Without realizing, we are only five months away from most awaiting Christmas. From October to December it is the highest shopping time of the year. People are prepared to spend money and throw caution to the wind so that they can find the best holiday gifts for family and friends. Many of us are questioning how we can take advantage of the holidays and earn a little money for ourselves to assist us for the holidays.
ACTION NOW! It is definitely not too early to start building your online store ready for Christmas shopping and at the same time you really don't have much time to waste. I've included a month-by month cheat-sheet to make certain you get the MOST sales for this Christmas.
August: There are companies merchandising ecommerce software to assist you act on time and spend your time wisely so that you can seek a way to take advantage of the holiday spending. Test out suitable ecommerce solutions if searching to possibly change solutions. Now's the excellent time to make such changes since you won't have much time to make sure changes going forward. If not happy with existing shopping cart, you can either explore for the right one or consider a few major carts such as InstanteStore, VOlusion, Yahoo Store, 3D Cart, Netsolutions CommerceSpace and Early Impact Product Cart. Just remember, adequate yourself with reliable ecommerce software.
September: This month is the suitable time to start aggressive on SEO work. Do keyword research utilizing tools like Wordtracker.com or Google Keyword Tool that gives free trial. Since time is limited, you may target "buying keywords" first and then "research/browsing keywords" later on. You may ask "What's the difference"? Purchasing keywords are more specific niche for example "Ipod Nano 8GB best price" or "Apple Ipod Nano 8GB" whereas browsing keywords are more common "apple ipod nano". Start off writing articles, press releases and syndicating content to build up links to your store's webpages making use of the keywords you've chosen.
October: Do create your in-house e-mail list. Make sure you contribute something captivating or value to your visitors in exchange for their name and e-mail address. You may want to put yourself in your customer's shoe while doing this. Then make sure you send your alluring list and best value promotions at least once a week. You must have them get used to getting and reading your e-mail offers. This will in directly get the early Christmas shoppers start purchasing now.
November: Technically, Christmas shopping wave starts! Do A/B and/or multi variate split testing to improve your results. Make sure to test out your layouts, offers, headlines and even prices to see which a mixture works the best. Can use Google's free Analytics + Multi-Variate testing (http://www.google.com/analytics) to do this for free. You'll discover small changes can sometimes bring you TREMENDOUS difference in results. Optimize all these and make sure you don't leave any money on the table. Bear in mind to put up CLEAR notices telling your customers when's the LATEST date to order to be sure they get it before Christmas. Definitely a good time to get your e-mail list with Christmas particular offers.
December: Do continue hitting list with Christmas offers and continue making tweaks to buildup visitor-to-customer conversion. It is vital that you Do NOT make any major changes. Split testing is okay. Ride the wave and make sure your supplier and fulfillment house can manage all your orders.
With all of these information at your fingertips and with such a little time left, you will find that with your time directed in the right way and the help you need you can build a successful Internet business.
Kent Eastwood began his foray into online business 6 years ago. Today he runs 8 succesful internet based stores. He regularly contributes articles on ecommerce solutions or ecommerce software.
