how to promote online shop Archives

by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

If you want someone to do something for you, you have to do something for them. I can’t tell you how many people email me asking me to promote their app or article to my readers and offer me nothing in return. What incentive is there for me to do this? I don’t mean to sound cold, but this is business and the best way to make a business deal happen is to make it mutually beneficial.

Getting Press

For example, with your online shop, don’t just ask a blogger to mention your products. Instead, tell them that you if you are fortunate enough to get a mention, that you will return the favor by mentioning their blog on your website (including a link), and you will promote the mention to all of your customers and social media followers. This works really well with upcoming and coming bloggers looking to increase their readers.

Getting In Store Sales

Don’t just ask a local shop if they will allow you to display your products one weekend in a pop-up type display, but instead tell them you will tell all of your customers, friends and family that you will be at their shop that day, and hence you will be bringing them new customers as well (plus you will give 10% of the profits). Who would say no to that ofer?

Getting Referrals

Don’t just ask customers to recommend you to their friends or on social media, offer them 15% off their next purchase or a free gift if they do so. I constantly reward people who recommend me to others with free advice, free leads or a free product. You will be amazed at how many referrals this brings in when you give an incentive.

Remember, nothing looks worse to a potential partner when you seem oblivious to the fact that their time is valuable too. Make it worth their while and you will get much better results!

a Recent Review

“Gail was amazing and very helpful! I am super happy, my store is attracting more customers. Also learned a lot from Gail and she replied to all my questions promptly. Thank you very much!” Renata at Reniego Jewels. Renata has a gorgeous jewelry shop, I encourage you to check it out!

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by Gail Oliver, Online Marketing Consultant

Happy National Deep Dish Pizza Day! There really is a national day for everything, isn’t there? Here are some other marketing tips you may find helpful for your online shop.

Product Photos

One tip I always give in my Marketing Ebooks is that when shooting your products be sure to show their purpose. In other words, don’t just show a bowl, show a bowl full of something so that potential customers immediately get a purpose for the bowl. Don’t just show a bracelet, show the bracelet on a model or with other bracelets of yours (to upsell more) or with outfit ideas, and so forth. Customers are more likely to look at photos than read the copy, so use your photos to put these “reasons to buy” in their head.

Drunk Online Shopping

Have you heard about “Sip and Click? A new report from Lyst (an e-commerce site) shows a huge spike in women’s online shopping habits late on Friday evenings resulting in 48 percent more orders Saturday at 2 a.m. when compared to Monday night sales. It seems that after 1 a.m., the dollar value of the order goes up 40 percent compared to that same time on a Monday night. The feeling is this spike is due to women going online after having a few drinks and, as such, have more “relaxed” shopping habits. Now, I am not saying to take advantage of these women, but it is good to know that late into Friday evenings a lot of women (not all drunk) are online shopping so you may want to tailor your social media postings for these times.

Social Media Demographics

Who are you trying to reach on social media? According to a new report from Social Media Today, if you want to reach the 18 to 24 age group, SnapChat should be your number one social site as it completely dominates this segment. 25 to 34-year olds rank Instagram as #1, ages 35 to 44 favor Pinterest, for 45 to 54 it is LinkedIN, and for 55+ it is Facebook.

Sales Conversion Rates

While time spent on mobile continues to exceed time spent on desktop (67% vs 21%) according to the Social Media Today report above, a new report from Monetate shows that sales conversion of people shopping online via desktop is 3 times what it is on mobile. In the last quarter of 2015, online shopping from a desktop had a conversion rate of 4.43% while online shopping from a mobile phone had a sales conversion rate of just 1.53%. So do not eliminate all of your desktop advertising just yet.

Trending This Week

April 5 – #NationalDeepDishPizzaDay, #TuesdayTreat
April 6 – #WednesdayWant
April 7 – #MastersWeek
April 8 – #NationalBeerDay
April 9 – #Caturday, #SaturdaySwag
April 10 – #NationalSiblingsDay
April 11 – #NationalPetDay

BONUS TIP: Be sure to update your email signature with any monthly promotions or Mother’s Day offers if you haven’t already.

New Service!

My Quick Fix is perfect for those of you on a tight budget. With my Quick Fix ($19), I will examine your online shop and identify 3 things you need to do/change/fix to drive more traffic and get more sales. If you would like a more extensive evaluation with detailed, step by step recommendations, then check out my Online Shop Critique ($129).