Enter or not enter prices on the site? That is the question

 

One of the most frequently asked questions in the strategy phase that precedes the actual creation of the sites is "but should I put the prices on the site or not?"

It is a more than legitimate question to which I want to dedicate this article to give a complete answer.

Why put prices on the website?

The first step is to put yourself in the customer's shoes. Think about how you react when you want to buy a service or course and can't find the price. This is even more true for products.

Maybe read the page 10 times looking for the cost you may have missed. Or look for a button that opens the pricing page by looking a thousand times at the sales page of the service or even in the menu, but nothing. No information about the cost, except the usual phrase "contact us for information" or even "write me for a quote".

I bet you think about it a little before you actually write. Meanwhile, what do you think is happening? Come back to Google and look for a person who offers the same service (or a very similar one) also indicating the price. Isn't that so?

Your prospect behaves in exactly the same way.

Here's what triggers in our mind when we don't find the price of that service, course or worse yet, product:

• We seem to waste time : after 10 minutes of reading the same page looking for information that is not there, we understand that we have only wasted time and we also feel a little teased.

• We are wary of the person offering the service : why hasn't he entered the price? In reality she / he doesn't even know how much it costs and does the price based on how the flag flies?

• We feel embarrassed : talking about money is still considered taboo. They are dirty and mean, they don't ask and can't talk about them. If you ask for the cost it means that you cannot afford it and you pass by the poor woman on duty. These cultural limitations lead to embarrassment in asking the price of what we want to buy, so it is more difficult for a person to contact you just to ask how much it costs.

Have you happened to have these negative feelings too? Maybe I also forgot to report some other kind of annoying feeling. In this case you can write me in the comments what you feel when you are looking for a service, but you can't find the price.

The customer wants to know the price. Of course, it is essential to match the cost with the resulting value. People want to understand how the service / product / course will improve their life and if it will be able to respond to their needs. But they also want to know the price!

So starting a pricing conversation with your prospect, already on your website is always a great idea.

 

What are the most common excuses for not putting prices on the site

1. I cannot define a price because my service is highly customizable

Many services are customizable, first of all the creation of a site, the creation of a logo, etc ... In this case it is however more correct to enter at least a starting price or a cost range. It is also useful for the customer to specify which aspects affect the price and to what extent.

2. I can't enter prices because competitors copy

One of the most frequent excuses for not putting prices on the website is the paranoia of being copied by the competition which, in this case, can play to the downside by taking away the customer. If this is his fear, it will make you think that your competitor finds this information in other ways. You need to focus on the fact that the cost of your service, course or product should not be based on competitor prices. Of course, an eye to the evaluated market, but to define the cost of what you offer there are many parameters to be evaluated that change according to the professional, the characteristics of the service offered, the skills, the time invested, possible use of specific software, etc ...

3. I can't put prices on the site because customers get scared and run away

We have already seen that in reality, among the information the customer is looking for there is also the return. If you are an honest professional and you explain the quality of what you offer, why should the customer escape? by displaying your prices you show that you have nothing to hide.

What are the benefits for the customer?

 • Setting up a price conversation already on the website allows the customer not to waste time finding the information they are looking for immediately. He can evaluate if the investment at that moment is sustainable for her / him or if he has to start saving in order to invest in your service.

• Finding the prices on the site immediately relieves the potential customer from the embarrassment of contacting you only to find out the expense he will have to face.

• He will feel heard and understood in his needs.

What are the benefits for you?

• You save a lot of time because you avoid requests for quotes from people who are not in target and who may be expecting another price range. You avoid making many quotes by closing only a few contracts. By displaying his prices on the site, the customer will at least know the starting cost and can decide to talk to you now or wait. This determines that the moment he contacts you, he will be ready to work with you.

• You prevent the customer from contacting you for fear that collaborating with you has a price that is not within his reach. not finding the cost of your services, the customer may think that they have such a high price not to be exposed. A bit like it happens with high fashion items that are not affordable for everyone and often do not have the indicated price.

• Show your honesty, transparency, professionalism . If you have thought carefully and defined your services well, it will be very easy to define at least the starting cost, and focus on the aspects that could raise the price. By displaying the price, therefore, the customer will understand that you are an honest professional with clear ideas.

Obviously, in addition to showing the cost of your services or products, it is also necessary to make the potential customer understand what they get by buying from you. I therefore recommend that you highlight the advantages of working with you and what questions your service answers. This will make it easier for the client to understand the value of your work beyond the price.

 

 

Why create a blog? Main advantages and benefits

 If you have no idea why you should create a blog , then this article is for you. Especially if you have decided to bring your business online, the blog could help you to make your business known and to win new customers. If you're still unsure about including this powerful communication tool in your marketing strategy, I'll explain some of the great reasons why having a blog is important .

The importance of having a blog

You can self-promote

The blog is a means of communication that allows you to promote yourself, your skills and your business. The blog gives you the opportunity to give voice to your company and to retain your customers.

You can grow your business

Perhaps, after realizing the importance of having a website , you are wondering if it is appropriate to create a blog. If your business still doesn't have a blog, I think you should consider creating one. The reason? I the blog can really tell a lot about your company .

For example, your potential readers can read interesting articles about your skills or your new products and services and this could turn them into customers. This is a great opportunity that small and large companies are still not using today.

The blog allows you to improve the ranking of your site

If you have a website, the blog can help your online space get good search engine rankings. Warning! With this I do not want to invite you to grind articles full of keywords. Always remember that Content is The King , which you write primarily for people , for your readers. If you create valuable articles that your audience likes, then Google will also appreciate them and reward you.

With a blog you can inspire confidence

If the user finds interesting articles on your blog, perhaps able to help him solve a problem, then he will make a positive opinion on your business and your skills. For this, the advice I want to give you is to create content that is useful to your niche of readers . With the blog you can shorten the distances with people and interact with them, one of the differences between the website and the blog .

To retain your audience

Thanks to a blog you have the opportunity to retain your readers and create a relationship with them. How can you do it? Not forgetting the human side of blogging . Those who read your articles, in fact, have the opportunity to comment on them, in some cases generating real discussions. Remember to always answer your readers, especially if they ask you questions.

In this article I explained some of the reasons for the importance of having a blog . I must, however, warn you: creating a blog, dealing with it and managing it requires a lot of effort, time and above all constancy. But don't get discouraged! For your business, the blog is truly indispensable if you want to emerge, make yourself known and establish a relationship with your customers.

What do you think about it? Have you decided to open your blog? If you like, tell me your opinion in the comments. And if you need help I invite you to read my blog creation service

In conclusion, creating a blog offers numerous advantages and benefits that can enhance both personal and professional growth. From establishing credibility and expertise in a particular field to providing a platform for self-expression and creativity, blogs have the power to reach a wide audience and build connections with like-minded individuals. Additionally, blogs can generate passive income through affiliate marketing, sponsored content, or selling products/services. 

Furthermore, maintaining a blog can improve writing skills, critical thinking abilities, and digital marketing knowledge. Overall, if you're looking to share your passions, expand your online presence, or even start a new career path, starting a blog is a valuable endeavor worth considering. Start your blogging journey today and unlock the endless possibilities that await

Digital Marketing Tips for a Moving Company

 

The online presence is now essential for the activities of any sector. If you have a moving company, we suggest you evaluate some opportunities offered by digital marketing to promote your services

Before embarking on the path of digital marketing, it is essential to set up an action plan that sets goals and budgets. Without this preliminary step, any strategy will be not only ineffective, but also uneconomic. In this article we focus on a specific sector and indicate how to implement an online presence and how to increase the visibility of a moving company.

Google My Business: local marketing opportunities

Google's platform dedicated to local businesses is called Google My Business. The creation of a card is free and offers many benefits to the holders of service activities and retail. The first is to have an online presence , the second - even more important - is that that presence is optimized for SEO. In fact, Google indexes contact information and information regarding services / products, obtaining them from the GMB platform.

The company file consists of these sections:

·         Contacts such as telephone, email, direct messaging.

·         Geographic positioning on a navigable map (Google maps).

·         Business services / products.

·         Customer reviews.

Promoting a moving company: the importance of local directories

The old telephone directory has not disappeared, it has only evolved with the advancement of technology. Its function of user-company contact is now performed in 2.0 mode by local directories , such as Pg Casa and PagineGialle. These are real online portals in which information on companies and commercial activities is organized in a list, divided by geographical area and supplemented by in-depth information sheets. The cards are enriched with information (eg company name, address, opening hours, telephone number, etc.) and with multimedia contents that drive the company's online presence, intervening on the optimization of Local SEO, so that the user looking for a moving company nearby will find your company, together with the possibility of immediate contact.

Removal Company: better blog or website?

If you intend to invest in a website you will have to structure it in such a way that it has the possibility of positioning itself on the search engine, otherwise you will have no chance of being found. The intervention of a professional in the sector, at least in the planning consultancy phase , is highly recommended. A responsive site is generally an institutional showcase to present your business and publish contacts. The blog, on the other hand, guarantees an easier natural positioning and focuses on less 'static' content, but requires an editorial plan and time for updating, which must be almost daily to be effective.

Facebook for moving company: page and groups

The Facebook page is an excellent tool for the online promotion of a moving company, because it allows you to take care of your digital presence and to have an unfiltered contact with users, keeping the engagement rate high . It is also very easy to create: just follow the same steps as creating a personal account, set the privacy, fill in the information field and choose the most suitable category.

The contents must be fresh and original in order to involve the target audience , such as photo gallery for the presentation of the staff, posts with suggestions for organizing a move etc. As for groups, very useful are those of local communities, such as " I look for and offer services to ...”, On which you can also share the contents of the Fan Page.

How alarms are generated from the video analysis of cameras

By exploiting the use and processing of large data sets, called "metadata", the video analysis systems produce automatic alarms starting from the video sequences on cameras , allowing, through image analysis, to alert in real time the Police or the persons in charge if something significant is detected.

The information collected through metadata, in fact, can be used to report people, cars, animals and other objects detected in the video, analyzing their appearance or the movements they make inside the area shot by the cameras .

Based on the parameters set, the video analysis system is able to evaluate which actions are "appropriate" with respect to the programming set and which are "anomalous", promptly sending an alarm to the control panel.

 Practical example of video analysis with alarm system

 Wanting to provide a practical example of this, let's imagine we want to detect the entrances to a building with a gate at the entrance.

 In this case, the action detected by the cameras that should be considered "anomalous" could be that of a "person climbing over" the gate instead of turning it on normally with a key or ringing a bell and waiting for authorization. In this case the video analysis system would monitor the accesses of all the subjects passing through that gate and filmed by the cameras, sending alarms in the event that a figure, corresponding to a person, is detected, who try to climb over that gate without accessing it normally and moving abnormally.

 The functionality of the video analysis systems therefore makes the video surveillance system much more sophisticated and avant-garde than a traditional system, making it one with the alarm system and increasing the overall security level of a structure.

 Special applications of video analysis as an home alarm systems in Chicago

 In addition to the detection of "anomalous" movements, the usefulness of the video analysis can also be seen as regards:

 Abandonment of objects left stationary in an area; especially useful application for the safety of public and crowded places such as railway stations, airports etc.

 Counting of people or cars passing through a certain area, useful for optimizing the flow of roads;

Surveillance purpose: the analysis software "photographs" the area to be monitored and constantly checks it with the images it detects every moment.

B2B Email Marketing: the most effective strategies

 

Operational ideas and practical tips for planning an email marketing strategy for B2B. Here are the aspects to take into consideration to optimize your campaign.

Inserting email marketing in a B2C communication plan is one of the most used strategic moves, to create a preferential relationship both with potential customers and with existing customers. Often the mistake is made of thinking that in the field of Business to Business communication the dynamics are radically different, ending up setting up B2B email campaigns in a non-optimized way.

Although this channel has its own peculiarities and characteristic traits that distinguish it from B2C, it is good to keep in mind that even commercial exchanges between companies basically take place between people: understand and segment your target audience , generate credibility, customize your messages and fueling the interlocutor's engagement are some of the key points that are also valid in email marketing aimed at business.

How to manage B2B email marketing effectively? Here are some essential strategic tips to better organize your company's email campaigns.

·         Use email marketing to generate authority

·         Design and format: focus on readable and responsive emails

·         Make the most of audience segmentation

·         Aim for the right decision making unit

·         Personalize emails and take advantage of dynamic fields

·         Use the email for promotions and invitations to events

·         Choose the ideal time and frequency of sending

·         Follow the process from first impression to post submission

Use email marketing to generate authority

For many professionals, e-mail is the preferred channel for communicating with partners and colleagues, a place for exchanging information and business interactions. Analyzing the data of the B2B sector, it is clear that the emails exchanged in the professional field have significantly higher opening rates and CTRs than B2C ones: in short, a communication vehicle that should not be underestimated.

Among the basic objectives of email marketing is the cultivation of profitable relationships with your leads and the transformation of prospects into actual customers. With this in mind, the ability to build strong authority in the eyes of potential customers is fundamental , in order to feed their trust in the brand and guide them along the customer journey towards conversion into acquired customers. How to gain credibility? Providing the audience with content of value, complete, clear and really useful for them, from which the competence and real preparation of those who have packaged them can be deduced.

The goal of email marketing, also therefore of B2B, is not limited to the simple sale of products and services, but is mainly to create a direct and personal relationship with the target . Winning email contents are for example those that illustrate the company's products, their use or the advantages of the service offered in an engaging way, or those that talk about relevant case studies that have benefited from approaching the brand . The use of reviews, testimonials and opinions is a highly persuasive tool. Make the recipients of communications understand how it could improve their professional life, and not only that, relying on the experience of the sending company, is a key focus for convincing and for the success of an email marketing campaign .

Design and format: focus on readable and responsive emails

B2B and B2C email communications have a lot in common from this point of view. In fact , clear, well-formatted emails with a strong graphic appeal and easy to use are an essential requirement for the creation of successful email marketing campaigns.

B2B interlocutors are attracted to emails with an attractive design , functional CTAs and well-structured texts that can be scanned quickly and easily with the eyes. The secret is to create content with a great impact, which convinces in a few moments to deepen and continue reading. Persuasive objects, copy formatted in short paragraphs and with bold and easily identifiable key points help in this sense . As well as precise calls-to-action that fluidly channel towards the desired conversion.

Emails optimized for mobile reading are now a must-have: it is unthinkable not to consider how web traffic from mobile devices is now increasingly relevant. Even a work email can be read at any time and in any place and remembering it while studying the visual structure of your email is particularly important.

Make the most of audience segmentation

Conducting well-organized B2B email marketing campaigns means being able to count on an audience segmented in an optimal way based on behaviors, tastes, socio-demographic characteristics, interests and needs. Thanks to an in-depth study of one's audience, it is possible to create within the mailing list groups of contacts united by pre-established parameters , to which messages created ad hoc based on their characteristics can be addressed: the goal is to more easily intercept the interest of a limited target audience, leverage specific needs and more easily guide those leads down the sales funnel to a fruitful lower part of the funnel.

An optimal segmentation also allows to lead a specific audience of already acquired customers towards the experimentation of new services or alternative products . Through a properly designed content strategy , it is possible to educate them and increase their interest. How to hook their curiosity? Through content that shows how the services they do not yet use could be integrated with those they have already chosen to purchase and further promote the growth of their businesses. Gaining and maintaining the trust of your customers is essential to be able to count on up sell and cross sell strategies and increase the number of repeater clients.

Aim for the right decision making unit

Among the tips for effective B2B email marketing is to keep in mind that often decisions within a company are made not by a single figure, but by a group of individuals, who together form the so-called Decision Making. Unit (DMU) or decision-making unit . Each member of the DMU has a different relevance within the group, but enjoys the opportunity to influence the decisions of the other players.

Understanding who exactly are the people in your customers' DMU can be a really effective ace up your sleeve. In fact, it will be possible to create targeted communications, which leverage their different pressure points, whether they are concerns, points of view or professional needs . Mastering these psychological levers leads to incredibly satisfying successes in terms of clicks, engagement and conversions.

Personalize emails and take advantage of dynamic fields

The personalization of your email messages is crucial for obtaining positive results. To be customized and endowed with a soul must first of all be the sender of the message: never send emails from impersonal senders, but always use a proper name that can make the recipient perceive a positive feeling of confidence . Mail without a reference to real, or realistic people, often ends up in spam or in the list of useless unread emails.

The same goes for the terms with which the recipient is addressed. When you focus on a direct marketing tool such as email, you generally aim to collect information on leads and profile your audience: part of the data collected can be used to customize the email messages sent.

Such as? Through the so-called dynamic fields, codes capable of automatically updating with the recipients' data . An example is the name of the recipient, a precious detail for calling your potential customers by their own name and creating a close relationship and a confidential atmosphere right from the first lines of the email . Other customizable fields are company name, professional sector, customer website URL, number of employees and other similar details.

Use the email for promotions and invitations to events

The possible contents that can be included in an email communication are almost infinite. Among these there are certainly promotions and special events. Often those who subscribe to a mailing list do so to have access to a preferential channel that helps them stay up to date on the news in their sector, including special offers or special discounts, updates and news to try out in advance.

Creating exclusivity around shared content is useful for making subscribers to your mailing list feel special : exclusivity that can also translate into timed offers to take advantage of first or actions to be taken within a certain time limit, which fully exploiting the principle of 'urgency statistically lead to higher conversions.

It is also possible to use email marketing to inform your customers or prospects of the next participation in events or trade fairs , proposing an in-person meeting and creating a precious opportunity to get to know the contact, trigger productive negotiations, or finalize sales processes.

Choose the ideal time and frequency of sending

One of the most delicate points of creating profitable email marketing campaigns is choosing the correct sending frequency. It is indeed important to find a balance point and create a constant flow of emails, but carefully timed . The best time to send a communication is also complex to establish and requires a careful analysis of the target audience and their working habits.

 

It may be worthwhile to send emails during business hours if you are sure your target niche can focus on it while in front of the PC, but it may be better to send emails before or after hours instead office to those key figures who are daily too busy to devote sufficient time and energy to incoming email. Analyzing data and experimenting with alternative solutions is the only way to achieve perfect timing and frequency .

Follow the process from first impression to post submission

No moment in the email campaign should be overlooked. Starting from the welcome email, which is generally sent automatically by the email marketing automation software you use. Even in marketing, the first impression is what matters and that first message should be maniacally treated to make sure that the first contact is positive.

A welcoming email thanking you for signing up in an open and cordial tone is of great value. If the user has signed up to the contact list with the promise of receiving free content, such as an ebook, the email should obviously deliver what it promised. Otherwise it is still of great impact to offer something in exchange for the transfer of your data, as a thank you: a tutorial, a freebie, an interesting report on the sector to which you belong.

Focusing on the launch of the email marketing campaign and on its operational management, you can easily lose sight of an equally fundamental phase: the post-sending . Instead, it is crucial to define, before sending any email communication, how the company team will have to take care of the prospects and customers who will respond positively to the communication strategy created.

First of all it is good to include in the body in the email clear and correct contacts to which the potential customer can contact the company if interested in receiving information or assistance: emails, fixed and mobile telephone numbers, Skype or Messenger contacts are welcome and provide the different user modes of interaction. A team of people informed of the campaign and its purposes and above all carefully trained on customer management is then decisive and able to determine the success or failure of an email marketing plan and SEO services in New York.

As already observed, in fact, even in the B2B universe, it is people who count and it is only by orienting the focus towards individuals and their concrete needs that we can aim for appreciable results.

How to do Lead Generation for e-commerce

 

If you want your e-commerce to be successful, you need to do Lead Generation. How to do it for an online shop? Read more on the PMI Blog and, if you want, request a consultation.

Running a successful e-commerce requires a steady stream of customers . This is a goal that is achieved when doing lead generation. This term indicates a process that leads an activity to create a database of contacts of people who could potentially be interested in what is being sold. Only in this way you can reach the main goal: the loyalty of the customer , to give additional luster and stability to their brand.

With a competitive strategy you can attract qualified traffic to your e-commerce site and direct it towards the sale, until the subject is ready to make a purchase. Here are six tactics you can use to generate leads in ecommerce.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Study how your potential customers buy the products they want online. In most cases, they will start by looking for the articles they need on search engines like Google. With an SEO NYC strategy , improve your site to help your pages rank in the results of those searches. This makes it easy for potential customers to find you, and allows you to focus your marketing budget on people actively searching for your products.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

While SEO is the best long-term strategy for ecommerce lead generation, running pay-per-click (PPC) ads on platforms like Google Ads is an effective way to reach users as you try to scale the SERP.

PPC is also useful for competitor keywords that have a clear purchase intent but are dominated by the competition. When creating campaigns, you decide where you want your ads to appear based on the keywords users are looking for . If you sell running shoes, for example, you might see an ad in search results for "women's trail running shoes".

Content marketing

Many of today's consumers inquire about the products they want before buying them. They want to know which products represent the best options for their needs, which offer the best value for money, and which are the most popular with other customers. You can provide all of this information and more as part of your content marketing strategy. Post articles, social content, and more to help your customers make purchasing decisions.

Read also:  PPC campaigns: why are they so important to a business?

 The topics you choose depend on your industry and your products, but you can range from specific product buying guides to blog posts on the latest trends to articles with helpful tips. When you provide desired information from your ecommerce leads, you can help the user choose what to buy and build a trustworthy reputation as a useful resource in the process.

Social media

The social media is a valuable marketing tool, as they represent the perfect channel for interacting with customers and show off your brand personality. Some platforms also offer effective advertising options.

On Facebook, you can run ads designed to drive traffic to a specific page on your site and use highly specific targeting options to reach the audience you want. These options range from basic demographic information like age, gender, and location to more advanced options like interests, career, education, and past actions on Facebook . When you use these targeting options, your ads bring you the exact audience you want for your site.

Email Marketing

Not all e-commerce visitors will be ready to purchase on their first visit. However, many of them will be ready to provide their email addresses in exchange for a discount or some other incentive. Use email marketing services to stay connected with those ecommerce leads and encourage them to come back to your site.

You can inform your subscribers about new products, notify them of sales, and share any other information they might find interesting. You can also use automated campaigns to send specific messages to your subscribers based on the actions they take on your site. If a customer adds a product to their cart but leaves without buying it, for example, you can send them an email with a link to complete the transaction.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

When a visitor comes to your site, you want them to convert in some way. This could mean making a purchase, signing up for an email newsletter, or other action that pushes them through the sales funnel. The ' conversion rate optimization , or CRO , is the process of testing the elements on your site to see which are most effective in bringing convert your visitors. You can test everything from the layout of your product pages to the calls-to-action you use, and find that information to improve your site in order to achieve as many conversions as possible.

Read also: How to fix Error 500

What podcasts are and how they are used in corporate marketing

Have you ever thought about podcasts as a tool to share business content, in a digital marketing strategy? If you have not already done so, we show you why it could be a good idea in different business sectors

Although competition is very high - streaming and video in particular - podcasts have their niche as a digital channel. Through these audio files, available on demand , companies, small and large, can offer quality content to their target audience. With consequent advantages in the marketing plan.

Podcast companies: what are they and what are their benefits?

Podcasts are audio files, generally in MP3 format (but not only), which can be downloaded by users from a web page and saved on their device. Is it worth considering them as tools for an effective marketing strategy? It depends on the objectives set, but in the meantime you can evaluate some advantages of their use:

They respond to needs - Because the podcast content is 'used up' when the user wants and has time to listen. Which, given its mobile friendly nature , can occur in any context: during a lunch break, on the move, on vacation ... You publish them and your target audience decides when and how to listen to them: an effective response to a need for access free and autonomous information.

They do branding - because they make the brand recognizable, leaving the virtual dimension to enter the real one through the voice.

They create leads - because you can combine the possibility of downloading the corporate or professional podcast for free with the compilation of a form with the request for user data. You will thus have the opportunity to learn more about your market niche.

How do you make a podcast?

The equipment to create a podcast is small and cheap: headphones and a microphone are just enough to start. Specialized platforms are available online - among which the most used are Spreaker and Soundcloud - which allow the creation of podcasts in an elementary way, with free features and premium subscription plans.

If you are a little familiar with the tool, there are also free software for post-production care . When you have finished the preparation phases, you can move on to distribution: publication on the company blog, sharing on social networks, communication via newsletter etc.

Examples of topics for a corporate podcast

What are the contents of a corporate podcast? It obviously depends on the sector of your business. The podcast can be an impact tool for the " Who we are and mission " section of the site , with anecdotes from personal history and the brand designed to catch the attention of listeners.

If you are a professional you can use them for in-depth content, with advances from the case histories of greatest interest to your audience. If you have a hotel in a city of art you could suggest, with various podcasts in different languages, the 5 attractions not to be missed for a tourist; or even share the recipe of a typical local dish. In conclusion, the instrument is suitable for not only radio use and can be used in many business and professional scenarios .

Read also: website design and Development Company

How to sell online?

How to sell online? There are several more or less advanced systems for selling your products online. This post was born from the need to share the experiences of many of our customers who, during the difficult period of the lockdown caused by the coronavirus, found themselves having to manage sales in some way, even though their companies were closed. The recurring question was: “ I have a shop and I want to sell online: how can I start selling via the internet? ".

Our response has always been the same: first of all we have provided our customers with advice to try to exploit this period, transforming it , if possible, into a constructive opportunity . In this article you can read our tips.

We then tried to explain to them that the time has come when all companies organize themselves to create an e-commerce site . The internet sales channel must operate in parallel with traditional sales channels: they must complement each other in a synergistic and harmonious manner.

The market is now mature and forced quarantine has broken down the last barriers of distrust towards online shopping: this opportunity must be exploited, even by small commercial realities.

With this guide we want to share our advice with you too, starting from concrete cases.

Ok, but how do I sell online without an e-commerce? The problem is just this: selling your products online requires organization, long-term strategy, marketing actions and a certain budget to invest. Our advice, especially for smaller businesses or otherwise not equipped for online sales, is to approach this new sales channel gradually .

There is no magic recipe : therefore, even if you do not yet have a structured e-commerce, we advise you to experiment gradually and proportionate to your economic possibilities, always measuring them and evaluating them objectively, to allow your company to gradually adapt to the new dynamics related to online sales . Try, test, straighten the bar. The advantage of smaller companies is linked to greater flexibility. Imagination, combined with that touch of healthy entrepreneurial madness, can also be the key to success for your business.

P make our advice as a starting point, which you will then have to customize and develop according to the specificity of your business and your experience. Each action requires different budgets and times: evaluate and implement in the most useful way for your company. But do it strategically on the basis of a medium-long time horizon, so that nothing goes to waste.

Now let's see how to start selling online in a very short time and, if possible, with little budget . At the bottom of the article we also explain how to manage deliveries.

1 - Sell by phone

Collecting orders over the phone is the oldest technique , certainly not very modern, but always effective. If you have a good relationship with your customers, let them know that they can call you and that you can collect orders over the phone. It's free and, if you chat verbally, you will see that you will be able to consolidate the relationship with them more.

How to let your customers know they can order over the phone?

Communicate it on your site . If you have a consolidated community in your social channels, communicate it there too.

If you have a mailing list, send an informative newsletter to all your customers , always in compliance with the legislation on privacy, I recommend (if you do not have a well organized and possibly segmented mailing list, the time has come to build it: IMMEDIATELY!). Once the mechanism has run in, wait for the first orders: when they arrive it will be a beautiful surprise.

Ah, a little detail: it's free!

2 - Sell by email

Let's take a small step forward and start using technology.

Notify your customers that you can make home deliveries and regulars to send you an email with the order . It is a small step forward compared to the previous point, but much more comfortable for you, because you avoid wasting time on the phone: the phone call interrupts the activity you are carrying out at that moment, while you can organize yourself to manage emails in certain time slots. The conversation is asynchronous, with all the advantages that come with it.

Again, it's free.

3 - Sell with Whatsapp

Let's take another step forward. We all have Whatsapp and use it. Just everyone.

Why not sell with Whatsapp and use it as an order collection system? It is simple, immediate, intuitive. Whatsapp is also very useful for strengthening relationships with your customers, by communicating with them directly. If you have not yet used Whatsapp to build a relationship with your customers, the time has come to start doing it: NOW!

News are always welcome. You will see what a pleasant surprise to find that your loyal customers have missed your products and that they are very happy to order from you, even with this new method.

Again the good news is that it's free!

How to let your customers know they can order via Whatsapp

If you have one or more groups on Whatsapp in which you have inserted your customers or, better still, specific groups of customers, use this tool to communicate to them that they can send you orders via Whatsapp. If you don't have active groups, communicate this new opportunity to your customers, through the channels we have seen previously.

How to integrate Whatsapp into your website

We give you an extra idea, which requires a little programming intervention.

Why don't you integrate Whatsapp into your site to use the site as a connection tool between you and your customers via mobile phone? in this way the chat started by the user on the site arrives directly on your Whatsapp account.

If your site was created with WordPress, it's very easy : there are plug-ins that deal with integration. In most cases they are free and the configuration is very simple. Here are some.

If you are not familiar with plug-ins and the cost for your agency is too high, look for a consultant on freelance platforms such as Fiverr for a few euros. At this link you can find some example results .

Integrate Whatsapp into social channels

It is possible to integrate Whastapp with Facebook and Messenger, so that users can automatically connect via a button with your Whatsapp account. It can be a useful tool, it certainly deserves to be evaluated.

Whatsapp Business

Whatsapp Business is a free app designed for small business owners . Facilitates customer relationship management thanks to some additional features that make it unique and useful.

In fact, it is possible to enter the company's website, as well as allowing the management of automatic replies, the analysis of usage data, broadcasting lists and groups. The app can also be activated on a landline number.

Whatsapp Business also allows the creation of a catalog, a sort of virtual showcase through which to show products and services. For each product you can enter photos, description, price and code.

Here the indications to create the catalog .

4 - Orders via Messenger

You can also use Messenger to collect orders with your customers . The same considerations that we made in the previous point with respect to Whatsapp apply.

Messenger is very popular because it is integrated with Facebook (and like Whatsapp is owned by Facebook), so it is an excellent tool for collecting orders.

Like Whatsapp, Messenger can also be easily integrated into your site .

5 - Live chat systems on your site

If your site is well done, it works, it has good traffic, your customers are used to using it and maybe it has a good SEO services optimization , you can consider integrating a web chat system on the site.

These are systems of direct dialogue with customers very similar to those seen in the previous points.

There are many technical solutions. We must evaluate the pros and cons in advance, we must be sure that they are stable and with a good user experience: if they are poorly designed, they are not fluid and they get stuck, customers get nervous and we do not do a good service.

The technologically most reliable solutions are not free.

Here are some examples of WordPress solutions.

6 - Sale by video call

Imagine that your customers have already been informed that you are available for remote sale. Let's imagine that you have already activated one of the communication channels seen in the previous points. Now let's try to imagine a more personalized and sensory sales experience .

We will tell you about the case of a friend of ours. He is the owner, together with his brother, of a wine shop.

They do not have an active e-commerce on the site, but they did not get caught up in the discomfort of the moment during the lockdown for the Coronavirus. They communicated to all customers the willingness to collect orders remotely and invented Drink @ Home, the sale with video call. By making an appointment with the customer, through video call they welcome the customer into the shop, talk to him as if he were physically close to them, accompany him on the shelves, tell him about the characteristics of the wines and make him live a new sensorial experience.

The operation was successful beyond expectations and have been mentioned in the newspapers.

Why don't you try to imagine something similar for your shop?

7 - Facebook showcase

You can sell your products directly through Facebook , which is perfect from this point of view.

There are two ways to sell products through Facebook: you can sell them in the marketplace or you can create a virtual shop through a showcase on your Facebook page .

Obviously you must have a company page.

8 - Sell with Instagram

Instagram is increasingly popular. It is visual and perfect for selling online.

The platform is growing a lot from this point of view and new features have recently been introduced aimed at promoting products and selling directly via Instagram.

These options are valid if you already have an e-commerce developed. Instagram integrates with Shopify and BigCommerce. You can read this guide for Instagram.

To activate shopping on Instagram you must have an active showcase on Facebook and many fans.

As we have seen for Facebook, Instagram also becomes an important sales tool if combined with sponsored campaigns on specific targets.

Read also: Are you looking for free question and answer sites..

But that's not what we wanted to talk to you about here: imagining that you don't have an e-commerce already active and fully functional, you can take advantage of Instagram to promote your products through posts and stories and collect orders not via e-commerce, but via message, which you will manage with the methods seen above.

We can tell you the example of Serendipity Aesthetics , also from Turin. Maria Laura is not only a dear friend, but a great professional, who impeccably manages Instagram and uses it regularly to collect orders and dispense her "Serendipitine" with advice and useful information.

Here is his page:

Best social media tools to grow your business in 2020

Discover some of the best social media tools that can save you work and allow you to better manage your marketing strategies.

To be present in the virtual environment, your company needs to have social media tools that allow you to better monitor the business performance and offer resources that help you achieve your goals.

It is worth saying that it is useless to use the best tools if you do not invest in the visual identity of your company and your posts.

In addition to them, it is possible to use the logo design service that will give the business greater notoriety by attracting attention visually.

Learn about some resources that can be used to expand business and be present on social media.

Best social media tools

Sprout Social

This is a very current tool that allows you to monitor different metrics and ensures better management.

With it you can follow different reports, choose hashtags and keywords to be followed and schedule publications on different social networks.

Sprout Social allows more than one project to be monitored simultaneously and creates different levels of authorization for users.

Google Analytics

This is perhaps one of the best known tools to manage in the online universe, being widely used for blogs and websites.

In the case of social networks, Google Analytics ends up playing a slightly different role, as it will let you know which networks are guaranteeing more traffic to your pages.

Cyfe

Cyfe is widely used for those who need to manage different social networks simultaneously, as it has dashboards that facilitate this task.

With the use of tables it is possible to follow different metrics of social networks, such as likes and dislikes in each post. In this way it is possible to analyze what is not generating the expected result.

The free version already offers very interesting features, such as reports and the use of tables that allow you to manage and monitor strategies.

Feedly

This is a great tool for anyone who wants to know what's going on in their niche market and what competitors are doing.

With it it is possible to know what has been posted on blogs and other channels and keep up to date, using this information, including, elaborating your strategies.

It is also possible to share the content presented to you, allowing partnerships to start.

Canva

This is one of the social media tools for those who do not have many resources to spend on design, but want to publish quality content and with a pleasant layout.

It already has some pre-made models for social media that allow some adjustments to be more personalized.

For those who do not know how to use it is possible to have free tutorials that teach all the steps.

HowSociable

This is a tool that allows you to monitor how much your brand is capable of influencing a given social network.

For this, it makes a survey of the amount of citations and interactions performed. Based on the reports, it is possible to know which content or strategies were most effective and how your brand is being seen.

Knowem

Those who are not yet present on all social media platforms should do a search to identify which names are present.

Ideally, it should be found in all networks with the same name. For that, see which ones are available.

The search made by Knowem allows this search and, if you wish, you can even register; however, that last part is paid.

Powtoon

The videos are increasingly present in social networks and are increasingly seen, so if you do not know how to create them, this tool helps.

At Powtoon it is possible to create animated presentations that are transformed into videos, even by those who do not have much skill. To do this, just follow the tutorial.

mLabs

MLabs is a very complete tool that brings together different resources and aggregates several social networks.

It has a panel so that everything is organized in a visual way and allows you to monitor reports, generate metrics, make posts and even respond to messages in a single location.

It is typically used by agencies that include more than one user and allows clients to follow up.

In order to manage everything that is published and follow up using reports, social media tools are very useful. Take advantage of them and don't forget to use the logo design service to have a visual identity in addition to the assertive NYC SEO strategies.