip 4: Collaborate

With collaborating, you get to leverage the power of others. There are other people with big youtube networks and by collaborating with them you are able (more…)

Does you use Pinterest for your business? If you are reading this, chances are you are either thinking about how to implement it, or have used it but aren’t seeing results. If used correctly it can be a great tool for Ecommerce stores or any type of business. Many of the people who use Pinterest are pinning what they are interested in buying. That means they are potential customers that can boost your business. Through this guide, you will learn how to optimize your online Pinterest marketing strategy for creating sales.

 

Tip 1: Good Pin Practices

Good images are very important when pinning. Don’t just show a product in a Pinterest pin. A better way is to hook the viewers in by showing them something that they want to pin and share. For example if there is a protein company, instead of just using a picture of the product it would be more interesting to show how you can use it in a recipe. A protein shake with pictures of the different steps will attract any viewer by far over a simple picture.

Tip 2: Long Pins Do Well

 The reason for their proven success is because long pins take up more space and tell a story. At BDancewear we do how to DIY (Do it Yourself) costume pins and show step by step of the process. It tells the story sequentially and is visually appealing which attracts the viewer causing them to look at your more into your pin.

 Tip 3: Make Sure and “SEO” Pin Description

 Pinterest is actually a search engine; a lot of people go on Pinterest and search for many things like DIY ideas, how to bake a cake…etc. One of the things you can do is research. Find the keywords that your customers are searching for and using, then include those (more…)

In this day and age everyone is familiar with the platform Facebook. Chances are your family members, friends, and colleagues are signed up to the popular website. It’s a great for sharing personal stories, watching funny videos, and connecting with family members that live across the country. Well not only is it useful for those purposes but you can learn to implement the website to serve as a tool for the benefit of your business.

In this video, I’m going to show you 7 Facebook Marketing Secrets for your business. These are tips and tricks that you can use on Facebook to direct more traffic to your website and ultimately more sales.

 

Tip 1: Post Native Content

When posting, it shouldn’t come across as an ad. As someone is scrolling through their feed, the content should resemble what a friend might post. People will get “ad blindness” if it comes off as a business post which in return causes the post to be ignored. So aim to make the post look like it belongs on the potential customers feed.

Tip 2: Use Pictures

Images take up real estate and on top of that are more eye catching so make sure to with all your posts to incorporate pictures. If you compare a post with just text and another one that includes an image, you will clearly notice which one sticks out more on the feed.

Tip: Ask for Comments/Tags

There are many different ways to create engagement with potential customers. The first one is to ask for comments. You can do this by asking questions for example who is your favorite superhero or what do you think about this product? The next thing is to ask for tags. I sell dance clothing at my store so something I would say is to tag your favorite dancer, or tag (more…)