lorax
msg:3856197 | 11:17 pm on Feb 23, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Nice post TNL
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jsinger
msg:3856613 | 1:54 pm on Feb 24, 2009 (gmt 0) |
11. Take advantage of tough times. Buy merchandise from failing competitors.
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trinorthlighting
msg:3856635 | 2:15 pm on Feb 24, 2009 (gmt 0) |
12. Keep an eye on your competitors- If one of your competitors goes bankrupt and they let their domain go, buy it up when it becomes available and 301 redirect it to your site. We just found two today and did just that. This should bring some of our competitors repeat traffic to us.
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chicagohh
msg:3856723 | 4:14 pm on Feb 24, 2009 (gmt 0) |
13. A/B Split Testing. It seems that few Web sites take an experimental approach to their conversion rates. I have found that many times you can increase sales/leads by changing, testing and analyzing seemingly small elements on Web pages.
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wheel
msg:3856860 | 6:49 pm on Feb 24, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Whatever you do, this failing economy is an opportunity. Push hard and build. Those that make it through tough times generally are the industry shakers on the other side of the recession. The weak fail, the strong end up being stronger than ever. So whatever you've got to do to keep going, do it. We don't have a storefront, but we're picking up the phone and calling people all the time now - whenever I have the opportunity to do so. We don't sit around and wait, we're following up hard on people we've spoken to in the past for orders - and getting some just because of the contact. If you've spoken to someone in the last 90 days that didn't buy, call them now. In many cases people don't buy right away but they do after 90 days. You may have been their first contact, but if you're still there in 90 days to touch them again you may get the sale then. For all the geeks out there, get over it. Pick up the phone and call. All you have to do is say "Hi, it's BT from WebmasterWorld. We spoke a few months ago? I was just following up to see how things were going." And let them talk. Some may not buy, some may. But you can make a lot of phone calls and make a lot of sales that way. Also always a good time to send out an email to previous clients. Never know what'll shake out from that.
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eWhisper
msg:3856948 | 8:32 pm on Feb 24, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Find new angles or uses for your products. Most products have unexplored angles, or other possible uses, market to some of those new uses.
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Whitney
msg:3857192 | 2:39 am on Feb 25, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Do better customer service to keep your old customer.
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Wlauzon
msg:3857255 | 5:18 am on Feb 25, 2009 (gmt 0) |
All good tips. For #2 I would add - Go back and check your OLD products. I just did that on a few random ones that have been stables for years, and nearly all needed some improvements.
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buckworks
msg:3857281 | 7:03 am on Feb 25, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Beef up your crosslinks to make it easier for users to locate accessories or related products that match what they're already looking at.
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jamie
msg:3857343 | 10:09 am on Feb 25, 2009 (gmt 0) |
we are in travel. we've contacted all suppliers to come up with special offers and discounts. we've then splashed these all around the site and created an extra product search, limited just to special offers. they are having a good effect. it does mean our average sale value has gone down, but better than nothing. the newsletter is an area we have not done enough in, some good tips above.
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HugeNerd
msg:3858630 | 9:01 pm on Feb 26, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Great post. A nice short read -- now to spend the long hours acting on solid advice!
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MrHard
msg:3862295 | 6:43 am on Mar 4, 2009 (gmt 0) |
14. When the economy goes south adjust your advertising budget down to keep pace with sales, not up as sales decline.
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ssgumby
msg:3862526 | 2:01 pm on Mar 4, 2009 (gmt 0) |
"14. When the economy goes south adjust your advertising budget down to keep pace with sales, not up as sales decline. " I have a friend who is a marketing guru who says the complete opposite of this. When the economy goes south, you should keep advertising up or even increase. Two reasons, you want to keep your name fresh in the minds of the customers so WHEN they spend you are at the tip of their tongue and second, as competitors go under you are capturing their fallout of customers. Granted, if your sales are so low you cant afford to advertise then I guess you need to trim just to keep from being one of those competitors going under.
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ambellina
msg:3862690 | 5:02 pm on Mar 4, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Agreed with ssgumby on the advertising front. For our Y! ad account, traffic has more than doubled because the majority of our legitimate competition has stopped advertising on the same keywords, presumably because they can't afford to pay the same bids anymore. For some phrases, we are sometimes now the only relevant advertiser that appears :D
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MrHard
msg:3863049 | 11:53 pm on Mar 4, 2009 (gmt 0) |
| I have a friend who is a marketing guru who says the complete opposite of this. When the economy goes south, you should keep advertising up or even increase |
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This is breaking the cardinal rule of ROI. If you are not making money or converting, this is hard to justify. Spending above ROI gets into the area of speculation and chasing sales which may or may not exist. OK to dabble in but it would be a deadly strategy in the long term, overextending. [edited by: MrHard at 11:58 pm (utc) on Mar. 4, 2009]
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ssgumby
msg:3863193 | 3:48 am on Mar 5, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Mrhard, I think you missed my final statement. "Granted, if your sales are so low you cant afford to advertise then I guess you need to trim just to keep from being one of those competitors going under"
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trinorthlighting
msg:3863874 | 10:09 pm on Mar 5, 2009 (gmt 0) |
15. Pay attention to your competitors when they go out of business, may be increase advertisements in their area of products to see if you can get new business.
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