The Peacefulmind.com Drop Ship/Affiliate Updater
What's new and different in the world of Peacefulmind.comUpdates for Drop Ship/Affiliate Plans
Whether you are one of our drop shippers or one of our wholesalers, here you will find the latest up to date information on products and programs added or those we are out of stock or have discontinued.
Drop Ship UpdatesThank you first and foremost to all those companies with web sites that sell our products! It is my pleasure and honor to be able to do this! Our dynamic variety of products continue to grow and morph into the best alternative health and mind-body-spirit goods and services we can offer! Drop shippers are those who have a web site with a shopping cart who place our products and services on their own web site and link their own shopping cart to the products. |
Updates 7/1/24
The New TOP Sellers This Year:
Whenever we create new products we test them within the marketplace to determine their need, value, and popularity. Sometimes what we think will be big sellers, are not. Other times when we start selling a new product consistently, we realize there is a need for it. Here are the new top sellers for this year (so far) that we HIGHLY recommend you place on your website.
Tar Energy Water: This re-invention of the old world Creolina water is highly concentrated “Wonder Water” that has historically dissolved negativity and enhanced positive energy. Our version also comes in a spray bottle. 14.95
Ocean Water: We have captured the spirit of the sea in this healing water directly from the ocean. Authentic Atlantean Water for spiritual cleansing, mermaid magic, refreshing face and body $14.95
Emotional Stress Crystal Pouch: A favorite since the pandemic, this awareness set of stones helps us to pay attention to what’s important and how to use crystals for stressful situations. $14.95
Passage to India: is a rich and aromatic room spray and body atomizer. containing essential oils of cardamom, lemongrass, and lime. Combined, these pure essential oils are a reminiscent scent of India with all its magic and intrigue. 14.95
Crystal Tarot Set: This kit includes: 22 semi-precious stones, representing The Major Arcana, an instruction booklet with in-depth directions on how to work with and interpret your crystal tarot, a beautiful bag for storing your kit, and sacred Tarot incense to set the mood! This set also comes with a complete 78-card Tarot deck with the Rider-Waite deck of cards. $49.95
Third Eye Psychic Blend Tea: (all zodiac candles in this set) are nowThis product literally flies off the shelf! A mystical blend of peppermint, cardamon, and eyebright. It is fantastic for Third Eye Awareness $12.95
Barefoot ~ A Surfer’s View of the Universe: Andrew’s newest book has been a surprising popular Summer read (already) exceeding expectations. The ebook, paperback, and audiobook are available for resale.
Top Summer Sells
Summer is the time when our clients take advantage of the beautiful weather. They do more traveling and head out of town for a long needed vacation! It is also the time when web business starts to slow down. So why not offer your clients goodies they can travel with! Consider our four varieties of “First Aid Kits” for travelers. Suggest to your clients some great supplements to take with them on the road. And don’t forget to feature the latest summer novels and magazines to keep them entertained. We have created a Top Ten List of Summer Must Haves.
1. Litha Summer Solstice Kit
2. Mermaid Kit
3. Incense Deluxe Kit
4. Negative Energy Kit
5. Liquid Silk Scarves
6. Ritual Baths
7. Empowerment Kits
8. Complete feng shui kit
9. detoxing products
10. Aura Vibrational Myst
Supplement Update:
Tranquil Mind is back in stock, (finally). The price point is NOW $24.95
Colostrum PRO is now being sold as a powder. The size has doubled and the price is $64.95. New image and description can be found at https://www.peacefulmind.com/product/colostrumpro/
***We will no longer sell the capsules.
Some Seasonal changes to be aware of:
- have a new formulation for our: Sleepy Tea – **New Formulation** Soothing blend of herbs for relaxing moments or right before bed. Helps in relieving stress and anxiety, indigestion, and insomnia. Chamomile Flower, Lavender Flower, Gotu Kola Leaf, Cardamom, Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Licorice Root.
- The Dynamic Healing Through Guided Imagery has a price increase, now $225 as well as the ONLINE version is now available as well.
3. CANDLE PRICES ARE GOING UP. Due to the pandemic, manufacturers have been forced to raise their pricing due to demand for ingredients such as wax for candles, plastic for bottles, the increase costs of harvesting for plants and oils. Unfortunately, because of this, we cannot keep prices the same. Prices are going up on the following items:
Candle Gift Set Collections (positive energy, four elements, angel’s abound…all the candles in this set) are now 14.95
Inspirational Lotus Candles are now $14.95
Botanical Healer Candles (abundance, love, protection…) are now $11.95
Chakra Pillar Candles (individuals) are now 14.95
Chakra Pillar Set is now $89.00
Astro Candles (all zodiac candles in this set) are now $14.95
Crystal Magic Candles have increased in size and are now 3 x 3 inches. They are now $14.95 (new product pictures, forthcoming)
4. Any product sold in a WHITE, Boston Round Spray bottle (Full Moon Sprays) are still not available. Every bottle manufacturer that makes these bottles are OUT OF STOCK, due to the pandemic. This is due to an overrun on plastic spray bottles for the use of hand sanitizers that the country has made.
5. New pricing on courses
The Color Elite Color Therapy Course will no longer include the crystals, cards, crayons and other goodies. This is a stand alone course without product for the same price of $249.00
We have divided this into an additional Color Elite Color Therapy Course PLUS Version which will contain the crystals, crayons, cards, bracelet and other goodies. priced at $269.95
Due to higher printing costs and the fact that we have not raised the price of our BIGGEST SELLING courses, The Crystal Light Course Chakracology, and Crystal Medicine courses are $245.00 (Crystal Medicine PLUS and Chakracology PLUS $269.95). The Crystalline Angel Course, Color Elite Color Therapy Course, and the Crystal Astrologer Course, we have had to raise the pricing to $249.00 for each course. The Book of Stones Course is $249.00 and Book of Stones PLUS version will be $299.00 The Crystal Massage Course is now $249.00 and the Crystal Massage PLUS version is now $269.00 Remember, drop shippers still make 20% on all book courses. Be sure and update your pricing on these two courses!
6. Price Change: (11/12/19) The Black Obsidian Reiki Stone Set has increased in price from $14.95 to $21.95
7. Rescue Calm Homeopathic Remedy has changed its labeling. Energetix company has re-branded the product and calls it Calm Five
The ingredients and price are essentially the same. Please REPLACE the image of your current listing. Follow the Calm Five link above.
8. Price Changes (as of 10/1/19) in our 100% Angel’s Mist Pure Essential Oils. Essential oil market values have gone up and we have not changed the pricing since 2017.)
The “Angel’s Mist” Essential Oils come in half ounce, dark blue bottles. New pricing as follows:
Cinnamon, Cedarwood, Clove, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemon, Orange, Peppermint – $9.00
Basil, Ginger, Grapefruit, Lemongrass, Pine, Rosemary, Vetiver – $12.00
Bergamot, Juniper, Lemon Balm (Melissa), Marjoram, Palmarosa, Patchouli, Tea Tree, Thyme – $14.00
Frankincense, Neroli, Jasmine (in jojoba), Ylang Ylang – $18.00
Black Pepper, Chamomile (Roman), Clary Sage, Cypress, Geranium, Myrrh, Rose Absolut (in jojoba), Rosewood, Sandalwood – $23.00
9. We have updated our Cone Incense. We now offer 20 hand made, hand rolled incense cones from $.4.95 and have changed the choices to our most popular: Dragon’s Blood, Lavender, Mixed, Opium, Rose, Sandalwood
10. Dropping our ORGANIC statues. As of September 1, 2019, we no longer will be exclusively organic with our teas and herbs. The price of organic tea has simply sky rocketed over the years and we now prefer to keep the pricing of our teas the same instead of doubling the retail price to accommodate organic statues. PLEASE REMOVE all notifications of the word “organic” in product descriptions and listings of our herbal teas. You can replace the word “organic” with all natural. We still continue to use the best sources for wild-crafted, cleanest, and safest quality herbs and spices for our teas. This will never change.
11. Tumbled stones for drop shippers. Dropshippers are able to sell 95% of our tumbled stones. We have limited amounts of Canadian fairy stone, staurolite, auralite23, larimar, azurite, Preseli, and Ulexite, so these stones are NOT for drop ship. You can drop ship our other tumbled stones.
12. BRAND NEW COURSE: Promote the brand new Master Class course taught by Andrew in New York City this Summer. The Yin/Yang Gemstone Therapy Course is now a certification course you can offer your clients. Learn more here
13. PRICE UPDATES: The Crystal Clear Divination course has gone up to $225.00 Drop shippers still make 20% of this amazing course. We have upgraded to course to include the Complete Runes and Complete IChing interpretations along with other great updates. You can find this information here: Crystal Clear Divination
14. Our Iconic Crystal Elixir oils have gotten a new label facelift and have been re-photographed. The price has also gone up to $11.95 each. We have added the Chakracology Oil in addition to our other scents. You can find this product here
15. We have expanded our Summer of Love Collection, adding matching INCENSE CONES to this big selling item! Please add these to your site.
New additions you can add:
Our essential oil line of Angel’s Mist Essential Oils
Angel Mist Aroma Remedy Blends
Atacama Sea Salt
Black Salt
Auralite Perfume
Blessing Set
Color Therapy Kits
Cedarwood bundle
Chakra Elevation Pendant
Chakra Gem Tree of Life
Chakra Granule Tea Collection
Chakra Herbal Teas
Chakra Massage Oil
Chakra Pillar Candles
Cold Stone Massage Set
Copper Orgone Synchronizer
Creative Spark Intuitive Impulse Set
Crystal Sun Sign Oils
Emotional Stress Crystal Pouch
Full Moon & New Moon Candles
The new Triple Threat Sets (happiness, protection, love, money, attraction, into the woods, Irish blessings kit)
Jasmine Incense Cones
India’s Sweet Flower Incense
Lodestone Mojo Kit
Marble Wish Stones
All sage bundles and incense cones and sticks
Summer of Love Essential Oil blends (roll on bottles)
Vedic Chakra Bath Perfume Oils
All Moon Glow Essential Oil Blends
Yoga Crystal Healer Set
~**~ Don’t forget, our courses are our biggest sellers. We offer drop shipper 20% commission.
We NO LONGER, include music CD’s in meditation kits. We include a link to meditation music on our site. Please be sure to CHANGE the product description if you carry the Meditation Deluxe Kit.
New incense for you to promote, including India’s sweetest flower cones, sage, flower power, opium, creativity, palo santo and more! These are very popular!
Candle Gift sets: our current selection on our candle page are very popular and move constantly
Visit our Top Sellers list (below) for our most popular items!
Additional Updates
Our wholesalers will enjoy our brand new All-in-one crystals with either the standard or preferred mix of 33 lbs of stones + 100 bags all in one priority mail box! Wholesalers call the office (888 670 1626) to place your orders!
Our drop shipper top 10 list contains our hottest seasonal items, already flying off the shelves! Are these items on your site?
These are the products you can place on your website. These products are mostly always in stock and ready to ship.
1. EMF Blocking Necklace
2. Litha Summer Ritual Kit
3. Lavender Sleep Anxiety
4. Negative Energy Kit
5. Liquid Silk Scarves
6. Ritual Baths
7. Empowerment Kits
8. Complete feng shui kit
9. detoxing products
10. Aura Vibrational Myst
***New product line***
Goddess Among Us Tea is now our 4th most popular tea! Add this to your tea collection, today!
Sensual Goddess Bath, Body Perfume oil is a hit. We have added this to our permanent aromatherapy blends! Be sure to add this to your site.
Mermaids are on the horizon! For the Spring and Summer, include our newest Mermaid Gift Set! We will be selling the Mermaid spray and candle, as separate entities from the set. Take a look at our “Mermaid tail bracelets“. These are sea foam blue/green titanium quartz with ocean trinkets accenting the stone!
Our Aromatherapy Remedy Blends are not new, but have a facelift, new image and fresh copy with lots of choices for application!
Top 10 Bests for each Season
January Top Sells
A great way to promote January it to suggest the top selling products people want and need to jump start their new year~new you resolutions! Here are our top sellers for January:
Imbolc/Candlemas
Valentine's Day Sellers
At this time of year, not everyone has a sweetheart to lavish gifts and kisses upon… so why not ALSO promote the gift of loving yourself! Suggest items that help people work on themselves: Here is a list you can place on your website and suggest to your clients:
1. Empowerment Kits
2. Complete Chakra Healer Kit
3. Aura Crystal Cleanse Kit
4. Ritual Baths for Empowerment
5. Negative Energy Kit
6. Chakra Perfume
7. Law of Attraction Pendant
8. Passion Perfume
9. Crystal Empowerment Pouches
10. Chakra Myst System
Top Sellers St. Patrick's Day
Top of the mornin’ to you!
St. Patrick’s Day is big business and that has to to with its association around money, luck and good fortune!
Here are the best sellers over the years that fly off the shelves!
1. The blessings set
2. Irish Blessing candle set
3. Crystal Pouch for Luck
4. Law of attraction pendant
5. “Lots of Luck” jade bracelet
6. Chalice Pendant
7. EMF blocking necklace
8. Ritual baths
9. Malachite grid set
10. Irish Luck Tea
The Best Ways to Market Luck March is truly has an air of madness about it! The number one seller at this time of year would be jewelry. Especially jewelry with a metaphysical meaning attached to it. People are searching everywhere for information regarding the intangible. Any help you can give them, transfers over to a good customer who comes back to your site often. You become like an old friend to them and it is comforting to know where to turn.
This time of year is our third biggest season for selling jewelry (with Christmas #1 and Valentine’s Day #2). Jewelry for luck, money, prosperity, good fortune, Spring, fertility and “healing” are the top sellers on the list. Helping your customer to know exactly what and why a piece of jewelry is good luck is about how you market it. The name of the piece should be catchy. The colors should be associated with luck and wealth. Giving your client some history about the properties of the crystal, the way it was made, from where it came from… all add to its mystic. They often sell themselves, once you give your client a little more background.
Be specific with your intention for your jewelry. Is it a necklace, bracelet, ring, earrings? What is it intended for? What purpose will it help your client with? Why will it help them? Let them know. Be specific.
Whether you sell our jewelry for drop ship or wholesale, or market your own special pieces, be sure to embellish on the reasons why the jewelry is so helpful and how it can help change your client’s outlook. You will see your products flying off the shelf!
Easter's Best
This sacred holiday is honored and revered and next to Christmas, it is the second most popular in the Christian calendar! Here’s what moves!
1. Ostara Easter Basket
2. Spring candle sets
3. Blessed incense collection
4. Holy water
5. Sacred anointing oils
6. Easter Tea
7. Angelic realm drops
8. Ritual baths
9. Angel stones
10. Chakra perfume
Spring's Top Sellers
Spring has sprung and its time to wake up, add some creativity, declutter your life and bring magic back into your sun-filled days!
1.Creativity Empowerment Kit
2. Spring candle sets
3. Spring casting herbal incense
4. Organic vitamins and supplements
5. Color therapy kits
6. Organic slim herbal tea
7. Hotstone massage kits
8. Complete feng shui kit
9. Detoxing kit
10. Stop smoking kit
Honoring the Goddess: Marketing Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is a nice time to bring awareness to the “mother energy”. Honor your mother or a mother you know. Here are some wonderful ways to send loving energy:
1. Light a candle to honor a mother who is living or who has passed.
2. Use a simple ritual to bring love and honor to yourself as a mother, or to give thanks to mother earth.
3. Pay homage to your mother through the power of scent with affirmation candles, essential oil sampler or our sacred anointing oils.
4. Treat your mom to an at home spa session.
5. Invite your mom to enjoy a special seasonal tea blend, created just for her.
6. Consider making her a unique “soundtrack” in honor of who she is. Choose and create music that reminds you of your mom!
7. Choose from one of our many extra special and unique gift baskets designed for every occasion, celebration and budget!
8. Honor your mom with the gift of crystals.
Top 10 Summer Inspired Rituals
Summer is the time when our clients take advantage of the beautiful weather. They do more traveling and head out of town for a long needed vacation! It is also the time when web business starts to slow down. So why not offer your clients goodies they can travel with! Consider our four varieties of “First Aid Kits” for travelers. Suggest to your clients some great supplements to take with them on the road. And don’t forget to feature the latest summer novels and magazines to keep them entertained. We have created a Top Ten List of Summer Must Haves.
1. Litha Summer Solstice Kit
2. Mermaid Kit
3. Incense Deluxe Kit
4. Negative Energy Kit
5. Liquid Silk Scarves
6. Ritual Baths
7. Empowerment Kits
8. Complete feng shui kit
9. detoxing products
10. Aura Vibrational Myst
Fall Must-Haves
The turn of Fall brings change and newness from the heat of summer. Here are a top 10 list of products to help ease in and welcome this transition!
1. Chakra Candles
2. Chakra Blend Teas
3. New Moon Candles
4. Harvest Candle set
5. Dopamine supplement
6. Fall casting herbs
7. Reiki grid sets
8. Complete Chakra kit
9. Crystal facial kit
10. Fall resin incense
Top 10 Halloween Best Sellers
Halloween is the 2nd money grossing holiday next to Christmas! Bring forward your All Hallow’s Eve favorites and offer the best of the season!
1. Crystal Divination Course (20% commission)
2. Seasonal Candles
3. Moon Candles
4. Protection Candles
5. Samhain Halloween Kit
6. Secret Seance Kit
7. Negative Energy Kit
8. Crystal Tarot Kit
9. Bewitched Incense
10. Witches Brew Tea
Christmas Holiday Best
What are the top selling products on YOUR site? Do they have a related theme? Are they on your homepage or on one of your most popular pages? Make a list for your clients. It is especially helpful when your client is looking for suggestions for the holidays. They appreciate being turned in the right direction when they come to visit you!
We suggest our top 10 sellers for affiliate and our wholesale customers.
1. Energy medicine products: Chakra, aura products, biggest sellers
2. Certified homestudy courses, are our 2nd biggest and best selling educational material. (Note: this is a 20% commission on this and all courses).
3. Candle Therapy: Scented and themed candles
4. Gift baskets: Gift sets, meditation and incense kits
5. Crystal jewelry: our top sellers and approved selling list is below
–Chakra elevation pendant
–earth, fire, water, air, metal drops
-transformational healer, weight loss, law of attraction, love, protection, psychic, recovery drops
–Angelic realm drops
-make your own coil necklaces
-copper bracelets
–EMF blocking necklace
6. Essential Oils: Angel’s Mist essential oils and Remedy Blends
7. Herbs: our organic and wild-crafted herbal teas
8. Healing tools: Mermaid gift set, Goddess gift set, Complete Chakra Healer Kit,
9. Incense: sacred incense, sage and blessed Incense collection
10. Angelic goodies: Angel Wing pendant, Daily Archangel Crystal Set
All Time Top Selling
These are the products you can place on your website. These products are most always in stock and ready to ship.
1. Empowerment Kits
2. Complete Chakra Healer Kit
3. Aura Crystal Cleanse Kit
4. Ritual Baths for Empowerment
5. Negative Energy Kit
6. Chakra Perfume
7. Law of Attraction Pendant
8. Reiki Grid Set
9. Crystal Empowerment Pouches
10. Crystal Courses (20% commission)
Selling YOUR Product
Do you have a unique products you would like to sell on Peacefulmind.com?
1. Send us a sample of your product.
2. All the products we try, sample and give our stamp of approval on before we sell them on Peacefulmind.com If it works within our product themes, we would be happy to sell YOUR product on our site.
3. We can do a drop ship of YOUR product, by having your product/s on OUR site and as visitors order your products, we take the order, send you payment and you send out the product. We would receive 40% of the retail price of the product as our fee to do this. We can keep the price the same or raise the price accordingly.
4. There is a $200.00 set up fee that our webmaster charges to design the “product pitch” for our site, add the copy and pictures to our site and add the product into our shopping cart. Then your product is “live” and ready to sell on Peacefulmind.com
5. If you are interested in selling with us, email Andrew with your product information to: [email protected]
The top 10 Crystal Elixirs:
Moonstone-Love Drawing
Obsidian-Letting Go/Protection
Amethyst -Meditation/Psychic
Aventurine -Emotional Healing/Luck
Hematite-Courage/Protection
Smoky Quartz-Protection/Spirit
Tiger’s Eye-Money/Will Power
Peridot-Healing/Wealth
Red Jasper-Energy/Grounding
Carnelian-Passion/Sexuality
Top 10 Blessed Incense Collection
Guardian Angel
Saint Michael
Saint Francis
Lady of Lourdes
Saint Jude
Saint Anthony
Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lady of Guadalupe
Lady of Grace
Divine Mercy of Jesus
Top 10 Botanical Healer Candles
Protection
Abundance
Love
Healing
Courage
Dreams
Money
Positive Energy
Angel’s Influence
Good Health
Top 10 Sacred Incense
Home Blessing
Cleanse
Money
Dreamtime
Success
The Conqueror
Full Moon
Aphrodisiac
Terra Cotta Hymn
Shaman Circle
Do Choose a Good Domain
A domain name is like a sign in front of a store: it can either invite customers to come and look inside or drive them away. When choosing a domain name for your website, pick one that’s inviting, catchy and memorable. Avoid domains that are confusing, easy to misspell or embarrassing. Long, keyword-stuffed domains with hyphens are poor choices as well. In short, select a domain that you can brag about.
Do Plan Your Website
Don’t plunge into Web design without planning it first. Establish key points; identify your audience, the purpose of your site and how you will monetize it, if at all. Research your target keywords. Sketch out a site map that shows you how many pages you will make and how they link to one another. Decide which information is the most essential and give that priority. Without clearly identifying your site’s purpose and goals, you won’t know if it is a success or not later on. So plan early on.
Do Make Site User Friendly
Visitors move quickly through Web pages. If information is buried several pages deep in your site or located somewhere that is not obvious, it can and will frustrate people and send them away. Keep your guests happy by making your site easy to navigate. Add a menu bar, use readable fonts, avoid busy backgrounds and present vital facts up front. Test your website for usability. If a first-time visitor cannot find information quickly, your site navigation needs improvement.
Do Use Styles
Cascading Style Sheets or CSS is surely one of the finest things that has happened to website development. CSS streamlines HTML programming by separating design and appearance from document structure. When you use external style sheets, you can make changes to your site design without having to edit each page. This not only spares you a lot of trouble, it also keeps your HTML code neat and trim.
Do Optimize
Search engine optimization is necessary to the long-term survival of any website. Target your keywords in the title, section headers and links in your Web pages. Even more important than the search engines are your human visitors. Create useful content for your audience’s sake, not just for Google, Bing or Yahoo! If you provide valuable content to readers, the search engines will come to trust your site anyway.
Don’t Write Bad Code
If you are a Web programmer, you should know how to write clean and valid code. If you are only a beginner or know next to nothing about HTML, use an HTML editor that generates clean markup, such as Adobe Dreamweaver. After you have made your website, use a code validator. Proper coding helps ensure compatibility with all platforms.
Don’t Use Large Images
Avoid using excessively large pictures. You want your website to load as quickly as possible, and large images slow it down. You do not need to use images that are several megabytes in size. Even 500KB can slow down a person with a slow dial-up connection. Optimize your pictures for the Web by compressing them. Chances are, visitors won’t be able to tell the difference.
Don’t Spam Your Content
In an attempt to manipulate search engine results, some authors deliberately “spam” keywords in their Web pages. This is known as “keyword stuffing.” Avoid it at all costs. Develop content with people, not search engines, in mind. Use keywords only as frequently as feels natural to you. Read the final copy to yourself to make sure it sounds right.
Don’t Finish a Site
Good websites are never finished. Instead, these websites are always evolving. Update your site regularly by adding fresh content, improving design and layout or adding new features. A website that is no longer updated may soon be outranked by competitors or abandoned by its following. You do not have to change everything, of course. If your topic is evergreen, many of your articles should stand the test of time.
Tips to boost local SEO.
For merchants and small businesses who want to get found online, it is imperative that search engine optimization (SEO) is localized. To learn more about the do’s and don’ts of local SEO, I interviewed Kathryn McGeehan, a lead generation expert whose agency, Market Wise, specializes in internet and content marketing.
“Anything you can do to connect yourself to that local community, Google will reward you.” – Kathryn McGeehan
Here are her tips for improving your local SEO:
Do: Ensure you are listed in reputable online directories, like Yelp and Foursquare, as well as your local Chamber of Commerce.
Don’t: Pay to be in a directory – they are spammy, and search engines don’t like them.
Do: Make sure your name, address, and phone number are consistent online, from directories to your website to social media accounts.
Don’t: List your phone number as an 800 number; you must have a local area code for local SEO to work.
Do: Make sure you choose the same categories for your business in every directory.
Don’t: Ignore Google+. Because Google wants to promote its own product, search results in Google+ are visual – and people respond to visuals.
Do: Ask for reviews, because search results appear by who has the best social signals.
Don’t: Make it difficult for customers to review you; provide links to review sites in your email marketing.
Do: Focus on local marketing and public relations to improve your search rankings, such as taking part in local Chamber of Commerce events, getting write-ups in local newspapers, and sponsoring local events.
Don’t: Try to game the reviewing system. You are not allowed to promote a review or reward people for reviewing you. Additionally, reviews must come from outside your business – Google looks at the IP address of the reviewee to confirm that the review is authentic and independent.
Do: Optimize your blog for local SEO by including your address and phone number in blog posts and encouraging comments – Google likes to see blogs that generate interest and interaction. You can also invite other local bloggers to guest blog (and vice versa), and you can link back to each other.
Don’t: Hide your address. Because mobile is huge, map listings will help get people into your physical space.
Do: Optimize your site for mobile. Use responsive design to make sure people can read and navigate your site on their phone.
What have you done to improve your local search rankings?
Balance your page. To improve your website, balance your page because when users enter a website, their focus first starts at the top left of the page and hovers there before slowly tracking to the right. The web user is focused more on the text of the page, rather than images or graphics. This is where balance comes into place.
Clean backgrounds. The background textures and colour you chose have the ability to estimate the overall appeal of the website. Lots of texture and graphics in the background can be distracting, and the more texture you add to the background, the less noticeable your text and images become. If you are going to use a colour on the background, you should make sure there is significant contrast between the background colour and the text. You will rarely go wrong with black text and white background because it’s clean and easy to read. You have to be careful when using brighter and darker colours such as red or yellow. They cause visual fatigue (temporary loss of strength and energy resulting from hard physical or mental work) and the reader will lose their focus on the text.
For easy navigation, you should create a toolbar with links that are easy to navigate and position the toolbar in an area that makes sense. Web users often look for the toolbar across the top or down the left the left hand side of the page. You shouldn’t forget a link to your homepage. It’s often forgotten but very important to point your users to your homepage.
Text readability should make your pages easy to read, break up blocks of text and create short paragraphs. You should consider the key points on each page and create headings and subheadings use one or two fonts. You should select one font for your headings and subheadings and another for the body text and highlight key words and phrases by bolding or using a different colour. You should be careful when selecting colours, and not to use every colour in the rainbow. Many such as yellow and pink don’t stand out well if you’ve selected a white or black background.
Horizontal Scrolling. It would be better if you get rid of horizontal scrolling because users hate to scroll left to right. It’s disorienting and annoying, so if you’ve got it, lose it. Vertical scrolling is ok if you have to have it, but consider moving larger blocks of information to another page and providing links. There’s also the danger of missing vital information that falls below the screen if a user decides not to scroll down to view it. So if you’ve got to have a scrolling page, try to keep all your important information above the fold.
Make it quick. We all get impatient when it takes more than 5 seconds to connect to a website. Users want to make contact, and make it quick. You need to ensure that your pages load as quickly as possible. Eliminate unnecessary graphics, especially flash graphics they can be time hogs.
- Deals, Sales and Upsells
- 5 Ideas for Bringing In Business
- Choose Wisely: Building A Brand and Staying With It
1. Cyber Monday is a great way to make sales. Offer a 2 for 1 sale, free shipping or a gift with purchase.
2. Coupons are a great way to reward a customer for a sale. It brings them back to your site and keeps them shopping with you! Keep the coupon time sensitve.
3. Free shipping is another enticing offer. Keep it to a certain day or time or offer it for sales over a certain amount.
4. Immediate discount with a coupon code at purchase is a nice way to make your customer happy.
5. Include a gift with purchase. When someone orders something from your site, send along a free gift. Something related to the item they purchased or a new item you wish to promote.
6. Include a sample of a new or popular product with purchase. This gives the customer the opportunity to try something new that they may not be familiar with or have wanted to try, but were afraid to purchase.
7. Promotions such as “new customer appreciation”, returning customer gift or free tips, items or information that is relative to thier purchase.
8. Theme related promotions are fun and exciting for your customer. The holidays, the seasons, and special events are all great ways to bring your customers attention back to your website or business.
9. Keep it fresh! People love new content, information and eye popping products and promotions. Stay relative and up to date with stories, ancedotes and ideas.
10. Have reasons for your customer to come back to your site each day. Some suggestions would be: surveys, tips and how tos, horoscopes, recipes or community based blogs.
Late Summer is considered the “dog day afternoons” when in late August and “Indian Summer” are hotter and damper days rich in humidity and a feeling of heaviness in the air. This often parallels the way our bodies feel during this period. Most of our clients go on vacation this time of year and business also slows down! Make use of this “down time” by preparing for September!
1. Write an article (or several): Write an article with some helpful tips, recipes or highlight a therapy, modality or popular topic. Post your articles on popular websites, newsletter and your blog or website. You will be surprised at the far reaching affects this can have on your business! It may not be immediate, but it helps you get found on search engines and by those seeking out information on your topic. Kept the article at about 200 words. Keep the article positive and upbeat and make it relevant. If you are gearing it toward a particular blog or web group, consider writing about something that is popular on these sites. Not use to writing articles or blogging? Start by journaling about something. You can write about your experience in regards to your vacation or a location.
Then, turn this into your article.
2. Offer a coupon or limited time sale: What better way to bring back old customers as well as, perk up the interest of new customers. People love to know that they can get something on sale or at a discount. Consider offering free shipping for a weekend or a BOGO (buy one get one FREE). Consider a sales “theme” (the dog days of summer sale, the super summer soaker sale or the ready for Fall sale. Your possibilities are endless. Keep the sale or coupon time to a limit so your customer knows they only have a “limited time” to take advantage of your offer.
3. Do a street fair or public event: Get your business out there. If you are only a web based business, maybe it is time to get out there and make a physical appearance with your company. People love the immediacy and the “hands on” ability to touch your products, read labels and see, first hand, what you are all about! Consider presenting yourself at a local fair or street fair. Perhaps your church or community organization will allow you to set up a table for a day or weekend or several weekends.
4. Introduce a new product. This is a great time to promote (or at least prepare) a new product OR product line for Fall! Remember – possibilities are endless! We are only limited by our imagination… so go out and get inspired… by nature… by the city…. by others! Come up with a great new product to add to your stable of goodies. NOW is the time.
5. Promote, Promote, Promote: Sometimes we get so caught up in life… that our business tends to take a back seat. Our intention can only be on one thing at a time. So now, bring your attention back to your business. Consider these ideas for promoting your business. Revise your marketing plan. Do you have a marketing plan? Update business cards, promotional material and website information. Network at trade shows, office events, conferences and business workshops. Do a mailing. Offer incentives. Advertise on radio, television, sidewalk signage, flyers, newspaper or magazines. Advertise on local community websites, theme related websites and social media. Do a Youtube video, Google adwords or Microsoft Ad Center. Consider a newsletter or email marketing campaign. Whatever you choose to do, keep it relevant, keep it current and keep it upbeat!
Success is gained by consistency! It is extremely important that the brand you create is something that you should plan on having around for a very long time. Deciding what it is that speaks to you is part of the overall plan for branding who you are and what you offer. The longer it is around, the more familiar it will become to others who seek out what you have to offer. No matter what it is… vitamins to greeting cards, candles to writing pens, your image, idea, name and the ability to locate you will all play a role in creating and maintaining your success.
Over the years, I have seen thousands of products, websites, email contacts and over all brands disappear. So much of this had to do with improper planning from the start. As a consumer, I often seek out what it is I need in the moment. On the flip side of this coin, I may be browsing and come across something that looks great and so I bookmark it for future purchasing. As a seller, I have come to realize that staying current, maintaining business relationships and remaining consistent has been the best game play!
Here are some Do’s and Don’t for building a brand and staying with it!
1. Choose a website (and product) name that’s memorable. What I run across the most, are websites with a mile-long name. The problem with this is that most people will not remember it. Avoid hyphens or dashes in your web name. People will not recall if it is a dash, hyphen, underscore or where exactly in your name that falls. Choose a name that rolls of your tongue. Choose a name that relates to what you do or sell. Consider using a web name that actually describes what it is you are selling or representing.
2. Renaming web pages is a no-no. If someone has bookmarked your page and you go and change the name, you will not be found. If you change the web page name, it will then get re-indexed in the search engines and will take twice as long
to come back into its current position before you changed the name. If you change the name of the page and you are not found, many times people believe you are out of business. Choose a webpage name that tells others what the page is about or what its purpose is.
3. The key to success is consistency. On every level. If you always have the same web address, contact email, same phone number… you can always be counted on. When these foundations change… your business changes. Usually, for
the worse. Your service must remain consistent. How you treat your customers… bringing them ease of transitions, dependable service, reliable help… THIS, will make you the “go-to” business, others seek out.
4. Represent your brand in a true and easy to understand way. What is the saying…”there are only 100 good ideas…the rest are variations on a theme”. Over the years, I have certainly found this to be true. We can only re-invent the wheel so many ways. BUT, it is how you market that “wheel”, that makes all the difference. Is your brand, product or service clear to others? Is it represented in the most easy to understand manner? Do people know what it is? Sometimes, if you need to call your service by a certain name, using a by-line under it, helps define it.
For instance, my acupuncture business is called ProAcuMed. Inc Looking at this title, you may not know exactly what it is… but with the by-line Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine underneath this, it completely tells the consumer who and what you are and do. An associate of mine had a car service he started about a year ago. When he first had his business cards done, he had a picture of a beautiful red Ferrari on the card. When he would pull up to a client’s home or office to pick them up… he told me the client was always disappointed because they thought they were going to be picked up in a red Ferrari and NOT the Chevy four door he would show up in. He finally changed his cards!
5. Poor marketing responds, does not always mean it is a bad idea. Most times… it takes time. Time to get your message across. Time to be heard. Time to be found. Is your product understood to the masses, not just a few? Is your brand seen as “too out there?” or is it lacking definition? On the flip side, what you may think is a fantastic brand or marketing idea, may fall flat on its face. BUT… the only way in knowing the true outcome… is following through, staying the course and believing in what you have to offer. Sometimes the slightest changes make a grand impact. For instance, I have a wonderful line of incense that I was selling for several years. Although they were selling, they were not “flying off the shelves”. I changed the image of the product and added color to the names of each incense group representing what they stood for. They are now my biggest selling incense line. Sometime, it takes a little imagination and common sense to bring about positive change.
6. Remove your EGO from the equation. Oh boy, this can be a hard one for many of us. There is no place for your ego in your business. Ego is what causes us to take our business personal. Of course, it is difficult when our business or brand or service is not understood the way we want it to be…. but within this, lies a lesson. It is a good opportunity to understand where the “miscommunication” or misunderstanding falls. It is a good time to step back and look at WHY someone may be “interpreting” what you say or what you sell as something else entirely. When we have a “knee-jerk” reaction to someone’s opinion… this is our EGO response. Let go of Ego. Embracing peace of mind, optimism and the ability to forgive. Along with a sense of humor, these are all good ways to allow the ego to step aside and make room for some humble pie, as well as the opportunity to learn and grow.
By Susan Payton
I’m sure this varies, depending on your industry. And like I said, I believe work-from-home business owners see more of a slump (sometimes self-imposed) than those who make arrangements for their kids to be elsewhere in the summer. For a lot of businesses, or so I thought, summer means slower days and less work. Blame it on the kids being out of school or people taking more vacations. I know a lot of my mom blog and mom-preneur work-at-home friends usually have slow summers, due to the kids being out of school (I’m glad my son is in year-round school and is out for just six weeks!)
But the statistics prove otherwise. Manta, an online community for promoting and connecting small business, polled more than 1,000 small business owners about their business during the summer months. I found the results a bit surprising. A whopping 85 percent of the small businesses surveyed said they do not experience a slump in productivity due to increases in employee vacation time in the summer. And nearly three in four small businesses keep the same schedule through the year with no changes during the summer months. It’s been a few years since I had a summer slump, but I tried to use the time to work on things I didn’t have time to work on during any other part of the year, like:
•Reviewing my marketing plan and making changes
•Organizing my office
•Taking a vacation
•Reassessing my website and marketing and making changes
•Writing!
Summer is a great time to write an ebook, book, or whitepaper if you have slow days. If you do have a slump and need to keep building sales, use the summer to find new networking groups and conferences in your town. Schedule coffee or lunch dates with new contacts, and work to build relationships online and off. Summer is also a great time to plan your promotions for the rest of the year. I usually find myself waiting until a few weeks before a holiday or event, with no preparation. Use the summer to get organized!
by Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac
Describing your product for sale is both a creative process and a technical one.
Technical, because it will be important to add keywords, target words and a marketing strategy WITHIN your copy. Creative, because you will need to reach your prospective buyer’s emotions and senses!
So, let start out with this exercise:
Step 1: Simply name the product you are selling. Now from this name, consider other names that your buyer may call it. For instance, I want to sell an Easter Basket. Others may call this an egg nest, egg basket, Easter gift, Ostara Basket, Sabbat kit or Holiday basket.
Step 2: Write down 10 – 15 keywords that you would associate with this product. A helpful hint for this, is to look at the SEARCH engine of the site you wish to sell it on. Write the name of your product “Easter Basket” in the search engine of Etsy or Goggle. You will automatically start to see a list of keywords that are associated with this product and the popular keywords people are searching for. Your list should include words that truly describe your product. Make each word count. These “keywords” or target words are going to be the words that bring your prospective buyer to your door.
Step 3: Now write your “copy” using these keywords or target words. Try stringing the words together with as few “the” , “and” or “also”. You are now starting to form what will be the product description or product copy. After you have connected your keywords. Go back and re-edit your copy. What words do you really need or don’t need?
Step 4: Now is the time to get creative. You want your prospective buyer to use their senses and emotions in order to draw them into wanting the product you are selling. You do this by using words that stimulate our 5 senses. Your prospective buyer should be able to taste, smell, touch and get an idea of how this product would feel in their hands or on their skin or how it would “look” in their home! Look at this example:
“this basket is made with twigs, stick and moss. It is lined with grass. It can be used by placing goodies inside. You can store anything in the basket or fill it with your favorite things. It has a plastic liner inside so nothing leaks out.”
NOW LOOK AT THIS:
“this gift set comes complete with a beautiful, all natural hand woven basket with twigs, stick and Asian moss. It is stuffed with a heavy cushion of reconstituted green cypress moss. It can be used as a “wish basket” by writing down your intention on a piece of paper and placing it inside. You can store your crystals, oils or incense in the basket or fill it with your favorite empowering tools. It has a plastic liner inside and makes a wonderful “easter basket”.
We have embellished on the “look” of the basket, described the image and feel of the basket and its contents. We have given the prospective buyer an alternative use for the basket and have used superlative to accentuate how good the product is!
Step 5: Re-read and review your finished copy (over and over). How does the copy read to you? Does it sound attractive, appealing, almost good enough to eat? Is it something you would buy? Get a second opinion. Preferably one that is not to “close to home” and/or someone who would give you their honest input. Don’t be afraid to re-write the copy, rearrange certain paragraphs or delete some of the words or phrases. Every word should count!
Selling products is not always as easy it appears, but when you make your product appealing and more attractive to the buyer, utilizing their emotions, senses and urgency to have this product for several great reasons, you will see your product fly off the shelves!
“Transparency” seems to be the magic word of the moment. Customers want to be able to “see through” your business in order to feel confident about buying there. As I browsed around Etsy, I noticed how many sellers have zero information about themselves, their business or about who they are. This not only instills a lack of confidence in a business, but customers, in turn, will think twice about buying there. They will be twice as skeptical in giving over their hard earned money to you if your business appears to be “incognito”.
I would like you to consider why new customers feel confident about buying merchandise from you? When confidence is high, more people will perceive your company as a safe and reputable business.
The “look” or design of your business website is important. How clean is the design? How easy is it to navigate? I personally want to give customers so much information, when they come to my website, that sometimes, they can get lost in the information and forget the product. It is great for education, but alas, sales can be lost or put on the back burner if you do not redirect their attention to the reason they came to you in the first place. So, less can sometimes be better, as long as they have an option to read more, if they choose.
Quality = Who You Are. It is important to have a good quality product. Sometimes we are in such a rush to get things out there, that we may sacrifice the last step, or put out something that we think is “good enough”, when in fact, it may not be. Good quality work takes time (but not unreasonably). Good quality work is a direct reflection on you. I noticed one patron’s reviews. Someone ordered something from a store. This customer received the merchandise and then wrote a review that was expressing how poorly the workmanship was. The seller responded back by making excuses and admitting they were in a hurry to get the product on the market. Again, this does not instill confidence.
Good, clear, photos of your product will clinch your sale. If you are taking your own product photos, it will be important to learn how to take great pictures. Since the advancement of digital phones, we have high quality, high resolution cameras and photos at our finger tips. Photos in natural light tend to come out the best. Different angles or highlighting features on your product is also important.
Shopping safe is what SSL is for. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It provides a secure connection between internet browsers and websites, allowing you to transmit private data online. Sites secured with SSL display a padlock in the browsers URL and possibly a green address bar if secured by an EV Certificate. Your shoppers want the confidence in knowing they are shopping on a secure network and that their information will not be compromised. Make sure this is displayed on your website when customers order.
What are your shopping policies? How do you conduct business when a client makes a sale? Do they know your guarantee? Do they understand your return policy? Are they aware that the information you provide pertains to that product? Display these policies in a prominent place on your website.
Who are you? This brings us back to transparency. Do you have a photo of yourself on your site? Do you have a storefront? Is a photo of your storefront on your website? Your potential customer wants to know. The more you tell them, the more they believe you are a “real” business. Information builds confidence. This confidence builds trust. Trust builds sales. Give your potential client confident to clicking that “add to cart” button.
by Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac
The (unofficial) end of summer tends to bring a lull in business as customers, clients and patients try to work in their summer vacations. Many children head back to school and parents are pre-occupied. Pre-September and the lazy summer days are less of a motivator for action and more of a call to relax. So when the dog days of summer come around or the January blues set in, it is a good time to bring your focus back to your business and consider trimming the fat, so to speak. Change is coming. After Labor Day, the energy seems to swing upward. People are more motivated to get things done before the December holidays. Companies start buying for the November-December rush (if they have not started already) and the up coming season of Fall begins a new cycle in customer behavior. Here are some good ideas for this time of year:
1. Take a look at your best sellers. They are probably 20% of your sales. Consider re-ordering these items. Your best sellers should always be front and center on your website or in your store’s displays. Keep a large amount of these items in stock and on your shelves. You will be happy you did.
2. It is also a good idea to look at what is not selling. If a product has not shown any interest by your customer, it may be time to “revamp” the product. New logo, new marketing approach, new ad copy or even new photographs, can change the “energy” of the product and bring new light and attention to them.
3. If you have products with little or no interest, these maybe the ones that should go (to make room for new and different ideas). Have an “end of summer” sale or pre-Fall sale to move these items off your shelf and clear the way for new product ideas.
4. This is a good time to look at your website’s “ease of flow” or process in which your customer finds your products or top interest items. Is it easy for your customer to locate top sellers? What is the main focus on your homepage? Is it product driven or article driven? If your site is informative as well, blend fresh, new article and information with catchy titles and seasonal interests. If your site is product driven, as well as information driven, make it easy for customers to find both through your homepage. Does your website take “logical steps” to get a customer where they want to go? How many “clicks” does it take to get them there? If the answer is more than 1 or 2 clicks, then it is time to make it easier for your customer to locate an item and better for your bottom line.
5. Refresh your product’s copy. How you sell your products, depends on the wording. Good photographs spark a customer’s interest, but it is the words that follow, that “speak” to your customer. Is your copy enticing, intriguing, almost good enough to “eat”? Does it describe your product accurately? Is ther enough information? Is there too much “extraneous” fodder that is nice but, digresses from the “meat” of the issue. To this point, I have seen product copy that is so short and lacking information, that it almost seems to be a waste of money, energy and time. On the other hand, I have seen pages of copy about a product that makes me lose interest after the first 3 paragraphs! If you can’t spell out the facts in the first 50 words and some interesting ways to use the product in your next 50 words, then it is time to rethink your selling points.
6. You only have 30 seconds to make an impression. So consider wisely the “who, what, when, where, how” aspect of your product. Sell it quick or go home. Another words, if you do not have your customers interest in the first 30 seconds of them seeing your product, then re-imagining the product is essential. It is one thing if the customer comes to your site looking for “incense” and they pass over the “body lotions”. If they are not captivated by your “incense” (or the product they have come to you to find) then, again… it is time to rethink your strategy.
7. Pretty pictures are the “visual” seller. They can make or break the professional aspect of your website, products and sales. The days of using photographers for product photo shoots seems to have gone by the way side, unless you are a major corporation with money to burn. A good eye and a high pixel resolution camera on your phone can actually look just as good! Lighting, clarity and approach to good photos is something you can learn to do. If you afford to hire a professional photographer to photograph your products, then that is the route you should take. But, if you do not have the ability to hire someone, start experimenting with your camera, smartphone or iphone. If you are not sure about it, start looking around at what you like and what does catch your eye. What is it about other’s product photos you like or dislike. Pay attention to the way a product is lite and the background behind the product. Before you know it, you will have some eye-popping photos to help in the sale of your treasures!
8. Are your website and product lines ready for a change? You have a golden opportunity to introduce new items to a seasonal audience. Bring all these goodies to the forefront. Your best season items should be front and center. Your articles and stories should be relevant to the new season we are approaching. Give tips and advise and tie them into your product lines. Tell stories relevant to your best selling products. People want to know more, but they want to know more in a 30 second “sound or visual bite” or bit of information. Does the look of your site, fit the change in seasons? These little details catch a customer’s eye and they also know that you are relevant with the information and ready to do business.
9. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Now is the time to use your creative spark. Refresh your newsletter. Come up with new blog ideas. Start thinking about new products or product lines. Be the first one out of the “after holiday” starting gate, with a fresh look, new image or new products. Come September (or February) customer want to get things moving again in their lives and look to you and your website or store for retail therapy and inspiration!
Are you ready to give it to them?
10. Marketing strategies are in need of a face lift. Your biggest holiday buying, (next to Christmas) is Halloween. Are you ready for this? Customers are always looking for birthday or anniversary gifts. Are you marketing to this crowd? Do you have items that would interest people for the Jewish holidays, Kwanzaa or Fall weddings? Can you suggest to clients, some ideas for gift giving, no matter what the holiday or event? Do you know your demographics and who you are marketing to? What is your 3 month, 6 month or 1 year marketing plan considering? Do you get more website hits or store front interest from advertising on the Internet, in local papers or through radio and television advertisement? How are you marketing your business now? What is your short term and long term marketing goals? These are all great ideas to consider.
1. What are you marketing?: Take a good look at your product(s) or services. What exactly is it your are selling? Is it a physical product, an idea a dream? What is your reasoning for marketing it? You obviously want to bring it to the world and make money, so how do you define it? If you can’t define it, no one else can. Be clear as to what it is you are putting out into the world. (that applies to life, in general, as well).
2. Why is this useful?: The purpose of your product is an important part of your marketing. Why are you offering this product or service to the world? Why would the public want (need) your product? Answer this question. Then sell it! Get your products/service in directories, on bulletin boards, in treasury lists and in special sections devoted to your market. The more eyes that see your product/service listings the better your chances of gaining a client.
3. The time to market your product is NOW: Over the years, I have sold more Christmas candles during summer and more cold stone massage kits in winter, than I can tell you. All though these are seasonal items, it never ceases to amaze me, the amount of people who purchase these items “off season”. So it is important that if you have a product available (and its ready to sell), put it out there. Let people know about it. Do not wait. Nowadays, you will find shoppers (especially Internet shoppers) browsing for Christmas items in July or Easter gifts in December.
4. Where else are you marketing?: If your website is the product, where else are you talking about it? Blog about it, write articles in reference to it and consider promoting it through social media. Also remember that the greatest searches are still done on Goggle. So, marketing your products through search engines are very important. Consider search words, ad words, keywords.
5. “Set it and forget it”: DOES NOT apply here. Marketing your business calls for consistent work. Slapping up a website and think the money will come pouring in, is probably the biggest misconception of website creation. Regular marketing strategies (in daily, weekly, monthly intervals) and the content you market, should attract visitors to your site.
by Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac
Your shop, website, business, life… are an extension of who you are. It can be the many aspects of who you are. So who are you? Defining this is not an easy task. No one is asking you to define something so complicated, but I would like you to take a moment to discover what you are interested in.
1. Make two columns a).Write down 5 words to describe the 5 most wonderful subjects you are interested in or drawn to. b). In the opposite column elaborate on each of the 5 subjects by writing KEYWORDS (a few words for each subject) that give you a little more detail.
2. If you were going to turn one or more of these subjects into a shop: a). choose one and create a shop name: b). you can do the same with the other 4 subjects if you wish:
3. Now, write a brief paragraph to describe this shop.
4. If you were going to write a message to prospective buyers, write out what you would say to someone who has come to your shop to buy something.
5. Now, in one paragraph, tell your buyer, who you are…. (remember, one paragraph).
6. In number 1b, you where asked to write out KEYWORDS to further describe the 5 subjects you were interested in. Here lies a story….(your story?) In two paragraphs, connect these subjects and keywords into a story. Besides yourself, what are their common bonds and why are they so important to you?
Well, in a nut shell, you have just created your own shop! This could be a launching pad for you to explore a more in depth shop (and self). This can give you ideas for items that inspire you to buy as a shopper or to fine tune your current business as a shop owner. I have found, that sometimes, starting with a very basic image, idea or keyword can be the “spark” that leads you to a brand new place in your life!
In happiness,
Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac
Peacefulmind.com
7 Steps to the Perfect Marketing Plan
by John Jantsch (excerpt from Duct Tape Marketing Revised & Updated )
Think about who you are, who needs what you do and how to get their attention.
One of the most powerful strategic planning tools your business can possess is a marketing plan. I’m not referring to an academic exercise found in college marketing textbooks. Your marketing plan should be a simple (in some cases, one-page) document that specifically answers who you are, what you do, who needs what you do and how you plan to attract their attention. It’s a combination of the planning process and the completed action plan.
Follow these seven simple steps to build the perfect marketing plan:
Step 1: Narrow your market focus. Try to describe your ideal customer in the narrowest and most detailed terms possible, as though you’re describing him or her to a referral source
Step 2: Position your business. Figure out what you do best and what your target market wants. Maybe it’s how you serve a niche or package your products. If you don’t know what it is, call up three or four of your clients and ask them why they buy from you. Craft a core marketing message that allows you to quickly differentiate your business.
Step 3: Create education-based marketing materials. Recreate all your marketing materials, including your website, to focus on education. Make certain every word in your marketing materials speaks of your core messages and to your target market.
Step 4: Never cold call. Make sure all your advertising is geared toward creating prospects, not customers. You must find ways to educate before you sell. Your target market needs to learn how you provide value in a way that makes them want to pay a premium for your services or products. You simply can’t do this in a 3-inch-by-4-inch ad. Your ad must get viewers to ask for more information. Then you can proceed to selling. Determine all the ways you can get your education-based messages in front of your narrowly defined target market.
Step 5: Earn media attention. Create a list of journalists who cover your industry or community, and build relationships with each by becoming a reliable resource of information. Plan out an entire year of new items you can promote by season or event.
Step 6: Expect referrals. Create a referral marketing engine that systematically turns each client and referral network into a kind of unpaid sales pro. You must instill a referral marketing mind-set into your business’s culture. Do this by making every customer a marketing and referral contact. Map every contact and build processes that focus on referrals.
Step 7: Live by a calendar. After you complete steps 1 through 6, determine what you need to do to put them into action. Then create an annual marketing calendar, noting the required monthly, weekly and daily appointments necessary to move your plan forward.
John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award-winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing Revised & Updated: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
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