10 Tips To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store – For Free

As a business, it can be costly over time to constantly invest money to drive traffic to your online store. Running a successful e-commerce business isn’t easy. However, thankfully, there are actually free ways to drive traffic to your website without needing to spend a hefty amount. If you’re wondering how to drive traffic to your online store for free, this guide explains everything you need to know. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free

There are various ways how to drive traffic to your online store for free. Here are some of the best ways to boost your traffic without making an investment: 

1. Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher on search engines and gain organic traffic. The strategies involved are carried out with the goal of ensuring the website appears for related search queries made by customers who are looking for a specific product or service on search engines. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With SEO: 

• Choose the relevant keywords to rank for using tools such as KWFinder or Google Keyword Planner
• Include the chosen keywords within the website pages including the meta descriptions, headings, and URL
• Insert 1 to 3 internal links within a page to other website pages
• Use headings throughout the website accordingly
• Optimize images on the website

2. Email Marketing

Email marketing is another method on how to drive traffic to your online store for free. What better way than to leverage your existing customers to visit your website? These days, people still read their emails and look out for exciting promotions or offers. Not only does email marketing help to maintain your existing customers, but it can also get potential customers on board and build a relationship with them.

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Email Marketing: 

• Build an email list to keep customers updated with the latest promotions or new products
• Offer discounts to get customers to sign up for your newsletters
• Include your website links within the email to drive customers to visit the website

3. Content Marketing

Everyone loves great content, especially if the content is valuable and helps to solve their problems. Content marketing is an effective way how to drive traffic to your online store for free as it keeps customers engaged and builds trust as an authoritative key leader within the industry. Through effective content marketing, you can also potentially turn visitors into actual paying customers. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Content Marketing: 

• Create a blog section and write informative, helpful articles that solves customer’s pain points 
• Share tips and tricks that add value to customers and make their lives easier 
• Use Pinterest and create engaging images to link back to your website
• Promote your blog articles through social media and include links back to your website

4. Online Community Engagement

Online communities are a great way to engage with customers with similar interests and build relationships based on your niche. There are various online communities such as Reddit, Discord, Facebook Groups and Telegram. You can also join specific communities relevant to your industry or niche. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Online Communities: 

• Answer people’s questions by providing valuable advice or insights 
• Start new topic discussions related to your service or product
• Recommend your service or product within your replies and provide links back to your website
• Seek advice and opinions from others 

5. Integrate with Merchant Center 

One of the best tips on how to drive traffic to your online store for free is to integrate with Merchant Center. It’s a tool by Google that allows you to connect your online store with Google Shopping. Thus, users can display their products through Google Shopping, Google Search, Google Images, and so on. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Merchant Center:

• Optimize your product feed and include high-quality images, descriptions and other relevant product information
• Add schema markup to boost your visibility on Google 
• Include various promotions and discounts on your product listings 

6. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a great way to gain more traffic to your online store while building a closer relationship with your customers. However, instead of spending money on social media ads, social media marketing also involves gaining your target audience’s attention organically. An effective strategy is important to draw the attention of your customers and direct them to your website. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Social Media Marketing: 

• Come up with creative content that can go viral 
• Create valuable content to help customers solve their problems 
• Maintain a consistent schedule and post content regularly

7. Rewards Program

A Rewards Program should also be part of your marketing strategy as it’s a good way to encourage customers to return to your online store and make another purchase. Existing customers also get to save more as they leverage the discounts or promotions offered through the Rewards Program. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Rewards Program: 

• Create a method for customers to redeem points and collect them to receive free items or discounts
• Provide incentives for customers if they make referrals, give reviews or make frequent purchases
• Share the details of the program on social media to drive them to your website

8. Pinterest Marketing 

It doesn’t cost anything to create a Pinterest account and start posting pins! It’s similar to a search engine where users will search for particular pins to gain inspiration or ideas. It can be any topic such as tattoos, outfits or workout routines. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Pinterest:

• Create attractive and engaging pins by using high-quality, clear images 
• Include links back to your website within all of your pins 
• Provide valuable information for users such as tutorials, guides and how-tos

9. Youtube Marketing

YouTube is one of the largest search engines and sources of entertainment for users. Hence, it’s an effective way to drive traffic to your online stores. YouTube videos tend to go viral if it’s valuable content, so you can get free traffic from making viral content.

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With YouTube: 

• Create useful content such as tutorials, products or customer testimonials
• Include relevant keywords within the video titles, descriptions and tags 
• Add links to your website such as products mentioned in the videos 

10. Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is also another way to promote your online store and drive traffic. It involves collaborating with other bloggers or website owners by providing valuable content within the respective niche. 

How To Drive Traffic To Your Online Store Free With Guest Blogging: 

• Create informative and valuable content to engage readers 
• Include links to your online store within the content
• Share the guest posts on social media and other channels to drive more traffic to your online store

Which is the best way to drive traffic to your online store for free? 

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to driving traffic to your online store. It’s best to go through trial and error so that you can know which method works best for your business. Do bear in mind it takes time 

Conclusion

To conclude, you don’t have to invest and have a big budget to drive traffic to your online store. Once you know how to drive traffic to your online store for free, you can leverage gaining more traffic without breaking the bank. Explore other free and paid methods to boost traffic to your website with our guide.