As you probably know, the CollectiveFab Agency has now optimized more Shopify websites in the English-speaking world than any other Shopify website consultancy. So, it is fair to say that the team at CollectiveFab has a few valuable insights on how to run your website. Here are a few nuggets of gold for up-and-coming Shopify websites.
Put The User First Before Promotion and Search Engines
You are going to read a lot of articles and see lots of YouTube videos on the subject of improving your Shopify website, and many of them focus on optimizing for sales conversion, for search engines, for marketing purposes. This is fine, and it works, but it damages your website over the long term. These methods simply exploit whatever gains you have already built. If you want to succeed over the long term, focus on users and nothing else.
Word Of Mouth is Your Best Friend
As a small business, you are not going to appear at the top of the search engine results, your app is not going to be promoted by the stores, your social media posts are not going to beat your competitors, and your affiliate advertising bids will not win out over the bigger companies using the same systems. However, you have word-of-mouth marketing all to yourself.
Referral Prizes Must Be Worth Something
If you run your word-of-mouth marketing with referral prizes/rewards, then make sure you are offering something that is worthwhile. Giving away stuff that is cheap, almost free, or is otherwise junk (key rings, pencils, discounts to shoddy products) is no incentive to help you gain new customers.
You can buy hundreds of pencils with your company name on them, and you can give them away with almost no cost to yourself, but what is the benefit to your user? Do you lust after branded pencils from other Shopify websites?
Define Your Unique Selling Point and Stick to it
Even if you are selling the same stuff that your other 2000 competitors are selling, you can still come out ahead if you have a unique selling point. More importantly, you need to stick to it. For example, if you are selling the same Chinese cheap products from the same online traders that your competitors are buying from, then your unique selling point, your USP, could be that you do same-day delivery. It could be that every purchase from you earns money off the next purchase. You need to pick something about your company that is special, you need to promote it, and you need to stick to it.
Hire a Competent Website Optimization Team
Optimization is something you need to apply at all levels, from your backend technology to how your website looks when people see it for the first time. Everything from analytics to bug reporting should be optimized as much as possible to help gain the best possible results.
You need to hire the CollectiveFab Agency to help improve your website. Get in touch with the team at Collective Fab Agency and discuss your specific needs, be they website branding all the way to security, and find out what genuine professionals can do to improve and optimize your website.
