Making Your First Online Sale

Congratulations on launching your e-commerce website! The next big step will be making a sale. Whether you have just started out as a new business or you have an existing brand and have decided to dabble in the e-commerce world, figuring out how to get your first online sale can be intimidating.

Making your first sale is not as simple as creating a product and waiting for the customers to come pouring in. However, through hard work, research, and trial and error, it is possible to become a major success in the e-commerce community. In this article, we will be going over some suggestions to help you successfully make that first sale.

Blogging

It's 2023, and at this point, all companies should have a blog, as it serves to benefit them in a variety of ways. Blogs boost traffic to your website, educate the audience on what you're all about, raise awareness of your brand, and build trusting relationships between your company and your audience. During the early days of your website launch, you may have noticed that you've gotten some traffic, but no one is buying your products. That's okay - no site has a 100% conversion rate! However, the more traffic you can drive to your website, the better your chances will be for getting sales. Blogging is necessary for all e-commerce sites because it generates more traffic. Blogs give people a reason to return to your website on a regular basis, even if they don't plan on buying anything at the time.

Blogging can also help improve your search ranking because when customers look for products through a search engine, your site will have a better chance of being a hit. Blogging can be used in multiple ways. One way you can use your blog is to educate your audience. Teach your audience about things that are related to your niche and offer them tips and resources that are related to your products. The more people know about you and your products, the more they'll trust you and ultimately - the more they're likely to buy from you. You can also use your blog for product promotion by mentioning whatever it is that you're selling within the content of your article and adding hyperlinks to the pages where the products can be purchased.

Utilize Social Influencers

Influencer marketing has become a very prominent trend because it is so beneficial. If you're able to get the attention of an influencer in your niche, then it will be a massive help in getting you that first online sale. When an influencer cares about your product and introduces it to their audience who trusts them, your own credibility will grow by default.

A great way to get started with this is by finding an influencer in your niche who has the audience you want to reach and send them a free sample of your product. They'll likely test it out and share it on social media.

Build an Email List

Email marketing is essential for success. Having an email list of both previous and potential customers means that you can get your products and information into their personal mailboxes. While marketing updates on social media are great, they will almost never be able to reach your entire audience because of time zone differences, among other things.

You can start building your email list by including an email subscription form in a noticeable location on your website. An email list will make it easier for you to generate sales and is one of the top strategies used in customer acquisition and retention. So, not only will an email list help you drive those first sales, but it will also make it more likely that those customers will return to you in the future.

Customers may not visit your website every day, but they will check out your emails. Take this opportunity to inform your customers of new products, discounts, and offers that are tailored specifically for them.

Discounts

If you're a new brand, you don't have a reputation yet; it's something that will build up over time. Why should someone buy something from your website if they can't see any reviews from previous customers? In order to get people familiar with your brand and products, it's a viable strategy to offer discounts early on, this way you can generate some sales and begin building your reputation.

People love getting deals and merchants that use discount codes are 8X more likely to make a sale than those that don't.

Utilize Popups

Website pop-ups are another great way to get information about your customers and keep them sticking around. Make sure your pop-ups are relevant to the page the customer is on. Make the pop-up interesting with power words and a compelling offer, but keep the form fields to a minimum and make sure the pop-up design aligns with your brand.

Don't Forget Social Media

While utilizing influencers is a great way to reach new potential customers since they're likely to post to social media, don't forget that you can also take to social media yourself! Go visual with platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. Take pictures or short video demonstrations of your products and always aim for beauty - that is what will catch people's attention on these platforms.

Don't forget about Facebook either. Engage with people and get them talking about your products, use creative status updates and interact on public group pages relevant to your niche. Also, consider using Facebook Ads to create targeted campaigns to attract likes and promote your brand.

Conclusion

Grabbing your first sale is a big step and can be a little intimidating, but by following some of these tips, you'll be on your way to success in no time. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and make your first online sale!