Tip#27 – Run your own affiliate program

If your website sells products or services targeted to a very specific audience, it really might be worth your while to manage your own affiliate program with a select group of niche publishers. There is nobody better than you to know what websites your target audience typically visits, and reaching out to these webmasters has several advantages

First, it is generally beneficial to establish a good working relationship with these sites. If your products really are a good match for their users, it will be in their interest to come up with creative ways to present them to their audience. Your passion and knowledge of your products will far outweigh that of a conventional affiliate marketing company, so both you and the publisher can really work together to promote sales. Furthermore, affiliate networks are generally great tools to reach a broader audience but they need to find an adequate mix of volume and conversion to make your program worth their while. So, by focusing on the 8 or 10 publishers that generate an overwhelming proportion of your leads, your affiliate marketing investment might well be optimized.

Tip#22 – Nurture your Facebook fan page

Facebook currently has over 500 million active users, half of which log on to the social networking site on any given day. It is quickly becoming an essential marketing and communications tool for online businesses, and it is definitely something which you should look into. One of the main advantages of acquiring Facebook fans is that these users will become a captive audience for your messages, receiving your status updates through their Facebook wall until they decide to “un-friend” you. Although this is a double-edged sword, since users tend to regard excessive corporate updates as spam, if you take care of what you communicate Facebook can quickly become a critical source of revenue for your online business.

Tip#21 – Balance conversion optimization and traffic acquisition budgets

It is not rare for online businesses to invest heavily in traffic acquisition (search engine marketing, display advertising, shopping engine feed submissions…), often dedicating a significant portion of their budget to obtain assistance from qualified professionals. However, conversion rate optimization seldom attracts this kind of attention and is typically worked out within the organization. It is not a matter of choosing one over the other, but sometimes bottom line profits can increase more by investing in maximizing sales from existing traffic than by throwing more money to attract new users. Are you balancing your conversion optimization and traffic acquisition budgets? Are you as willing to pay outside experts to acquire traffic as you are to pay outside experts to help maximize your conversion rates?  

Tip#20 - Your own deal of the day

A recent study reveals that there are currently over 320 “deal of the day” sites in the US alone, and that they are expected to bring in a staggering $2.6 billion during 2011, up from $1.1 billion last year. If you are selling products online, you have your logistics in place and you have an audience, why not get in there and tap that market? Reward existing customers with membership to your exclusive “deal of the day” section, or alternatively offer all your visitors the chance to join. Beyond being appealing to customers, these daily deals can actually be addictive and since they are inherently social in nature, users will tend to share them with their social graph if they are any good. It’s definitely worth trying.

Tip#19 – Do you sell gift cards?

Experts estimate that the gift card market is worth around $60 billion, and many believe that it is going to be a prominent feature of the e-commerce business in the near future. Regardless of whether you are selling physical goods or virtual services, gift cards can really make life easy for gift hunters. If your loyal customers appreciate your business, give them the chance to spread the word by purchasing gift cards for their friends and family. It is an effective way of attracting new customers to your website who otherwise might not have interacted with you. Plus, they make the perfect gift for your most special customers.

Tip#17 – How many e-mails are too many e-mails?

Although social networks are quickly gaining ground as a source of information for online consumers, regular e-mail newsletters should still be an essential component of your online marketing mix. If a consumer is in the market for a new laptop, it seems rather plausible that they will be interested in receiving relevant information (in particular, special deals), but where do you draw the line? Give users the opportunity of selecting how many newsletters they would like to receive from you (daily, weekly, monthly…) and link prominently to these settings from every newsletter you send. E-mail marketing is an extremely powerful tool, but it is a double-edged sword that can also wreak havoc on your brand.

Tip#13 – Cross-selling with a mission

Cross-selling is a technique designed by marketers to increase sales by suggesting products that the consumer might be interested in, typically because they are complementary or closely related to what they are viewing. Most online businesses understand this, and use cross-selling tactics throughout their website, but in many cases the message is inconsistent which can, in fact, lead to fewer sales. Effective cross-selling requires a clear set of criteria and a consistent implementation: what are we basing our recommendations on? Are we suggesting products based on past customer behaviour, or are we using intelligent recommendation algorithms that may suggest product pairings even if they haven’t actually been sold together? Do we always want to suggest a product that is priced lower that the product selected by the user or do we want to up-sell? Are we creating a false sense of urgency that might feel uncomfortable? Is our recommendation to the user creating greater indecisiveness and hurting sales? All of these are questions that must be asked, and answered, before implementing an effective cross-selling program. You might want to try out different strategies, and decide which is most effective based on actual results.