I recently had my first successful yard sale. I got to thinking what did I do right this time that caused me to be in the black instead of slightly in the red as in previous years. And then I realized it was the same principles that draw visitors/customers to a website.
1. Affordable Advertising where people interested will see it. I only paid 5.00 for advertising on my local newspaper's website and rest was done by posting on FREE yard sale sites and craig's list.
The same can be done for your website, pay only for advertising that will reach your target audience, where they will be looking (if you are a locally run business - advertise on your local community's websites). And take advantage of all the free advertising available.
i.e. - facebook, twitter, social networks (more searches are done on social networds then google and bing) and websites that make sense for your business that offer free listing. Don't post everywhere and anywhere - this is a red flag to search engines and could cost you ranking.
2. Catch the eye of traffic. For my yard sale, which was on a day when many others in my area were having sales, I posted signs on all the corners leading to my house. In big bold, letters my signs read 25 cents & baby, because I wanted people coming to my sale who would say to themselves "it's only 25 cents so I'll buy a lot" and I also had big baby items to sell. While I got a couple jokesters who were looking for the baby I was selling for 25 cents, almost everyone who came to my sale were people looking for what I had to offer. When posting on the Internet about your business, you want to use the key words that describe what you have to offer, but you also want to do it in a way that will drive your potential customers to YOU, not someone else.
3. Stand out above the rest. In the past I have done yard sales with my sisters who have just as many children as I do, and therefore just as many things to sell. I hate to admit this, but for some reason when my things were placed on the same display as theirs, their things were always chosen to be bought over mine. This year I decided to do the sale myself. How does your business become the only one among the choices? Make it the only choice. Make your website, services and contacting you accessible by doing frequent branded emails with useful information or offers and links to your website and email. Keep posting on social networks, but make it fun and interesting. Consider hosting a webinar where you give an informative presentation in your field.
As always, we can help and you can afford it! See our new services page for help with everything mentioned above.
Sign up for Email Marketing off our site and we will design an email template for FREE to match your business!
1. Affordable Advertising where people interested will see it. I only paid 5.00 for advertising on my local newspaper's website and rest was done by posting on FREE yard sale sites and craig's list.
The same can be done for your website, pay only for advertising that will reach your target audience, where they will be looking (if you are a locally run business - advertise on your local community's websites). And take advantage of all the free advertising available.
i.e. - facebook, twitter, social networks (more searches are done on social networds then google and bing) and websites that make sense for your business that offer free listing. Don't post everywhere and anywhere - this is a red flag to search engines and could cost you ranking.
2. Catch the eye of traffic. For my yard sale, which was on a day when many others in my area were having sales, I posted signs on all the corners leading to my house. In big bold, letters my signs read 25 cents & baby, because I wanted people coming to my sale who would say to themselves "it's only 25 cents so I'll buy a lot" and I also had big baby items to sell. While I got a couple jokesters who were looking for the baby I was selling for 25 cents, almost everyone who came to my sale were people looking for what I had to offer. When posting on the Internet about your business, you want to use the key words that describe what you have to offer, but you also want to do it in a way that will drive your potential customers to YOU, not someone else.
3. Stand out above the rest. In the past I have done yard sales with my sisters who have just as many children as I do, and therefore just as many things to sell. I hate to admit this, but for some reason when my things were placed on the same display as theirs, their things were always chosen to be bought over mine. This year I decided to do the sale myself. How does your business become the only one among the choices? Make it the only choice. Make your website, services and contacting you accessible by doing frequent branded emails with useful information or offers and links to your website and email. Keep posting on social networks, but make it fun and interesting. Consider hosting a webinar where you give an informative presentation in your field.
As always, we can help and you can afford it! See our new services page for help with everything mentioned above.
Sign up for Email Marketing off our site and we will design an email template for FREE to match your business!
