7 Tips for Making Your Web Store Stand Out During the Holidays

The holiday season is probably the best time of year for you to really cash in on your web store.  But, making the most of the holiday shopping rush takes some careful consideration and planning on your part.  If you want to really make this holiday season special for your business, then read over these seven tips for making your web store stand out during the holidays:

The holiday season always proves to be a very stressful time when it comes to getting gifts to their recipients on time – not to mention the added cost of shipping when purchasing from online stores as opposed to local retailers.  Advertising free shipping is a great way to bring holiday customers in and inspire them to choose from what you have to offer.

Your SEO should be tweaked for the holiday seasons.  After all, holiday shoppers generally conduct searches using holiday keywords.  Therefore, it pays (literally) to add some keyword-rich, holiday-themed content to your web store, as well as update your titles and tags to reflect the holiday theme.

Create a holiday newsletter and send it out to your email contacts list in order to attract holiday shoppers to your site.

Make it super-easy for shoppers to find a suitable gift (and hang on to shoppers who can’t make up their minds)by offering gift cards.  Gift cards are also a great way to gain new customers (as some recipients of your gift cards might never have heard of your store before).

Give your website a holiday makeover.  If you can’t afford the time or money to deck the whole site out, then at least give your home page some holiday flair.

Be sure to add a special menu for holiday items.  Also, take note of what you feel are best-selling holiday items and feature them on your home page for easy customer access.

Shopping for the holidays is hectic.  There is a lot to buy – and a lot of people to buy for.  Make it easy on your customers by laying it all out on line in a way that is easy to find and understand.  Include shipping dates, return/exchange policies and refund information in plain sight on your home page.

There is a lot to do to prepare your web store for the holiday season, but it is well worth it.   The existence of your website won’t matter if you don’t make sure people know about it. Make the most of your online presence by following these tips and watch the holiday cash roll in.

About the Author: Donna Collins loves doing her holiday shopping online and is always looking for the most user-friendly web stores around. This year she’ll be shopping for Samsung phones, tablets, and other tech devices for her teenage sons!

View the original article here

Make Business Blogging fun: writing about holidays, birthdays and other milestones

This guest post is Absolutely writeby Lindsey McCaffrey of.

Business bloggers: you will find every day labor day?

Take a breather: finding things to blog about does not have to be hard work.

In the light of the upcoming labor day weekend, I am going to share a little tip that I would like to tell customers who blog: holidays, birthdays and other commemoration consider.

By your blog post for an occasion, you can come up with some creative, timely and fun pieces.

Here is an example of giving your writing a holiday spin: leading until last year the Christmas season, I compiled my PR pet peeves, in an article best Santa — a PR expert of Christmas wish list.

Tip: think not just about the holiday you celebrate: those of other cultures and countries consider. You can just find an interesting rite or ritual to write about.

Mark a milestone birthday or event such as:

a birthday, anniversary year or death day/year of someone famous, infamous or otherwise (it need to be someone your readers would know, provided that there is relevant to the article) the birthday (day or annual) of a certain historical eventthe year of the release of a book, album, film or otherwise — something that maybe you learned a lot from, or that resonates strongly with you.

Tip: for more impact, it is the best on the occasion of a "landmark year" (think 5, 10, 15, 20 ... you get the picture) instead of something like the 53rd anniversary of X, Y, or Z.

There are also less-serious, officially recognized non-at-all days, months, and milestones observed worldwide. For example, in the United States:

Tip: before writing about a particular compliance, you can qualify. Ensure that it is something that at least a few people actually recognize, and not something that Joe called down the street about beer with the guys.

Here are just a few websites to use as resources:

What are some fun holiday, birthdays and anniversary you have written or read about?

Lindsey McCaffrey is a writer, editor, blogger and communications consultant based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Www.lindseymccaffrey.com/blogvisit her absolutely write blog on.

View the original article here