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Blitz
Ezine # 207 March 24, 2003
More Ways to Promote your Website and Business
Note:
This is an archived issue. Some links and/or content
may be outdated
100
ways to promote your site.
The Blitz-Promotions News Letter.
Issue no. 207, March 24, 2003
************
In This Issue **************
Comments
Food for thought
Articles
The Classifieds
Next Issues
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Blitz Comments
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This
issue finishes up on the 100 ways to promote your site.
They are short and sweet, but if you use them I'm sure
you will be able to grow your business.
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Food for thought
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Be
like a postage stamp. Stick to it until you get there.
Harvey Mackay
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100
ways to promote your site continues #98
Open your mouth
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This
one may seem pretty obvious, but many times I think
we forget about it. Talk about your business to anyone
and everyone that will listen. They may not need your
product or service, but if you talk about it with a
great deal of passion, they will remember you.
A
good example happened a week or two ago. When I still
worked as a nurse, everyone was curious about what I
was doing and I would tell them about it. Three years
or so ago, I had a conversation with one of the night
shift clerks. He had a candle business and was asking
me about building a website (the only reason he asked
me about it was because I had told someone, who had
told him). Although he didn't buy a site off me that
night he did remember. Early in March of this year I
got a call from a local Doctor that wants a huge project
done.... how did he find out about us... the clerk,
who now works for him.
So
the lesson is plant the seeds, they may not come up
today, tomorrow, or even this year... but they could.
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100
ways to promote your site continues #99
Combine
your methods
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You
can combine any of the methods we've talked about and
it multiplies the effectiveness.
If
I had been smarter, I would have given the clerk I talked
about above a business card, got his contact information,
sent him follow up notes, and a Christmas card.
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100
ways to promote your site continues #100
Customer
Referrals
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I
have mentioned this before, but it bears mentioning
again. The easiest person to sell something to is someone
that is already sold on your product or service. So
give great customer service and then ask your customers
for referrals.
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From
the Blitz Archives
Blitz 107 - 10 Ways to Save Money in your Business
April 2001 - New comments have been added.
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-->
Utilize the customers you already have.
It's
a well-known fact that it costs more money to get new
customers than it does to try and keep the ones you've
already had, and all you have to do is use your existing
computer database to find them. If you don’t have a
database you can download one that we use (free for
a month, from here).
http://www.act.com/products/act/demo/index.cfm?
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Note you can also check out a couple of past issues
on building a database.
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz196.htm
http://www.blitzpromotions.com/blitz197.htm
Here
are some tips how to cut advertising costs and get old
customers back:
1. Check how many customers haven't bought anything
from your store (or website for the last six months).
2. Send a mailing to the customers that are still on
your database that haven't been to your website for
the past six months. Offer them a discount.
3. Send a questionnaire and ask the customers why they
haven't been to your website for such a long time.
4. Send discount notices, coupons, and current news
to all customers (if you don’t have a newsletter, start
one). ++ One way to get recognized is to send them snail
mail.
--> Use FAX or E-mail instead of mail. You will save
the cost of postage, paper, envelope, mailing time and
get instant delivery!
Send
messages in the evenings or weekends for further reduced
telephone rates and save even more. Most FAX machines
and e-mail systems provide for delayed sending.
-->
Comparison shop for all your needs. If you have been
purchasing similar goods from the same vendor for a
few months, put your regular order up for bid with the
competition ...it is likely you will do better.
-->
Negotiate everything including services. You can frequently
purchase at a discount by merely asking. Always request
a discount if you pay cash or intend to pay within 5-10
days.
--> Barter for things you need. You can do it locally
with business folks in your area or on the net. Below
are some places to begin your search.
http://www.barteringconnection.com/
Information
about bartering and tons of links.
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/barter.html
-->
Shop for sales. This may seem like a no brainer. Here
is an instance from our business. We use copy paper
in our printer. Normally at Wal-mart it is around $4.00
a pack. Occasionally they have a sell on this paper
for $2.50. We buy five packs and just saved ourselves
$7.50, not much but it all adds up.
-->
Make a list and Buy in Bulk when possible.
Target
the big expenses. Keep your books up to date and target
one expense during the month. Your goal is to find a
way to decrease this expense the following (and subsequent)
months.
-->Shop
the web with shopping bots.
The one we use can be found below.
http://www.pricingcentral.com/
Example- I need a new shredder because mine is worn
out (my daughter is the offical office shredder so she
actively searches for things to shred). Using this service
I have found the P600 (the exact same brand) priced
from $79.95 to $95.83. Keeping the lowest price in mind,
I then call around town to see if I can find a better
deal (sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t).
-->
Another way to save some money is to use a credit card
that either gives you a rebate or something for free.
Make
sure that you pay off the debt each month or the interest
will make this savings tip void. Example – we use the
Shell Mastercard to put all our hosting fees, shop cart
fees, and other monthly expenses on it. We then earn
free gas as a percentage of the bill. (Last year we
earned over $100.00 in free gas).
In
our next issue we’ll talk about this some more.
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