How can I attract more customers to my online art store?

[Lunaenelsol11]

I'm just wondering about all the ways everyone has gotten eyes and buyers to their website. I sell affordable, unique prints of my artwork and am struggling to figure out how to make any new sales. I've sold a few things but I'd like to have continuous sales! What has been the most effective way to get buyers?

[Marty]

Hi, @Lunaenelsol11.

Thanks for your message, I would be happy to provide you with some insight into this. Getting lots of traffic and in turn, sales on your online shop is a tough thing to do, but very possible. There are certain things you can look into to ensure you start getting the traffic you want that then converts into sales. The first and most important aspect is having a great online shop, are you able to share your store URL so I can take a look? 

Another important factor is marketing and promotion, are you currently running any ads for your shop or doing any sort of promotion? if so, what sort of marketing have you been doing? We have a great guide that talks more about Marketing and Promotions here that I recommend checking out for more information if you have not yet done so. Something else you will want to ensure you set up is a Facebook and Instagram page and connect them to your Shopify store. These are important social platforms that can not only help build your audience, but you can also sell your products utilizing our Facebook Channel and Instagram Channel. 

I hope some of these ideas help, please feel free to reach back out here with a link to your shop to see if I can provide you any further insight or ideas based on what I see. 

[Lunaenelsol11]

Thank you @Marty…my website is Lunaenelsol.com… I’ll have to take a look at your marketing link there. I do have a Facebook and Instagram that are linked to my Shopify and that people can purchase directly from. I have used paid advertising from Facebook and Instagram a handful of times but I am certain I have not been using it to my advantage or something…I am trying to get real buyers to my website and just wondering what has worked the best for others personally.

[Marty]

Hi, @Lunaenelsol11.

Thank you for getting back to me and sharing your store URL. I really enjoyed checking out your shop, it looks like you have some great art and products available for sale. One quick thing I would suggest is adding an Announcement banner/bar to the header of your page. You could add a banner to highlight the following information:

• any shipping delays or regions not accepting international shipments
• any updated or new policy pages
• any promotions being offered at this time, such as new gift cards

Depending on what theme you are using for your shop, you may have this feature built-in. We have a helpful guide for adding an announcement bar you can check out here if you are curious. If your theme does not have this feature, you could always look into a free app, for example:

- All Announcement Bars and Banners

- Bannerfly

Your shop looks great overall, have you ever considered building a drop-down menu or different menu items to break down your products into collections? For example, you have artwork as well as clothing, you could even create something like this:


Or create a drop-down menu that breaks down all categories under one menu item, like this:


As for web traffic and bringing buyers to your shop, I would recommend going over our great guide here. It walks through important questions you should ask about your shop, such as:

• Is this a good product? A “good product” means that it’s good enough for your audience and passes their implicit cost-benefit analysis.
• Is there a large target market? A market is a group of people already spending money on something. Are people buying the same type of product?
• Is there an addressable target market? An addressable market is a group of people with visible shared qualities, already spending money on something. Is there a market segment you can focus on? 
• Is there a great product story and/or compelling copy? You might have a clear “why” for the product in contrast to competitors, but you need to translate that pitch to compelling web copy. Does your product pitch resonate with them enough to purchase?
• Is there a low-cost way to reach this audience? The goal should be to keep customer acquisition costs low. Are there multiple ways you can reach potential customers?

Then moves on to break down some further ideas for bringing traffic to your online store, it may be worth looking into further. 

I hope some of these further ideas help you out moving forward, please do not hesitate to reach back out here with any questions!