On your Mark, Get Ready Go!!!!!

Everyone is talking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday and the fantastic sales that come with the biggest shopping event of the year. Actually, we all know it really begins on Thanksgiving Day. This is because we see the major retailers opening their doors around 3 or 4 in the afternoon ON Thanksgiving Day. Giving consumers just enough time to eat Grandma’s turkey and stuffing, and then off to the Shopping races.
“Black Friday” derives from the days when “you were in the black” was represented literally by the black ink used to make entries into the old accounting ledgers. This is also the case when we say you’re in the “red”, because this was the color that showed losses.
Actually, only a little over half of shopping actually physically go into a retail restore, the rest are buying online. According to the American Marketing Association, Black Friday by the Numbers in 2017, consumers spent almost $7.9 billion online on Black Friday alone! Ecommerce shop owners should be really be delighted by this information.

Armed with this tidbit, let’s examine 9 ways to increase your sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Examine Last Year’s Reports

1. Learn lessons from Last Year

An analysis of the previous year is always a must. Data really matters. We all know the old adage, learn from your mistakes. Take that saying to the bank! Do an analysis of your reports, Google Analytics if you have it, and other data from last year’s business sales. Examining this information will assist in better preparing your inventory and will enable you to anticipate, based on last years data, which items you need to stock up on, and examine customers behavior and purchasing patterns better.

Special Promotions Black Friday

2. Use Special Discounts and Special Promotions

Black Friday and Cyber Monday will test you to bring your best game plan because every other business will be offering their best promotions of the year. In order to stand out in the crowd, you should create unique and very specific promotions. Offer unique promotions that others may not think about, such as Free 2-Day Shipping On All Items, can be a game changers for cost-conscious consumers during the holidays.
Ensure that promotions detail exactly how much the percentage that you will be discounting as well as the particular goods that will be discounted. Make sure shoppers can easily find your promotions, such as a banner on the top of your home page or a pop up message.

Power of Social Media Black Friday Cyber Monday

3. The Power of Social Media

Be sure to create customized and compelling content on social media. It would behoove you to tailor specific interest and revolve around that particular holiday theme. And to ensure maximum exposure, focus on using content that demonstrate higher levels than images, like videos, carousel ads, GIFs, Vines, and slide shows.
One way to get more organic reach is by incentivizing sharing. For example, you can offer consumers to “Share this on a friend’s wall and get 15% off”. And if you already advertise on Facebook, consider slightly increasing your ad dollar budgets in order to push against competitors!

Widget

4. Upload a countdown widget to Your Site

There are many advantages to “setting the mood” for the holidays. Find out how you can set up a countdown widget on your site. It’s a fun way to engage and it motivates shoppers to take action!

Black Friday SEO Matters

5. SEO Matters!

You should always make sure that your site is up to date on SEO matters. SEO is important because it can help enhance your visibility and page ranking on Google. Some of the things you can check your website for are: URL’s, meta descriptions, title tags and the dreaded 404 pages. Additionally, make sure the use of keywords is working to your advantage. SEO isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon and an ongoing process. Stay vigilant!

Responsive Websites

6. Responsive sites and Mobile Friendly are a must!

Empirical research from Smart Insights, Mobile Marketing Statistics compilation, reveals that people spend 51% of their internet usage time on mobile devices. This is compared to 42% that is spent on desktop. This translates to the fact that most of the information you are promoting is being viewed on mobile. This is why it is so important to have a responsive website template that is mobile friendly.
It is important that shoppers can easily navigate and make purchases on your site with their mobile devices without a problem.

Pay Per-click

7. Use Shopping Feeds and Consider using PPC

Shopping Feeds and PPC (pay-per-click advertising), is a great tool. If you’re not currently using them, now is a great time to consider doing so. These tools can be a game changer and will gain your business greater visibility and higher traffic volumes.
These types of Google advertising, and other paid advertising models are pretty fast to set up and get running. And it can start generating traffic to your site very quickly. Conversely, it helps your site with higher positioning in search result pages!

Black_Friday Early Sales

8. It’s Never Too Early To Start Promoting

There should be no delays in beginning to advertise and promote your offers. The earlier, the better. The sooner you notify your shoppers, the more prepared they will be to shop. Be sure to set goals and then map our an action plan.
If you are advertising on social media, be sure to create a content schedule and then schedule your posts ahead of time. It’s also very useful to include a promotional calendar on your content schedule and schedule your posts ahead of time. This will ensure that you know exactly when to promote particular items.

For instance, if you are using email lists or mail, then start sending those out as well. Never be afraid to message your shoppers frequently because this is one of the main times of the year when they are most likely to shop and want to hear about your promotions and sales.

Website Problems Black Friday

9. Test on the Front and Back End

Once you have finished with all of these steps, then visit your site as a shopper. Make sure that all is in good working order as you planned it. Make sure you do the same with the checkout processes.
You do not want to have your site exhibit any problems during the most wonderful time of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

It truly is “the most wonderful time of the year”

Written by Aisha

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