An online store has a specific and cruel problem: it can be perfect — good products, good photographs, good prices — and receive nobody. Unlike a shop on a street, there is no passing trade. Every visit has to be brought in.
Search is where the buyers are
Somebody typing “men’s running shoes size 9” is far closer to buying than somebody who saw an ad in a feed. That person went looking. It is the most valuable visit there is, and it is free.
To receive it, the product page has to be named the way people search. A store that names its pages “Product 1”, “Ref. 3345” or just the supplier code is invisible to that search.
1. Page names that match the search
Every product under the name people use, not the internal name. Free, and the one with the biggest effect.
2. Being discovered
Register the store in Google Search Console and make sure some sites point at it. A new store with no links at all takes a long time to be found — sometimes it is not found at all.
3. Directories and search sites
Being in the places where your kind of product is looked for brings visits and, along with them, the links that help the store climb. It is the slowest step by hand and the one that keeps working afterwards.
4. Social networks
Excellent for showing products and closing a sale with people who already follow you. Poor as the only source, because the reach is decided by the platform.
Paid advertising: mind the arithmetic
It works and it is fast. It just demands discipline: with a tight margin, the cost per click eats the profit without announcing itself. Work out beforehand how much you can pay per sale.
