Trying to promote site for free can be a daunting task, especially when you’re operating on a tight budget and you just launched a new e-commerce website.
But guess what? The digital age is packed with free opportunities to get your brand out there. With the right strategies, you can drive traffic, raise your brand’s profile, and even boost sales—all without spending a dime or breaking the bank.
In this article, we’ll explore seven powerful and cost-effective ways to promote site for free in WooCommerce. We’ll also share some proven tips and tricks, based on experience. So, let’s dive in and unlock the secrets to free e-commerce promotion!
How To Promote Site For Free In WooCommerce
Congratulations on launching your new store! That’s a big step, but now you might be wondering, “Where are all the customers?” Sounds familiar, right?
Setting up your store is just the start. Now the real challenge begins—it’s time to dive into marketing! Let’s roll up our sleeves and get into it.
You might have already tried a few things like dabbling with Facebook ads and getting less-than-stellar results, perhaps a disappointing 0.5% click-through rate with hardly any sales. Maybe you’ve tried Google Ads with similar luck, sent out some emails to contacts, or even reached out to an SEO agency and got sticker shock from their quotes.
If you’ve ended up frustrated and feeling skeptical about SEO, you’re not alone.
It’s easy to feel discouraged, but don’t lose heart! A lot of initial marketing efforts might not hit the mark. It’s all about experimenting to see what resonates with your unique audience and store. The more you try and refine your strategies, the closer you’ll get to finding what works best for you.
And let’s skip the vague advice like “just do SEO.”
Instead, I’m here to share seven innovative ideas that might be new to you. Ready to explore some fresh marketing tactics to experiment with? Let’s dive in and find the right approach for your store:
#1: Welcome coupon with a competition twist.
One thing to keep in mind when you promote site for free is welcoming customers.
Customers respond well to competitions and we know that welcome coupons work really well. So why not combine the two in a new twist?
Tell them you’ll give them a welcome coupon, but only after they’ve entered a competition.
I suggest trying out RafflePress for your contest. It’s a neat tool that lets people earn more entries by sharing the contest with others. This not only gets them to like your social media pages but also helps spread the word about your contest—kind of like creating a buzz that keeps growing!
Then, after they join the contest, why not send them a little thank you? A welcome coupon with a discount on your products could be a nice touch.
#2: Exclusive deals for other people’s audiences.
So, you’ve been wondering how to get that magic ingredient—traffic, right?
It seems like the ultimate solution to everything. Here’s a little insight for you: every big name you can think of, from your favorite online shops to major retail giants, they all started from scratch—zero traffic.
Now, how did they start drawing crowds? They did something pretty smart—they tapped into other people’s traffic. Think about where your potential audience hangs out online.
- What blogs do they read?
- Is there a way you could contribute a post on those blogs?
- Maybe strike a deal with the blog owners?
- How about getting an opportunity to send out an email to their subscriber list promoting your offer?
By doing this, you’re essentially borrowing a bit of their credibility, which introduces you to an audience you haven’t reached yet. Remember, these blog owners and site managers took years to build their audience. If you want to grow yours, you need to start building your own list, and fast.
The quickest path? Leverage the audiences from these established sites.
Now, you might wonder, why would someone let you do this. Well, you need to offer them something enticing in return. Here’s where the next strategy comes into play…
#3: Start an affiliate program to promote site for free.
Affiliate marketing, if you are unfamiliar with the term, is the process where a store gives a % of the revenue of a sale to someone else for their help in promoting that product or store.
As a store owner, you’re basically paying them for their promotion and marketing of your products. And the best thing is you only have to pay them for performance. This means they only get money when they actually help you sell something!
Neat right? It’s basically a hack to promote your site for free!
Running an affiliate program in WooCommerce is really easy. I recommend the AffiliateWP plugin which gives you all the options and configuration you need to set up a program. You can literally have your affiliate program set up in 1 afternoon.
Deciding on the % of revenue to give away can be tricky as it will be based on gross profit, not net profit. So keep your margins in mind.
The best way to get a gauge of this would be to look at what others in your niche are giving away to affiliates for their stores.
As a rough guide, traditional e-commerce stores selling physical products will give away less, somewhere in the region of 5-15% of the sale. Whereas, stores selling digital products will be willing to give sometimes up to 30%.
#4: Start a Facebook group for your target customers.
It seems like people aren’t really interacting with Facebook business pages like they used to. Honestly, it’s almost not worth it to put much effort into promoting stuff there anymore.
But here’s something interesting: Facebook Groups are actually doing really well.
Especially the private ones. It looks like when people choose to join these closed groups, they’re more likely to see posts from these groups in their feeds. It’s probably because Facebook thinks the content is more relevant to them since they made the effort to join.
So, why not use this to your advantage? For instance, if you sell dog training gear for Labradors and you’re in the UK, you could start a group called something like “Labrador Dog Training UK.” You could fill it with useful tips and advice for Labrador owners.
Think about how this idea might work for your business. What kind of group could you create that would attract your target audience? The interaction rates are high, and since you run the group, you can freely promote your products.
You might even consider giving a special discount to group members to encourage purchases!
#5: Create joint product bundles with like-minded stores.
Here’s an interesting spin on the joint venture/borrowing other people’s audiences idea.
Can you connect with other store owners who would like to join forces and create a product bundle of complementary products?
Everyone loves a deal and if you could create a joint product bundle with your products and some of their products it can make it very appealing to both audiences. A win-win scenario.
Doing a joint promotion means twice the pulling power when it comes to getting people in the door to purchase. Leverage each other’s strengths and gain exposure to a new audience at the same time.
#6: Insert yourself into conversations on social media.
When you want to promote site for free, it really helps to be a bit scrappy at the start.
What does being scrappy mean? Well, it’s about embracing methods that aren’t necessarily scalable just to snag those initial customers. One effective tactic is to jump into existing social media conversations. This can get you noticed—just be sure not to sound too salesy.
However, butting into private discussions isn’t usually a good move and can backfire.
Also, continuously plugging your own products isn’t the best strategy. Social media is all about engagement, so your contributions should be genuinely interesting to others.
A good approach early on is to monitor certain hashtags or search phrases. Keep an eye out for someone asking a specific question that you can answer. Helping out like this is an excellent way to start conversations without seeming self-serving.
If it’s relevant, you might mention an article from your site or even a product, but only if it truly fits the situation. Remember, people generally don’t appreciate a hard sell, but they do value timely and helpful responses when they’re seeking advice.
#7: Brand all the things.
Finally, another strategy to promote site for free is branding.
A simple, yet often overlooked promotional idea is to make sure that all your profiles are up to date with the latest information and a link back to your site.
At a minimum, every social media profile, forum profile, author byline, etc should have a professional looking profile photo, good cover art (if that is an option on the platform) and a link to your store.
Ideally what you should also include is a well written, easy to read bio that says what you do, what you stand for and why they should follow you.
Summary
Promoting your new e-commerce site doesn’t really have to break the bank. By leveraging the strategies outlined in this guide, you can effectively promote your e-commerce site for free, reach new audiences, and drive traffic and sales without straining your marketing budget.
In this article, we shared 7 tips to promote site for free:
- Welcome coupon with a competition twist.
- Exclusive deals for other people’s audiences.
- Start an affiliate program to promote site for free.
- Start a Facebook group for your target customers.
- Create joint product bundles with like-minded stores.
- Insert yourself into conversations on social media.
- Brand all the things.
Do you have any questions on how to promote site for free? Let us know in the comments below!
