How A Change in Perspective Can Help You Make More Holiday Season Sales: Pt. One

Some sites are perfect for the Christmas season - their products fit easily into the idea of gift-giving. But what if the products and services you offer are for small business owners?

Or, as many of my clients ask, how do I survive the holiday season if I sell intangibles?

When a couple of people brought this question up to me in early fall, my answer was that I'd probably make enough money in October not to have to worry about November and December at all. Prevention made sense to me at the time as being the best cure, but it also doesn't mean that I've resigned myself to slow sales during the holidays.

On the contrary, I think that most people who have businesses that offer intangibles such as ebooks, downloadable software, or marketing services can just as much, or more money as the rest of the year by changing tactics slightly.

In other words, just because much of the world is more focused elsewhere doesn't automatically mean that there is a smaller pool of available customers.

True, part-time small business owners may be more mindful of gift-giving and planning family gatherings right now, and anyone with family may sacrifice a new widget for themselves to get that special someone the gift of their dreams.

However, it's important to remember that this doesn't mean no one wants or needs your services right now. It may just mean that you need to think a little differently to make sales this time of year. There's a number of ways that a few subtle changes in your thinking can bring you into a solution-oriented perspective.

For example, I'm an American. This constantly leads me to a tendency to forget that this isn't the only nation on the planet.

If, like me, you are constantly forgetting that you can market to people worldwide, one small way you can attract more business is to think bigger. Instead of falling prey to the thinking that there isn't any money to be made again until January, think about how your site can serve a wider audience.

For example, maybe you can make your site easier for people to translate into other languages using Alta Vista's free Babelfish tool at http://babelfish.altavista.com/, or a link to Google's Language Tools page at http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en - check your server logs and see if you have a significant amount of traffic that originates in a country other than yours.

This is just one of many ways you can widen your audience.

If you have a news or content feed, maybe you need to add a newsletter for the portion of your audience who has not yet started to use news readers. Or if you blog, maybe you need to promote your feed as much as your blog. If your site is mainly text, it could be time to add audio. Or maybe all the flash you put on your site for hi-speed users makes you miss out on dial-up visitors.

Just one small change can put you in front of an cross-section of potential clients you may not have had access to previously.

You can also use a study of the demographics of your current audience to get ideas for affiliate products that might help them. If you're not studying who your audience is from afar through surveys, or even better, getting up close and personal and talking to them directly, you should be. Knowing what their needs are is invaluable information in helping you to help them.

An example: If you mostly cater to women who are small business owners, with a little more investigating, you might find that they have a common need.

Many of them may be newly successful in their endeavors, and might be thinking about making a large purchase, like a house. You could join an affiliate program of a mortgage loan company and bring the two groups together. You've done your audience a favor, the loan company is happy with the feedback, they pay you per lead, everyone is happy

Another way you might want to think differently is to use this time of year to focus in on one earlier step in the process of making a sale, instead of focusing more attention towards the later steps that are closer to a purchase.

While most merchants worry a little too much that advertising and marketing in the last few months of the year is a waste of time, there are some people who see this as true from experience. Although past experiences don't necessarily have to translate into present expectations, I'll agree that maybe if you sell one ebook about painting Easter eggs, that Christmas season sales really are a foregone conclusion.

However, even in cases like these, you can still isolate one step in the sales process and just say hello. Even if you make most of your sales from on-the-spot buyers, communicating with new arrivals at your site several times can help you increase the number of people who end up purchasing down the road.

Some studies show that most online sales, particularly of ebooks and software, are not impulse buys, and may take up to seven contacts before a purchase is made. So why not make those repeat visits occur as informatively - and as quickly - as possible?

You may find that simple well wishes, and the show of a sincere desire to help builds rapport between a you and your potential client. Touching base during the holiday season doesn't need to be a formal or long communication either.

For instance, you can send a quick email out to your list, just saying hello, or offering them a coupon against future sales. Perhaps you've been on the receiving end of such a gesture. I know I have, and I always appreciated it.

A lawyer I used to work for sends Thanksgiving cards. He doesn't ask for any business, he just updates us on how his family is. As a result, he is hard-coded into my brain every Thanksgiving, and I look forward to his letters.

He's also always at the top of my mind when people ask me to refer them to a good attorney. Sure it's because he's great at what he does - but his effort to keep his name at the top of my mind didn't hurt either.

In Part Two, I'll tell you about what I noticed about the subscription site model that helped me triple my income in one month, and how you can use what I learned to help you make more money this holiday season.

Copyright 2004 Tinu AbayomiPaul

About The Author

Tinu AbayomiPaul

Read part two of this article at http://www.freetraffictip.com/perspective2.php or visit the Free Traffic Tips Blog for search engine news and more cost-effective ways to bring targeted visitors to your site.

---

What Great Online Advertising Really Is!

Many business people have a distorted view about the distinction... Read More

Personality Profiling Your Prospects for Internet Marketing, E Commerce, and Ebay Ads

Do you want me to tell you the truth or... Read More

Googles Own AdSense Tips

Google is at least as interested as you are in... Read More

I Finally Figured It Out - The Largest Stumbling-Block To Online Success

We're going to talk about one of those issues that... Read More

Build the Snowball and It Will Run

Setting up your own online business can seem extremely daunting.... Read More

Did You Say Free?!

There are books and web sites for the translation of... Read More

The Truth About Info Business

Let me save you, at least, several hundreds of dollars... Read More

Setting Your Online Business Up for Success!

There is a common misconception that an "online business" requires... Read More

If you Sell a Product, Use Online Marketing, Part 1

When you offer your products via an email campaign to... Read More

Marketing - All About Focus

Marketing would appear to be the great buzz word of... Read More

Think Your Way to the Gold Online!

If you have ever wanted to know HOW the Internet... Read More

Take the Guesswork Out of Niche Marketing

Many of us learn from the Gurus that we should... Read More

How To Hold On To Your Customers Like Hell And Make Them Pay You Again And Again!

With the years competition online, has become fierce. Studies shows... Read More

How to Start a Successful Import Business Using the Internet

The Internet has opened up a whole new era of... Read More

Are You Running Your Online Business On Half Empty?

The idea of paying $1000 for a marketing package to... Read More

E-Mail Accounts For Your Home Based Business

As a Work at Home Business you need to have... Read More

The New Marketing Landscape

Many of us in the marketing services and/or agency business... Read More

Killer Internet Marketing Errors - How to Avoid Them

With 95% of all Internet businesses failing, it is important... Read More

How Can Multimedia Work For You?

Multimedia here and multimedia there. Is it just a flashy... Read More

Internet Marketing Secrets Spiel

Wouldn't you like to know all the Internet marketing "secrets"... Read More

5 Fast Ways to Improve Your Website

Building a website is easy. Building a successful e-business is... Read More

Do?s and Don?ts for the Internet Marketing Newbie (Part 1)

I, myself, being an internet marketing "newbie" (endearing term used... Read More

A Day in the Life of an Internet Marketer

I have been working on the Internet since 1998 and... Read More

Find Your Niche

If you haven't heard the word 'niche' being batted around... Read More

How To Be An Internet Marketing Champion

How bad do you want to make money on the... Read More

How To Make Readers Desperately and Uncontrollably Wanting To Buy Your Product

Are you looking for ways of persuading your web site... Read More

3 Simple Ways to Harness the Concept of the Free Offer for Internet Marketing

One of the reason why the concept of free stuff... Read More

How To Profit From HOT Niche Markets - Every Time!

Do you want to learn two proven niche marketing business... Read More

Be A Hot Guest

Want to make an impact with your online business in... Read More

Aesthetics and Web Marketing

For four years I worked in the editorial department of... Read More

How To Actually Make Money In Network Marketing

Most people that I know who are, or have been... Read More

Sales Training: How To Succeed Online By Networking Your Business

The backbone of business success is communication.And networking is one... Read More

DOI, a Proven Marketing Tool for Driving Traffic and Increasing Search Engine Rankings

The Digital Object Identifier otherwise known as the DOI is... Read More