Quick tip:

I like to know who which buyers are open to buying when marketing my accessory line – don't you? When I send out a marketing email, I see who opened it and clicked on the images (sometimes more than once) and email them directly with catalogs and a letter detailing the product line and try to capitalize on their immediate interest.  Then, I take it a step further, and look at ALL the people who opened the email, and send them an email introducing the line as I know they didn't click to see the rest of the product range.

This usually results in at least 2-4 additional orders if we act immediately within 2 days of sending the email.

Let me know what your tricks are!

One of the main reasons that I wanted to move my website to a new server was that I was never happy with the wholesale shopping cart on my current site. And since wholesale is about 80% of my business that was a BIG problem for me.  The other reasons were all finance related….too many extra charges and a 1% fee for each transaction.  When I sat down and actually calculated what I could SAVE by moving it…..I was thrilled…..at least a months worth of diapers and a few lunches out!  Yoo Hoo!! My sister’s new client Webgem has gone out of their way to help me build a website exactly to my specifications.  I want to share a few tips with you to help you create a website that is easy to navigate (= easy to purchase from) and with good descriptions and an easy shopping cart. I will announce my launch in a couple of weeks so will be sure to show you the new website and all the cool features!!

Your website represents your brand to the world and needs to be consistent with the look and feel you have worked so hard to achieve.  Whether or not you sell your product or it is just an informational website (if you license it out and don’t sell it for example), your site needs to be easy to read and grab persons attention in 3 seconds.

Here are the key points that you can follow to make sure your site is well on it’s way to success.

1. Look and design – There are many different designs and looks out there so do some research to find what you like and use those to show your website designer, or to use on your own. I personally am annoyed by long loading pretty graphics so think about how that makes you feel before you choose to add that feature. Once your site is up, have some people test it out and give you feedback.  You want to be sure that the “not so web savvy” can navigate your site easily and be able to make a purchase without becoming frustrated – that will only lead to them leaving without purchasing – which means less sales.

2. Managing the website - There are many ways to build a website these days.  You can choose to hire a web designer or you can do it yourself with many of the easy to follow sites out there. You can also hire the expert to get the site up and then teach you to maintain it yourself.   This can be very cost effective and easy if they use a template site-builder.  Here is a list of a few DIY that colleagues and clients have used in the past.

• Webgemnet (my new host for Simply Sarah)
• Hutdogs (my host for Entreprenette)
• Yahoo!
• GoDaddy
• Volusion

3.  Content – Content is all the written and visual material on your website. Obviously this is important as it will convey the nature of the products you are selling and what they look like. Think of the words as your virtual sales person. Write the content as you would need someone to explain the product to you to get you to buy it. Keep it simple but be sure to cover all the bases.

• Home page –Be sure anything important is above the fold – meaning can be seen on a laptop. Ask a friend to check it out for you if you don’t have one.
• Catalog pages – These are the various pages where items can be purchased. Sometimes there is a main catalog page for a category and then individual pages for each item with it’s own description “buy” button. For example – on my website the Handy Hold All® has a main page and it displays all the different fabric versions we sell. You click on one and then can read more about it and buy it. Often the “main catalog” pages are listed on the home page to make the access easily available.
• About us – This page should tell about the creator (probably you), their background and how and why you created the product. If you are not a good writer then this is a good thing to outsource.
• Information pages/FAQ – This should be information about your companies shipping policy, returns, exchanges and ordering process. You can check out some examples on other similar vendors websites.
• Check out page/shopping cart – This should be part of the site builder template that you use and is the page where the buyer reviews the products they are buying and can pay here.
• Press – This is where you are going to display all the wonderful things people write and say about you. Visit other sites to see how they display their press and decide what works best for you.
• Sign up button – You want to be sure you have a way to capture email addresses of everyone who comes to your website if possible. Usually this is done with a newsletter builder – once you sign up they give you the code to make the signup box on your home page. We recently started offering an instant 25% off coupon for first time subscribers and our list is building 3x as fast as last year. See if you can offer an incentive to get them to sign up and even buy something right away!
• Follow Me Buttons - Be sure to link to your Facebook Fan page and Twitter and any other Social media, blogs etc…

4.  Sales – Obviously this is the most important part of your site. No matter how pretty or cool your website looks, selling is your ultimate goal.

• Selling text – The selling text needs to be clear, concise and descriptive without being boring. If you have repetitive items like I do, then perhaps think about having the general info on the main catalog page and the individual description on the sales page. Again, if you are not a good writer this can be outsourced. Be sure to include any measurements you can give, and feel free to write in a “friendly” tone as that is more inviting than a stone cold description.
• Product image – You also need a good image of the product. You don’t have to be a great photographer, but the product does need to look good to attract buyers. Most images will need to be altered and cleaned up in Photoshop or another program of your choice.
• Special features – Sometimes a special feature like the ability to enlarge the image or roll over a special detail can make or break a sale. If your item needs this be sure your webhost can provide this or suggest a place that can add this feature to your site.

5. SEO – Search Engine Optimization – These are a series of words and groups of words that when properly implemented can help improve the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. This is a very complicated and evolving methodology that is difficult to implement your self. There are lots of DYI books out there on SEO and you can give it a try – but as you have more money, you may decide that it is a better use of your time to hire a firm who specializes in this. These are some of the most important things to remember when building your site for optimum SEO on your own. This is only some basic stuff you could do on your own but for the major work….look into a VA or a vetted company to help you out.

• Key words – Having relevant keywords on your home page is important in helping the search engines find your website. A good place to start is the google keyword tool. From there you can create a list to help you make up your BEST keywords and incorporate them into your text on the home page for optimum SEO.
• Title tags – These are specific page headings that when implemented can help index your site faster. There is usually a place on your website (ask the company you are working with) to add these words.
• Social Media – As you all know, I am BIG into free everything and try to suggest as many places that you can bootstrap and save your money for more important things….(like me for example!) Try to use your social media outlets as much as possible for SEO purposes. Link as often as possible to as many people and places as you can each week, and try to create a list of blogs that you can comment on frequently leaving a breadcrumb trail back to yourself.
• Ad words – Using pay-per-click ads can be a great way to drive traffic to your site. You can differentiate a paid ad from an organic web ranking as it is usually placed along the right side if using Google or Yahoo to search for something. Paid ads can often be seen on top of the organic rankings as well. There is nothing wrong with paying for ads. Lots of people do it because it works. But mounting a targeted campaign is the key to success. If you need some guidance, Lana Goldenberg is awesome! Working with her over the past few months has raised my subscriber rate by 200%.

Let’s be real – we all want to make as much money as possible each year, yet as we get closer to shutting down for the holidays, we sometimes just get into “shut down” mode a little too quickly!

Let’s change that this year and take a vow together, to make the MOST of the last two weeks of every year and to think outside “outside the box” to make as much money as we can…..because we can!

Here are some ideas that we are using to generate more sales in both of my companies, Simply Sarah and Entreprenette.  Jump on board and let’s end in a BIG way this year.  Obviously, a lot of people are done with their shopping by now, and on their way out mentally as well. But every few orders add up to a larger sum at the end of the day……so let’s just piece it together.

1. We called Curves, a national Women’s gym and asked to do a holiday sale.  They were thrilled and my assistant went yesterday for a few hours and cleaned up!  The women there were excited to get their last minute gifts and work out at the same time.  Park once, accomplish twice.

2. We took advantage of tomorrow being the last day to ship UPS ground and we put up a ONE-DAY only 50% off sale yesterday.  We got 15 orders in the first 30 minutes……the rest of the day more trickled in.  Again, ching ching.

3. We have been commenting a lot on fashion blogs for the past 3 months testing the waters to see what kind of traffic we could get from each site by tracking through google analytics.  Luckily a blog we had commented on a few times wrote a review mentioning the Handy Hold All yesterday and we got about 6 orders.  Not a huge response, but every penny counts!

4. I took out an ad on Facebook Monday to test it out and see if new fans convert to sales.  We are getting new fans (which is always great) but I can’t figure out how to tell if they are converting……working on that part!!

5. Twitter, twitter twitter.  Can I say that again???  If you missed last weeks awesome demo by Kerrianne Mellot go back and try out her suggestions of how to get more sales using twitter.  I have gotten 2 paying clients for Entreprenette through twitter connections. I have also made some other great connections on Twitter for speaking engagements, as well as new friends etc..  all good stuff.

6.  Affiliate programs.  Get one going now!!  It’s not too late to offer someone a year-end bonus for promoting you or selling your product.

7. Start a drop ship program.  We have recently been promoting this again because it’s like making money in your sleep.  Someone else sells your product and all you do is ship it.  Let them do all the marketing while you do something else to bring in money!

8. Create a twitter storm.  Write to your list and ask them to contribute to a blog post you are doing (today). Tell them you are writing a last minute holiday gift guide for the slackers out there who can’t find the “perfect” thing.  Ask them to tell about the best “white elephant” gift they ever got – post all the responses in your blog and call it the last creative gift on earth…..or something like that.  Email all the contributors and tell them the blog post is up and ask them to tweet it out…..they will because they can tell their friends and followers they are # so in so.  NOTE: Be prepared to twitter a bunch of cool relevant things to attract all your new bees to the hive!

9. Create a last minute contest on your blog. Now that we are not allowed to post contests and giveaways on Facebook (ggrr)…..blogs and twitter seem like the places to do this now.  Get your fans to leave comments on a blog post you wrote and twitter another one to be entered to win something….because everyone loves to win!  Make them refer to your twitter name so you can see the mention.

10.Throw it all in the pan: Get your best customers on the phone and offer them a deal. Offer free shipping to one lucky person.  Email your friends a great deal and ask them to send it to 5 friends for you. Ask friends to repost your deal on their FB pages.  Post about your last minute deals on forums, meet up groups, networking groups and any on-line budget fashionista website you can find.  Find mommy groups, lactation centers, or the YMCA and see if you can go sell your stuff there.

Ok, I am fresh out of ideas……give it all you have and bring home the bacon baby!

BONUS: If you don’t have a product, give yourself a gift and let’s get one going!

So I asked my friend Kerrianne how I can use Twitter to promote my Handy Hold All to get more sales without seeming to “salesy”. She is an expert and I always want to learn from the best!  I am going to be on top of this for the next week starting RIGHT NOW to make the most of this holiday season.

Click on her short video below and learn how to make magic the “write” way!

Bring In Sales Using the “Write” Status Updates

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have been thinking a lot this week how hard it can be to decide to move forward with a new plan of action. The ladies in my current 26-week Tele-seminar are all moving forward with new ideas and it got me thinking about myself and what I am doing to move forward these days since I am not actually designing anything new right now. What I came to realize is that I wanted new solutions – fresh ideas and a new plan.

I too can get stuck and not know what to do next, or how to improve sales, attract new customers, or just feel stale about how I am doing things. I LOVE new ideas and try to always be coming up with something or some new way to do things – but no one is perfect right?

When I first started my handbag line I didn’t have plan of action. I just had an idea and thought it’d be fun to try to make it. As I progressed and my line started to take off, I realized how important a plan is, as well as a support team to help you execute it. Since I didn’t know the first thing about anything to do with manufacturing, selling, promoting or how to build a website I relied on people I met along the way to give me some advice and tried it all myself. I am a big believer in trying it all yourself first so you understand what needs to be done so you can know how to instruct the person helping you do the task.
I realized last week, that with everything I have going on in my life with work, my 17 month old twins, classes I am taking and teaching, that I had sort of let the delegating fall by the wayside – actually off the cliff the truth be told.

I recently met a very interesting man through a mastermind group I go to once a month at Ketchup in West Hollywood. I love this group. I find sitting with other entrepreneurs is so invigorating and gets your creative juices flowing. Anyway – this guy has a company that does market intelligence research to help you determine the best approach for your brand. He states “Information is the key to the market knowledge and success”. I was so taken by his presentation (and the fact that he thought he could really help me get a competitive edge going with my handbag hanger) that I hired him to consult for my Simply Sarah Company. I am so excited by the prospect of all the new information and the ideas he is going to bring me I don’t know how I am going to wait the 4 weeks for the full report! By just taking this ONE step, I feel totally reinvigorated and have a brand new excitement towards my own products.

I feel like I have a new plan of action and am looking forward to implementing it.

* What is your plan of action?
* What can you change about they way you are doing things this week?
* How can you take the first step towards realizing your ideas?
* Can you get something down on paper this week?

Here are a few simple steps to get your new ideas in motion:

Once you are armed with this information you may feel inspired to get an action plan and turn that “big idea” into a real product!

1. Write a description of your idea
2. How did you come up with this idea?
3. What does it look like?
4. How does it work?
5. Does it solve a problem for people?
6. What are the benefits?
7. Do you have a name for it?
8. What makes it unique
9. Who will buy it?
10. Where will you market it?

I want to hear from you – are you inspired?

To purchase a Handy Hold All go to Simply Sarah.
Use coupon code MOMPRENETTE for FREE shipping.

1. Organize your handbags.
The Handy Hold All is the perfect solution to keeping your closet neat and your handbags looking like new!

2. Clean up your hubby’s baseball caps.
Are baseball caps scattered all around your house? Now you can put them all in one area. And the next time he asks where is favorite cap is you will actually know!

3. Coat Closet Boredom?
The next time guests walk in your front door and you offer to take their bag and coat, you will impress them with your super organized and cute coat closet!

4. Hang up your favorite scarves.
Keep your favorite scarves from getting wrinkled or lost by hanging them up on The Handy Hold All.

5. Dorm Room Disasters?
No more! Keeping small dorm rooms organized and cheery is always a challenge. Not any longer! Make sure to send one in your next care package!

6. Tight on Closet Space in the Guest Room?
Hang a Handy Hold All on the back of your guest door and slip some hangers through the loops and Voila! An instant closet!

7. Are Bulky Winter Jackets Taking Up Excess Space in Your Closet?
Solution, hang The Handy Hold All up in your attic, slip some hangers through the loops and add your winter jackets/coats. Now go shopping for some new spring/summer clothes to fill up all your new found closet space!

8. Too Many Necklaces? Too Little Time?
Let The Handy Hold All help you out! Collect all your necklaces around the house and hang them up. Problem Solved! Now get back to what you were doing!

9. Baby Bags and Packs Weighing You Down?
Pick a bright fun Handy Hold All that your baby will enjoy looking at and hang all your baby bags on back of your baby’s room door.

10. Gifts!!  Gifts!! Gifts!!
*Need a last minute hostess gift?
*Know a High School Grad going to College and need the perfect Gift?
*In a bind because it’s your friend’s birthday and she already has everything?
*Still searching for that perfect anytime gift?

The Handy Hold All comes in a box with a over the door hook making it the perfect instant gift!