Article Surfing Archive

Marketing a business entails targeting the right people, giving them what they want, and then making it the absolute best it can be. But getting people to your site is only part of the task. You need to make your offer desirable during your campaign and when they arrive at your site.

The tips I'm about to share have been used by successful marketers for many years. How well you incorporate them into your marketing campaign will help determine your success. Professionalism should always be number one on your list.

1. Give your prospects extra incentives so they will order quicker. It could be free shipping, a faster shipping option, free gift wrapping, or a longer guarantee. The more impact you can deliver with your offer, the more likely you will get that sale. People will be overwhelmed by a package that includes several bonuses and incredibly valuable content. By over delivering, you earn their respect, not only for this sale, but for your future offers.

2. Make your small business look big on the world wide web. Design your web site using professional graphics, ordering systems, and organized layouts. Nothing screams amateur than pages that run off the side of the screen, graphics that are slow to download, multi-colored text and an overall disorganized design. This reflects heavily on whether the person will buy, or even want to continue investigating your offer.

3. Attract a lot more customers by giving them clear ordering instructions. Give them all the information they need so they can complete their order easily. This includes giving them multiple payment methods, such as offering multiple credit cards, calling into a 1-800 number or mailing in their order with payment. A delay at this stage can cost you the sale.

4. Give your customers buying incentives so they'll make repeat purchases. Offer them discounts, free gifts, bonus points, etc. Once they've bought from you, they will likely buy again, so offering them these extras with further convince them to buy from you and not from your competitor.

5. Tell people about your site whenever you get a chance. Those people will tell other people and so on. It's a cheap way to multiply your advertising. Get your URL and ad printed on your sweater or t-shirt so you advertise whenever you go out. Done smartly, this method can trigger people to ask questions about your business. Get a bunch of shirts or ball caps printed with your message and pass them out at the local street sale or at business networking meetings and conferences.

6. Write and send press releases for your web site. Use strong headlines, make it newsworthy, and tell the editors why their readers would like it. If you can create a sense of importance and can show editors how their readers will benefit from finding this article in their newspaper, it will get published.

7. Use a lot of headlines on your web site and ezine. Some types of headlines are free offers, questions, problem solvers, sales, and statistics. Headlines help to break up the copy on long sales letters, making reading them less intimidating. Make your main headline larger than the rest. Try to keep them punchy so they really make your readers think about reading on and buying your product.

8. Design graphics, templates, buttons and banner ads for other sites. Allow people to use them in exchange for your web link on their home page. Although banners are not as popular as they once were, they can still trigger clicks to your offer because they stand out from the rest of the page's content.

9. Use time-saving promotional software. Find ways to automate your search engine submissions, posting to online classified sites, article submissions, etc. You will save considerable time using these services. Many are free, but paid article submission sites are definitely worth the price, especially when you are submitting to thousands of e-zines and web sites. The small fee will save you from a significantly labor-intensive task.

Copyright 2005 Sylvia Dickens