Economic Forecasters Predict Gloomy Holiday Sales: Small Business Marketing Plan May Boost Your Business

Economic forecasters announced this week that retailers and small businesses may be facing the worst holiday sales season since 2009.  Retailers and small business owners can take action to save their season by planning ahead and executive a marketing plan, said Phyllis Edson, freelance writer and online marketer. 

Today, Edson announced today a special “Christmas in October” rate for her writing services to encourage small businesses to begin planning their marketing for a successful holiday season. 

            “Now’s the time to begin planning a holiday marketing campaign,” she said.  “If businesses get started now, they’ll spend less on marketing, printing, photography and writing services,” she said.  “Waiting to book these services will cost you more later as you’ll be booking them at a premium rate since the holidays are the busiest time of year for marketing professionals.” 

            Retailers and small business owners can take action to save their season by planning ahead and executive a marketing plan, said Edson. 

     Edson's "Christmas in October" rates will be 10 percent less than her normal rates if you book her services now. 

            “The answer to having a successful and profitable holiday season isn’t ‘do less,’ ” said Edson, “it’s do more marketing.” 

            It takes about three months to realize any result of a marketing plan or effort, said Edson.  If you start planning and executive now, you can expect to reap the benefits by the holiday season.  In addition any press releases or information you put on the internet now for this holiday season will continue to drive traffic to your website and bring customers to your business door for years to come, she said. 

Edson provides research and writing services including press releases, content for newsletters, brochures, websites, articles and blogs.  For more information on how she can help your online marketing efforts, go to http://www.phyllisedson.com.  

            She has 20 years of writing experience.  For each client, she provides professionally written, well-researched products that satisfy the needs of the individual client and appeal to that client’s audience. 

            For more information about her “Christmas in October” special and how to improve your marketing plan, contact Phyllis Edson at 816-305-5828 or e-mail her at phyllisedson@comcast.net.  Visit her website at http://www.phyllisedson.com.  

Tips to Improve the Value of Your Small Business Website

Websites are a vital part of the marketing plan for today’s small businesses.  However, too many small business owners get caught up in what the website looks like, in uploading photos and videos, rather than paying attention to the nitty gritty details that will make their website a valuable tool in promoting their business.  Here’s a few tips on how to make your website a valuable asset to your small business marketing plan.

               Content with keywords: Keywords are the word or phrases help your website get found by the search engines.  They are the words or phrases people are using with search engines such as Google to find the things they want.  Carefully researched keywords should be an important part of all content, articles and press releases posted on your website.  These will help your website get indexed by the search engines and found by potential customers. 

               Meta-data:  Meta-data are the keywords and descriptions associated with every page of your website.  They are not included on the pages clients see but are included in the descriptions of the website pages when found by the search engines.   Meta-data and meta-tags should be included for every page of your website. 

               Analytics:   Website analytics can provide you with valuable information regarding your website.  Analytics can tell you how many people have visited your site daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.  They can also tell you how many pages of your site they visited, how long they stayed on your website and where they came from.  This is valuable information for many reasons.  First, you want to know if your website is getting traffic.  Second, it allows you to see whether you’re getting traffic as a result of other marketing efforts.  For instance, if you decide to start posting press releases online once or twice a week for a month, and your traffic drastically increases, you can assume that the press release campaign played a role in driving traffic to your website and to your business.  Lastly, by looking at where your traffic is coming from, you can tell what’s working, what’s not and what you need to improve on.   

               Contact information:  Make sure you have more than one method of contacting you or your business on every page of your website.  Visitors should not have to hunt and probably won’t take the time to look for this information.  It needs to be visible and easy to find.  Be sure to include an e-mail address, a business phone number and a link to a website contact form on every page.  People will contact you if you make it easy for them to do so. 

               Websites are a valuable tool for the small business.  Be sure you’re getting the most out of this powerful tool and your small business marketing plan.   

               

Small Businesses Profit: Online Marketing Package Generates Sales

Freelance writer and online marketer Phyllis Edson announced a special offer this week to encourage small businesses to improve their online marketing efforts. 

     “Many small business owners get the website up and forget it.  The development of the website is just the first step in marketing your business online,” she said. 

     Marketing online requires constant attention.  You need to develop fresh content, post press releases, change content according to changes in your business and in keyword searches, she said.  “And that’s just the beginning.”

     To help businesses market online, Edson is making a special offer to show business owners how effective it can be.  Her package includes the following:

* Write and distribute 1 press release

* Write or rewrite a business website homepage, including meta-data

* Create a coupon

* Set-up online e-mail marketing list

* Write 2 blog articles 

     As a package, this will increase your business’s online marketing efforts. 

     Write and distribute 1 press release: Posting a press release online can increase your visibility with the search engines and with customers. 

     Write/rewrite a homepage, including meta-data: Meta-data is a definite must-have if you want to drive traffic to your website, but it is commonly overlooked by graphic and web designers.  By purchasing this package, I’ll supply you with the meta-data needed for the search engines.        

     Create a coupon: A coupon can be an easy incentive to get people to sign up for your e-mail or e-newsletter marketing list. 

     Set-up online e-mail marketing list: Setting up a way to collect names and e-mails is a powerful and cost-effective method to create a marketing list, which you can then use forever. 

     Write 2 blog articles:  Blogs are usually indexed more quickly than websites.  Using keywords in blog articles relevant to your business will help increase your visibility with search engines and people.  As a package, this will increase your business’s online marketing efforts. 

   Marketing and advertising efforts, especially those executed online, can take up to three months to in order to see results, she said.  This package can help you jumpstart your holiday marketing efforts, she said.  “This package will help your business get found online, increasing traffic to your website and bringing traffic to your door,” said Edson.  

     Edson is a professional freelance writer and online marketer with more than 20 years of writing experience.  She offers a variety of services including online marketing expertise, blogs, articles, copywriting, web writing, ghostwriting and more.  Edson writes custom content and pieces for each and every content which are researched and written specifically to suit the needs of that client. 

     For more information about this package or any of her online marketing services, please visit Edson’s website at www.phyllisedson.com or e-mail her at phyllis.edson@comcast.net.