Ten Awesome Ways To Incease Your Sales In Holidays

Ten Awesome Ways To Incease Your Sales In Holidays

by: Radhika Venkata

Everybody thinks that the businesses will slow down a bit in holiday seasons. Ofcourse everybody thinks that people don’t want to start new ventures in holidays too.

But that is not true. People do spend money… a lot in holidays. On gift items, special discount goods, coupons etc.

The only thing is to know how to do business in the holiday season using this attitude.

Here are 10 tips to maintain or maximize your sales in Holidays:

1. Put a paragraph on your webpage that related to the particular holiday. Like chrismas greetings for Chrismas, Happy mothers day greetings for Motherกs day etc.

Then put a picture of your product under it with a discount price for that particular day.

Advertise about this discount product on your home page from a month before the actual selling day.

2. Send discount coupons to your old customers and subscribers and tell them the offer lasts for one or two days.

3. If you use pay per click engines, change your ads a little bit to give the essence of holiday season.

If your ad is like

กGarden tools for gardenersก

Change this to

กGarden tools for Gardeners.Price reduced to half for the first fifty people. Limited for Thanks giving.ก

OK…OK…You get the idea. Right?

4. Install some greeting card cgi scripts on your site. Use them at holiday seasons. So with every greeting card your website link goes to other people. This is very cheap and affordable advertising.

5. Tell your affiliates that they will receive more commission on their sales through their affiliate links in this holiday season.

6. Always submit two or three pages of your website to search engines with holiday discount prices. So if anybody search in the search engines about discount products, your pages will show up.

7. Offer free shipping and handling to your customers.

8. Put a special pop up window that closes with in a particular time. So you can encourage your visitors to buy the product at discount price or with special bonuses through the link in that pop up.

9. Use your Autoresponder to offer special courses or tutorials for holiday seasons. Send the links to your discount products, samples of your product as a special holiday delivery. Encourage them to buy with a holiday discount.

10. Holidays means parties, get togethers and massive sales. You can do offline advertising about your product and website by keeping banners or free brochures at the reception tables, sales centers etc.

About The Author

Radhika Venkata Subscribe to กEbookBiz Magazineก which is completely focused on ebook business and Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights every month!

http://www.ebooksworld.com/freetosell.shtml

Webmaster Resources: List Your product, ezine or web site free! http://www.webmasterscentral.com/

This article was posted on November 14, 2003

by Radhika Venkata

ECommerce Is Back On The Fast Track

ECommerce Is Back On The Fast Track

by: Craig Neidel

How much holiday shopping did you do online this year? If you are reading this, then chances are good that you made at least one purchase online. Over 54% of all Americans did it [1]. A much higher percentage (>80%) of Internet users did it.

Not only did you do it, you liked it! Less than 7% of online shoppers reported a bad experience with 88% reporting they were satisfied or very satisfied [2]. It is clear that online shopping has come of age with such a high level of participation and satisfaction. It appears that past issues of trust, security, and bad ecommerce websites are replaced with good ecommerce sites, higher trust, better security, and just plain better execution and service by online retailers. Quick, easy, and convenient shopping overcomes the concerns people have had in the past.

With a whopping 35% increase in online holiday sales this year, up to $18 billion [3], one analyst calls it ขa fantastic season for online retailers.ข [4] This is the third straight season of record growth for online shopping. This year, 2004, is expected to follow the trend. US online sales are expected to grow from $55 billion in 2003 to $73 billion in 2004 [5].

In searching for some bad news, it was hard to find. The worst news was that 3.6% of online shoppers had a very bad experience where either the merchandise was not delivered on time or was delivered in poor condition. This is a small fraction even compared to traditional retail sales.

Can the news and trends about ecommerce retailing really be that good? The answer seems to be a resounding YES! Some of the more popular online markets have double digit penetration now. That means some online retailers are reaping over 10% of total market share in their industries with a rising trend. In addition, more online retailers are showing profits. In 2002, about 50% of online retailers showed a profit from their online operations while 70% did in 2003 [5].

So, if you are one of those 70% of online retailers making profits in 2003, sit back, breathe a big sigh of relief, and relish the moment. There won’t be much time to relax and enjoy your successes. New business is right around the corner.

If you are a business and don’t yet have an online sales presense, then itกs never too early to get started. To get ready for the 2004 holiday season, itกs best to start now.

Create ecommerce plan – 4/15/04

Select ecommerce software & consultant (NetSource can help) – 5/15/04

Build the website – 7/15/04

Put the website into operation, start selling 8/15/04

Create online marketing plan – 8/15/04

Execute the marketing plan 9/15/04

Ready for holiday sales – 11/15/04

It can be done quicker than the schedule suggested above, but, to do it right requires thought, planning, and time.

References:

[1] Nashville Business Journal, 12/4/03

[2] ASD/AMD Marketwatch ENewsletter, 12/24/03

[3] eSpending Report, Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive, Nielsen/Netratings, 1/5/04

[4] Abha Bhagat, Nielsen/NetRating, COMPUTERWORLD, 1/6/04

[5] ASD/AMD MarketWatch ENewsletter, 10/16/03

About The Author

Craig Neidel has worked for NetSource Communications Inc. for 6 years and has experience in web development, ecommerce solutions and web marketing. NetSource Communications creates custom ecommerce solutions and web applications. http://www.ntsource.com.

This article was posted on October 26, 2004

by Craig Neidel

Don’t Get Caught With Your Profits Down!

Don’t Get Caught With Your Profits Down!

by: Denise Hall

Itกs the busy season the time of year when your customers shop ’til they drop. As a business owner you’re probably happily enjoying the extra sales the holiday season brings. Chaching! Chaching!

Gnihcahc!

Uhoh. กAnypaymentprocessor.comก just did a reverse chaching… in your account! They charged you back because a customer requested a refund.

It hurts having to give a refund, but it happens to all of us occasionally. And as honest business owners, we want to make our customers happy by offering a moneyback guarantee if they’re not satisfied.

But did you know that customers who *claim* they never made a purchase will, almost without a doubt, get a refund, no questions asked?

And are you aware that many purchases, especially at this time of year, are made with stolen credit cards?

Itกs sad but true. As the holiday rush comes upon us, and even into January, the possibility for scams and fraud is much greater than at any other time of the year. Internet business owners are especially at risk for fraudulent refund requests.

Unlike brick and mortar stores, we don’t have a paper credit card slip with the signature of the person who made the purchase. And unlike brick and mortar stores we can’t ask for an ID to be sure the person buying the product is the credit card owner.

But there *are* methods you can apply to help you avoid being scammed. There are also steps you can take to recoup your money if you become a victim of fraud. If you know the inner workings of credit card and major Internet payment companies, as well as the secrets that scam artists use to claim false refunds, you *can* protect yourself.

Don’t get caught with *your* profits down this holiday season. Learn what you need to know to keep your profits in your pocket where they belong. More information is available (for frกee) here:

http://www.adalyzer.com/727/ad123450145568

About The Author

Denise Hall is the author of Get Inside the Minds of Scam Artists! Discover the Tricks of Their Trade!, an ebook written to help Internet business owners prevent and combat customer fraud. Visit here for more information: http://www.adalyzer.com/727/avoidfraud

This article may be reprinted in its entirety with this resource box included.

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 13, 2004

by Denise Hall

How to Tap in to the Holiday Publicity Bonanza

How to Tap in to the Holiday Publicity Bonanza

by: Bill Stoller

If your product or service can be given as a gift, a publicity windfall awaits at the end of the year but you need to start working in June. Each December, media outlets cover the newest, the hottest and the most unusual Holiday gifts. The reporters assigned to develop these pieces typically depend on two sources of information:

1. Phone interviews with local store owners

and

2. Press materials that have been sent by publicity seekers.

Let’s deal with Point 1. Here’s a cool trick: In early November, write a letter to stores and major websites that carry your product. Remind them that they may be hearing from journalists soon about hot gift ideas, and request that they consider mentioning your product when that happens. Point out a few reasons why your product is the newest, coolest, best or whatever. Ask the vendor to drop you an email or give you a call if a story results that mentions your product.

Now, on to oldfashioned publicity. When to contact the media depends on the publication or program’s lead time (how far in advance of publication or airing the material is developed). Magazines like Woman’s Day have a lead time up to six months, so get materials to them now. Newspapers have a lead time as short as a week for feature material, so send materials in November. In between are wire services, mediumlead magazines, กinflightก magazines and others. To learn the lead time of a particular media outlet, call the editorial department. If that doesn’t work, try the advertising department.

What you send should be kept simple a press release about your product/service, a pitch letter explaining why it’s such a great gift idea, and, if applicable, a disk with color product photos. See our articles กHow to Write a Great Pitch Letterก http://www.publicityinsider.com/pitch.asp and กHow to Write a Great Press Releaseก http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp for more details.

As you craft the materials, think about where your product/service fits. Based on its nature, cost, rarity or usefulness, it may work with a variety of typical Christmas Gift stories such as: Great Stocking Stuffer Ideas, Gifts for Teenagers, Gifts for the Person Who Has It All, Gifts for Executives, Gifts that Relax, etc. By suggesting a category for your product, rather than simply stating กHere’s a product that would make a nice holiday giftก, you’re making yourself stand out and maybe even giving the journalist an idea for a story angle that he or she wouldn’t have thought about otherwise. Either way, your chances of getting coverage are greatly improved.

About The Author

Bill Stoller, the กPublicity Insiderก, has spent two decades as one of Americaกs top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PRHungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp , heกs sharing for the very first time his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit Billกs exclusive new site: http://www.publicityInsider.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 03, 2003

by Bill Stoller

Does Your Copy Look กFakeก To the Search Engines?

Does Your Copy Look กFakeก To the Search Engines?

by: Karon Thackston

From the early days of search engine optimization, keywords and content have always been vital to achieving your goals. Starting back in the days when we used to shove every slightly relevant keyword into our Meta tags, it has been obvious that search engines love text. The more advanced the engines have gotten over the years, the more complex and sophisticated many writers have gotten with their search engine copywriting.

Supposed formulas, saturation levels, and other mysterious concoctions have been developed to help us outsmart the engines. However, what we should have been doing all along was writing for the visitor first and the engines second. Why? Because creating a site thatกs loved by visitors is a prime factor in linking, ranking, and marketing as a whole. As the engines make great strides with more personalized and efficient searches (such as semantic search) natural search engine optimization writing is even more important.

Rather than just indexing the copy on your site, engines are learning to กunderstandก what a page is about. The ironic thing is, as the search engines get more complex the กformulaก for SEO copywriting is actually getting more simple.

Write Naturally

In the future, search engines will be looking for Web pages that reflect a natural tone with the copy. Is it obvious that keyphrases are being shoved in wherever possible? Does every headline/subhead, image tag, and comment tag have a keyphrase included? Does the copy sound fake, unnatural, and stiff? If so, then spiders and bots will recognize it and possibly flag it as something to be wary of.

Take a look at this lovely piece of copy I found while surfing just the other day. (Iกve replaced the keyphrases used in the original copy with the word กwhereverก so as not to embarrass the site owner.)

Wherever Holiday Rentals

Holiday rentals in Wherever for holidays in Wherever

Wherever holiday rentals directly from the owners. Rent a holiday villa in Wherever or perhaps a 26 bedroom apartment in Wherever. Wherever vacation rentals for holidays in Wherever are easily located by searching the Wherever Holiday website. Wherever Holiday Rentals offer holiday apartments in Wherever and holiday villas.

Find accommodation in Wherever by clicking on the Wherever map or the active links. You will then see holiday rental apartments, villas and townhouses in stunning Wherever accommodation.

Letกs suppose someone walked into your travel agency and asked for help. You would most likely ask what they were looking for. They would reply, กHoliday rentals in Wherever. What can you show me?ก Would you honestly take off on the spiel above? Can you see yourself talking to a real client facetoface and saying, กWe offer Wherever holiday rentals in Wherever and can find you many apartments, villas, and houses in Whereverก? I don’t think so.

Tips for Writing In Natural Language

1) Vary your keywords/phrases. For example, if a keyphrase you particularly want to target is ก14k gold jewelryก consider also using keyphrases like ก14k gold watchesก or กgold wedding bandsก or others along those lines. This will give you a variety of phrases within your copy.

2) Read it out loud. When you read your copy out loud youกll get a better sense of whether it sounds unnatural. If you wouldn’t say, กWe make 14k gold jewelry and have made 14k gold jewelry for 10 years. If you need 14k gold jewelry just view our catalogก out loud, then don’t put it in your copy, either.

3) Break up keyphrases. As searchers get more knowledgeable about finding what they want in the engines, they use longer and longer search queries some of which just don’t make any sense. For instance, I recently had to use the phrase ‘real estate Pittsburg downtownก when writing a page of SEO copy. Since this search string was not easily worked in as that exact phrase, I broke it up. One sentence I used it in said: กWhen looking for commercial real estate in Pittsburg check the downtown listings first for exceptional locations and prices.ก The words are still in the same order with minor breaks in between. When you can’t use a phrase กas isก this is a very viable alternative.

Keep in mind the direction search engine optimization is taking. The closer you can get to writing in natural language, the better off youกll be. It only makes sense to create a site now that will last through the long haul. Especially when that site will have a better chance of favorably appealing to the engines and your visitors.

by Karon Thackston © 2004

http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword

About The Author

Karon is author of ขHow To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy).ข Discover the secrets to creating SEO copy with a perfect balance between keywords and natural language. http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword

IF PUBLISHING ON A WEBSITE, USE THIS RESOURCE BOX:

Karon is author of ขHow To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy).ข Discover the secrets to creating SEO copy with a perfect balance between keywords and natural language with this insightful ereport.

This article was posted on November 20, 2004

by Karon Thackston

Need Ezine Content Think Holidays

Need Ezine Content Think Holidays

by: Jane Tabachnick

Publishing an ezine certainly has its benefits and rewards, but even the most prolific publishers often need more content ideas, topics and graphics.

One of the best resources for newsletter and ezine publishers is holidays; they are a true gift because they can provide an overall theme, a topic, graphics, as well as content. They can add a little spice to your usual, consistent branded newsletter. The best part is that most of the holiday content is free, and it doesn’t have to be in your industry or on your specific newsletter topic.

There are countless holidays to choose from, with varying lengths Mother’s Day, Book Week, American Heart Month.

A common holiday theme is Halloween, which many publishers use as an excuse to add a fun graphic to their ezine. It’s an easy one because Halloween images exist in most clip art collections, many can be found online for free as well as for purchase; custom graphics are always an option. Halloween is a fun holiday that brings out the kid in all of us, and is universal enough that no one would question its appearance in an ezine on almost any subject.

Stepping out of the box, when it comes to use of a holiday theme, American Heart Month provides a good example. This holiday is an obvious choice for a fitness trainer or nutritionist, but can be a great topic for other businesses like an accounting firm.

A few ways in which our sample holiday can provide newsletter content:

Graphics: a heart association logo*; a heart shape; a heartbeat image

Themes/topics: healthy heart/lifestyle, recognizing symptoms of heart problems

Tips: diet, exercise/ lifestyle, checkups, recipes

Public Service: Raise awareness, learn cpr, donate

A business like our accounting firm can provide a public service announcement and they can customize the information to their expertise by providing answers to the following questions:

If you join a health club, is that a taxdeductible expense? A nutritionist? Is installing a gym on site for your employees tax deductible? Did you know improving your health can translate to lower premiums on life insurance?

Questions like these can also be formatted into tips, which can then be offered to other publishers as content, increasing their exposure and further establishing themselves as experts. Can’t find a holiday to suit your business goals? Create one! All you need to do is come up with a theme and a name, and declare it! Who knows, maybe one day Hallmark will immortalize it with a line of cards to send out for your holiday. In any event, have fun and keep those ezines full of celebrations and great content.

Everyone loves an excuse to celebrate so why not be the inviter; the business that follows is an added benefit to the good will you inspire.

*Please make sure you have necessary permission before using an image or content.

About The Author

Jane Tabachnick is an emarketer and email virtuoso. She is the author of Plain Jane’s Promotional Planner 2004 http://www.plainjanesplanner.com, the ultimate resource guide for marketers, retailers, ezine publishers, fundraisers and anyone who needs to generate more business; it contains over 2000 holidays and events each one a promotional opportunity. She is also co creator of Email Virtuoso, dynamic email templates and how to books http://www.emailvirtuoso.com. She can be reached at mail @ plainjanesplanner.com

This article was posted on March 01, 2004

by Jane Tabachnick