Category: My Marketing Advice (Page 1 of 26)

Google Search Trends

November 27, 2024 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant / 0 Comments

I want to alert you to a new section on my blog called Google Trends, On this page are the top trending searches for the month, but there are so many ways in which this information can help your small business.

I will give you one example for today.

A top search yesterday was for “What time do stores open on Black Friday?”. Therefore, if you regularly email your customers, this is a great opportunity to answer this question for them, and at the same time, mention any sales you are having. I guarantee you will get a much better open rate.

For example, your email headline would read:

🛍️ 🎅 Opening hours for all major malls in Boston on Black Friday…

Now, this is definitely more for a business with local customers, but there were other searches that could work for an email blast, such as “Best Charities to Donate to this Year” for Giving Tuesday coming up next week.

I will have more ideas on how to use Google Trends to help your small business in future posts.

Skyrocket Your Website Traffic with This Back to School Idea

July 23, 2024 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

back to school promotional ideas Did you know that “School Supplies Giveaway Near Me” is a top Google search every August? No matter what your business – be it a realtor, online store, travel agent, etc. – if you were to do a school supplies giveaway to your local community, for a roughly $100 investment, you can get thousands of local customers checking out your business. Plus, if you ask for their email address on the entry form, you substantially increase your email list.

How to Promote the Giveaway

Post the giveaway on your website or blog and optimize it for the search “School Supplies Giveaway” (the “near me” portion is assumed by Google based on where you are and where the searches are coming from).
Post the giveaway on Instagram, Facebook, and X. (Read: My Instagram Giveaway Tips)
Email the giveaway announcement out to local customers.
Email the giveaway announcement out to local schools and they might relay it on their social media sites.
Send an email to your local newspaper letting them know about the giveaway and they will likely promote it for free.
Send an email to any local mom bloggers or influencers letting them know about the giveaway and they will likely promote it for free.
If you have an office or store front, display the giveaway right in the window.

If you need more creative and affordable ways to promote your small business, try one of my Personal Phone Consultations or check out my 12-Month Marketing Plans.

Try This Easy Marketing Idea to Connect with Customers

May 2, 2024 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

If you need an easy way to connect with your current customers – or an innovative lead magnet to attract new customers – a “Trends Report” is always a great marketing idea. Plus, it can help establish you as an expert in your industry.

I have created four Canva Trend Report templates for various markets – Real Estate Agents, Jewelry Store Owners, Travel Agents and Interior Designers – but you can customize them for any type of business, as well as upload your own photos and trends (I just used these as place holders) along with adding your own colors, branding and contact information.

For example:

a candle business could quarterly release their scent trends
a restaurant could release current food trends
a retail store could release their top trending products
a t-shirt store could release their top design trends
a life coach could release the current wellness trends

They’re ideal to use for:

Email marketing
Newsletters
Blog posts
Social media posts
Handouts at trade shows and other in-person selling events
Inserts in customer packages

Best of all, they are a quick and easy way to get attention!

Two Marketplaces for Artisans

March 10, 2024 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Looking for new places to sell online? I have two.

You may or may not know that craft retailer Michaels now has an online marketplace called, MakerPlace, where small businesses can sell everything from jewelry and purses to pet products and furniture.

But another interesting thing Michaels is doing, is offering in-store appearances for artisans to sell their products directly to shoppers, with no commissions on sales. The appearances also allow the sellers to interact face-to-face with customers, get feedback, and take orders for custom items.

The other online marketplace you might not know about is 1800Flowers Marketplace. They have been offering this marketplace for a while now, and any product that would fit in the “gift” category can be sold here. They seem to particularly like food products, garden decor, baby items and bath & body. But keep in mind their commission rate is high, at 25%.

Cool Product Photography Ideas

February 21, 2024 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

I’ve said this many times, doing something different than your competitors is an easy way to stand out. It can be with the products themselves, or your marketing, such as your marketing copy, headlines, ads, even your photos.

I saw these two product photos, one for a barbecue sauce and one for an art print, and they both jumped out to me because they were non-typical. Now, I know that this quirky style doesn’t suit everyone’s brand, but it is a way to get attention. They are also very social media savvy.

Give it a try and do something more atypical with your product photos.

About Me

A 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are very affordable. Read more about me here and view my services here.

Today’s Hot Marketing Idea

February 14, 2024 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

A top trending Google search today is “Where is Malta?” This is because this was the location profiled in last night’s episode of The Bachelor (please don’t ask me how I know this).

Now, if I were a travel agent, I would be all over this, pushing any vacation packages I had to that region, basically striking while the iron is hot.

I would also be a little more forward thinking and see what other locations the show is going to profile in coming weeks. It turns out they will be: Málaga, Spain to visit the ancient cities Marbella and Ronda, then onto Montreal, Quebec, then Jasper, Alberta and finally Tulum, Mexico.

Trust me, these will all be top searches in the coming weeks, so get your social media and content marketing strategy ready.

For more marketing ideas, see my 12-Month Marketing Plan for Travel Agents.

About Me

A 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are very affordable. Read more about me here and view my services here.

New Ideas for a Side Hustle for 2024

January 13, 2024 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

all new side hustle ideas 2024 Happy 2024!

If you are looking for a side hustle this year, I have a few ideas for you based on recent rising search trends. They all involve going the “consultant” route and using your professional skills to provide services.

The Most In-Demand Consultants for 2024

User Experience Consultant
Medical Legal Consultant
Healthcare Quality Consultant
WordPress Consultant
Human Resources Consultant
Recruitment Consultant
Sleep Consultant
Leasing Consultant
Nursing Consultant

Most consultants charge anywhere from $100 to $200 an hour, making it ideal for a side hustle, and you can advertise your consulting business on Upwork, Fiverr, and LinkedIn.

About Me

A 20+ year marketing professional and small business consultant, all of my services are very affordable. Read more about me here and view my services here.

Why You Need a Brand Story

September 12, 2023 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Today’s small businesses really need that personalization factor in order to connect with potential customers and secure their business … and a brand story can do just that. I have to be honest, the About Me section is one of the first places I go to on a website before I even think about buying.

why you need a Brand Story

A brand story is a great way to make a connection by sharing information about you and your business story, and really help to humanize your brand to potential customers and create a sense of trust and comfort in buying from you. Don’t you want to know who you are buying from?

It can be a powerful marketing tool that makes your brand more memorable and differentiates you from your competition. But a lot of people do not write them correctly.

First Person Only!

The first big mistake business owners make when writing their brand story is writing it in the third person. Big no-no! You don’t want to sound like some far away, shadowy figure who is above talking to their customers. How many times have you been to a restaurant and the owner comes around to the table? It makes a difference. So, write it in first person if you want to make that connection.

A Little Background Info

Then you need to give a little background on why you started the business, its mission, its values, and what qualifies you for this business. You want to show your accomplishments, so it looks like you know what you’re doing, but without seeming like you’re bragging.

Talk to Your Target Audience

But, most importantly, you want to show that you understand your target customer – their wants, their needs, what they value – because they want to buy from someone who gets them.

Call to Action

Finally, you want to end your brand story with a call to action. Nothing too gimmicky, just suggest they can reach out to you by email, phone, text or even just click over to your products/services page to learn more.

An engaging and effectively written brand story can turn potential customers into real customers. If you are in need one, be sure to see my Brand Story Writing Service or email me at attentiongetting@gmail.com to see samples I have written for others.

Poor Etsy Sales? This Is What To Sell on Etsy

July 22, 2023 / Gail Oliver, Online Small Business Consultant

Are your sales on Etsy not doing so hot? A lot of the time, success on Etsy is really based on WHAT you sell.

Click to download

Customer Success Story

When I consult for an Etsy shop, analyzing their product line is a large part of it, where I try to find more lucrative product niches for their shop, including product niches that are growing and ones that are about to take off.

For example, a few years back I was consulting for a scented candle shop on Etsy. In doing my research for them, I saw a breakout Google search for “vanilla cashmere candles”. At the time, there were less than 100 listings on Etsy for a vanilla cashmere scented candle, so I convinced them to quickly add this candle to the shop, which we then optimized for SEO, landing it on the first page of search results, and the candle quickly became their best seller.

My new ebook What to Sell on Etsy outlines (in easy to read chart form), key sales opportunities by looking at products that are currently highly searched but have a low number of listings on Etsy. In other words, high demand with low supply.

In Demand Products on Etsy with Little Competition

Another example. You might think that the art category on Etsy is completely saturated. However, there are 15,000 searches on Google each month for “romanticism art” and yet only 4,000 listings on Etsy. That’s an opportunity.

Same with “yoga posters”. There’s over 165,000 Google searches a month, but only 21,000 listings on Etsy.

Download my Best Seller!

Another example, is “flared yoga pants”. Over 18,000 Google searches a month, yet under 2,000 listings on Etsy. If you’re a print on demand shop, I would be contacting my supplier today about getting flared yoga pants in my shop!

The goal is to also make sure you are selling the right product within the segment.

For example, there are a whopping 436,000 listings on Etsy for “summer linen dress” even though it is only searched 4,000 times a month. However, there are only 3,500 Etsy listings for “linen overalls”, which gets twice as many monthly searches. Not to mention that the average price for linen overalls on Etsy is US$100 compared to US$60 for a summer linen dress. Therefore, why not sell something that not only is MORE in demand with LESS competition, and has a HIGHER price point?

Another huge opportunity I identified is for floating shelves, with over 246,000 monthly searches, yet only 32,928 listings on Etsy.

What Else to Sell on Etsy Right Now

A few more of the 200+ product niches I found:

Gold Apple Watch Bands
Shower Steamers
Floating Candles
Crystal Advent Calendars
Halloween Costumes for Dogs
“Most Likely To” Christmas Shirts
Blanket Hoodies

Best Seller! Click to download!

I share all of this research in my new download, What to Sell on Etsy. You will love this ebook because I did extensive research on some of the top product niches on Etsy, including reviewing search data from Etsy, Amazon, Google Shopping, Google Trends and a few other SEO tools, all to discover over 200 opportunities in over 40 top Etsy product categories. where there is HIGH product demand but LOW supply.

Discover 200+ Product Opportunities on Etsy!

Also read: A Few Highlights from my Etsy Holiday Sales Planner.

Category: My Marketing Advice (Page 1 of 26)

Google Search Trends