Modalyst’s Guide to Dropshipping: Promoting your Business

This piece is the final part of our four part Guide on Dropshipping. You can check out out parts 1-3 here: Which E-Commerce Platform is Best for you, How to Source Unique Products from Independent Brands and Running the Business.

So you have a platform, you have your suppliers and you have your dropshipping business ready to go. So why aren’t you getting any sales? One of the most important steps of starting an online store is how you promote it! There are several key steps you can take to promote your store website, through Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Optimization, Content Marketing, E-mail Marketing, Paid Advertising and Offline Marketing. In this part of the guide, I’ll walk you through each of these steps and the best practices so you can start dropshipping to your target market right away.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a very important way to make sure your brand is found by the right target customers. Check out this guide here about key SEO terms to help you get started right away.

1. Make sure the content on your landing page is accurate and properly represents your brand and target customers. This means using the right keywords so people within your niche can find your store with ease, while not spamming with irrelevant keywords or repeating your keyword needlessly
2. Try to get more backlinks. Historically, receiving backlinks has been the best and most reliable way to rank high on Search Engine results pages. Some good practices include requesting links from dropshipping brands that sell well on your shop, in exchange for a feature in a newsletter or a free premium feature. You could also build relationships with content writers in your industry and have them link to you in their writing
3. Make sure your onsite code is optimized as well. This includes:
   • Adding alt tags to your images
   • Include your Keyword or Keyword Phrase in your title and body of your landing page
   • Validate your HTML and CSS
   • Make sure you have no duplicate title pages or duplicate content
   • Make sure you have no broken links or images on your website
4. You should also encourage your users to write reviews about your products. This sends strong signals to Search Engines since your site is trustable and gets high levels of user engagement
5. Include a blog with useful content, so people shopping in your store within your niche find it easier to look for your website as well as get great content.

Social Media Optimization

Social Media is a great way to engage with your customers and dropshipping suppliers on a personal level. Its also a great way to promote your brand for free!

1. Create Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts you believe will be important for your website
2. Post content regularly, whether it is informative content, featuring dropshipping brands or reaching out to influencers in your market. Consistency is key.
3. Post creative ways to engage with your audience. Run giveaways, have interactive question answer sessions or ask your customers to give you their advice on certain issues relating to dropshipping or e-commerce
4. Create shareable content. This means content that is meaningful to a wide variety of individuals that is highly engaging. Posts are more engaging if they include video content or imagery so keep that in mind when posting
5. Reach out to dropshipping and e-commerce influencers on Social media. Many people are very receptive and it’s a great way to show your seriousness and legitimacy as a store.

Content Marketing

When you run a dropshipping store, it will be filled with content. This is because you would have product description pages as well as potentially a blog which would really take your website to the next level. Therefore, this content should also be optimized

1. If you aren’t comfortable writing your own content, you can hire freelance writers who would fill up your blog/product pages with great content for a small fee.
2. Create an FAQ page. Consider answering the questions on this page creatively, maybe through video tutorials or interactive mapping

Longer content tends to be better content for SEO purposes. Try to create long, valuable content rather than pushing out daily blog posts with little content or purpose

E-mail Marketing and Outreach

E-mail marketing is a great way to find leads and target users that are interacting with your website in very specific ways.

1. You can target shoppers on your website with E-mail campaigns. You can send weekly newsletters, targeted newsletters to members who signed up but haven’t made a purchase, members that have made a purchase before but haven’t signed up since or specific messages to your high spenders. You should be creative with this, and find targeting strategies that work for you
2. Create a newsletter promoting the latest brands you’ve started dropshipping and content you post on your website or blog. This will encourage brands to create links to you as well as increase the number of people that view your content.
3. You can also use e-mails to reach out to influencers in your market. You can offer them advertising on your newsletter in exchange for a link or a social media mention, or simply write to them for advice on ways they optimize their stores best
4. A slight warning to not send too many e-mails. Like everything else, this is a practice that needs to be optimized. Find the right number for your store and expect to see great results!

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a powerful tool, however a lot of thought and consideration should go into how you go about implementing it, making sure you get a good return on your investment (ROI)

1. Advertising platforms are important. If you are looking to advertise on Google, make sure you target for keywords that would both generate traffic and attract the right type of customer. This would involve using keywords specific to the brand image you are trying to create, as well as keywords that are not too competitive so you don’t have to overspend to get reachable.
2. Facebook ads are great for specific demographic targeting. If your target market is men in the U.S. within the age group of 21-40 that are interested in sports Facebook would be a great choice for advertising
3. Other platforms also offer great marketing opportunities. Twitter and Instagram each have their own advantages, and it is worth researching which platform would be the most valuable for you to market on

Offline Marketing

Not all marketing has to be online, check out this great article by Braveen Kumar about marketing your store offline through guerilla marketing

We hope you enjoyed reading this post. This marks the conclusion of our four part dropshipping guide.

Good luck, and remember, the biggest investment when running a dropshipping business is time and testing. Be patient and keep trying new things until you find what works for you, and we wish you the very best! We hope Modalyst can be a great tool for you in your journey.