In this video, I’m going to share 3 ways
to generate traffic to your online store forfree in 2019.If you’re starting an online store with
Shopify, free traffic is a big deal.It means you can get your product in front
of customers without paying a dime.I learned these strategies through experience.After getting banned on Facebook, I had to
find new ways to drive traffic to my dropshippingstore.Today I’ll explain the methods I used to
get sales without paying for ads.But a word of warning: These are strategies
and not cheat codes, so be prepared to getto work!By the end of this video, you’ll know:What channels to use to find your target market
How to provide valuable content to createvaluable traffic
How to start bringing that traffic to yourstore for freeAnd more.Ready to get started?Watch on.Hey everyone it’s Jessica from Oberlo.Today I’m going to show you how to generate
free traffic for your online store.Before I get on with the list, let’s make
sure we’re on the same page about dropshipping.Dropshipping is one of the easiest ways to
start an online business.Instead of buying tons of inventory for your
online store, you only order products whenyou get sales.Your supplier ships your orders for you, so
you can sell all over the world!But being a successful dropshipper requires
constant learning.Make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss
our tutorials, dropshipper interviews, andproduct recommendations every Tuesday and
Thursday!Dropshipping is a low-risk business model
because it’s free to use you don’t needany inventory to get started.The only thing you need to pay for is your
monthly Shopify account fee.But other than that fee and your domain, most
of your money will be spent on advertising.After all, once your dropshipping store is
setup, you need to find ways to bring customersto it.Most dropshippers invest in paid Facebook
ads, Google ads, or Instagram influencersto bring traffic to their store.But, how to get sales without paying for traffic?There are a few free options I’m going to
share with you today.Let me be clear before I start.If you are not paying for traffic, you need
to work for it.There is no cheat code for building a successful
business.Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll get
started with the first strategy you can useto drive customers to your store for free.The first free traffic strategy:Engage with online communitiesLet me share a personal dropshipping story
here.A while ago, I tried advertising face masks
on Facebook.For reasons I go into here (link to Products
Not to Sell) I got banned from Facebook BusinessManager.After I got banned on Facebook, I needed to
come up with a new marketing strategy andfigure out how to make sales.I had spent hours importing products and setting
up my store, and I was determined to makeit work.I knew there must be another way!Since I could no longer pay to run ads on
Facebook or Instagram, I was stuck wonderinghow to sell products now.I started to browse Google to find out where
else I could find my audience.On the first page, I stumbled upon numerous
subreddits dedicated to skincare, cosmeticsand beauty products.Just so we are on the same page, a subreddit
is a dedicated forum on Reddit for one specifictopic.At this point I had nothing to lose, so I
decided to post in a relevan subreddit.It’s important to note that you can get
banned on Reddit for advertising, so I gota little more creative.I posted a picture of my facemasks and wrote
a sentence or two about how much I loved them.This was completely true, I had ordered samples
and was really happy with the quality.When another user asked where to get them,
someone shared a link on Amazon.I replied with a link to my store and said
I had found them there for a little cheaper.Boom!The next day I woke up to sales and customer
emails!My Reddit strategy worked, and it didn’t
even cost me a dollar!Even though paying for traffic made me feel
like I was dropshipping the right way, I learnedthat sometimes the best things in life are
free!Traffic, no sales?You might not be targeting the right people.Communities are ready-made audiences for dropshippers.Communities exist all over the internet, but
there are three I find to be the most effectivefor dropshippers.They are: Facebook groups, Pinterest, and
Reddit.I’ll cover each one so you have a better
idea of how they can be used to bring in freetraffic for your business.Facebook groups are one of the best places
to engage with your audience and drive trafficto your store.Facebook groups provide a space to communicate
about shared interests with others, you cancreate a group for anything!While you can not directly advertise to Facebook
groups, you can still use them to your advantage.To start driving traffic, join relevant Facebook
groups and start posting quality content.Engage with other members and ask for feedback
about your products or store.Once you start building a relationship with
other group members, they will organicallybecome free traffic.Also, once you’ve built a stronger reputation,
message the group administrator to see ifyou can share a unique discount code with
the group.This is the perfect way to bring free, quality
traffic to your store.The second community to source free traffic
is Pinterest.Over the last few years, Pinterest has evolved
from a community that loves to share greatcontent, to one that loves to shop.90% of users on Pinterest said that Pinterest
helps them decide what to purchase.To take advantage of this active market, create
a Pinterest board and start pinning!Your pins on Pinterest never expire, and so
your posts can always come up in searches.Pins are the perfect way to start growing
organic free traffic to your store.The last community to tap into is Reddit.Reddit has seen explosive growth over the
last few years, especially after it’s redesign.There are now over 150,000 communities on
Reddit.Yeah, your target audience is probably on
there!You can find a community on Reddit for everything,
and this makes it the perfect place to findhigh-quality traffic.There are a few different strategies you can
use with Reddit.First, you can post and share your products
in subreddits relevant to your niche.Remember, obvious advertising is not allowed.However, you are free to share your love and
interest for a product!Afterwards, share a link in the comments in
case anyone is interested in checking it out.The second method is finding appropriate subreddits
where you can share products.Subreddits like r/Iwantthat or r/Ineedit are
the perfect place to post about your product.These subreddits see huge amounts of traffic,
and if Redditors are interested in your product,they will definitely visit your store.Rather than sharing an obvious advertisement,
share a photo or video of you actually usingyour product.It will be more genuine and work much more
effectively.Speaking of sharing content, the second strategy
for free traffic is growing your brand’sInstagram.2.Grow your Instagram accountHold on!Before you say “I know,” give me a chance
to show you how.There is no denying that Instagram is the
best social media channel for free traffic.Whether you have the budget to pay for advertising
or not, your dropshipping store could benefitfrom an Instagram account.Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active
users.That’s a lot of potential customers!Years ago, Instagram was used by hobby photographers
to share photos.Now, it’s used by everyone from mommy bloggers
to cats.It has become a place to connect with any
community.So why is Instagram the perfect platform for
generating free traffic?Well, You can create an Instagram account
for free, and you can even make it a businessprofile to see helpful data at no extra cost.But, before I go on, I want to address a common
mistake I’ve seen new dropshippers make.They create an Instagram account, post a few
times, don’t engage with anyone, and thenwonder why they don’t have any sales.To win on Instagram, especially without spending
a penny, you need two things: Lots of followersand lots of great content.Having followers and lots of content builds
social proof.If a customer stumbles upon your page, they’ll
be much more inclined to click the link toyour store if they see lots of engagement.Wondering how to get tons of followers?I’m going to be honest, there is no shortcut.When it comes to posting content, you want
to focus on quality and quantity.But, what does that mean, and how do you do
it?Quality content comes in the form of the 80/20
rule.Make sure that 80% of your posts are simply
beautiful, inspiring, or helpful to your audience.Use the other 20% to promote your products
and your brand.Quantity means posting multiple times a week.Make a simple, repeatable content schedule
to follow.For example, on day 1 use a free stock photo
website like Burst to share a relevant photo.On day 2 use Canva to create a simple graphic
of an inspiring quote.On day 3 repost content from an influencer
in your niche.On day 4 share a product photo.And repeat!I’ll leave links to all of these tools in
the description below.The second part of getting free traffic from
Instagram is engaging with your community.Your community includes anyone posting with
hashtags relevant to your product.To connect with your community, look up one
of those relevant hashtags on Instagram.Start leaving meaningful comments on posts
with that hashtag.Chances are, the Instagram users who posted
that content will visit your profile and checkyou out.Here’s one last tip for growing your Instagram
page on a budget.If you’re worried about paying for your
monthly Shopify account fee while you growyour Instagram, then start your Instagram
account before you open your store!Let’s move on to the last strategy for free
traffic: Influencers!But how do you get influencers to work with
you for free?The answer is affiliate marketing.3.Create affiliate marketing partnershipsThere’s no doubt that influencer marketing
is one of the most effective ways to makesales in dropshipping in 2019.86% of companies used influencer marketing
last year, and this number is projected togrow.If you want to boost traffic to your store,
influencers are one of the best ways to doit.Most of the time, dropshippers pay an influencer
to repost an advertisement in their Instagramstories or feed.While this can be effective, there is an alternative
that costs you nothing.Before I continue, it’s important to remember
that Influencers are running their own businesses.Like you, they want to make money.Keeping that in mind is extremely important
when it comes to discussing affiliate marketingopportunities.To get an influencer to work with you, you
need to do something for them too.If it’s not upfront payment, it will need
to be potential income opportunities downthe line.That’s essentially what an affiliate partnership
is.An affiliate partnership is one you set up
with an influencer so that they make a percentageof the sales they bring in.You need to work with each individual influencer
to determine what percentage works for themand still brings in some revenue for you.Although you might make slightly less revenue,
you won’t pay for advertising until youmake sales!They are effective for a number of reasons.First, many influencers are interested in
this partnership because of the potentialfor making lots of money instead of a one-time
payout for a sponsored post.Affiliate partnerships are also effective
because they incentivize sales.When you pay an influencer for a single post,
they post your advertisement and forget aboutit.But in the affiliate partnership model, your
influencers will be inclined to effectivelymarket and sell your products.That’s because they only profit if you do.Do research on Instagram and Youtube to find
the current influencers in your niche.I would suggest looking for micro-influencers
first.These are influencers with less than 50,000
subscribers or followers.That’s still a huge base of traffic, and
they likely have a close relationship to theiraudience.A common mistake I see beginners dropshippers
make is trying to work with influencers thatare huge.While they may have more followers, they will
be less likely to work with a new company.Also, they will not have as personal a connection
to their audience.Products shared by micro-influencers come
off as more genuine than bigger ones.So keep this math in mind: 3 influencers with
20,000 followers will be more effective andeasier to work with than 1 with 60,000!Wondering exactly what message to send?Use ours!Follow @oberloapp on Instagram to find proven
Influencer templates you can start using rightaway.They’ve been tested by real dropshippers,
so you can feel confident sending them out!Now I’d love to hear from you.Have any other free traffic strategies to
share?Tried any of the ones I mentioned above?Leave a comment and let me know.I’ll chime in with my thoughts.Thanks for watching.Until next time, learn often, market better,
and sell more.
Source
