You have just launched your business or you are going to launch it and your cash flow does not allow you to afford advertising communication. However, you know that the crux of the matter is visibility and notoriety to develop your business. Thanks to the example of Michel and Augustin who started by making their cakes in their kitchen, we can say that this is possible. They showed creativity and imagination to attract consumers and generate traffic to its website without advertising. You certainly have to break away from traditional paths, but an entrepreneur has exponential resources in his DNA.
The best advertising is word of mouth. We tend to forget this and rely on drastic means to survive in this competitive and aggressive world. However, new technologies allow us to do this quite easily. But how can you generate traffic on an e-commerce site without an advertising budget, without Google SEO and without developing a marketing strategy? Several methods exist…
Optimize your pages for Internet user searches.
Each web page, or blog post should focus on 1-2 long-tail keywords. This is a group of keywords that relate to the same idea. The main keyword must be included in the URL, page title, content, image ALT, Meta description, Heading tags. You can also develop internal links and backlinks which allow you to have better SEO. However, your content must be worth other people finding your content interesting and deciding to share it.
Social networks
When it comes to word of mouth, social networks such as Facebook and X have the upper hand. A few “likes” of the page and other shares and suddenly increased visibility. Why not organize a draw among people who liked your page by offering them a discount?
Affiliation
The items are offered on another merchant site. Thus, as soon as an Internet user goes to the site from a hyperlink, there is remuneration. Specialized platforms such as Zanox and Affilinet exist on the web for developing an affiliate program. Finally, offer your banners on other e-commerce sites that are not direct competitors. Indeed, it’s an easy way for them to win and for you to bring in new customers.
Private sales sites
All stock has a cost (storage, handling, etc.), but you still need to be able to sell it. Thus, dedicating part of the stock and selling it at a very low price to a private sales firm makes it possible to make the products known to a list of subscribers. The Vente-privee site is one example among many others.
Auction sites
These are distribution channels that experience intense traffic and which increase the visibility of items. Ebay and Priceminister are the two essential giants in this field.
Price comparison sites
They are a real gold mine for any buyer who has already made a decision and is looking for the best deal. Consequently and to achieve this objective, these comparators are very well referenced. A quick tour of idealo.fr or i-comparateur will be enough to convince you.
The partnership
It’s not just competition; the business partnership also exists, including on the web. The principle is to develop good processes between e-merchants who offer services or products parallel to those we want to promote. More simply, we can offer to insert an advertising banner in return for the publication of an article on your promotion in the partner’s weekly newsletter.
