If there’s one constant in the world of e-commerce, it’s that there will always be ups and downs. Past performance isn’t a guarantee of future results, and at any time, a change in consumers’ buying preferences or in Google’s ranking algorithms could result in decreased traffic or earnings. It doesn’t matter whether your business is a fashion house, an online vape shop or a tech firm; you’re going to deal with difficult times at some point. How you respond to those tough times is what will separate you from the world’s other online entrepreneurs.

If your online business isn’t meeting expectations, you are at a crossroads. Should you do what’s necessary to revive the business, or should you cut your losses and begin a new venture? Sometimes, the process of reviving a struggling online business seems like it’ll be almost as difficult as it initially was to launch that business. The truth, though, is that breathing new life into an existing business isn’t really that hard when you break the process down into simpler milestones. If your business was successful in the past, then you have an asset with real value. Reviving your business is simply a matter of giving that asset a little polish.

Start a Content Marketing Campaign

The content on your website will always be your most important driver of traffic. Commercial content is important, of course, since that’s the content that directly correlates to revenue. Informational content, however, can be just as valuable in the long run. A person who searches for information and ends up reading an article on your website might not be ready to buy a product right away, but that person will remember your company in the future if he or she finds the article helpful.

Content marketing:

• Increases awareness of your brand
• Establishes your position as an expert and thought leader in your niche
• Improves your website’s raw traffic numbers and encourages visitors to view your products before they leave
• Attracts organic links that can boost the organic rankings of the other pages on your site

If your website is lacking in informational content, it’s likely that your business would greatly benefit from a large content marketing campaign because your site would begin ranking for keywords that currently bring you no traffic.

Revamp Your Site’s Existing Content

If your website already has a library of informational content that used to generate a significant volume of traffic – and now doesn’t – then it’s probably time to revamp that content. Conduct a page-by-page audit of your site’s blog or content library. Identify the main keywords that your articles should be ranking for. Next, search for those keywords on Google and find out how your articles compare to your competitors’ articles. Audit your content honestly. A particular article might have been the best source of information about its topic when you first published it – but is that still true?

Audit your content for thoroughness, layout and readability.

• An article that addresses its topic comprehensively is usually long. If an article contains significantly fewer than 1,000 words, it’s highly likely that you need to add additional information to make the article more helpful.
• A long article must maintain the reader’s attention. Do that by liberally adding images and bullet lists to the article.
• An article that’s written for human readers – and not just for Google – doesn’t repeat the same keyword phrases over and over. Use plenty of synonyms and alternate terms that relate closely to the article’s main topic.

If an article doesn’t measure up to the competition, you’ll need to decide whether to give it a full rewrite or simply add more content to it. Your goal should always be to make every article the most useful piece of content on the Internet for its target keyword phrase.

Forge Relationships With Publishers in Your Niche

If you’re putting informational content on your website, you’re not just the owner of an e-commerce business – you’re also a publisher. One of the most effective promotional strategies for a publisher in any niche is to forge as many relationships as possible with other publishers in the same niche.

These days, publishers come in many different forms. They’re not just bloggers and owners of news or product review sites; they’re also video creators on YouTube and influencers on Instagram. Take the time to seek out publishers on all platforms and strike up conversations with them.

Whenever you find someone creating high-quality content that relates to your industry, it’s worth the effort to reach out to that person and discuss how you might be able to benefit each other. Sometimes, the benefit to your business might come in the form of a product review on YouTube or a mention on Instagram. Other times, a blogger might enjoy an article on your site and use it as a reference when creating a blog post.

Don’t be afraid to link out to high-authority publishers in your niche – especially if you’re getting links and mentions in return. Search engines like Google love an interconnected web because links make it easier to identify relationships and determine which publishers have the most valuable content. Sometimes, linking out from your site more frequently can be the missing link in your own traffic generation strategy.

Find New Profit Centers

The last thing that you need to remember in your quest to revive your online business is that sometimes, a decrease in traffic has nothing to do with your website’s SEO or with Google’s ever-changing ranking algorithms.

It’s possible that you’re receiving less traffic because there are fewer people searching for what you’re offering – and if that’s the case, you need to start looking for new profit centers. If people don’t want what you’re selling, then you need to start selling what they do want.

Searching for new profit centers and finding new products to offer is a simple matter of evolution. Apple wouldn’t have become the “iPod company” if they had just stuck with computers, and they wouldn’t have become the “iPhone company” if they had only focused on iPods. Microsoft has transitioned away from Windows and is now one of the world’s largest providers of cloud services. Has your business kept up with the times?