| Blitz
Ezine #280 ~~ March 4th, 2008
Cooling Off and Blog Carnivals
The Blitz-Promotions News Letter
Issue no. 280, March 4th, 2008
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Blitz Comments
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We made an oopsie. I know we were supposed to have the newsletter sent yesterday. We've had the flu here so I guess we could use that as an excuse but honestly we totally forgot about it. One thing we got a new dog and we should have some pictures of it on our blog Friday.
I apologize for it being a little late.
Every day or two we talk some about promotion (as well as fun things too on our blog)
http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com/
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In this Issue
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- Cooling Off
- Blog Carnivals
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Food for thought
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If you reach for the stars, you may not get one, but you want come up with a handful of mud either.
From My Dad.
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Cooling Off
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Those with a "brick and mortar" business, quickly learn that there are two types of people they will meet in their store.
Those who can afford to pay for the goods and services, and those who can't. Now that seems simple enough.
Someone who leaves the store without buying, because they couldn't pay now, will seldom be seen again. Sure, some go to an ATM, withdraw the cash and return, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Others will write a check, but there are people who can't afford, at this moment, to write a check either. If you can't close a sale when they are ready to buy, they have time to cool off, and you will most likely lose the opportunity.
The same holds true on the web. If you can't close when someone has made up their mind to buy, you will probably lose the sale.
Now there are several methods of accepting payment on the web.
One is to have them send you a check or money order. They have to write out the check or get a money order, and time passes - in other words you have lost the immediacy of the moment.
Many people buy on impulse, and if you provide a convenient way for them to pay for the purchase, you have a better chance of making the sale. This can take several forms on the web, and let's talk about just two.
Many online business barely make expenses when starting out. As you get known, it will increase, but after awhile will level out. You are losing the impulse purchases. Once you install online checks, your business should immediately increase.
Obviously the online check submission has an effect. But, you can then expect your business to level off again, even though it will be at a higher level than before. Realize that people will not submit a check online if they are tight on funds.
Some people will write a check or submit one online, knowing they don't have sufficient funds to cover it. Yes this is illegal, but there are those who will do it hoping to get the merchandise.
Those that do are fairly comfortable in the fact that it is usually not worth the merchants time and effort to prosecute, and they will simply write it off as a bad debt. While the number of bad checks you get will be low, you should take the next step.
It is now time for you to acquire merchant status and be able to accept credit cards. People can now make the purchase knowing they have 30 days to make payment. If they were financially tight at that point, they could make a minimum payment, but still have the advantage of making their purchase now. At that point, your business should take a huge jump.
If you are doing business on the web, and selling either a product or a service, and feel you just can't afford to get a merchant account, it is costing you lost sales. Sure, there are upfront costs to become fully operational with online checks and a merchant account, but you will recover that very quickly.
But I have to have a "secure site" to accept these you might think, and you are right. You can do this in one of two ways that make sense. You can contract with a company that provides web space and get a "secure site" from them, but this requires a knowledge of HTML coding. You also have to manually enter the credit card information, and you have little defense against a disputed claim, and may have "charge backs".
A second way is to set up a shopping cart. This is probably the best way to do business online. You don't need a secure site of your own as the company providing the shopping cart does. An added benefit is that the customers enter the information themselves and their "IP" address is automatically captured. If the credit card is declined, they can immediately enter another.
You are only notified when there is a successful transaction.
The customer is automatically sent a receipt, so the chances of a charge back are significantly reduced.
If you don't have merchant status, you should at least consider "Paypal" which is probably the easiest and cheapest way for small businesses and websites to accept payments online. There is also a shopping cart available, but does require basic knowledge of HTML. "Paypal" is a viable solution for a small business. The only drawback is that your potential customer has to sign-up with "Paypal", and "jump through a few hoops". This does risk "cooling off".
If you find a way to close the sale when the customer is ready to buy that works for you, your online business should prosper.
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Did you know that subscribers to Bob Osgoodby's Free Ezine the "Tip of the Day" get a Free Ad for their Business at his Web Site? Great Business and Computer Tips – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Instructions on how to place an ad are in the Newsletter.
Subscribe at: http://adv-marketing.com/business/subscribe2.htm
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Generating Traffic With Blog Carnivals
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Blog carnivals are an under utilized tool that can be used to generate easy traffic to your blog. There are two options presented when using blog carnivals. One can host the carnival or merely submit their blog to a carnival.
Submitting single entries into blog carnivals will bring an increase in traffic in a short period of time. The traffic increase will not necessarily be in the hundreds or thousands range however, the increase will make it worth you while to take the time to submit. The submissions will create one way links to your blog and will increase your pool off possible readers. New blogs will be given potential notoriety amongst many well established blogs.
The alternate method which may prove to be more beneficial is to actually serve as a host to a blog carnival. As a host you will be expected to organize the submissions into a legible carnival. The more creative the carnival arrangement the better, as you may entice readers to continue to visit your site for updates and new carnivals.
If you are concerned as to whether or not you can organize these entries, rest assured that Google will present you with a neat and tidy html list that can be pasted into your site. The easiest way to jazz up a blog carnival is to write up a nice introduction advising the reader on what they are about to experience.
If you market your own product or market affiliate products on your blog then you are increasing the likelihood of sales when hosting a carnival. As a host you may see an influx of a few hundred to one thousand hits on the date of the carnival posting. Statistics work in your favor here as the higher the number of visitors the higher the likelihood of a sale. As always try to make sure your affiliates or products are in line with the overall theme of your blog.
Boosting sales is only one benefit of several presented to a blog carnival host. If you are collecting email addresses of those visiting your blog which you should be, then you should also see an increase in subscribers. Since the carnival visitors ill be interested in your niche topic many of them will opt in to be notified of new blog entries and carnivals. The opt in list that is created can be used at a later time to bring visitors back and make additional sales.
Blog carnivals should be used as one of several methods to ring ideas to market and create blog traffic. Remain consistent, organize carnivals in a timely manner and continue to stream new content and products to your blog to enhance your success. Give your blog time to grow and enjoy the journey along the way.
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Sarah Paine
Note from Tim: Every Thursday on our Blog we talk about was to get traffic from Social Networking.
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Some Fun Links
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Every Friday we talk about some fun things we do in our blog. Make sure to check it out.
http://smallbizpromo.blogspot.com/
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Useful links
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Ezine
Archives links to all our past issues (well most
of them) in one place.
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Next Issues
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Our
next issue will be April 1st, 2008
Tim
and Lisa Hamblin
Tisa Enterprises
PO Box 221
Hazard KY 41702
http://www.blitzpromotions.com
http://www.crochetnmore.com
http://www.webpageplanner.com
http://www.ineedlinks.com |
