Increase Traffic in OpenCart with These 5 Proven Ideas

You have just opened the virtual doors to your brand new OpenCart online store. You are feeling proud and excited to start doing business with customers.

The website is all set up, the design is ready, but it feels like something is missing. Something important…

“Where’s the traffic?”

“Where are the customers?”

“Why aren’t the metrics growing?”
 

Don’t panic, you’re not alone. This is perfectly normal for a new store. However, just waiting around for new visitors to start coming to your OpenCart website won’t do either.

With this blog post, we will show you what are the 5 main ways to start building a following and getting your site in places where people will see it.

We will talk about creating content that is relevant to your niche, product and industry, basic SEO practices for getting your website up in the search rankings, and advice for building your social media presence.

Let’s start.

#1 Start a Blog

Start a Blog

People love blogs. In the US alone, 81% of consumers trust information that is shared via blogs.

And why wouldn’t they?

Blogging is a form of content sharing that is supposed to deliver some kind of value, whether it is useful information, a tip, a trick, a how-to, or something else that will benefit the reader.

A blog is something unique that will set your brand apart from competitors. And don’t feel limited, a blog is just one of the methods.

You can also create video blogs, or vlogs that can reach a larger crowd faster when shared on YouTube or Vimeo. Slideshare presentations are also a form of content that is easily comprehensible for users. Video and presentations rely on visuals instead of written content, which takes more time to read and understand.

Other content forms include infographics, eBooks, guides, tutorials, podcasts, etc.

Since the default OpenCart installation doesn’t feature a blog, you can use the extension called iBlog and start posting SEO-friendly articles right away.

Useful Resources:

#2 Look for Long-Tail Keywords

Long-Tail Keywords

In SEO, a long-tail keyword means a more specific and targeted phrase or keyword that is longer than a standard keyword. For example, a word like “t-shirt” is a very broad term for search engines. The results will not be narrowed down and the search can show anything.

However, a long-tail alternative like “red long sleeve t-shirt men” will lead to more specific results. This makes it much easier for search users to find exactly what they need faster. If you’re part of those results, then it’s happy days for your OpenCart website.

Shorter keywords struggle with much bigger competition. Because of that, ranking high for a short keyword is nearly impossible. To find words and phrases that can be used as long-tail alternatives to the one you are targeting, you can use free tools like Google Trends and Adwords Keyword Planner.

If you like the previous idea about starting a blog, you might want to seriously consider adding long-tail keywords to it. This article from blogging mentor Neil Patel will definitely prove useful.

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#3 Repurpose Content

Repurpose Content

Once you start creating content (blogs, videos, presentations, eBooks, guides, infographics, etc), you don’t need to publish and share once, then forget about it. One thing can be said in many different ways and forms.

For instance, a blog post explaining how a product is used can easily turn into a video. Just like a video explaining the benefits of an item can be turned into a SlideShare presentation.

One of the examples that Content Marketing Institute give in their Content Recycling A-Z is to take the heart of a blog post and turn it into something else. For instance, podcasts or shorter articles are bound to get your viewer’s attention because they are not so time-demanding.

HubSpot also share some ideas, one of which is to turn a blog post into an email newsletter with a snippet of the information in the article. Not everyone will always have the time to visit your blog and read the post, which is why such an email newsletter can give your subscribers the most valuable parts of the article in a shorter and more convenient form.

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#4 Email Marketing and Online Promotions

Email Marketing

While we are on the topic of increasing traffic, it will be a shame not to include email marketing. Imagine that your message, newsletter or marketing campaign can be in a place where billions of people spend a big chunk of their time each day.

In their inbox.

Predictions say that 4.6 billion email accounts will exist by the end of 2016. This means a huge potential audience.

But to send out your campaigns, you will need email addresses.

One way to obtain them is running an online promotion and offer discounts or free stuff in exchange for email addresses.

Another way is to create a sign-up form in your website (the blog section is a good place) and experiment with different designs and CTA to invite people to subscribe. You can also try with exit popups that give users who are attempting to exit a reason to leave their email addresses.

However, remember that there is a lot of competition in the email marketing game, so you will need to buckle down and do some deep work:

  • Subject Lines - this is the title of your email and its quality determines the open-rate. A killer subject line is hard to craft and you probably won’t get it right from the first try. But don’t give up because fortune doesn’t come to those who quit trying.
  • Email Content Design - lucky for you, there’s no need to discover the wheel here. There are numerous examples of really good emails that you can use for inspiration and ideas when sending out your campaigns.
  • Call-to-Action - the CTA is the moment of truth that decides whether your email will convert or end up in the trash. There are practices that enhance your chances of success, such as adding a sense of urgency (limited time promotion) or an irresistible offer (a big discount or free shipping).

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#5 Social Media is For Everyone

Social Media

Creating your business profiles on as many social networks as you can should be among the firsts thing to do after you start your OpenCart website. Marketers worldwide do that to reach a larger crowd.

Once you create your social profiles, it’s time to optimize them to look good in front of users and potential customers. This includes branded images for your profile pictures and cover photos. Remember that all social platforms have different requirements for image dimensions. Also, crafting a good company description and linking back to your store is something your profile cannot do without.

When you’re done setting up your profiles, you need to add them to your OpenCart store. This can be done with a simple and free integration called AddThis. It will let you add your new profiles in your website using social icons. They will allow your site visitors to follow you on social media.

Think you’re done? That’s just the start.

To build a solid following in social media, doing steps #1 and #3 will be a strong advantage. Followers are only gained when they see some value in you. And that value is usually delivered through content. Whether you will constantly publish and share new content or refurbish older posts in a new way, it’s your choice.

The main point is that content can have many forms, but if it lacks value, its impact will not be significant. When you have something valuable to share, people will notice it.

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The challenge here is how to get your content on people’s news feed. Let’s continue with examples of how to do that.

Reach out to influencers

Influencer Marketing

Influencers are people on social media who have a large following and fans that find their updates funny, exciting, new, fascinating, interesting, curious, outrageous, etc.

The reason why such people are so important for your social media marketing is in the term - “influencer.” Because influence drives action.

The most popular platforms for finding influencers are Instagram and Pinterest. Since content there is based on visuals, their effect on your marketing campaign will be better. All three platforms have high engagement rates due to their massive reach. Instagram has more than 400 million users, while Pinterest has about 100 million.

Let’s put social media influencers into perspective with an example. For instance, fashion influencers are quite popular and effective for clothing merchants. If you are running a clothing store, you might find these two sources quite interesting:

Top Fashion Influencers

The 20 Most Influential Personal Style Bloggers

Finding the influencers in your niche is relatively simple. Do a Google search, or like KissMetrics suggest, research the hashtags in the social platforms.

Let’s say you have found a couple of people on social media you think can be right for your niche. If you are not sure how to open a conversation, here is an example template you can use and modify:

Hello [Influencer name],

My name is [Your name] and I am the founder of [Your store]. We have been recently featured on ... and I’ve been following your posts for quite a while.

I love your posts and wanted to know if you would be interested in receiving a few free samples of the goods that we are selling and telling us what you think of them.

[Your name]

[yourwebsite.com]

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Use information sharing platforms

Information Platforms

There are many places where you can share your message and content relevant to your industry. If you have followed our advice for idea #1, then you are on the right track and will have some content to share in the form of blog posts, videos, etc.

Reddit

The Reddit community is ridiculously huge and there is a subreddit for every kind of niche. However, don’t start posting ad-sounding, sales messages because they are not tolerated there. Instead, share something that is more conversational, personal, or educational. Remember to always check the rules of each subreddit before posting.

Medium

Medium.com is an online blog publishing platform where you can share your story as well as any other posts you think readers might find interesting. Medium is a perfect place for social journalism, professional and non-professional contributions. To make your article findable, you simply use the tags.

LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+ Communities

The groups in Facebook, G+ and LinkedIn are where people with shared interests, goals and passion gather in one place to discuss ideas, share knowledge, updates and experience. Finding relevant groups to your niche takes a simple search. Look for the groups with the most members and recent activity. Don’t forget to check with their posting rules as well.

Conclusion

Generating traffic is definitely a long process that never actually ends. You have to always be there, give people a good reason to visit you, and interact with them to keep them around. In the near future, we will do a blog post about what to do when you start generating traffic and how to retain it. Stay tuned!

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