Ever since you set it up, your e-commerce shop has been doing great. Your business has been registered and is on the up and up, your supplier has been secured and can be relied upon indefinitely, and you’ve generated some initial buzz. On the online side of things, you’ve got an easy-to-use store, a blog that lets you bring out the human aspect of your company, effective e-commerce software, a reliable web host that won’t go down if the site gets hammered, and highly secure, reputable, and verifiable payment processors.

You’ve got the basics down pat. Let’s not break this momentum—instead, let’s look to the future of your company. What comes next?

Intermediate approaches for your e-commerce website

1. Widen your social influence.
Considering that e-commerce is an online store whose proprietors—you— are people that your customers will likely never meet in person, trust plays a huge role in the entire process. In order to engage with your website, they will need to trust you, a seller they can’t see, to provide them with your product or service, which they cannot touch.

Social media will be integral in establishing that trust among your potential customers. Surveys have shown that a whopping 71 percent of consumers will be more prone to make a purchasing decision if they have been referred to a product via social media. Plus, 48 percent of people who Tweet an endorsement of a product or service wind up availing that same product or service. And perhaps most convincingly, 70 percent of adults active on social networking also employ online shopping, which is 12 percent more than adults who do not go on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Having a strong social media presence isn’t limited to popularity on the Internet, either. People who are heavily into social media are great influencers offline as well, which will provide strong potential for word-of-mouth.

2. Invite guest posts from prominent people in your field.
We talked about this in the introduction to this article, but a blog is an essential complement to your storefront. Through it, you’ll present a more casual, approachable front, and will be able to talk about the ins and outs of your business—that is, the aspects that are both compelling and those you are willing to reveal.

Asking a renowned expert in your niche to share their knowledge on your site is a fantastic way to inject interest into your blog. They don’t have to be known on an international or national level, either. For now, think small, such as professionals in your city or state.

Is your storefront selling wines? Ask a food reviewer from your local newspaper to lend their expertise. Do you sell spark plugs and other automotive wares? Partner up with one of the most reputable mechanics in town. You’ll both get inbound links and in exchange for their words, perhaps you can send them a gift in kind.

3. Spice up your niche.
Let’s face it: your online store is likely highly specialized, catering to an audience that can only get these products and services from you. This means that , likely, only people who care about your products will even deign to visit your store. How do you attract people who may not be enthusiasts, but could still find a need for your wares?
Ground your subject matter into relatable, real-world examples to spice things up.

Let’s say your site sells quality buzzsaws imported from Germany. Perhaps on your blog, you could write an article detailing the deadliest buzzsaws in movies. You could offset the shock factor by guaranteeing your product’s safety, but at the same time, you’ll be showcasing your product in a manner the typical visitor will understand.

4. Build a community on-site.
Social media is just a portion of your establishing a community for your store. The basics include integrating comments into your blog posts, ensuring that your readers will have a chance to interact with you, and vice versa. Once you have the infrastructure set up, create a message board into your site, and allow people to move and behave freely and chew the fat about anything they like (under some rules, of course).

Integrate user reviews into your system as well. Customer-created reviews are increasingly becoming the favored source for information concerning the value, quality, and price of products and services. The most prolific reviewers will cultivate their own brand, and will soon be relied upon to inform your customers’ purchasing decisions.

5. Run regular promotions and sales.
Promotions are an effective approach towards eliciting engagement from your visitors. You’d be surprised at what people will do for free stuff! If you’re a company that sells corn products, ask your visitors to post their corniest photographs for a prize. Use your newfound social media presence to widen the scope of the promotion—you never know, it might go viral.

Sales will be great for reigniting interest in your store as well. A way to reduce its impact on your bottom line is by implementing a fixed price sale, in which everything in your store is a certain price. Some items will be marked down, whereas others will be marked up. From the outside, its mechanics are simple and easy to understand, and will likely result in your not discounting anything at all, on average. By marking everything in your store a certain price, you are likely to make more money off certain products than others.

As you gain more and more experience running your online store, you’ll be able to implement more and more advanced techniques. How have you applied these steps in your own e-commerce efforts? Do you have other methods to share? Let us know in the comments below!

Author's Bio: 

Jay Manangan like reading blogs, He spend most of his time playing "Monster Hunter". He also writes in behalf of salehoo.com, an online wholesale directory and community for onlinetraders and traditional retailers.