Ecommerce Blog

Free Guide: 20 Proven Ways to Jump Start Your Online Sales

Published on February 7th, 2011 by Mitchell Harper

eBook: 20 Proven Ways to Jump Start Your Online Sales

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If you’re just getting started with e-commerce then it can be a bit daunting to know what to do once you’ve added products to your BigCommerce store. Do you run Google AdWords? Should you hire an SEO consultant? This is a question we hear a lot, so Luke (our ninja technical writer) and I decided to team up and write a guide for you.

In 20 Proven Ways to Jump Start Your Online Sales we share 20 simple, fast and (mostly) free strategies you can implement right now to boost traffic to your BigCommerce store. The goal here is to get your first order in the next few days and then build up from there.

Like anything worth doing, it can take time to receive your first order. But hang in there – it will happen. After receiving your first order, you’ll soon get your second, third, fourth and before you know it you’ll be receiving multiple orders a day.

These strategies are simple but extremely effective. Here’s a list of the strategies in the free guide – each is broken down into actionable steps complete with videos and/or step-by-step tutorials to guide you through the specific action items:

  1. Integrate Google Analytics with your online store
  2. Submit your products to Google Merchant Center
  3. Setup your shipping FAQ & returns policy page
  4. Submit your online store to all free directories
  5. Create a fan page on Facebook and setup SocialShop
  6. Link to your Facebook page from your online store
  7. Share your Facebook page with friends
  8. Setup integrations with Shopzilla, PriceGrabber, etc
  9. Setup your home page title, META keywords and description
  10. Add your page title, META keywords and description for products
  11. Add keyword rich descriptions to all product photos
  12. Make sure your product pages are filled out completely
  13. Create an “About Us” page with your store and photos
  14. Announce the launch of your store in related forums
  15. Get a 1800 phone number and add it to your website
  16. Setup and use free live chat software
  17. Setup your “Contact Us” page
  18. Create targeted link exchanges
  19. Setup email marketing with Mailchimp
  20. Run mutli-variate tests Google Website Optimizer

Click here to download our free guide: 20 Proven Ways to Jump Start Your Online Sales

Free Guide: Guerilla Marketing With Social Media

Published on November 28th, 2010 by Mitchell Harper

eBook: Guerilla Marketing With Social Media

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Well, the holiday season is almost upon us. As a way to say “thank you” for reading our blog (which now has over 50,000 readers a month – woohoo!) I wanted to give you a 27 page ebook that’s been 6 months in the making.

In Guerilla Marketing With Social Media I share the 7 social media strategies we’ve used to grow our business by 480% in the last 3 years (proof). And because these are all guerilla marketing strategies, you’ll learn how to reach a huge number of people for a very, very low cost.

This has been one of the most successful guides we’ve ever produced – it’s already been downloaded well over 5,000 times by people on our email list (sorry, they got it first!) so I’m confident you’ll love it.

Whether you want to increase sales, attract thousands of Facebook followers, launch a contest, partner with the big wigs in your industry or turn one-time customers into raving fans, it’s all here in this 27 page ebook.

Click here to download our free guide: Guerilla Marketing With Social Media

Free Guide: How to Choose the Right Shopping Cart Software for Your Business

Published on October 24th, 2010 by Mitchell Harper

The process of setting up an online store can be quite daunting if you’re just getting started. There are so many different shopping cart providers today, but how do you know what to look for? And most importantly, how do you know which software will grow your business and help you achieve your goals?

This short (14 pages) but useful guide will help you choose the right shopping cart software for your business. We’ll show you the six absolutely critical things you must consider when setting up your online store if you want to stack the odds of success in your favor. They are:

  1. Technical Ability
  2. Hosted or Installed?
  3. Ease of Use
  4. Search Engine Optimization
  5. Marketing Tools
  6. Regular Updates

Selling online is more than just choosing the right shopping cart software, hover. You need to think about where you business is now and where you’d like it to be in 12 months or two years from now. Do you want to be the next Amazon.com? Or do you simply want to make enough money from your online store to quit your job?

Whatever your needs are, they factor into your decision. The shopping cart software you choose forms the foundation for your success, so making the right choice is really important.

Download the free guide now »