Growing Your Stallholder Business Online presented by Rebecca Wolpinksy
Sponsoring: Using the internet to expand your team!Building your team online is a great way to find team members both near and far. It’s also a great way to drive people to your website. Be sure that your “story” is well developed and you’ve explained what drew you to the Stallholder Program. It helps if you are personalize the information, including how you found your way to Barefoot and what it has meant to you and your family. This makes it much more interesting and less like a slick, corporate piece of marketing.
Groups - Sometimes referred to as “email lists”, these are groups of people with common interests. Places to find groups include Yahoogroups.com and Topica.com. When you go to these sites, you can search by topic to find lists that will interest you. Choose several including one or two business lists to develop relationships.
Post to the list and enjoy yourself! Do not blast the list with your ads, but instead give helpful advice, be yourself, have fun and discreetly leave your website URL under your name. MOST lists will allow this, but check to be sure.
Bulletin Boards - Another fun place to meet people online is on bulletin boards such as the ones on www.internetbasedmoms.com and www.wahm.com. There are thousands of bulletin boards online on every topic imaginable. There are a lot of work-at-home mom bulletin boards that may attract people who are interested in working from home.
Again, it's important to never blast your ad on any bulletin board unless that board is specifically for advertising. Get to know people and be helpful to everyone so that people are attracted to you.
Online Communities - Some bulletin boards are part of an online community that offers more interaction than bulletin board by themselves. Many have informative chats, online parties or business mixers where you can go to meet other people. When the chat is interactive, take part in the discussion and have fun. If the chat is a presentation, be respectful of the presenter. Some to try: www.ryze.com, www.mayasmom.com, www.squidoo.com, www.cafemom.com, www.care2connect.com
TIP! It is important for you to use your name and keep it the same for groups, bulletin boards and chats because you want people to connect your presence wherever you are online. Don't use "jamiesmom" as your email for a group, "dancingmamma" as your log in on a bulletin board and "booksforkids” in a chat room. You need to brand yourself so that people will recognize you.
Article Submission - Brand yourself further by writing articles on topics of general interest and submitting them. One place to look is on Yahoogroups.com. Do a search for "articles announce". Join a few groups and submit away!
Blogs – Blogs are a way to take branding yourself even further. The point of blogging is to share thoughts with your readers on the topics that matter to them. Think about what might be of interest to your Barefoot customers. You can blog about your Barefoot Stallholding business, literacy, favorite books, working from home, local events you’re planning, etc. If you want to start a blog, www.wordpress.com and www.blogger.com are two free blog hosts that are easy to use.
TIP! With all of these options, remember to include your website address and if possible contact information. Your website is the most natural place interested parties will go to find out more about you. Make sure that your story page is updated and well thought out. Also, make sure your Welcome message is relevant and provides helpful information. As always, follow up with leads as soon as possible.
Increasing Your Sales OnlineHere are three things you’ll need to generate sales through your website:
1. Enough traffic;
2. The right kind of traffic;
3. And the ability to convert your visitors to customers.
How to Generate Enough Traffic Simply put, no visitors = no sales. You can have the best product in the world, but if nobody can find you online, how can someone know what you offer? Your first priority should be attracting visitors to your site. There are lots of ways to do just that:
• Submit to the major search engines and directories.
• Launch one or more pay-per-click campaigns. Overture and Findwhat.com are two PPC engines, there are many more out there.
• Start your own email newsletter in order to maintain contact with visitors and convert them to customers at some point in the future. Repeated exposure to you and your products mean sales.
• Utilize banner ads. Many publishers now offer pay-per-click banner advertising in addition to the traditional CPM (pay-per-impression)model, so you can get more return for your advertising spends.
• Locate email newsletter advertising opportunities. Try Ezine Ad Auction or simply look for rate cards/advertising info on the sites and in the newsletters where you want to advertise.
• Become a "regular" on high-traffic message boards whose subject matter relates to your product/service. Many boards allow you to use a signature to discreetly promote your site. NEVER blatantly advertise your product or service! Most boards don't allow it and an obvious ad probably won't get any attention anyway - at least not the good kind of attention. Offer information, help, conversation – you will connect with more people that way.
• Subscribe to several good Internet marketing newsletters. You’ll be amazed at the unique traffic-generating ideas you’ll find. Some are super, some are off-the-wall, but they're always unique.
Note: This is the presentation made by
Rebecca Wolpinksy (one of the Regional Managers of the Barefoot Books) at the International Barefoot Books Conference. If you would like to know more about marketing Barefoot Books online, email me. Thank you.
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