How To Promote Your Online Store

OK. So you took the leap and started your online store. But, oops, there are no customers and your store is lost in the crowd. All is not lost. You just need to be very creative in how you market your site. The key thing to remember as you market your site is People buy from people, not companies.

To make money online: 1) You must get traffic to your site. 2) You must convert that traffic to paying customers. To begin simply create a T-chart. Label one column "Traffic" and the other "Conversion." Then brainstorm what methods you will use to to make those happen and turn them into an action plan.

Traffic suggestions for you:

• Pay per click
  
• Offline advertising
  
• Article marketing
  
• Newsletter
  
• Autoresponders
  
• Word of mouth
  
• Joint ventures / strategic partnerships
  
• Talks to groups
  
• Participation in online forums / discussion groups
  
• Website link exchange with complementary sites
  

Most online stores are extremely competitive (what's not these days?) and they compete on price - one of the worst ways to compete. What you need to do is find a way to take the focus off the money, find your unique value and promote it from there.

So how do you do that? First you have to know who your prospect is so you can speak to them directly. Hint: Your market is not everyone or anyone. Once you know who your prospect is, you can implement tactics that will convert them into customers.

Here are some ideas that will help your conversion rate:

• Bundled products
  
• Free gift with purchase
  
• Regular newsletter
  
• Autoresponder course
  
• Helpful content on your website
  
• Companion blog for your website
  

These should get you thinking about where you need to go. This is not by any means a complete, comprehensive list -- just a start. Anyone else have some great ideas? Share by leaving a comment.

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