February 01, 2015

10 Ways to Make $100 for your Online Store

January can be a tough month for retail.

If you're shaking off a challenging month, take the start of a new month as an opportunity to strategize for how you can do things differently, and better this month.

Though I rarely recommend quick fixes for marketing strategy, there are little things you can do in your business that will make you money in the next 24 hours.

Here are 10 tactics to make tomorrow a $100 dollar day for your online store.

  1. Send out an email newsletter to your list. This can be sent to your entire list, but a better tactic is to sub-segment your list based on purchase history. Segment out your best customers, and send them a targeted offer via email.
  2. Write a super-relevant, rich blog article. Try to hone into what your ideal customer would want to read about that is connected to the products you offer. Do you sell toasters? Well, a round-up of the top 5 toaster-only recipes may be interesting to your audience. Selling keychains? Write about the optimal number of keys you should have on a keychain, or key security tips.
  3. Promote the heck out of that blog post. Know your channels, and promote the blog post accordingly. Promoting on Instagram? Use a simple photo that illustrates the post, and put the post teaser into the comments with a link in your profile. On Twitter? Add an image, it helps enhance the likelihood of retweets and add relevant and popular hashtags. Other mediums you can promote on (for free): Digg, StumbleUpon, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook....
  4. Optimize keywords on your product descriptions. Pick one of your products, and do some quick keyword research on the Google Keyword tool to identify commonly search terms related to your product. Re-read your product description to see how you can improve the copy in your products, and make those changes immediately. Don't forget about your meta descriptions and titles.
  5. Reach out to a couple of Wholesale targets. If you have a target list for retailers you would like to sell your product at, pull it up and reach out to a few of the wholesale targets to show your latest collection, and share updated pricing.
  6. Latch onto a twitter trend. Login to twitter and look on the left hand side to see "Trends". Are there any trends that are relevant to your business? A quick search might yield a few popular keywords. Try to naturally fit your brand and products into the trend with some clever tweets throughout the day. 
  7. Follow some of your ideal customers on Instagram. An easy way to do this is to seek out a brand that your ideal customer is already shopping at or who offers a similar product or service. Scan through their followers list, and see if any of their followers look or feel like your ideal client. Follow the person, like a few photos and comment on a photo or two. Generally, most people will follow you back. If not, you can unfollow them later.
  8. Pin some of your products. Get onto Pinterest and pin a few of your products into some relevant boards (i.e. not your brand's board). For example, if you make custom purses for travel, start a board travel-must haves. Add about 20 other things that are must-haves as well as your product. Repeat.
  9. Join a couple of brand-relevant Facebook groups. Do you sell customized rose-gold pens? Perhaps joining a group of Agenda enthusiasts might be a good fit. Sell baby accessories? Join a mom's group! You don't want to be spammy and over-promote your product in these groups (it will often get you kicked out if you do...) but it's a chance to show your expertise about your brand and industry, which will naturally attract customers.
  10. Host a Webinar or Google Hangout for your brand. Yes, a webinar! I know we're selling products but that doesn't mean you cannot educate consumers on how to use your product better/faster/easier. For example, consider a store that sells specialty Yoga towels. They could run a webinar on how to setup your mat properly, or run through a short free beginner's yoga sequence. At the end of the webinar, offer people a thanks for watching bonus limited-time discount code.   

It can be challenging to keep your head up after a difficult sales month, or week or day, but the worst thing you can do is to do nothing.

To make change happen in your business, you must take consistent steps towards your goals.

Doing nothing is equivalent to leaving the fate of your business in the hands of others, which is reckless business management.

Have you tried any other quick revenue generating moves? Share in the comments below!

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10 Ways to make $100 for your Online Store via @Retailbliss http://goo.gl/ECDKT6 #retail #ecommerce #smallbiz  

Principal Retail Consultant/Founder