Fall is here! The time is now to think about how to gain the most momentum from your internet presence this coming holiday season. Plan now, implement in October and you should be ready for the start of the shopping season in November.
1. Make sure your website is up-to-date on all of your latest products and services. Establish a pecking order. Put your most popular products/services up front. If you offer, for instance, contracting work, time to take the deck additions off the first page and concentrate on substituting it for painting/updating kitchens or bathrooms for those holiday guests.
2. Offer incentives and reasons for a follow-up. Offer free tips, early bird specials, or perhaps launch a new product for peak interest.
3. Make sure your website is viewable on an iPAD or smart phone. Many older technologies such as Flash (and I mean only 1 yr old!) may no longer be viewable on these devices which are rapidly becoming more popular. Contact your webmaster if images can’t be seen or forms do not work.
4. Revisit the keywords (metatags) on your site. Make sure they are not stale and reflect the latest of what you offer.
5. Use video on your site if applicable, it’s very hot right now.
6. Review your advertising options with online local news sites to place banner ads online for the months ahead. The price is affordable because viewership is so targeted. You also can get an excellent real-time idea on how many hits you are receiving, unlike traditional newspaper advertising. It also helps your Google ranking by having the ads link to your website.
7. Speaking of newspaper advertising, prepare your budget and campaign now if you feel print ads work for you. If you wait, everything becomes last minute. Make sure you direct them to your website, which of course is up-to-date and has the same message as your ad!)
8. Use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other social media as a means of promoting your product or services as well, however, do not overdo it. No more than once a week postings are recommended or you will start to be ignored.
9. Do not be afraid to ask users to "share" your posts! This will help you reach much further than your circle and if you have a great product or service, they will want to pass it on.
10. Clean up your mailing list and prepare to send out a Thank you for your business the week before Thanksgiving. This is a great way to not only thank your customers for their business. it reminds them of your services, and you will get a jump on all those holiday messages they will get in the coming weeks.
Wagner Web Designs, Inc is a web design company based in Yorktown Heights,
NY specializing in small business. For web development, maintenance, or search engine optimization, visit www.wagnerwebdesigns.com or call (914) 245-2626 for more information.
Rob