Category: Trends (Page 1 of 2)

Best Online Side Hustles for Teachers

August 17, 2022 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

Are you a teacher looking to make more money in your spare time? One of the best ways is to sell your knowledge.

For example, there are two shops on Etsy making thousands of dollars a month selling their study notes from nursing college. Their study note products range in price anywhere from $50 to over $200, and they are getting it! What seems to be resonating with buyers is the realistic handwritten, note-like layout. Being a teacher, I’m sure you have study notes like this. Keep reading and I’ll tell you what and how to sell them, but here are some ways to package them:

Educational Products for Teachers to Sell

Study Notes for Students in Teacher’s College (for every year & every subject)
Study Notes for Elementary School Students (for every grade & every subject)
Study Notes for Middle School Students (for every grade & every subject)
Study Notes for High School Students (for every grade & every subject)
Lesson Plans for Home Schoolers (for every grade & subject)

Educations Products That Are Trending

Nursing Study Notes for Sale

You can also look at Google Trends to see the type of educational materials people are looking for. For example, this past week these were top searches, and all of these could be How-To Guides:

How to teach phonics?
How to teach reading comprehension?
How to teach sight words?
How to teach phonemic awareness?
How to teach prosody in reading?

How and Where to Sell

If you wish to sell your study notes and lesson plans digitally all you have to do is scan your notes and turn them into a PDF for customers to download, and then sell on Etsy or Gumroad.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD ON ETSY

If you also wish to sell them in printed form, you can do this through a print fulfilment company like Printify, where they will handle everything, even the shipping. But you still need a storefront like Etsy or Gumroad.

If you have no idea how to start your side hustle, I highly recommend downloading my best-selling How to Start a Small Business Planner. It will help you easily get your business quickly up and running with step-by-step planning pages and checklists with everything you need to do. It even includes a hyperlinked list of print fulfillment companies and an Etsy set up checklist saving you valuable time.

The possibilities are endless, and you likely already have the materials. If you have certain knowledge, study or learning tips that work, why not sell them!

Decorate Your Classroom with $2 Printables!

About Me

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD ON ETSY

With 20+ years in marketing, my advice has appeared in publications from the New York Times to Success Magazine. My blog was chosen by AmericanExpress Open Forum (the people behind Small Business Saturday) as one of their “Top 10 Small Business Blogs“. I am also a contributor at Business2Community.com and a Small Business Expert at SheKnows.com, the #1 Women’s Lifestyle website. I have gotten my clients coverage in Real Simple, House Beautiful, Apartment Therapy, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Glamour, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride, Martha Stewart, Buzzfeed, just to name a few.

SEO Tips from the Week’s Top Google Searches

June 20, 2022 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

If you need some SEO Tips related to Top Google Searches, one thing I do is regularly scan Google Trends reports. I’m always interested in how people are searching so I can tailor my own SEO to take advantage. seo tips top google searches

It doesn’t matter what type of small business you are, you can tailor the SEO of the products and services you sell AND/OR tailor the title of your business’ blog posts to take advantage of these searches and drive more traffic.

Here’s What to Do

For example, if you’re a realtor with a company blog, you could optimize a blog post for one of the top searches below, such as, “Local Fathers Day Restaurant Specials“. This will drive a lot of local traffic to your blog, who will then end up seeing your business and listings.

Plus, you can update the blog post year after year, and if the post becomes popular enough, you could even charge an ad fee to restaurants to be mentioned. Now it’s making money for you as well!

Top Father’s Day Searches This Week

Today’s Google Trends report gave the top Father’s Day searches from the past week, and, again, these searches can be used for most types of small businesses.

For example, people tend to always search the basics:

When is Father’s Day 2022?
What to get dad for Father’s Day?
What to write in a Father’s Day card?
What is Father’s Day?
Where to go for Father’s Day?
Fathers day jokes
Fathers day poems from wife

Then they will search for gift ideas:

Father’s Day gift for grandpa
Father’s Day gift for son
Father’s Day gift for expecting fathers
Father’s Day gift for husband
Father’s Day gift for step dad
Last minute Father’s Day gift ideas

They will also get very specific to the “type” of dad:

Gifts for dads who like yard work
Gifts for dads who like cars
Gifts for dads who like to cook
Gifts for dads who like to build
Gifts for dads who like bourbon

Other things people will search:

Fathers day events near me
Fathers day brunch near me
Fathers day restaurant specials near me
Fathers day reservations

There will always be parallels between these searches and other big shopping occasions, like Mother’s Day, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc, so try to optimize for these searches at those times of years as well.

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Top August Sales Opportunities

July 31, 2018 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, E-commerce Marketing Consultant

If you thought your sales were slow in July, relax, August is here and presenting your store with quite a few sales opportunities before the big holiday buying season starts in October.

OnlineShopLove.com

MY ETSY STORE

MY SELZ STORE

Has Your Business Jumped on the Annual “Pumpkin Spice” Trend?

September 18, 2014 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

by Gail Oliver, Small Business Marketing Consultant

As I told you in my September Marketing Insider Report, when Starbucks came out with their Pumpkin Spice Latte for the first time in September 2003, little did they know that it would set off a seasonal flavor marketing trend. As you can see from the article featured in the photo below on People.com, the release of pumpkin spice products, for a limited time each fall, is a hot trend other companies are starting to cash in on.

All Types of Pumpkin Spice Products

From vodka to hummus to chewing gum to yogurt, it seems like every food company, drink company and fast food restaurant has some sort of pumpkin spice product.

This hot trend doesn’t just have to be for food products. Candles, home fragrance sprays, makeup products, lip balms, body washes, hand lotions, even dog biscuits all have pumpkin spice offerings. Last week, just as a joke, someone even circulated a photo of a Durex pumpkin spice condom on social media (it doesn’t really exist but it shows you how hot a topic it is).

Do These Pumpkin Spice Products Sell?

You are probably wondering the business logic behind this trend, in that do these products sell well? The lattes do. Starbucks has sold over 200 million pumpkin spice lattes in 11 years and even moved the release date up to August 26th this year. As for the other products shown here, it doesn’t really matter. More than likely, these products were conceived to get into seasonal editorial, such as the article above.

These products will also get circulated on social media because it is a timely topic everyone is talking about with #PumpkinSpiceLatte and #PumpkinEverything trending on Twitter and Instagram. So in other words, at very least, it results in publicity.

Are you planning to try any of these products or offer some of your own, even if just for a limited time? I know if EOS came up with a pumpkin spice lip balm, I probably would buy a few.

What seasonal flavor trend do you think will be dominating products next month? My bet is on candy cane.

ATTENTION GETTING ON ETSY

Google Trends for Search 2022

October 20, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Do you use Google Trends for search 2022 data? You should because it is a valuable tool for your small business.

Google Trends will tell you the top searches of the day, and you can use this for content for your blog posts and social media posts.

For example, below is actual data from Google Trends for January 2022. But you will see that a lot of these searches will likely be the same next January. Therefore, you can use this valuable date year after year:

Top Google Trends New Years Resolutions

“Journaling”
“Quit Smoking”
“Save Money”
“Habit Tracker”

Top Google Trends Types of New Year’s Resolutions

Financial new year’s resolutions
Healthy new year’s resolutions
Professional new year’s resolutions
Work new year’s resolutions
Team building new year’s resolutions

Top Google Trends for Search 2022 for Journaling

Journaling for mental health
Journaling for anxiety
Journaling for depression
Journaling for stress relief
Journaling for people with autism

Top Google Trends for Search 2022 for Fitness

bicycle crunches
russian twist
free workout plans
free exercise apps
indoor rower

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Is Your Online Shop Taking Advantage of the Summer Rush?

June 10, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

How are your online summer sales?

When looking at the top retailers online, I noticed one reoccurring theme that you may want to add to your shop – and it is “Summer“. Every major store right now is promoting summer items, sales, and more, and you should jump on board as well.

Most Popular Summer Headlines

This is a way to connect with visitors to your shop as to what their needs are right now. It is also an opportunity to get into editorial (more immediate media like blogs and newspapers) as these are the types of articles they are writing about, not to mention capitalizing on any trending summer hash tags or themes on social media.

Even looking at the HARO (Help a Reporter Out) requests today, I saw the summer themes consistently popping up in editorial requests:

Looking for Five Great Travel Products
Makeup tips for an Outdoor Wedding
Beach Makeup Tips
Keeping Your Party Business Afloat This Summer
Products to Turn Your Home into a Relaxing Seaside Retreat
Adorable Swimsuits for Little Girls
Best Beach Bags for Summer
Family Vacation Saving Tips

So take a look at your shop and see if you can categorize your products into one of these summer trends, to take advantage of the next several weeks of seasonal buying habits.

Other Summer Trends

Fourth of July
Vacations
Festivals
Beach
Fireworks
Barbecues
End of School
Weddings
Swimsuits

Exploit the summer trend by offering your own summer sale, change-up your landing page with a summer theme, bring to the forefront items that are in this vein, and tailor your social media postings to fall in line with the trend as well.

FINAL WORD: It is important to make sure that your online store is always in step with what buyers’ current needs are to avoid seasonal slowdowns. Marketing is all about taking advantage of the latest opportunities and finding a way to apply them to your business.

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Do you need your Brand Story written or an SEO-Optimized Blog Post or a Personalized Business Consultation? As a 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are super affordable.

I have consulted for thousands of small businesses since 2012, and my advice has been featured in the NY Times, Success Magazine, Yahoo Business, American Express, Big Commerce, Business2Community to name a few – so this is professional advice you can trust!

My Publicity Pitch service has also gotten my clients featured in Real Simple Magazine, Apartment Therapy, House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Houzz, Martha Stewart, Glamour Magazine, LONNY, DesignMilk, Emmaline Bride,– just to name a few.

Popular Call to Action Examples by Online Retailers

May 21, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

I was noticing some very effective call to action examples by some popular online retailers. They use these tactics not only to get customers to buy, but to keep them on their site longer, get more information from them, and try to get them coming back.

Here are some tactics the top online retailers use that you may want to consider implementing on your site.

Tactics to Upsell More Products

Along the bottom of a product page, you will see retailers use headings such as:

Related Searches
Customers Who Bought This Also Purchased
Customers Who Viewed This Also Viewed
You May Also Like
Complete the Look (show more product photos)
Also in this Collection
Add to Wish List
Favorite ♥
Your Recent History
Top Rated
Email to a Friend
Buy any 2 for $25
New Arrivals

Tactics to Get Customers’ Information

On the home or landing page, online retailers will use these tactics:

Email Sign-up
Exclusive Offers
Enter our Contest to Win!
Need Help? Live Chat
Give Us Feedback
Write a Review
Join our Points Program
Invite friends get $15

Tactics to Get Customers to Buy Today

The home page also typically features sales or other incentives to buy now:

Today’s is 10% off Tuesday
New Reductions
Free Shipping Today Only
Back in Stock (making it sound like it sells out fast)
Ending Soon

Tactics to Encourage Social Media Participation

Getting potential customers to either follow you or promote you on social media:

Connect with Us (list all the social media icons)
Share
Tell your Friends on Facebook (the Facebook post box is right there)
Pin It ! (not the regular Pin It icon, but their own neon version with an arrow)
View our Most Popular Pins
View Instagram Pics
Submit an Instagram Pic
Download our iPhone app

Tactics to Keep Customers on Their Site

Online stores are becoming content driven, with blogs and other information that will facilitate the buying decision:

Get Inspired with These Ideas!
Our Designers Favorite Picks
Gift Guide
Upcoming Events
Stylebooks / Cookbooks
Our Story

About Me

New Product Ideas: Ways to Find Inspiration for

April 16, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Looking for new product ideas? Everyone wants to come up with that next great product. So how do you find the innovator in you and either start or identify that next big trend? Try these tips to get inspired.

Find Inspiration in Commercial Establishments

I’m sure you have noticed the huge “chalkboard trend” the last few years, whether it is in home decor products or wedding products or graphic design, do you wonder how it got started? Think of the proliferation of Starbucks and other coffee shops and how they turned their everyday chalkboard menus into works of art. The same trend is now with subway or transit signs. You’ve looked at these signs for years, but suddenly they have become decor chic.

Was it Starbucks Menu Boards that Launched the Current Chalkboard Trend?

So go to the downtown core of your city and check out:

restaurants
retail shops
coffee shops
churches
museums
libraries
historical buildings

and really look at everything. From the art on the walls to signage to light fixtures to packaging – try to note interesting design details and how you can apply to the types of products you create.

Find Inspiration in other Eras

Another big product of the last few years has been the slogan, “Keep Calm and Carry On“, a propaganda poster made by the British government in 1939 during the start of the Second World War. People love inspirational sayings and slogans, so when a British bookstore rediscovered this poster back in 2000, it launched a whole slew of products and reworkings of the slogan itself.

So go to a library or bookstore and pull out every pictorial book you can on every decade and really study the photos.
Ask to look in your parents or grand parents’ attics (or just look around their homes) to see memorabilia from their era.
Take a look at their old photo albums, even their wedding album.
Watch movies and television shows from other decades, but with an eye for detail. Don’t focus on the story, but instead look at the set design, the wardrobe, and see what can inspire you.

Find Inspiration in Currently Popular Products

A lot of inspiration can come from creating products as add-ons to currently top selling products. iPhone cases came about because of the popularity of the iPhone and now there are over 160,000 iPhone cases listed on Etsy alone.

All the different accessory products for the iPhone

Take a journey over to Amazon.com and see what the most popular products are in any category – from food to baby to beauty to jewelry to gadgets – and see if you can find inspiration for a complimentary product for one of these top sellers. You now have a huge market to sell to.

See What People are Asking

If you go to Google and in the search box type “Where Can I Find...” or “How Do I….” and other types of open ended questions, you will get ideas for product that people want, but might not exist.

The number one reason people develop a product is to solve a problem, so find out what problems people are searching to solve.

Sometimes all you have to do is stop and look around you to get inspiration. There are obviously many more ways to get inspired, these are just a few to get you started.

Google Search Phrases On The Rise

March 19, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

It is really important to always keep an eye on Google search phrases on the rise.

I love looking at Google Trends and seeing which search phrases are popular, but also which ones are on the rise. The great thing about Google Trends is you can customize it by country and by time period (i.e. last 7 days), so it is a great tool to keep on top of the marketplace. So I entered some product categories to see what the top rising search phrases were, for the last 3 months, worldwide.

About Me

I also have a wide variety of business & marketing downloads you can check out at my Shopify store.

How to Predict Product Trends Before They Happen

March 4, 2013 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Want to know how to predict product trends before they happen?

In December, Pantone chose Emerald Green to be its color of the year. Do you think it had anything to do with the fact that the movie, Oz, the Great and Powerful was coming out in spring, in which Emerald Green plays a large part in the story? Just how much does pop culture influence trends in fashion and other types of product categories, such as Home, Wedding, Kids and Lifestyle.

Movies Influence Product Trends

When the Great Gatsby movie was scheduled to come out last fall (it has been delayed to this spring), the 1920s vintage trend starting showing up in early 2012. That was also helped along by the movie The Artist, another 1920s period film, which won the Academy award for best film in 2012 and television shows like Downtown Abbey.

If you were wondering why baroque styles came back into fashion two years ago and has stayed, you just had to look at the movies Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Anna Karenina (2012), Mirror Mirror (2012), Lincoln (2012) Jane Eyre (2011) and Alice in Wonderland (2010) to see the influence.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is obviously focused on Smaug the dragon and the new, very popular trailer for Game of Thrones also features a dragon. So does this mean that dragons will be one of the creatures of choice in 2013/2014?

What about human-type monsters? Remember how popular vampires have been the last few years? Well that looks to be overtaken by zombies, thanks to movies like ParaNorman, the upcoming movie, World War Z and the popular TV show, The Walking Dead.

Books Influence Product Trends

Books are an influence as well. Studs and spikes are showing up in both fashion, jewelry and home decor, citing a definite 50 Shades of Grey influence.

So if you want to get in on a trend before it starts, keep an eye on the things in pop culture that influence us – movies, books, television, music, world events, technology, and see what commonality you can find.

FINAL WORD: While product trends don’t have a long shelf life, they do help to get you publicity (because editors only want to write about what everyone is talking about) and publicity gets people into your shop to check out what else you offer.

★ THIS BLOG POST MADE THE NY TIMES – THIS WEEK IN SMALL BUSINESS

About Me

I also have a wide variety of business & marketing downloads you can check out at my Shopify store.

Educational Products for Teachers to Sell

Educations Products That Are Trending

How and Where to Sell

Decorate Your Classroom with $2 Printables!

About Me

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Here’s What to Do

Top Father’s Day Searches This Week

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Top Back to School Searches

Top Dorm Decor Searches

Top Fall Product Searches

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All Types of Pumpkin Spice Products

Do These Pumpkin Spice Products Sell?

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Top Google Trends New Years Resolutions

Top Google Trends Questions on New Year’s Resolutions

Top Google Trends Types of New Year’s Resolutions

Top Google Trends for Search 2022 for Journaling

Top Google Trends Searches 2022 for Organizing

Top Google Trends Searches 2022 for Exercise Questions

Top Google Trends Searches 2022 for “How to Make Healthy” Questions

Top Google Trends for Search 2022 for Fitness

Top Searches 2022 for Wedding Rings

Top Workout Trend Searches

Top Snow Related Google Searches

More Google Trends Articles

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Tactics to Upsell More Products

Tactics to Get Customers’ Information

Tactics to Get Customers to Buy Today

Tactics to Encourage Social Media Participation

Tactics to Keep Customers on Their Site

About Me

More Articles

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Find Inspiration in Commercial Establishments

Find Inspiration in other Eras

Find Inspiration in Currently Popular Products

See What People are Asking

More Product Idea Articles:

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Top Rising Google Searches for Jewelry

Top Rising Google Searches for Wedding Invitations

Top Rising Google Searches for Baby Clothes

Top Rising Google Searches for Art

Top Rising Google Searches for Vintage

Top Rising Google Searches for Home Products

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Movies Influence Product Trends

Books Influence Product Trends

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