Using Web Based Giveaways and Contests To Build Consumer Lists And Revenue
The internet has opened the door for unlimited marketing potential for budding entrepreneurs worldwide. The key to remember is that there is far more potential online than adding links to posts with the hopes that someone shows interest. Today, many have started running promotions that involve giveaways and contests to build relationships and a consumer list of willing recipients interested in what you have to offer. This article will guide you to running a contest or giveaway for growth potential and a reliable niche. Continue reading this article if you wish to learn more and take your reputation management to a whole new level.
Your main goal is to build a contact list of accepting consumers. You do this by asking for contact information in order to enter them in the contest or giveaway. The point to remember is that you will make more from this list for personal use than selling it to others, so respect their privacy and do not share the data with others. Inform them that you will not spam the consumer but will use the information to alert them of occasional deals or specials you may have going on in the future.
Using the privacy standards mentioned above, you can request the consumer opt-in for entry in the contest. This gives you the data needed to build your list and have a foundation for potential sales in the future to build on. You will need to be transparent in the contest so these individuals are aware it is legitimate by announcing winners at a specific site or time. You could even notify these individuals telling them to check a site, like Twitter for the announcement at a specific time while offering the recipient a discounted price on the item if they didn’t win, simply as a thank you for entering.
Obviously when it comes to a contest, the item needs to be something worth winning, like a principle product in your catalog. Save the e-books for freebies when someone orders a principle product. You want them to believe in you, respect that you are an honorable business person and enjoy the product to offer more. We have all given samples to friends and family of products we offer so why not give one out to a consumer who can then promote the win and the product on their social sites and blogs?
Social media is the place to go to promote the contest online. Most people are active on the sites throughout the day via PC and portable devices making this the place to go to get the contest over with your community.
A great way to get the word out is by asking people to promote the contest for additional entries by re-tweeting or re-posting on Facebook. These can be easily tracked and added to your records for the drawing.
Finally, it is a great idea to have the winner send you a review or video based on the product they won. Inform them in the contest terms that you have the right to post the information on your sites to promote consumer satisfaction and future contest.
Using these web based giveaways and contests suggestions to promote your first online contest or giveaway will lead to a successful campaign and additional eyes being drawn your way. This is simply another form of marketing and one that actually results in a positive campaign and experience for the winner who will then inform others about you and your product. Have fun with it and build the list that you know will be an active part of your business for years to come.
How To Create A Website For Your Business That Does Not Drive Traffic Away
It is hard enough to build traffic for your site with the amount of competition online without having a poorly designed e-commerce site. The website is all they see and one that is not user friendly will drive people away in droves. This article will help you focus on some tweaks to your website that will not only stop visitors from leaving, but also keep them coming back due to ease of use. Believe it or not, how your website functions and looks is how a website for your business is perceived, so continue reading to prevent yourself from falling into a common trap that so many others have never escaped from.
Flash intros can be cool and we all want a little pizazz when visitors first stop by our site, but the truth is that this type of intro has become a nightmare for many. First, flash takes a long time to load on a low end DSL signal, so how do you think it loads on portable devices like smart phones and tablets that are using data signals? The point is they take forever, if they load at all, and more people use these devices than PC’s nowadays. Leave the flash for your personal sites and eliminate them from website for your business sites before you eliminate potential consumers from ever visiting again as they simply do not want to wait ten minutes for your page to load.
As with eliminating flash, make sure your web pages load quickly, as in under ten seconds. You can do this by using standard fonts and text with average sized images. 640 x 320 images are large enough for both portable devices and PC’s, so there is no point in going larger. Many of the portable devices have different browsers which is why standard professional fonts are recommended as they will work on most devices without conflict. Keep videos posted on media sites and simply post a link on your pages if you offer them. This will also reduce the time it takes to load and allows the consumer to make the decision to review them if they would like.
Make sure that all of your links work and none are broken. Broken links to a consumer means you do not maintain the site regularly and their orders may not arrive in a timely fashion. It is simply unprofessional for a business owner to have broken links, so ensure they are all functioning properly.
Finally, provide contact information on each page. This often will leave consumers feeling secure in knowing they can reach you from any point in the site and that their comments are always welcome.
These tips are the foundation for the success of your e-commerce site. If you think back to a time that you have visited a site for a product and service and been annoyed by the negatives listed above, you will make the changes immediately. The goal is to keep them coming back for more, not give them a reason to stay away.
It makes all the sense in the world to bring your company online. It gives you a huge potential audience and you can make yourself known worldwide. However, you have to know what you’re doing when marketing your company online. Many novices make mistakes that end up doing more harm than good. This article will go over some /span>reputation management mistakes that you should try your best to avoid.
Online Reputation Management MistakesAn instant turnoff for many people is seeing that they have to register for a website. Even free registration will only take a couple minutes but it is also a hassle. Sometimes you will need a visitor to register (if you have a message board on your website, for example), but you should always consider whether registering is absolutely necessary for the type of website that you run. Requiring registration often will just drive people away from your website and they will go to one of your competitors instead.
You will want to send your customers emails that they are actually interested in receiving. If you send dull emails or emails that just look like spam, your recipients will unsubscribe from your mailing list really quickly. If you send emails that are actually interesting and even personalized they will be much more interested in what you are sending them.
Many companies have this inflated opinion of themselves like they can do no wrong and like they know what to do better than their customers do. What you should actually do is pay close attention to what customers are saying in reviews and comments regarding your products. If you start to notice a trend where people are suggesting a particular change often it may be in your best interest to consider making that change. Making your customers happy will also make you happy since it makes them much more likely to buy from you.
You want your customers to actually be able to have a back and forth conversation with you. Don’t act like a robotic customer service representative when people have questions. Instead, make them feel like their concerns actually matter to you and make them feel like you are doing your best to make them happy.
Make sure your website runs well on everything that is popular. Novice web designers will make the reputation management mistakes of testing a website on one PC browser and then nothing else. What you should actually do is test it on multiple PC browsers, mobile browsers, Mac browsers, Linux browsers, and everything else you can think of. You don’t want to alienate a segment of your potential customers just because your website doesn’t work on the platform that they are using to surf the internet.
Common reputation management mistakes that many marketers make is ignoring a particular marketing strategy because it won’t benefit you in the short-term. The reality is that you should combine short-term and long-term marketing strategies to be the most effective. A marketing strategy may not benefit you today, but months or years down the line you will be very glad that you implemented it.
Reputation management only really works if you understand how to do it the right way. Use the advice your just learned to ensure that your company will actually benefit from an increased presence on the internet.
Many people have a physical brick and mortar business where they generate their revenue and a small website to promote the business and little else. The day has arrived where more and more people are combining the two in order to reach a larger audience, increase awareness and generate additional revenue. Truth be told, even WalMart tells people that certain items can only be bought online when they come in to the store looking for something they need. They have combined both forms of presence and send people to either or to generate revenue. The ability to detect the electronic presence of other users who are connected to the Internet, through a PC or mobile device, and whether they are available in real time. This article will give you an idea on how you can make the most of your physical and electronic presence to the point that both benefit the bottom line at the end of the day so continue reading to learn more.
Physical and Virtual Presence in Electronic CommercePress releases are a great way to draw business to either your electronic business or your physical building. You can issue these where they state something new and exciting will occur at the online site or in your store. The goal is to simply excite people and make them aware in both places of something big happening that they can take part of.
A product feed is necessary for those online to see what you offer and the descriptions of each item. Now in most cases with sites offered by the search engine providers, you simply need to upload your catalog, but with others you will have to have the data file uploaded to your site. If you have a website and decide to offer a product feed, you should also sign up for a merchant account or some way to sell merchandise through an electronic shopping cart. Take advantage of your hard work and use your webpage to move product and generate sales.
Being an authority in your type of business is a plus when you share your knowledge. You can simply post content on your site that is educational and informative. This is where people judge you as an expert and make the decision to visit you when they have a problem for which you offer or sell a solution. You can do a lot to promote your business but little will have the effect on consumers as passing onto them your experience. Make sure the content that you share is of high quality and edited as a person who is knowledgeable could look bad with poor grammar and punctuation.
Finally, you should send consumers specials by email roughly once a week. Too many people are being spammed and they simply get filtered out never to be considered as an option for the consumer again. If you show patience and respect to the customer by keeping email offers to a minimal, they are more than likely going to look towards you for help. It is often best to deliver these during working hours on a Friday to grab the weekend interest as people are off work in many cases and will take the time to look through their email.
As you can see, you can easily promote both of your locations, physical and electronic, by making them work for each other. Hopefully the suggestions offered will allow you the growth you deserve and a long future ahead of you as you build a reliable consumer base from both of your business entities by directing visitors to both and by fulfilling all of their needs.