How to Boost Your Online Business?

The popularity of online shopping continues to grow and grow. With so many online stores selling similar products, standing out in the online shopping world is a must. Here’s how to boost your business and stand out from the crowd.

• Develop an SEO campaign. Keywords will direct traffic to your website.  When a customer places keywords in a search engine, using the right keywords will place you on top of the competition.
• Develop a user-friendly website. A user-friendly website should load quickly and be easy to navigate. If a potential customer becomes frustrated with the loading time or has difficulty navigating your online store, they are likely to move on to the next site.
• Make a deal no one can refuse. Offer free shipping, sales, clearance items, free gifts with purchase and promotional codes. Every consumer loves a good sale.
• Use e-mail marketing. Let loyal customers know about your sales and promotions. Use e-mail marketing to send sale reminders, promotional codes and information on new products.
• Use social media. Facebook and Twitter is a great way to get your name out there. You can use these media outlets for promotions and lead generation. Offer contests through the use of social media.
• Create a blog. Let shoppers know what your company is all about. Use a blog to explain company events and to mark company milestones. Blogs can also provide reviews and demonstrations of products for sale on your website.

Holiday Shopping Tips

It’s November! November can only mean one thing; the temperature is dropping in most parts of the country, it’s time to prepare the Thanksgiving turkey, and of course it is time to begin think about the holiday shopping season. Whether you hate or love holiday shopping, everyone wants to find a great deal. From shopping early, to beating the holiday crowds, and shopping online, there are many tips, hints, and tricks that can help get the most bang for your buck. Here are some of our favorite (and most useful) tips:

Window Shop. If you are an avid shopper, window shopping may not sound like much fun at all. However, window shopping is a great way to get the best price on the items you are looking for. Shop around. Take notes if you have to. See what stores offer the best price, the best promotion, the best coupons, or even the lowest interest rate on a credit card if you will be placing your holiday purchases on your credit cards this holiday season.

Shop Online. This can even be closely tied in with window shopping. Use your notes from window shopping to do some price comparison shopping online. Should you choose to purchase online, you no longer have to worry about a product not looking the same way it is pictured. With product zoom and spin, online shoppers get a life-like look at a product without having to ever step foot inside a store. A lot of times, you can get a better deal online. Even check out Ebay. Ebay offers a lot of brand new items at competitive pricing. Just be careful to check the reputation of the seller and ensure that the product you are purchasing is indeed what you are looking for. Ask the seller questions if you need to. Especially when purchasing designer items, this will help you avoid purchasing a knock off. Look at the seller’s feedback. Word of mouth from previous buyers is often the best lead into making an informed decision to buy from a particular seller.

Discounts. Use coupons and discount codes. Coupons and discount codes can often become your best friend this holiday shopping season. A majority of retailers offer some sort of coupon or discount code during the holiday season. Discount and promotional codes can provide a shopper with free shipping, a percentage off, a dollar amount off, a free gift with purchase, a discount on your next purchase, and much more. Take advantage of any way you can obtain discount codes. Sign up for e-mail lists, mailing lists, and mobile lists with the stores you know you are likely to be frequenting this holiday season. Another way to get a discount code is to complete customer satisfaction surveys that are frequently found on receipts. A five minute phone or internet survey can provide you with a substantial discount. Generally speaking, whatever discounts a retailer offers by taking a customer satisfaction survey is well worth the five minutes of your time. As mobile shopping becomes more and more of a trend, you are now able to shop on the go and experience the features you would as if you were shopping online or in-stores. For instance, with mobile phone applications build by top interactive development companies, you are able to zoom, spin, pan, and see every angle of a product before you hit purchase.

Hold off on some items. If you are planning on shopping for clothing this holiday season, sometimes not buying early may be your best bet. A lot of retail stores geared towards teenagers, kids, and the under 30 crowd, put their holiday collections out very early. When they do this, this generally means their spring collections will be out near Christmas eve if not the week before. Retailers always work ahead. When they work ahead, they have to clear out the previous ‘ collection even we are technically still in that season. What does this mean for the shopper? You can get the holiday collection merchandise significantly discounted if you hold off. Go ahead and window shop, but buy later. This is one time when the last minute shopper gets the best deal.

What is Rich Media?

Rich media is a term that is synonymous with interactive media. Interactive media generally refers to products or services that are found on digital computer-based system, which responses to the actions of users by presenting content such as text, animation, graphics, audio, video, etc.

Rich media is a welcome change from the older, more mainstream media solutions. By using rich media, companies can create one of a kind ways to draw consumers in. Rich media can be used online or even through mobile devices.

Rich media can be a streaming video with a scene from a movie or television show, an imaged mouse cursor, a bannered ad that captures the user’s filled-in person information, ads that change when a user scrolls over them. Simply put, rich media is a means of interacting with the user. The possibilities for interaction are endless. Companies have more creative freedom and the power to make their advertisements pop out to the user.

Rich media advertisements drive and measure the engagement of their users. Rich media can send a targeted message to specific users paged on demographics and other online habits. By using rich media, companies are able to decide what works and does not work as an advertising or marketing method.

Rich Media can include:

• High quality images.
• Multiple streaming videos.
• Videos recorded from a webcam or smartphone.
• The use of Twitter.
• Using Facebook to post images and video.
• Information collection from the user.

Rich media platforms (such as offered by Preface Media) can:

• Improve the overall online of experience of customers.
• Aid in boosting sales.
• Provide a defined company image.

Rich media is a powerful advertising tool. Companies, large and small, should not be afraid to explore their rich media options. Rich media is effective, creative, engaging, and the results can easily be measured.

Need help creating a rich media campaign? Contact Preface Media. Let Preface Media create your rich media solution.

Testing Rich Media

Testing your rich media site is a great way to gain invaluable feedback and insights into what potential consumers want. What better way to test the functionality of your rich media than allowing actual consumers to access the beta version of your site?

By allowing actual consumers to test the beta version of your rich media site, feedback and insights are 100% accurate. Additionally, using actual or potential customers to test of the functionality of a rich media pages costs a company nothing.

A great way to get customers involved in testing a beta site is to use social media. Twitter followers and Facebook fans make for great test markets. Social media is free and will provide you with a large number of individuals from diverse backgrounds to partake in your test. Keep in mind that just because someone is your friend or follower on a social media site, it does not mean that they have actually used your products before. This is also a great way to get potential customers interested in purchasing from you. Place a link on your social media page to your beta site. This will direct fans and followers to take a look at the beta site. Encourage users to post comments about your rich media beta site. Ask them what they like, what they don’t like, and what they feel could be approved upon.

Here’s one example. Javis Davis offered Facebook users the opportunity to test their beta site. By providing users with a secret and important duty of testing their beta site, Javis Davis got quit the response. This small Alabama bedding store had fans engaged and excited to be participating. Javis Davis treated fans to a preview of it’s new collection and allowed them to use a design configurator to experiment with different fabrics and styles.

Testing rich media sites using social media is an effective and affordable means of getting the job done. Don’t have a rich media page? Visit Preface Media’s Rich Media Solutions.

Is Your Site Ready for Christmas?

With this year expected to set records in e-commerce spending, online retailers will need to be prepared. According to Channel Advisor’s 2010 Consumer Shopping Habits Survey, 58% of consumers stated that they are very likely to purchase their holiday gifts online this season. If you have an eCommerce site, you cannot let anything get in the way of a successful holiday shopping season.

Here are some tips to make your site extra shopper-friendly this holiday season:

1.) Gift Finders. Make it easy for consumers to find the exact gifts they want. Let consumers search by category, price point, type of item, most popular gift items, color, size, etc. With the click of a few buttons, consumers will be able to see the types of gifts they are looking for. Take the guess work out of online shopping.

2.) Gift cards and gift certificates. Allow consumers the ability to give the gift of choice this holiday season. Have a visible to link for purchasing gift cards or gift certificates. Gift cards please even the pickiest of individuals on a consumers’ shopping list.

3.) Creative gift cards. Undoubtedly, gift cards are a very popular holiday item. Think outside the box this holiday season, by placing your gift cards in boxes. Small tin boxes are elegant and give the consumer something to wrap up and place underneath the tree.

4.) Shipping deals. Get creative with shipping deals. Consumers are much more likely to shop on eCommerce sites that provide great deals on shipping. Offer free shipping, guaranteed delivery by Christmas day, and/or free return shipping.

5.) Gift wrap. Offer the option of sending your shoppers cards, gift wrap, or gift bags. You can wrap the items up for them or give them the option of doing it themselves. The do-it-yourself option is great for individuals who want to see the items they purchase online before giving them away as gifts.

6.) Holiday friendly homepages. Temporarily change the theme of your webpage to reflect the holiday season. Just be sure shoppers can still easily see your company logo and navigate the site.

7.) Stocking stuffers. Offer a section on your webpage that is specifically dedicated for stocking stuffer items. If consumers become stuck on an idea for stocking stuffers, they can turn to you for help.

8.) Gift sets. Combine products to make gift sets or give shoppers the ability to create their own gift sets by choosing from certain items.

Need last minute help making your site holiday friendly? Contact Preface Media today.