| If you've ever attended a trade show then you | | | | You can reward the most productive site in click |
| know you will be bombarded with freebie | | | | thrus with a gift certificate to your online business. |
| promotion items. Sure there are the popular items | | | | This could be done monthly, quarterly or |
| such as promotional pens, key chains and note | | | | semi-annually. |
| pads, but you will likely encounter unique items | | | | Your choice in site promotion tools may only be |
| such as private label bottled water, customized | | | | limited to your imagination. Find ways to keep site |
| battery operated fans, water globes, bobble head | | | | visitors coming back and explore ways to reward |
| dolls, envelope openers, mouse pads and Ethernet | | | | them for their patronage. |
| retractable cable complete with company logo. | | | | You could use the model of 'trip rewards' as a |
| The above is just a small sample of the laundry | | | | bonus for customers. For instance you could |
| lists of promotional items businesses use to | | | | provide an automatic price reduction on a future |
| generate leads and develop impressions. How can | | | | purchase or a gift certificate good for the next |
| you translate the promotional aspect of a trade | | | | purchase with an expiration date of three months |
| show to the promotional needs of an online | | | | or less (you want to give them an incentive to |
| business? | | | | use the certificate instead of forgetting it). |
| The truth is you may not be using promotional | | | | You can include samples of complimentary |
| items in the same way, but you can provide your | | | | products with each purchase. The idea is to give |
| customers (and potential customers) with free | | | | customers every opportunity to view your |
| promotional rewards. | | | | business as one worth returning to. |
| Site promotion has becoming big business and it | | | | If you've developed a promotional budget you can |
| can be helped along through link building. Not only | | | | include a promotional item in each order that is in |
| will your site ranking improve with inbound links, | | | | direct relation to the total purchase piece. For |
| but you can also reward both the visitor as well | | | | instance a small item for a small purchase and |
| as the site the visitor came from. | | | | something worth more for a larger purchase. |
| How? | | | | Some business owners feel promotional items are |
| Visitors can be provided with an exclusive | | | | a waste of money, but both cyber based |
| electronic download. This could be informational; it | | | | promotional items as well as those items that |
| could be educational or even simply fun. It could | | | | may seem more traditional may have meaning |
| be free access to an arcade game exclusive to | | | | among many of your customers causing them to |
| your site, an ebook or even a member only | | | | return to a business that rewards their patronage. |
| ecourse. | | | | How are you promoting your online business? |