Growing your website’s traffic is one of the most crucial aspects of managing a website, but it is also one of the most challenging. There are so many ways to increase the traffic of an eCommerce site that will surprise you.
As such, many sites have gotten creative over the years and have started using uncommon methods to increase site traffic. These unorthodox methods can find success because larger companies have the tried-and-true methods locked down.
As such, we are not going to spend time on obvious methods like ensuring your website runs fast, has a working mobile version, and utilizes SEO friendly content structures. Instead, the focus will be on less well-known methods.
Today, I will share a variety of uncommon ways to increase traffic on an eCommerce site.
Why Is It Important to Increase eCommerce Traffic?
Simply put, eCommerce sites rely on having a healthy audience that shops regularly. The more people visiting your online store, the better the chances you will make a sale, which is the entire point of having an eCommerce site to begin with.
Failure to do so can lead to your store failing. This is because eCommerce stores are often very expensive to set up, as you need to have stock and shipping material ready to go, and the labor to handle the orders.
This is all wasted if you don’t have orders in the first place, which is why it is so important to hit the ground running.
Unfortunately, it normally takes over six months before most sites start generating income, thus, most try to speed it up as much as possible. Luckily, the internet is a big place, and creative site owners can find ways to do just that.
Here are some of the best ways to increase your eCommerce traffic with uncommon methods:
1. Create A Podcast About Starting an eCommerce Site
While podcasts have become one of the most popular forms of media over the years, the truth is they are still rather niche. While there are podcasts for nearly everything, one way to drive traffic is to build a podcast around managing an eCommerce site.
That said, results will vary; a podcast, on average, will increase site traffic 21-40% as it can attract listeners who will be more willing to interact with the brand. Naturally, there are a lot of factors that go into creating a podcast.
First and foremost, you need a central topic for your podcast to focus on.
Luckily, as an eCommerce site owner, you have a lot to talk about from your weekly experience of running an online store. Create shows about specific topics, like how the state of the economy is affecting your business.
You can try to give yourself a boost by inviting well-known individuals in your field or paying an influencer to appear in a show. Doing so can give your site a jumpstart if done correctly, but this method will only find success if you can host a successful podcast.
As much as a good one can help your business, it’s worth pointing out that a bad one can hurt you. As such, this is still a rather niche way to gain traffic when starting, as podcasting may just seem like having a conversation, but it takes a specific skill set to make it work.
2. Promote Your Business On Reddit
Reddit remains one of the most popular websites in the world, and currently holds the title for the 7th most viewed website in the world. As such, it is an excellent marketing opportunity for most businesses, but it requires far more work than social media.
At its core, Reddit is a forum that helps like-minded users who share the same hobby find each other and communicate. This can be in the form of having a discussion or just sharing a funny meme they found online.
This makes it the ideal environment to find a niche audience and interact with them.
However, just trying to promote your business by dropping links and posting about new products will not only not work, but it may actively get you banned and turn users against your brand. As such, you need to be creative about promoting your brand.
This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but the simplest and probably best way to go about this is to make yourself part of the community by regularly participating in the conversations that happen there.
That way, when it is appropriate to the topic, you can drop a link to your site. Just make sure to read the rules of the SubReddit before posting any links. Some may have rules against linking to storefronts, which can get you banned from that subreddit.
3. Create A QR Code
QR codes have exploded in popularity in recent years, and today, 59% of consumers scan QR codes daily, creating a unique marketing opportunity. For those who may be unfamiliar, QR codes are symbols you can scan with the camera on your smartphone.
Upon doing so, users will be able to get a link that takes them to your site. It is a great way to take advantage of the fact that everyone today has a smartphone in their pocket. Naturally, you need to get creative to get users to scan it.
For this reason, I strongly suggest customizing your QR code to stand out from others.
Normally, a QR code is a black and white box with dots and rectangles within it. However, you can customize it and change the colors of it using Photoshop or any similar photo editing software tools. The only rule is not to cover the dots that create the code.
For example, during Halloween, it is very common to see QR codes that have a ghost, a witch, or a pumpkin on them. Many businesses choose to put their logo on the QR code as well. Just be sure it is always accompanied by a message saying to “Scan Me.”
Otherwise, users may not realize it is a QR code to begin with. Place flyers around your town and whenever you travel. It can help attract new users who may share it with their friends and family. You can also include it in your email marketing efforts.
4. Purchase Misspellings of Your Domain
Most sites spend a lot of time coming up with a catchy domain name that is short and easy to spell, but sometimes that just isn’t possible. As such, domain names have started getting longer, and as a result, harder to spell.
This can lead to many users misspelling your domain name and ending up seeing an error, or ending up on another site entirely. As such, many sites try to purchase common misspellings of their domain.
For example, if you were trying to go to Amazon and entered Amazoon.com, you would still end up on Amazon.
The reason is that Amazon has purchased most misspellings of its name. This not only helps its users avoid scam sites trying to take advantage of users entering the wrong URL, but also helps increase their traffic.
Naturally, any website can take this approach. For example, let’s say you just launched a new website. If you were to purchase misspellings of your domain that got 10 or 20 users, you could set up a redirect to get those users on your eCommerce site.
It directly increases your traffic and can help make it easier for users to find your site. It is worth pointing out that sometimes domains are held by individuals looking to sell them for high prices. As such, it might not always be possible to buy these domains.
5. Incentivize Users to Leave Reviews
User reviews have become an important component of making a sale today, as 75% of consumers trust them. As such, failure to have any for customers to view is fatal in 2025; thus, you need to incentivize getting some.
There are many ways to go about it. The first, and most common, is to keep asking users to leave them. Odds are, you have seen an email after making an online purchase that asks you to leave a review or rating.
While this might seem annoying, it is highly effective and gets the job done.
You can take it a bit further by offering an incentive for leaving your first review, like offering a discount code. This can help you not only get a review from the user, but also get them to shop at your store again.
Users will also tell their friends about how they can get a discount code by making a purchase and leaving a review, thus it can double as a marketing campaign. Naturally, you should make sure the discount code doesn’t negatively harm your business.
While it is a cost of growing, some users can take advantage of it by buying something cheap, leaving a review, and then using the discount code on something larger. As such, you may want to limit the total discount someone can get as a precaution.
6. Guest Blog
Many people know that a surefire way to increase traffic on an eCommerce site is to create a blog for it, but what many people don’t realize is that you can drive traffic by guest blogging for others.
Guest blogging is when you create content for someone else’s blog in exchange for promoting your site. Essentially, you can write content for other people in exchange for promoting your business.
This can be a much faster method of increasing traffic compared to writing your own blog.
This is because you can take advantage of someone else’s established audience. This is particularly effective when you are just starting and trying to build a foothold. Writing for a blog with thousands of readers could help you gain a lot of customers fast.
You can also combine this with a referral program for the site owner to continue promoting your business to their audience, but this is a pretty tried-and-true marketing method. Discount codes located within the blog post can also be an effective way.
It’s worth pointing out that many established blogs are selective about who they allow to write for them. Thus, as your site gains a better reputation, more opportunities will arise. You also need to make sure you can write quality content, or this method won’t work for you.
7. Retarget Users on Social Media
Everyone knows that social media marketing is the key to success in 2025, but many don’t use it effectively. You can easily increase eCommerce traffic by using social media to retarget users who browse your store.
This is a tactic where you add a tracking pixel on your site, you can then use that information to purchase targeted ads for that user on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok.
The user is already aware that your store exists, so targeting them is more effective than general advertising.
You can use the same idea to also retarget users who have previously purchased on your site. For example, you could set it so that if a user doesn’t make another purchase on your site in 3 months, they are targeted with ads to come back.
You may be wondering, how effective is this? Retargeted users are 70% more likely to make a purchase than general advertising to new ones. And just to be clear, this is not a replacement for general advertising.
Getting new customers is just as important as retaining your current ones. The difference is that current ones will continue to make purchases and are more likely to share your website with their friends and family, thus they also bring in new customers.
8. Offer Your Products On Other Storefronts
This might seem counterintuitive as you want users to buy directly from your shop, but when you’re first starting, you’ll be lucky to make a sale a week. As such, it might be worth it to consider selling products on other sites until you establish yourself.
For example, if you specialize in handcrafted products, you may want to consider using a platform like Etsy that specializes in it. You can use Etsy to build up a reputation for your brand while having access to a massive audience.
Etsy, in particular, does not have any rules against linking to your site, so you can actively market your site there.
This can not only help you gain site traffic, but it can also help you make more sales early on. While Etsy and platforms like it will take a portion of the commission, making something is a lot better than selling nothing.
Another great option is to sell products on Instagram. Instagram is a powerful marketing tool in its own right, but you can take it to the next level by starting an Instagram shop. This allows you to sell products that appear in your posts.
For example, if you wanted to show off some new swimsuits, you can snap some pics of yourself, or someone you know rocking them, and users can hover over the item and see the price tag with a link to the store. It’s a great tactic when starting.
9. Create A Free Tool
Giving users multiple reasons to visit your site is imperative for an eCommerce platform, just like a physical location. For example, everyone has heard of the Costco food court offering a hot dog and soda for $1.50 in 2025.
This is a tactic that draws in customers to the store who may not be looking to shop, yet, once they enter the store, that often changes, and they buy something anyway. You can achieve the same thing in an online environment by offering a free tool.
What kind of tool you create depends on the kind of eCommerce store you run.
For instance, let’s say you were running a home improvement store. One tool you could create is a paint calculator. This is a tool that helps customers estimate how much paint they need to purchase by having them enter the surface area.
Another example would be real estate sites. You can easily find a mortgage calculator on any of these sites. The point is to find something that your audience may need and have it front and center.
If it is done well enough, it can be a significant source of traffic for your site and lead to more sales from people who searched for the tool and found your online store as well. Just make sure it is relevant and well-made.
10. Aim For Long-tail Keywords
While most people know that they need to research high-performing keywords, many people don’t realize that the majority of those keywords should be used in the form of a long-tail keyword.
Let’s look at a simple example. Let’s say you wanted to rank for the keyword “dog food” because you run an online pet supplies store. While you would see that it has a high search volume, the truth is that most people don’t search for “dog food.”
Instead, they use it as part of a search like “How Do I Make Dog Food At Home?” or something along those lines.
This phrase is a long-tail keyword, and it is essential for any website to rank highly. Many eCommerce sites fail to properly rank for these, but you should try to include these phrases in your product descriptions, assuming they make sense.
The best advice I can give is when you find a keyword, put yourself in the searcher’s shoes and ask yourself, When would I type this key phrase? In most cases, it would be in the form of a question or with a one-word modifier in front.
For example, people searching for “Dog Food” may type “Organic Dog Food” or “Healthy Dog Food” or something like that. If you are struggling with this, consider looking at the competition and what they are ranking for.
11. Start An Email Newsletter
For some reason, a lot of people think that email marketing is dead, yet it has never been stronger. Email marketing in general has an impressive ROI, with most estimates saying that for every dollar you spend, you see 21-40 dollars returned.
That’s a return between 2100 and 4000 percent! As such, starting an email newsletter is a great tactic for any kind of website, but it is especially effective for eCommerce sites. It essentially acts as a digital flyer for your store.
There are a variety of ways for an eCommerce site to utilize an email newsletter.
For starters, you can use it to showcase new products that are entering your store. For instance, imagine you run an online video game outlet. Sending out a newsletter after a new major release is an effective sales tactic.
As it can remind users that something they like is coming out, or tell them that for the first time. It can also be a way to inform customers about any sales you are having. For example, sending out a newsletter about the big Memorial Day sale is a great tactic.
Some sites also try to add value to customers who interact with the newsletter by providing discount codes. This will make users more likely to continue opening them, which can sometimes lead to a sale if something catches their eye.
12. Create Videos Showcasing the Product
Video content is insanely popular and continues to grow year on year. While the statistic is different for every platform, video content as a whole grows by 35% every year on X, and you can expect similar performances on other platforms.
As such, it is a really good idea to have video content on your store. It can not only serve to showcase products for curious customers, but it can also double as marketing material on social media platforms like X.
Thus, this has the potential to kill two birds with one stone.
Now, you may be wondering how to even go about creating video content that showcases a product. There are a variety of ways to go about it, but let’s focus on the most popular method: making an informative demonstration video.
These are short videos that show the product being unboxed, sharing what is included, and providing a quick demo. For example, if you were selling a popcorn maker. You would unbox it, show what comes with it, demonstrate quick assembly, and pop some corn.
In this example, you could also share some tips or mention other products like popcorn toppings. These types of videos are not only useful for customers trying to make a decision, but also work well on other platforms, such as YouTube, TikTok, X, and others.
13. Add Trust Signals to Your Site
The internet is a great place, but it is also full of scammers looking to take advantage of unsuspecting users. Sadly, this has made shoppers more cautious about sites where they enter personal information, which is a problem for eCommerce sites.
As such, you need to make sure your website comes off as trustworthy and professional to any visitor. In fact, 19% of users will abandon a cart if they don’t trust the site. One way to achieve this is to add trust signals to your site to help inspire confidence in your brand.
Trust signals usually come in the form of a badge that appears at the bottom of your site or when a user reaches checkout.
There are a variety of trust badges you can add to your site. One of the most common ones for eCommerce sites is the credit card logos. These have two main uses. The first is to indicate to users what payment methods your site accepts.
The second is to indicate that your site has met the requirements to use that payment type. Thus, whenever you see a Visa or Mastercard symbol, customers know that the checkout has met the bare minimum in security requirements.
There are other badges you can add from trustworthy names. For example, your site can be accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and display a badge once the requirements are met. Joining also adds your business to its directory, which doubles as marketing.
14. Offer Free Shipping
Online shopping is great for a variety of reasons, with perhaps the most significant reason being convenience. Users simply click a mouse a few times, and presto, a box ends up in front of your door in a few days.
At first, there was no question that this service would cost money. After all, the seller needs to buy shipping materials, package what you bought, and pay to ship that product to your door, but then Amazon happened.
Today, 62% of shoppers say they won’t consider purchasing from a site that doesn’t offer free shipping.
As such, you need to make sure you offer free shipping in one form or another and have it front and center in your promotional content. While this may seem like a massive cost for your business, if handled correctly, it really isn’t.
Nearly every site today will offer free shipping if you make a purchase that meets a certain price threshold. For example, on Amazon, you just need to spend $35, and your order gets free shipping. These thresholds fluctuate as each business has different expenses.
Other options are to offer free shipping in exchange for signing up for your newsletter or offering it as a first-time purchase bonus. By making sure free shipping is front and center in your marketing material, you will attract more users to your site.
15. Get Listed On Coupon Sites
The economy today is rough with prices constantly increasing; as such, every shopper is looking for a deal. As such, 62% of online shoppers search for online promo or discount codes before they make a purchase.
Due to the prevalence of coupon hunting, there are dozens of high-profile coupon sites that can act as marketing platforms for your business. The only issue is getting your site listed on them.
There are two main ways to get your site listed on a coupon site.
The first is to create an affiliate program. The truth is that coupon sites sign up for every affiliate program possible and share their affiliate code as the coupon offered. That way, every time someone makes a purchase, they get a cut of the action.
These sites will do this automatically, although it may take some time for a new site to get listed. The second method is to contact the coupon site itself. Coupon sites exist to make money, so you will typically be asked to pay to get listed.
That said, the benefits of being listed far outweigh the costs. Just be sure that you carefully calculate the coupons you offer to ensure they do not make you lose money in the process. While some may do that initially to build an audience, it is not sustainable.
Increase eCommerce Traffic FAQ
At the end of the day, there is a lot of guesswork that goes into trying to increase your eCommerce traffic; as such, you may still have some questions. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions answered:
No. These uncommon methods should be used alongside the more well-known methods like site performance optimization, SEO, Social Media Marketing, and more. Dong so can help speed up building an audience.
There is no way to give a definitive answer to this. Websites often take between 6 months and one year to become profitable. There are multiple factors to consider, but the more effort you put in, the better the results.
Yes, but it will take longer and require more work. As such, it is highly recommended to create a monthly marketing budget that can help you advertise your site to your target audience. Be sure to take advantage of free trials to help save money.
Absolutely. AI can be used to help create growth strategies, improve workflow, and automate repetitive tasks. For example, many storefronts are beginning to use AI to generate product descriptions.
Selling products on other platforms does not negatively impact your site traffic. That said, it is easier to manage products from one platform than two. As long as it is profitable to do so, there is no harm in selling on other platforms.
Ultimately, you just need to put more time, effort, and money into marketing. Starting an eCommerce site is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of volatility, and factors outside of your control can negatively impact traffic, like a weak economy.
Both are incredibly important, but retaining customers is often cheaper to do and more profitable. After your site’s initial growth, customer retention should become your priority, but never stop trying to reach new customers.
Start Increasing eCommerce Traffic Today
As you can see, there are a variety of ways to increase eCommerce traffic today. This presents a unique opportunity to site owners who are willing to put in the time to try and speed up their site’s adoption rate.
While we looked at uncommon ways to increase traffic on an eCommerce site today, none of these are a replacement for traditional methods like SEO and Social Media Marketing. These methods are a must for any site and yield the best results.
That said, there is no denying the simple fact that sometimes, a method just doesn’t work. It depends on your target audience and how well you can reach that audience. As such, there is no guarantee that anything will work.
However, one thing that is certain is that it is better to try than to wait around for something that may never happen.
What uncommon methods have helped your eCommerce site grow? How long did it take until your site became profitable?