One of the greatest thing about the web is that it has opened so many doors for businesses of any size to increase their sales nationwide – even globally. But the whole “if you build it, they will come” theory isn’t necessarily going to have your customers knocking down your cyber walls to give you their hard earned money. There are certain things you must do to improve your online sales. Good news! We’ve got a few helpful tips to get you started…

Create demand, even if there isn’t much. Think about Amazon. How many times have you added an item to your cart only to see a little indicator that says “only X left in stock”? Strategies like this give the impression to the customer that they must act now or they’ll miss out on the item or sale price, and it’s something that you can leverage as well to improve the chances of closing the deal with your online customers.

Don’t just tell them – show them. Quality content is great, and the better you describe your inventory, the better. That said, research has shown that using video to relay product information is much more effective if pushing a maybe to a yes when it comes to sales. Get creative and put yourself in your customers’ shoes to figure out what type of video marketing would get the best results, such as product demos or helpful how-to’s.

Leverage reviews and feedback. You can shout to the rooftops how fantastic your products are, but when it comes from your customers who have actually bought and used your products, it’s much more powerful. Let your satisfied and loyal customers do your marketing for you by providing them with the opportunity and encouraging them to complete surveys and write reviews. You can then leverage those good reviews by sprinkling them throughout your website to encourage new prospects to buy from you.

Use upselling and/or cross-selling techniques to give buyers more options. Set up your site so that when your customers are shopping, they’ll see either a similar product that is of higher quality and slightly more expensive (upselling) or they’ll see another product that complements the product they’re considering buying (cross-selling). Both of these techniques can boost sales in some instances, so it’s worth a shot!

With the technology available today, the possibilities for businesses of any size to market online are virtually limitless. Doing so successfully, however, takes some work. By employing these techniques, you’ll have a much better chance of grabbing those online sales and increasing your bottom line exponentially. What are you waiting for? Get out there and get selling!