Tweet them a coupon and they'll come running

The popularity of online discount coupons as a way to reward customer loyalty wins 10:1 against printed coupons in newspapers. And coupons were the fifth largest growing internet category in 2009 (see coupons.com).

So coupons are a great way to reward your customers. When you give a coupon to a customer, either they have already registered with you, or you are using the coupon to entice them for doing so – both ensure that there is a strong correspondance between the coupon and the customer using it, since they have opted in.

Who uses them? Mostly young, affluent and female.

Where can you spread the news of your coupon discounts?

* In print
* Coupon distribution services like coupons.com or retailmenot.com
* Through loyalty cards/point programs
* On your local Google Maps listing
* Review/local sites like Yelp or FourSquare
* Partner Web sites
* Your emails
* Mobile text messages
*Twitter: I heard of a pizza company that twittered a 20% discount to their student customers whenever they had a downturn in the day. Hey presto! within 30 minutes they had filled the shortfall.

source Lisa Barone

The rumour is that your site's Google rating will go down.

Consumers have very little patience for online stores, e-banks and travel sites that slow down, act erratically or crash during busy transaction seasons, according to a new study from Gomez, a provider of Web performance optimization tools and services.

As the intolerance with clunky Web sites rises, so does the cost of lost e-business for the banks, retailers and travel agencies running these sites, according to the study, which was conducted by Equation Research and will be officially announced next week.

Check out the rest of this story by By Juan Carlos Perez in PC World’s article

You need a clear and visible call to action

Having a web site just to look good is a waste of time. Even if you have non-financial goals or if you are pursuing social goals – you have a goal, right? So, your web site should help you work towards your goals, and it therefore also needs to embody those goals.
The goal of your web site will be one or more of the following: to convert visitors into customers by buying something, to become your client, to become a lead by signing up to a newsletter or subscribing to membership, or to provide key information.
If you want visitors to phone you, say it clearly: “call us for a free quote”, or if you want them to give you their email address so you can send them a newsletter, you can say “Sign up for our free newsletter”. If you want them to see something, say it: “Read this”. These are all called a ‘Call to Action’, and it can be a text link, an image, or a form.

What if you have more than one product or service – or goal?

If you offer a number of products, or services, the call to action can take the reader to one page where the services are all listed, and from which they can make the choice. See my Ripplenet web design front page for an example.
If you have a main goal, and then a lesser goal, take your readers though the main goal first.

Don't tie them up...

When you’re promoting your business, you’ll sometimes come across situations where you need to explain what you’re doing in a very short time – like 30 seconds. Maybe its in a chance encounter with a potentially great prospect on the bus, or at a party, or as the title suggests, in an elevator (or lift to us Brits).

So what do you say? What’s the best way to put over what you do, in a way that doesn’t come over pushy and OTT, but at the same time can engender curiosity?

I went to a business networking event set up by the Croydon Economic Development company a couple of days ago, and there was an hour long session on how to make an elevator pitch. Simply put you break it down into five parts. The green bit is my first attempt at putting down my pitch – you can use it as an example…

1. I/We work with …. small to medium businesses and organisations

2. Who have a problem with/need to …. promote their organisation on the web cost effectively

3. What I/we do is …. create websites that can be updated by the client themselves with less cost and time then when using a web designer

4. So that …. they can maintain an up-to-date website

5. Which means that …. they can maintain a more professional web presence.

(source robert-craven.com)

Now – go ahead and make your own pitch – and find someone to practice it on…..

Here’s the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Youtube video on how to create an elevator pitch: