Promoting Yourself

If you don't work at it it isn't going to happen. That's pretty much the truth as far as being found when selling online goes. Oh, sure, you can just sign up with a selling venue like Main Street Mall Online or eBay and you will sell a few things no matter what you do or don't do. But to be really successful, to build your own profitable online business, whether through a selling venue or your own website, you need to work at promoting yourself.

Some sellers don't like doing this. Some actually think it isn't necessary. But if you don't promote your business you have very little change of long term success. If you do continually, and consistently, promote your business you are almost certain to be successful. How you go about it is important, too.

The first thing you can do to promote yourself is to be sure your website pages (or listings) are attractive and contain interesting information. That's a good start to "word of mouth" promotion which, it is said, may be the best form of promotion there is. If people like your site, or find it contains useful information, they will tell others about it. We tend to trust the opinions of our friends and so people who hear about your site, from someone they know and trust, are likely to visit it too.

There are lots of good, free, ways to promote your business to. You don't always have to spend money on commercial ads. Here are a few really great ideas you can pursue:

• Traffic Exchange sites like Really Smart Deals allow you to get visitors to your site based, mostly, on how many sites you visit in return. Some of these sites are flooded by gimmick, spam, and get-rich-quick sites but a few, like this one, are worth the effort. Remember, site owners are buyers too!
• Listings: Obviously you can't sell anything unless your potential customers can't find it. It goes without saying that you need to list some things if you want them to sell. Whether you choose a selling venue or your own website you must have enough items listed to catch and hold the shopper's attention. In marketing we say offer "something or something" instead of "something or nothing". The more somethings you offer, the more you are likely to sell.
• Search Engines: Search engines are powerful tools. More people find what they are looking for on the 'net through the use of search engines than by any other method. Georgia Tech's 10th. World Wide Web Survey found 84.8 percent of 'net visitors find new web sites through the use of search engines. You need to get your store and your listings into search engines in order to be found. If you are not ranked well in the search engines your business may be doomed to failure. Look into what you can do about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a topic covered elsewhere on this site.
• Directories: These are websites that maintain indexes of websites by category and/or content. There are some directories for sellers, others for content providers, still other for collectors, sports, history. Just about any topic or grouping you can imagine. Searching out these directories and listing your store there can be helpful in bringing interested buyers to your store. Here is a good directory to get yourself started with.
• Landing Page: If you market your items or services through a selling venue like Main Street Mall Online, Etsy or eBay, you should also have your own domain name and landing page separate from your selling site. Optimize it for search engines and point your domain to it. Provide links on the page to your selling site(s) and listings. Here are some good examples of basic portals, or landing pages, used by a seller to point to their selling site:
  • Pattern Gate
  • Miss Helene's
• Signature Link: Every seller should provide, where allowed, a link to their store, website, or selling venue listings, in the signature they use in emails, on discussion forums, groups, blogs, member and community sites, etc. If you don't know how to do this you should ask about it. You learned how to add desk top wall paper and a screen saver to your computer and neither of those do anything to promote your business. Using a sig file, which is much easier to do than either wall paper or a screen saver, can bring traffic directly to your store every day.
• Cross Promotions: Working with other sellers you can link your listings with theirs in a format known as cross promotion. You provide a link in your listing to another seller's listing for a complimentary item. For example, let's say you are selling a set of butter knives; link to another seller who is selling strawberry preserves. If you are selling a wedding dress link to a listing for a wedding ring. The seller you link to links back from their listing to yours. Cross promotion within your own listings is good too.
• Discussion Forums: Participating in discussion forums gets your name and, if allowed, your website, store, or listings link, before other members of the forum. Be sure to check the rules covering what you can post and don't spam the forums with ads. Become a participant in topics you know, or those which you want to find out about. Ask questions. Post your thoughts. Share with others. If you are an expert in a field, help others who are not. Set up a daily regimen and visit your forums on a regular basis.
• Email: One of the first things you should do when you open an online store, right after you get it stocked, is to send out an email announcing your new location to all of your friends and relatives. If you are moving from one site to another then include your previous customers in the mailing.
• Community Sites: Community sites, also known as social networking sites, like My Space, Squidoo, Yahoo 360 and others allow you to place information about your store and products online in relatively easy to set up sites. You can promote particular items, seasonal or holiday items, announce sales or product introductions, and provide links back to your store and/or listings. Find as many of these types of sites as you can, set up your own pages, and then change content from time to time. Some community sites let you send out bulk emails or bulletins to other members. Find interesting information about your products or services to share and include a link to your store and/or a new listing.
• In-bound Links: Links pointing to your store from other relevant sites can make a big difference in page rank and search engine placement. Your landing page (see above) and other such pages with links are helpful. Placing banners or text links on other websites (your own, other sellers' sites, community sites, etc.) will all add up to help you. Exchange banners and text links with other sellers. Seek out sites containing similar information and/or products and see if they will exchange links with you. On some sites you can put their links on your store page but some sites (like eBay) severely restrict the placement of external links. Be sure to check the rules for your venue.
• Blogs: Web logs (blogs) are like online diaries or journals. You can write a little every day or so about a single topic, about your store and items for sale or just about something new that comes to mind each time. Include references to products in your store, pictures, and links and people will find their way to you. The more interesting your blog is, the more of an audience you will develop. Don't worry about not writing well. Whatever your style and whatever your content there will be people on the 'net that are interested in reading it. Some of them will become regular readers. Some will become your customers.
• Business Cards: Printed business cards, thank you notes, and/or flyers can be included in the shipping box along with the items you sell, sent out to friends, posted on bulletin boards in stores and restaurants, or just handed out when the opportunity presents itself. Always be prepared to share information about your store with others.

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