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You've got a fantastic web site set up for your gift basket business. But,
you get no traffic hits. That's a problem, but it won't be for long if you
follow these steps:
Give your site visual appeal
This does not mean jazzing it up with flashy animations or complex images.
Beware of those--in fact, they will make your web pages take longer to load, and
chase your potential customers away. No one wants to spend minutes waiting for a
web site to load.
Visual appeal is that combination of colors, layout, fonts, and style that make
your web site easy on the eyes. Think of how hard it is to read white print on a
brilliant red background or to try to decipher some fancy font that looks more
like a 114-year-old's scrawl.
Think of all the potential visitors to your site. Some of them may have failing
vision. If your web site tries to pack a million words on the first page,
they'll move on the next more user-friendly gift basket business's web
site--even though they might be pricier and their baskets may not even stand a
close second or third to yours.
Submit your site to search engines
Most of the major search engines have a page dedicated to web site submission.
There are even free web site submission services.
Make your search engines fall in love with your site
Search engines love keyword-rich sites. But, you can't trick them by just
including them randomly here and there on your web site. You must include
keywords and keyword combinations in the appropriate context--in sentences that
make sense or better yet, in titles and near the top of the page. Search engines
will then fall in love with your site and project it as one of their favorites
when people search (for example on Google or Yahoo or ixquick.com) using one or
more of the keywords you've included.
Build a mailing list and send out newsletters on a regular basis
If you have a flair for penmanship, and know how to appeal to the masses through
the written word--more especially from a marketing perspective without being too
pushy, then author the newsletter yourself. Otherwise, hire a professional
copywriter. The money you spend on this could return a thousand-fold if the
advertising is done well.
Form partnerships and exchange links with gift reminder services
That's a good way to get targeted traffic-people who are really searching for
and ready to buy a gift basket--not just "window shoppers". Ideally, you want
every visitor to turn into a customer.
Advertise your web site using Google Adwords or a similar service
When you create such an advertisement, it is shown to right side of search
engine results. And, if your ad has an effective title and body text, people
might actually read it over search engine results.
A good gift basket web site with effective means to draw targeted visitors to it
is a win-win combination.
Wendy Wood is the owner of Seek Gift Baskets, an online gift basket directory
and enjoys helping gift basket business owners achieve online success. For more
information visit
http://www.seekgiftbaskets.com or sign up for free Gift Basket
Business Tips at
http://www.seekgiftbaskets.com/gift-business-tips.htm
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