13 Ways to Sell Products Online

Selling online can be tougher than it seems. For many store owners and service professionals, this can be daunting. Many solutions found online can be difficult or expensive.

Every day that your product isn’t selling is a loss in revenue. This is especially true for physical products! The frustration builds when you spend a lot of time trying to sell your product without results.

We understand what you’re going through, so we’ve put together a list of effective ways to sell products online. Read on and let us know how you’re selling products online!

1. Email Marketing

Email is definitely one of the easiest ways to sell products online. The catch is that it requires you have an email list already. This is not a problem for existing stores and websites. But, this is a problem for start-ups and small businesses. Once you grow your email list, make your life easy and use automated emails to promote your products.

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing is an important, and effective, marketing strategy. The main goal under this strategy is to share relevant, useful content with customers. Quality content will stir up interest in your products and your brand in a positive way. This improves trust in your business and increases conversion rates. See our dedicated article on the subject of content marketing.

3. Blog Posts

Blog posts are a type of content marketing. They are useful and flexible to your needs. Your blog post could be a simple sales pitch outlining the product and problems it solves. It’s also a great way to boost your Search Engine Optimization. You’ll get more eyes onto your products by writing articles that are useful to customers.

I’m sure you have friends and colleagues who could make use of your product! If not, they likely know someone who could. Get involved with groups related to your business and start sharing what you do.

5. Employ Brand Ambassadors

Social media sharing is great and all, but what if you don’t have a large audience? We recommend looking into Brand Ambassadors. A brand ambassador is someone who absolutely loves your product and is willing to rant and rave about it to their network. These don’t have to be social media stars, but they should have a large enough audience to be worth it. You may need to offer incentive for them in the form of discounts or free products to get started.

6. Offer Discount for Email List Signup

This is such a simple, and common, tactic. Customers now expect this offer from most retailers. Set up an automated system that will email clients a coupon code when they sign up with their email. Once they have a coupon, they’re more likely to make a purchase.

If you enjoy social media and want to get creative, run a social media contest for your fans. There’s so many different kinds of contests you could run, here’s the most popular types:

Sweepstakes – Gather emails to build your list and award prizes to a random customer. Win / win.
Comment to Win – Reward a random fan who comments on one of your posts, boosting engagement and interest.
Photo Contest – Allow users to submit photos and create a system to vote on, browse and select a winner. Great for feedback and customer engagement.

8. Create an Affiliate Program

Offer incentive for others to sell your products for you. Set up an affiliate program with your most popular products and look for affiliates to sell them. There are even affiliate networks designed to make it easy for you to get in touch with affiliates. The downside is they often take a cut from the bottom line.

9. Write a Press Release

Another great way to spread the message about your product. This raises awareness of your brand and gives you platform to promote products. You’ll also gain a reputation as an authority in your industry.

10. Promote Product on Facebook Live

Show the product in action, and make sales in real-time. You could also teach or offer tutorials via live stream. It’s a great way to get customers involved and excited about the product.

11. Offer Referral Marketing

Offer incentives to your current customers to become advocates for your business. When they refer your product to friends they can both get a discount. This increases sales, grows your audience and encourages customers to share your story.

12. Build a YouTube Channel

This is tricky because you don’t want to make your YouTube channel all about selling a product. Share your knowledge and expertise on the subject instead. You could also share how-to videos, leverage product reviews and tell your story. If you build your following, you’ll naturally get people interested in your products and ready to buy.

13. Advertising

I saved Advertising for last because it’s the first thing most people think of when it comes to selling online. There’s a good reason for that, it works! Right now, it’s so easy to advertise your product wherever your customers are. In search results, in social media feeds, and in the sidebars of websites around the world, your ad will be there. Take advantage and get your product in front of the people most in need of it.

Just Get Started

Selling products online can be hard to get started. Do you have a site set-up for customers to buy from? They’ve got to be directed somewhere right? Make sure your website is set up for sales, attractive and functional. A dedicated web design agency can do this for you. They can also help you plan out marketing strategies like the techniques I listed above.

Don’t keep spinning your wheels, stop and try some new marketing strategies. Have you used any of these techniques to sell your products? Do you have an online store that needs to gather more sales? We want to hear from you! To learn more, sign up for our mailing list. You’ll get weekly marketing strategies, tips and guides direct to your mailbox!