Holiday Sale

The holidays are a great time to make some exceptional income. It’s also a great time to boost website traffic, opt-ins and increase awareness. So how do you accomplish all this during the busiest season of the year?

Step One:  Make sure your website is in great shape. Before you send tones of new traffic to your website, it’s important to make sure your website is ready. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

* Is your shopping cart functioning optimally?
* Do you have any broken links?  If so, fix them.
* Is your site easily searchable?
* Does the navigation make sense?
* Are your customers’ transactions secure?
* Does your website load quickly?
* Is your website backed up?

Step Two:  Optimize your site for the holidays. The holiday season presents a unique opportunity to capitalize on a few holiday phrases and keywords. Using standard optimization techniques, research the keywords your audience might use to find you during the holidays and optimize your site for them.

Step Three:  Create holiday promotions. The holidays present a unique promotional opportunity. Here are just a few options to consider:

* A Holiday discount.
* A Free trial.
* A packaged discount.
* A free bonus.
* Free delivery.
* A buy now pay later option.
* Loyalty programs

Step Four:  Consider creating or adding new holiday products or services. The options for creating new products or services are vast. If you’re a service provider brainstorm ways you can help your clients enjoy the holidays. What do they need that you can provide?

If you sell products, tangible or electronic, then you have unlimited options. Consider:

* Creating new information products
* Launching a membership site or promotion
* Partnering with a relevant business to create a product together.
* Packaging or combining products for the holidays.

Step Five:  Marketing your website and holiday sale. Once you have your website ready, your products and promotions ready to go, it’s time to market your holiday sale. Some marketing options and ideas include:

* Cross promotion with other relevant businesses.
* If you already have an e-newsletter, consider increasing the delivery frequency during the holidays.
* Holiday advertising campaigns.
* Social networking and face-to-face networking.
* Customer loyalty programs are a great way to motivate purchases and they offer the perfect marketing opportunity. You can create press releases and an ad campaign to market your new loyalty program.
* Enhance article marketing efforts.
* Email marketing to your list.
* Using your wonderful affiliates to market your products or services.

When throwing a holiday sale online, savvy entrepreneurs know it takes more than throwing up a sign and placing a red bow on your header. It takes preparation, research, planning and thoughtful execution. Always remember, your business is about your customers. When you make their shopping experience exceptional and consider there wants, needs and desires, your holiday sale will be a verifiable success.