You’ve done it! You’ve taken that leap of faith and put in the work to launch your digital product shop. Woooo! But now that your shop is live…what’s next? Launching a digital product shop is one thing, but growing your digital product shop so you can achieve your goals or hit that dream revenue number? That’s a whole different ball game.

To grow your digital product shop, you need a different kind of marketing strategy than when you first started. (Not completely different though, so don’t worry!) Let’s talk about easy steps you can take to grow your digital product shop right now.  

Drive traffic to your shop

I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times before, and it’s always harder than it sounds! But really, increasing traffic to your digital shop raises your chances of getting in front of your target audience. The lower your traffic, the less likely your shop will come across your dream customer.

Organic traffic is your friend here. In case you need a refresher, organic traffic is any traffic that comes to your shop from a search engine that’s not paid, like an ad. So, the more often your shop pops up in search results, the better your organic traffic.

What’s awesome about organic traffic is you can use multiple free sources to direct traffic to your shop! Think about things like Google search (this is why SEO matters so much!), your social media traffic, even people who mention you and drive to your website. All of that is organic.

Here are just a few ideas on how to improve your organic traffic sources so they can point people toward your digital product shop:

• Share great content consistently on your blog. Blogs boost your SEO and create a stronger brand, both of which are good for your shop!
• Connect with your audience on YouTube and Instagram. I share more in-depth tips for certain social media platforms in this blog post, but in general, social media is a handy tool for reaching your target audience.
• Provide value on Pinterest. If it makes sense for your brand, it’s definitely worth building a strong presence on Pinterest! Pinterest is its own search engine (like YouTube) so you have a chance to reach even more people on the platform.

No matter which tip you start with to increase traffic to your shop, I recommend being consistent. That’s the key to building a following and growing your audience.

Host a semi-annual sale

Semi-annual sales take some careful planning ahead of time, but let me tell you…they are sooo worth the effort. It took me years to get my process nailed down, but when I did, I felt so confident and ready to tackle the next big sale! I’ve talked before about how we plan for our big sales, and we even do recaps of our biggest sales (like Black Friday 2021).

Your semi-annual sale doesn’t have to land on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, either. November and December are the biggest sale months of the year, but you can totally host a summer sale, “back-to-school” sale, a Halloween sale — it’s up to you!

Whenever you decide to host your sale, start planning at least a month before. Set goals for your sale that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely (aka, SMART goals). That way, you can build your plan around achieving those goals.

After you set your goals, you’ll need to build hype for your sale and make sure your site is ready. I have even more tips to get ready for semi-annual sales like Black Friday, so be sure to check them out.

Find affiliate partners

Affiliate programs help you expand your brand reach because you’re letting other people direct traffic to your website or shop. And that means more sales!

If you’re not familiar with how affiliate marketing works, let me explain real quick. You’d reach out to people in your industry who share a similar target audience. A wedding photographer, for example, would be a perfect partner for a stationery shop or local florist.

How do you find those perfect affiliates for your digital products? Social media is a gold mine for influencers and affiliates! You can also look through your customer base — you know your customers are already fans. 

No matter where you search for your affiliates, make it easy for them to apply to your program. Create a web page that outlines your program: incentives, expectations, swipe copy, all that fun stuff. And remember to link to it on your shop’s site!

Expand your reach through speaking

So far, we’ve discussed ways of broadening your reach online. But you know what? It never hurts to physically get in front of more people to promote your digital products. I’m talking about using speaking gigs to spread the word about what you offer.

If you’re an introvert, you’re probably thinking, “No way! I could never do that!” I feel you. I’m an introvert too! So I can speak from experience when I say that you’re missing out on a big opportunity to reach lots of potential customers at once.

When I first started out, I was attending retreats and meeting with a ton of people in the online business space. (This was pre-COVID, ok?) It was actually at one of these retreats that someone asked for help with contracts — and The Contract Shop® was born. Since then, I’ve appeared on podcasts, spoken at conferences, and even booked sessions at summits or retreats to talk about podcasts.

All of the places I showed up have paid me back tenfold over the last 6+ years, because I built a reputation for being an expert in the creative biz legal space.

Growing a shop is all about finding the strategies that work for you

Growing a digital product shop is hard work, for sure. But when you do, you’ll start to notice the benefits immediately.. You’ll see a steady stream of passive income roll in. And you’ll also have more free time to devote to other things that are important to you! Like family, hobbies, self-care…you name it.

Another thing I love about running a digital shop is that there are so many different ways you can grow and scale it — the methods I talk about in this blog are just the tip of the iceberg!

There’s also guest blogging. Partnering with other brands. Facebook ads. And so much more! If you want to learn even more strategies for growing your digital product shop, I have the resource for you: Simple Sustained Shop Sales.

Join my program, and you’ll learn lots of methods for growing your shop, plus gain access to:

• Multiple training modules that’ll help you master the art and science of selling digital products
• Digital workbooks for tracking your progress, jotting down ideas, and outlining your goals
• Templates and trackers that take care of product descriptions, affiliate programs, sales emails, and more
• BONUSES that teach you all about pre-selling and list-building…both must-haves for running a digital product shop!

Are you ready to drive more traffic — and boost revenue — to your digital product shop? Join Simple Sustained Shop Sales now and get movin’!