How much time should it take to get my first order from my online store?
I launched my online store on 9/16/2017, approx 2 months ago.
So far, I've only had one order. Is this considered normal or is there a problem?
I launched a Facebook page + an Instagram page and I am constantly boosting posts to advertise my products and current promotions.
Can you please help me with this matter?
This is my website: www.otloubnow.com
Thank you in advance.
Expert Answers
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Oct 11, 2019
You are dealing with a geographical location where online shopping is not as big as the west. Keep that in mind.
You are reaching people for the first time. Keep that in mind.
I would recommend the following tweaks:
1) Add shop by WhatsApp button with each product (When you are marketing for reach, make it more convenient for them to buy).
2) Use affiliate marketing instead of facebook boosting. By affiliate, you pay a percentage once someone has ordered.
3) Referral discounts and first-time order discounts are a must.
Cheers.
Oct 10, 2019
It depends on the condition of your seller, some are fast and slow. | Columbus SEO
Oct 5, 2019
As my previous experience this completely depends on your product type, geo-targeting and promotion method.
If your store is brand new, then definitely you can't drive organic traffic instantly. You have to wait for few months to get organic traffic. If you are promoting your products using PPC, FB ad or any paid method then it will totally depend on your targeting and ad setup.
You may get your first sale within a hour also or it may take long.
Focus on SEO, start promoting your brand in the right way. It will give you the best results. All the best!!
Oct 4, 2019
I think it's definitely normal while you get your site SEO'd. I would try running actual Facebook Ads instead of boosting the posts - works much better in my experience.
Hope that helps you!
Katie
SEO & Web Design at http://www.sharpmarketingservices.com
Aug 11, 2019
Boosting sometimes only shows your ads to your FB sphere. For a greater reach, you may want to create ads so that they get a broader range!
Best of luck!
Jul 10, 2019
Hi Serge...
From what I can tell, you need to run more ads!
It doesn't look like you are running anything on Google and there are only 3 ads on FB, 2 of which started 6 days ago.
Boosting posts is the best way to let FB spend your money, grab a course on Udemy on how to run successful campaigns and do it yourself.
Once you start getting the traffic you need, then start on-page optimizations to convert higher.
Keep up the hustle | Financial Advisor Sarasota
Jun 23, 2019
Boosting only shows who you are friends with. If you want to reach more people, you need to run ads through your Facebook Business Manager. That way you can target more people! Hope this helps!
Feb 1, 2019
I think it really depends on how you market your product online and by mouth. I think the most powerful of marketing is by mouth still because it's different if it comes from real people. Like how my friend told me about where to get online computer games and now I am also sharing them and it's just how the world works I guess.
Oct 30, 2018
Facebook and Instagram page actually help. You can also add up Pinterest, Tumbler, and LinkedIn while making sure you are linking your website on this social media profiles. It will boost up your products as well as the business name. I used the same technique now in my company and I'm very glad that it's working. For SEO experts, they call it backlinking. Well, if none of these work, you can ask help from a digital marketing company. They have various options that can help you!
Best of luck,
Towing Wilmington NC Team
Jul 31, 2018
You've gotten some great advice from other experts here on Business.com.
My point is to tell you to hold on and not quit too early if you don't get sales right away. These days Google is taking longer to rank pages so your SEO will probably kick in later rather than sooner. Read this e-commerce guide: https://best4businesses.com/ultimate-guide-ecommerce-marketing-2018/
My newest site took over 6 months to get my first sale and I almost quit a few times! But a smart mentor of mine told me to keep working and waiting, and now it is doing great.
Please keep working and the sales will come. Good luck.
Jul 31, 2018
It depends on your marketing approach. When I was assisting a friend of mine in starting an eCommerce store, we had to wait for approx. 25 days. The problem was we were targeting the customer base but we're not approaching them on the right platform. SEO is definitely an important aspect for the ecomm, but we should have focused on social media platform right from the very beginning.
Hence, I would say there is no right or wrong question to this question. I would ask you to keep some patience and target the right market. Focus on SEO as well as social media marketing. You never know the magic might happen in a day.
Jul 16, 2018
For long-term success and a steady flow of leads, SEO is 100% the best way to proceed with your business!
Jack
Jul 3, 2018
Yes, I would definitely start working on climbing your website up the ranks in Google on search engines.
Adam
Apr 17, 2018
When you boost posts on Facebook/Instagram, you are basically throwing away money. Try setting up an actual ad campaign where you can choose who sees your ads, when they see them, and how they see them. You can also incorporate a pixel onto the site that gives you more insight as to who is visiting your site and what actions they are taking on your site. Then you can retarget the people who viewed the site but didn't make a purchase.
Joe
Landscapers Birmingham AL
Apr 12, 2018
Hey Serge, I checked out your site and it looks very nice. Although I noticed that you haven't done any SEO on it. I would recommend working that into your marketing budget. That'll help you eventually drive traffic but you should get started on it asap.
Brett
Drywall Raleigh
Mar 21, 2018
I have the same concern as Serge regarding my business.
There hasn't been much activity despite that I am constantly boosting my advertisements and regular promotions.
I find your answers very helpful and save me so much time on research.
I will consider all your advises and see how I can further improve my business.
Thanks all!
Jessie
Office Carpet Cleaning
Mar 23, 2018
It all depends on when you started SEO if you did start. Could be an indication of needing to add that part of it to your advertising budget.
Chuck
Plumber Anderson
Mar 17, 2018
Hello Serge! Site has lots of pages and that's good. It is missing SEO or search engine optimized words. I noticed you did not have very many words on your website. A website that has more keywords that are commonly searched increases the chance when someone searches for that word or that item your selling that your website will pop up for them to select. I think this is an area you may want to focus your time in. My company does nothing but marketing, lead generation and responsive website design. If you're interested take a look at our website and feel free to call for a free consultation. Good luck with your online business!
-Curtis
http://www.absolutelyelite.com/
Nov 16, 2017
I have checked your website in few tools and you have zero authority and well nothing have been done in SEO so far. You cant expect sales without investing money in marketing. Either Social media marketing or PPC but I would suggest going slowly with PPC since its a place where you get sales until you have money left in your pocket. SEO is something where you can invest and results will be for a long time or forever.
Nov 16, 2017
With a little luck, it could be in as little as 5 minutes with an Adwords campaign, which is great for driving leads when properly managed.
It's not uncommon for an e-commerce venture to hover around 5 percent conversion, but that's if most of the site aspects are optimized.
I didn't see reviews for products. It often help with conversion.
I had a quick look at your website and my initial thoughts include;
I saw earphones, travel adapters, car organizers, drain baskets, and lots more.
The website lacks a logical navigation and architecture to it.
You'll also benefit if you were to write longer original product descriptions, for every product.
You might have too much of a mish mash, and want to focus on one area.
This would be strongly advised, and also help you to develop a focus, along with a content strategy to support your ecom efforts.
Oct 30, 2018
True enough! Writing original product descriptions is a big help. I read an article about this and it says that Google gives attention to websites and businesses with original content and description - so this is one thing that you should consider to boost your products. You can also look for videos on youtube that will give you ways on how you can apply SEO techniques. I know one company who can help you, you can search it in google: Kinetix Digital Marketing. They really helped me a lot! Hope you can get through these challenges!
Nov 15, 2017
Hi Serge
A basic fundamental point about the Internet that most people do not realise is the age of your domain is critical on appearance on search and SEO.
Anyone that tells you they can get you to page 1 of a Google with a domain that was only registered in Jan 2017 and website that has been live for only a few months either does not really know what they are talking about or are being dishonest. I say that whilst we make our living from SEO, Web Hosting, and Web Design, so most people expect me to be punting my service here, but we will not take on any website which is less than 3 years old.
Google puts a lot of weight on your website's “Trust” or “Authority”. This is a combination of Age, Quality Natural Links, and General House Keeping. Age trumps all, and quality natural links (read unpaid from relevant websites) do not come overnight. General house keeping is about your quality of code, clean server (no questionable sites sharing your server, so choose your hosting company with care), how often your website gets updates, and how long you have paid for your domain (or Commitment as Google refers to).
This does not mean you should just forget SEO as it is still important to ensure you have a logical content structure, relevant content, fully optimise Meta Tags, fast page-load, quality natural links, no pop-ups, etc. but these will not get you to page one unless you are really smart about the keywords you select and how you optimise them.
Your real traffic in the first 3 years will come from Social Media as you are doing now but pay attention to good advice you had from Lucas, articles/blogging, etc.
Also check your “Exit Rates”, “Exit Pages” and “Abandoned Carts” to get a view of where people give up on your site, and hopefully you can determine what the reason is but be warned this is a bit of educated guess work and not as scientific as people like to think! You are dealing with people's psychology and that is beyond SEO and Web Designer's capabilities no matter what they claim!
However, on more practical advice these are the areas to look at:
1.
Meta Tags are non existent or irrelevant. For example your homepage Meta Description says “Enjoy the difference”!! Really? Does anyone search for this? What does this supposed to mean to Google or someone looking at SERP? The same about your Meta Title. Check this article to appreciate the important of this http://www.cognisant-hosting.com/seo-back-basics-1/
2.
Content. I am sorry but this is a bit of “I sell everything so try me” exercise. You have no “Speciality” other than being on the web. You have to decide what is your niche (only way to survive in the early days), which will decide your “Target Audience” which then allows you to target them appropriately in your advertising and promotional efforts. Here is a great article about “Segmentation” and why and how to do it http://www.netmba.com/marketing/market/segmentation/
3.
Why are you using GMAIL as our contact? This is a matter of trust issue. Anyone can open a GMAIL account without any real check. You can be anyone, so why would I trust you with my Credit Card and hope there is someone at the end of the GMAIL account to help me?
Use an email address from your domain. This is about “perception” and many may argue about GMAIL is safe but this is not about safety but about validation of the company that is just taking my credit card details. In the scheme of things, this is minor but in your case where you are trying to build trust with your visitors, it is critical. It is better not to have an email address showing at all than using GMAIL or HOTMAIL or anything other such type of email accounts.
I hope these help.
Jul 10, 2018
The amount is reliant on the product. A product that has more weight and delicate may take more time. On the other hand if it is light, it takes a short amount of time. Most of the delivery sent are done so with others in that they cost nothing to mix them but heavy stuff require proper arrangement. Take for instance Metal Roofing Sheets, they are fairly heavy and it took me over a week to get them.
Serge Dagher: First of all the time to receive your first order from your online store would depend on the extent of an online presence of your store. If you have started off with ADs and promotions, it would take some time 2 to 3 months until it gets noticed by the public. This time depends on how much you have invested in marketing. Getting social media to market your site is faster and easier and will have visits to your site in no time. Wishing you all the very best.