| Vol. 9, issue 10 - issued monthly | October 2010 |
|
In this issue:
|
From the Editor:Boy do I have a packed newsletter this month! We start with a great article on getting ready for the holidays for those of you with a web store. Then I have some great apps for you in the Tips and Tricks section. Be sure to catch the link under Just for Fun or useful on how to make the most of Linked In for your business. Need to smile? Then check out the link on creative programmers. How they did that is just amazing! As always, remember to Surf Safely - use your anti-virus and firewall's! - Michelle “Women are angels. And when someone breaks our wings... |
|
Preparing for a blockbuster holiday season!The holiday season is now only a couple of months away! So nows the time to prepare any festive season promotions for your business. If have a webstore you should already be looking at your sales data for last year. From there, you can determine where you should be focusing your marketing efforts to maximize sales in the lead up to the peak retail season. How long does delivery of your product or service take? It's likely you'll need to close off sales earlier, maybe even weeks earlier, depending on your offering and delivery areas. Consider adding a guarantee or special promotion for those who order early from you. Creating a sense of urgency with deadlines can really help drive sales; however, a late delivery cut-off will appeal to those last-minute shoppers. You should also consider themed pages or categories within your shop, and drive pay-per-click traffic such as Google Adwords there. One tip is that people enjoy gift ideas as well; so perhaps create categories such as For Him, For Her, and so on to help narrow down gift options for customers. Look at promotional activities, such as free gift-wrapping. These cost only a few dollars at the most, and can help seal the deal when it comes to purchasing from your shop. Now is the time to be sending a newsletter to all existing customers. Remind them that the holidays are looming, and that they can reduce their December stress by placing an order with you now for gifts. This has two benefits: money in the bank earlier for you (which you can use to spend on marketing now), and less last-minute hassles for your customers. You could even throw in free shipping if they pre-order before a certain date, say mid November. Look at your competitors -- what are they doing well or badly? Learn from their clever choices, as well as their mistakes, and improve the experience for your customers. Offer gift certificates or exclusive shopping options. Gift certificates are handy stocking fillers. Put together product bundles. Do some of your products often sell well together? Create a special bundle and call it a Christmas or Hanukkah deal. Whatever helps sell more products and reduces your customers anxiety when shopping is a win for both of you! |
||
Tips and TricksHere are some free tools for your business! EvernoteEvernote is a free note-taking application available for Mac, Windows, iPad and iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile (if you're not using one of those, where have you been the past ten years?). It allows you to quickly capture text, photos, videos, or voice recordings. The amazing aspect about Evernote is that it automatically indexes your notes and makes them searchable. I have literally hundreds of notes in a single folder, and can find any note (even a graphic of handwritten text) using the search feature. Google AppsGoogle Apps is a bundle of Google applications under your business domain name. The free version includes Gmail (email), Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Sites. You can have up to 50 users, each with a maximum of about 7.5GB of storage. One of the most powerful features of Google Apps is the ability to collaborate. You can share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and calendars with anyone in your organization (or outside your organization with their Google login), seeing their edits and additions in real-time. It's so much easier being able to share a document with several co-workers and edit it simultaneously, or quickly check everyone's calendar to find a suitable meeting time. The email in Google Apps also uses Gmail's amazing spam filtering, so it virtually eliminates all unwanted mail. If you have been thinking of outsourcing your email or need the ability to collaborate with coworkers, check out Google Apps. |
||
Just for Fun or Useful LinksWhen programmers get creativeOK, someone had WAY too much time on their hands, but this is really cool even if you can't read it. Using Linkedin effectivelyI'm sure I'm not the only one who does not take full advantage of the LinkedIn opportunities. Here are some great tips in this article: http://gigaom.com/collaboration/33-ways-to-use-linkedin-for-business/ |
||