How can I increase traffic to my new store without pricey ads?

[Nick2903]

• We opened a new Store three weeks ago, populated it, addressed all requirements, linked it to my Google Account, Google Analytics and now Google Merchants Centre but have had only one visitor to date? How can we get the Store up and running without expensive advertising? Thanks. Nick

[Mac]

Hi, @Nick2903!

Thanks for reaching out in our Community forums and sharing your concern.

I'm happy to hear that you were able to set up your shop. I definitely understand the importance of getting more eyes on your shop. Firstly, you will also want to review The General Checklist as it's a great tool that will ensure that you have your Shopify store all set up and ready for customers to make purchases on. In other words, having a finished product, that includes having your media, shipping and check out all in working order.

Then, I can always recommend our guide that goes over  17 creative marketing ideas from independent brands that are totally free (or very low cost) to replicate. To further optimize your site and create organic traffic, feel free to check out this resource on how to increase SEO, which will help increase your store’s discoverability by using relevant keywords that your target customers will likely search for on Google.

I’d love to know more about your marketing initiatives and what you are doing to promote your brand. Are you using Facebook, Instagram, or Google to advertise? Are you targeting a specific demographic?

[Nick2903]

Hi Mac
Thanks for your email, I’m new to running a drop shipping shop but I have read a lot of articles, both on Shopify and elsewhere and I am a business person.

None of those articles told me that I would have to spend money to advertise to even get traffic to my Shopify shop. I have linked the shop to my google merchants centre and analytics accounts but haven’t had one visitor apart from myself. My ambition is to only start spending money on limited advertising if necessary after sales start to look encouraging.

I am beginning to wonder if there are literally hundreds of thousands of Shopify shops similar to mine and only a limited number of passing customers. Why aren’t these statistics available before someone commits to a Plan and spends a great deal of time setting a shop and supplies up etc? I am CoolClick-8253, does that mean there are 8252 other CoolClick stores.

I don’t have a large social media following so don’t see that as an opportunity.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Kind regards. Nick2903

[Mac]

Hi again, @Nick2903!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

I can definitely understand how it feels to put a lot of time and effort into something and for it not to turn out the way you expected. I will do my best to provide some key insights.

Generally speaking, in ecommerce, advertising is an essential step to putting your brand out there especially if you are in a highly competitive market. In particular, the dropshipping model has very few barriers to entry so many merchants can essentially sell the same product, but the major factors that set stores apart are their branding and advertising. 

In order to set yourself up for success, It's always a good idea to conduct product testing which is the process of determining how products will perform among a target audience. This will put you in an advantage as you will learn some key aspects of your market even before selling. I also suggest reviewing our guide on finding a winning product to help you on your journey. If you're looking for a more in depth guide, then I also suggest reviewing this awesome video by Paul Lee. 

Once you find a market and product that favours organic traffic, then you can begin creating your store to support this strategy. I also suggest creating a line of closely related products so that you can better target your demographic. 

Feel free to reply back to this thread with any questions or updates and we can continue our conversation further!

[coxy2024]

Why did you link your store to your Google account and Merchant Centre if you don't want to run ads? SEO would be the main way to get organic traffic and a lot of social media posting and blog posting but that will take time and effort.  If your store is good and your products are great then advertise and start making money.