Maximizing Your Online Marketplace

Image via Pixabay

It's never been easier to start a business, and Squarespace has become one of the easiest and most convenient ways for entrepreneurs and freelancers to reach out to their customers. Squarespace offers convenient, customizable templates for users who want to create an online store. It's easy, streamlined, and secure, and can go a long way in boosting a fledgling company's sales. In a previous post on the blog, we've discussed how to add an 'Add to Cart' button on your Squarespace page in order to make the shopping experience more streamlined. Today, we'll talk about how to make your newly launched site even more successful, and pull in those hard-earned sales.

Streamline

The first thing you'll need to do is to make sure that your website offers the fastest, most streamlined shopping experience possible. Forbes reports that almost 70% of consumers say that page load times affect the likelihood of them making a purchase. Customers don't like clunky sites, and in an age where people are using smartphones to spend more of their time online, a clean and uncluttered site might be the difference between making a sale and not. Luckily, Squarespace offers a variety of commerce templates that can help you categorize products and keep things simple, but a test run of your website's accessibility and purchasing options wouldn't hurt.

Maximize Social Media

You can put together the most beautiful and convenient website possible, and it still won't do much unless you put in the same amount of effort to promote it. This is where a strong social media presence comes in. Social media is going to be your way of connecting to your customers — establishing relationships, building rapport, and finding creative and innovative ways to promote products.

According to Small Business Trends, over 50% of marketers who have been making use of social media marketing over the past two years reported improved sales. A successful business requires investing in building a genuine relationship with your customers, and there's nowhere better to do that than on your social media pages. It's one of the best tools available to get your business and website off the ground, so make sure you make the most of it.

Selling on Amazon

Amazon has one of the most advanced fulfillment networks in the world and Squarespace provides an easy way to display and link to an item on Amazon from your website. It is highly recommended to look into an Amazon Selling Course that gives you everything you need to possibly boost your online marketplace.

Connect Offline

Finally, one of the best ways to increase engagement with your Squarespace online store and boost sales might not even be online. While building up a solid digital marketing strategy is important, you're going to want to make use of all the tools available to you — and that includes traditional marketing. While offline marketing and advertising may seem like unnecessary additions, especially when compared to cheaper digital alternatives, discounting their usefulness may put you at a disadvantage.

For example, Triadex Services found that offline techniques like direct mail actually have up to 20% redemption rates, which is nothing to sneeze at. Direct mail in particular has one of the highest ROIs around, but there are also tonnes of different, affordable strategies like flyers and taking out an ad in the local paper that can help you increase traffic, engagement, and sales among your local community.