Marketing
for online stores

Selling online in the US

Marketing for online stores in the US means competing with giant marketplaces, national brands and thousands of small stores selling similar products. What works for small and mid-sized stores is focus: clear products with a reason to exist, a fast store, tracking that shows profit rather than revenue, and two or three channels run well.

I build stores hand-coded or on a custom CMS. You own the code, there is no monthly page-builder fee, and you have full control of speed and SEO. Details are on the online store page.

Channels in order

1. Google Shopping and search. People searching for a product are ready to buy. A clean Merchant Center feed, product titles that match searches and campaigns split by margin drive many US stores. More on Google Shopping.
2. Meta ads. Discovery for products people do not search for yet, plus retargeting.
3. Email and SMS. Welcome series, abandoned cart, post-purchase and win-back flows often bring a meaningful share of revenue at low cost.
4. Marketplaces. Amazon and Walmart through a partner, when it makes sense for your products.

Tracking profit, not ROAS

A 4x ROAS can still lose money after product cost, shipping, payment fees and returns. I set up GA4, purchase events with value and, where needed, server-side tracking and Conversions API, then report profit by channel. Consent matters: some US states have privacy laws with opt-out rights for targeted advertising, and California requires a "Do Not Sell or Share" option for businesses that meet its thresholds. See my article on state privacy laws.

Rules that apply to US stores

• Email: CAN-SPAM requires accurate sender information, a working unsubscribe and a physical postal address.
• SMS: prior express written consent for marketing texts, opt-out keywords and carrier registration.
• Reviews: the FTC rule on fake reviews prohibits buying reviews and suppressing negative ones. Incentivized reviews must be disclosed.
• Made in USA: only when all or virtually all of the product is made in the US.
• Accessibility: online stores are frequent targets of ADA website claims; WCAG 2.1 AA is the reference.
• Pricing: show the total price honestly. Some states, California among them, ban drip pricing where fees are added late in checkout.

Check specifics with your attorney.

Seasonality

Q4 dominates for most stores: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the weeks before Christmas, with shipping cutoffs mid-December. Prepare campaigns, creative and inventory by October. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and back-to-school are other peaks depending on your products. January and summer are slower for many stores, a good time to build email lists and fix the site.

Working with me

I work remotely with stores anywhere in the US. Many have customers nationwide, so time zones matter less than in local businesses; I report every month and check campaigns every two weeks. If you sell to Polish, Russian or Ukrainian-speaking communities, I can write in those languages too.