101 Ways To Promote Your Online Store

Search Engine & Human Visitor Optimization

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Human Visitor Optimization are very important for your online store. No human and spider will find your shop if you do not work on your SEO. Below are a list of things you can do to improve your optimization. I will not include reasons for each task listed below as that will be too much.

Before you do any promotion for your stores, I recommended that you go through the list 101 Ways To Optimize Your Online Store. After you have finish reading this len, you might want to bookmark Announce Your New Products or Designs. It has a checklist on the things you can do when you have a new product.

Do give this len a 5 stars rating if you like it. Thank you very much.

Ways To Promote Your Online Store Online

Online Marketing

There are so many ways you can promote and advertise your online shops. It is crazy to follow them all. Select those that you are comfortable with and start your internet marketing now. I will be adding on to the list whenever I come across new ways to promote your store.

Submit your stores/websites to search engines. Example: Dmoz, Google, MSN and many more.
Put your websites/blogs/stores/lenses links in your email signature. Make sure that your friends/family members/employees email signatures have your links too.
Forward interesting information, news, photos, videos, jokes, sad stories and all kinds of junk mails to your friends. Your friends will forward these mails to their friends. Make sure that you forward these mails to friends that like to receive them, not those that hate junk mails.
Put your websites/blogs/stores/lenses links in your forum signature.
Join and participate in niche forums related to your products.
Use a funny/attention seeking user name whenever you register for a social networking site/forum/Squidoo and more.
Create lenses with Squidoo. Make one lens for your store and make different lenses for your different products. Link all related lenses together.
Make useful comments on other people lenses. Your user name will links back to your "My Squidoo" page which links to all your lenses. Do not spam.
Submit your new lenses to Squoogle, tagfoot, Reddit, Digg, The Isle of Squid, Squidpedia, Stumpedia Lensroll.com, Squiddit and more.
Use Lensroll at your side bar of your lens to lensroll related lenses to your lenses.
Join and participate in Friendster, MySpace, Multiply, Xanga, Facebook, and more
Build a fan page in Facebook.
Make your own video about your products or stores. Remember to put your links in your video.
Use keywords, descriptions, in your video file name and submission.
Submit your videos to Metacafe, YouTube, MySpace, Digg Videos, blip.tv, AOL Video, Google Video, GoFish, Vimeo, Yahoo Video and more.
Create a video sitemap on your store/websites when you have a few videos. Make a lens about your videos.
Add your video to your stores, websites and blogs.
Create and blog about your products and stores. Example: Blogger, MySpace, Wordpress and more.
Feed and ping your store blogs. Icerocket, BlogExplosion, Technorati, Weblogalot, Pingomatic, Pingoat, and more.
Offer different RSS/social bookmarking option on your blog. Example: del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and more.
Use good keywords in your blog titles.
Submit your store blogs to blog directory. Example: BlogExplosion, Weblog Directory, We Blog A Lot, Kmax, and many many more.
Post useful, honest, comments on other niche blogs related to your products or stores. Do not spam.
Make sure that your posting on your blog is fresh. Keep updating.
Create a podcast about your products and store.
Submit your podcast to iTunes, Odeo, Podcast Alley, PodOmatic, Podscope and more.
Create newsletters for your store. You may want to host with MailChimp or YourMailingListProvider. I am using MailChimp and I am loving it. You can see some of my newsletters here.
Offer freebies or special sales to newsletter subscribers when they sign up.
Include discount coupons, sale and promotion, new products, feature products, holidays and events products in your newsletters. Remember to include your store address.
Keep an archive of your old newsletters in your store.
Promise your newsletter subscribers that you will not sell, share their email with outside parties and you will not spam them before they sign up.
Let your subscribers know how often you will send them your newsletters before they sign up.
Put your newsletters opt-in form on your store/blog/lenses/websites.
Submit your products and stores to classifieds. Put your advertisement on areas where most of your customers came from. Example: Kijiji, Ablewise, Craigslist and more.
Look for niche classifieds for your products. Submit to them.
Submit your product feed to Google Base.
Upload your products photos to Flickr, BubbleShare, Fotolog and more.
Tag your photos at Flickr.
Join and participate in Kaboodle. Add in as much products in Kaboodle as possible.
Bookmark all your stores, websites, blogs, lenses at del.icio.us, tagfoot and more.
StumbleUpon your stores, websites, blogs, lenses and more.
Give positive and useful reviews in StumbleUpon, tagfoot and more. Do not spam.
Exchange links with your competitors.
Write and submit press releases/articles.
Give good and useful comments in other people guestbooks. Do not spam.
Hold an online contest on your stores, websites lenses or blogs. Give away your products with your links as presents.
Get other bloggers to write about your products. Example: PayPerPost.
If you are willing to pay for advertisement, use Adwords, Kontera and more.
Create niche websites/lenses for your mega store.
Join affiliate programs and get affiliates to sell your products for you. Example: ShareASale, Commission Junction, LinkShare and more.
Design standard banners with all kinds of sizes. Give your affiliates plenty of choices. Check Standard Banner Sizes for your reference.
Email your affiliates about your latest promotions and discount coupons so that your affiliates will know what to do with them.
Add a poll to your websites, stores, lenses and blogs. You can get free polls at Pollhost or Vizu.
Create a page and archive all your old polls in your website, store and blog.
Join and participate Twitter.
Add Twitter to all your blogs, websites, stores, lenses and more.
Include Twitter application in your Facebook, lenses, blogs, websites, stores and more.
Join and participate in discussion groups. Example, MySpace, Yahoo Groups, Microsoft Groups, Google Groups, Facebook, Kaboodle, and many many more.
Start an internet war related to your products/stores. Do not offend anybody/company/brand/products. Be creative.
Announce your internet war via discussion groups, blogs, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Monkey Brain, popular forums and anywhere you can think of.
Be a contributor on Yahoo Answers, Answers.com, AllExperts, Wiki Answers, MyLot, and many more.
Get your friends and family members to include your websites/blogs/stores/lenses URL in their blogs. Get them to talk about your products for free. Treat them to lunch for doing that.
Create some useful software that advertise your stores/websites/blogs/lenses and distribute for free on your website.
Create interesting and fun application that advertise your websites/stores/blogs/lenses. Distribute these application for free. Example: ticker, avatars, banners, etc.
Run an online forum/bulletin board.
Offer freebies with purchases. Make sure your freebies have your stores/blogs/websites/lenses URL on them.
Offer special discount coupons for their next purchase.
If you have created an interesting website/article/lens/or anything that you think it deserve more attention, submit them to Ma.gnolia, BuzzFeed, Plaxo, Tumblr and more.
Exchange links with yourself. Example: Your own blogs, websites, lenses, stores and more. Exchange only related links.
If you have design your websites/blogs/stores yourself and you think that your design is fantastic, submit your websites/blogs/stores to website design competitions.
Write an ebook related to your products and advertise your websites/blogs/stores/lenses in your book. Distribute your ebook for free or allow reseller right.

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Do You Like Marketing?

Do you like doing all that promoting and advertising work for your stores, websites, blogs, lenses and all those stuffs you have created? Let find out.

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Ways to Promote Your Online Shop Offline

Offline Marketing

Besides promoting your online shops online, you can do it offline too. However, there are some of the things you may want to check with your local authorities first before you proceed.

Write a book related to your products and advertise your websites/blogs/stores/lenses in your book.
Wear a t-shirt/badge/button/hat/cap, carry a bag that has your URL and logo printed on it.
Place a car decal/bumper stickers that has your URL and logo on your car/bus/van/whatever vehicle you have. Make sure your friends/family members/employees have your URL stickers on their vehicles too.
Hang a big banner at your door/gate/fence. Check with your local authorities to see if you can do that a not.
Give away your products/balloons/pencils/pens/door hangers whatever freebies you can think of with your URL and logo at trade/craft fairs.
Print your stores/blogs/websites/lenses URL on plastic/paper bags and give them away for free at trade/craft fairs. These people need a bag to put carry all the freebies they have collected at the fairs.
Send greeting cards/postcards that has your URL and logo to your families/friends/client/employees/customers.
Send catalogs/flyers/leaflets/catalogs to your customers via snail mail.
Distribute brochures/flyers/leaflets/catalogs to everyone's letter box. Check if your local state law allow you to do that first.
Sponsor your products as freebies, presents, giveaways for other company/online forum competition/contest/goodies bags.
Use/give away custom calendars with your products, URL and logo on them.
Include a hand written "thank you for your purchase" card with your URL and logo in your parcel when someone buy from you through Etsy or an online auction such as Ebay.
Include stickers/badges/buttons with your URL and logo as freebies in your in your parcel when someone buy from you through Etsy or an online auction such as Ebay.
Give away free stickers, post-it-note, buttons, magnets or your products during Halloween as treats for the children.
Put up notice on your local bulletins boards that allow advertisements. Make sure that your customers come from the area where your advertisement is.
Put an advertisement in the yellow pages where your customers come from.
Shave your URL into your hair. Make sure to position your URL at eye level, not on top. You will get a lot of attention from behind.
Tattoo your URL on somewhere that you know you will not wear anything to cover up. Make sure you are really committed to your business for life before you do this. If not, use a washable tattoo.
Find library books that are related to your products/stores and put your name cards/bookmarks into it. Do not overdo this.
Design a business card that your customers will never forget.
Create and send funny, animated text messages on your cell phone. Remember to include your URL.
Use envelopes that has your URL printed on.

Love This Lens?

Printing Your Advertisement

Here are the online printing shops that you can get your catalogs/flyers/leaflets/brochures/calendars/stickers and more printed for your marketing purpose.

Cafepress: T-Shirts, caps, hats, buttons, badges, stickers, tote bags, magnets and more.
U-Printing.com
WePrintQuick.com
UPrinting.com
Online Poster Printing
Magic Prints
Kolar Design Studio
DCP

SEO Caps for the SEO Experts

Black Hat SEO & White Hat SEO

Black Hat SEO Black Cap
A black cap and black t-shirt are available with SEO printed on them. Makes a great gift for anyone involved in the dark side of the Search Engine Optimization field. Great gift idea and comes with 30 day guarantee!
$17.99
Product Information
Top it off in our structured black cap made of sturdy, durable brushed canvas. 100% cotton breathes for year-round comfort. Adjustable closure with a low profile crown. Images are permanently adhered with a sturdy patch. Look cool on bad hair days or when shading your eyes from the sun. One size fits most.
Black Hat SEO Black Cap

White Hat SEO Cap
A white cap and several styles of white t-shhirt are available with SEO printed on them. Makes a great gift for anyone involved in the Search Engine Optimization field. Great gift idea and comes with 30 day guarantee!
$17.99
Product Information
Our adjustable, 100% brushed cotton Cap is unstructured and an ideal way to beat the heat. Wear it anytime you want to keep the sun off or cover up a bad hair day. It features a sturdy low profile brim, sweatband, and adjustable closure, as well as Premium Printing for images that last.
White Hat SEO Cap

Ways to Promote Your Online Shops From Our Readers

We welcome you to contribute your ideas to our list. Please click on the "Add to this list" button and share your ideas with us. Thank you very much.

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Write a book related to your products and advertise your websites/blogs/stores/lenses in your book.2 points

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Two tips

1.) List your site with an online shopping directory. The Big Shopping Guide (http://bigshoppingguide.com) lets retailers add their site for free.
2.) Build relationships with shopping bloggers. We love free products and we love to hear from retailers.0 points

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Create a Listing on Merchant Circle

This is a free resource for businesses that is one of my favorites. I would highly recommend networking with other businesses, creating blogs and coupons. They even have low cost advertising packages available.
To get started go to www.merchantcircle.com0 points

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Give away mugs with your logo

Design an interesting logo or have it designed. Use Zazzle to create special mugs ornamented with your logo and perhaps a catchy message. Give a mug to your customers as a gift with their purchases provided that they purchase in accordance with a minimum limit. Mugs, especially travel mugs are good because they stay in people's sight during the course of the day.0 points

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Extra Tips for Promoting your Shops

Advertise your shop successfully

I have put up a big list of ideas for promoting your store above but I did not write about how or why you should do it because you will never finish reading it. I have summaries everything below to let you know how you should advertise successfully.

There are people that do most of the stuffs listed above but still do not see sales in their store. Have you really do everything correctly?

Go through 101 Ways To Optimize Your Online Store.
When you see the word, "Tag", add in as much keywords related to your stores/websites/lenses/blog as possible. Most people will just skip the word, "Tag" and even though they register and participate on the site, their profile/products/websites are never being seen. There are lots of websites that allow you to tag your products/websites such as Kaboodle, Squidoo and more.
When you have the option to make friends on the site, start making friends and make lots of them.
If you can see your friends birthdays on the site, Send them a special graphic wishing them "Happy Birthday" with your stores/blogs/websites/lenses URL on it.
Greet all your friends with your special designed graphics on Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Mother Day and whatever events, holidays, occassion that you can think of.
When you have the option to blog, make sure that you blog at least once a week.
Try a few promotional methods and find the ones that you enjoy doing. Stay focus on a few chosen methods until you see success and hits coming. Do not jump on everything and burn yourself out.
Do not spam on guestbooks, comments on blogs and more. We do not like comments such as,"I love your blog, pleeeease visit mine at http://spam.com. These comments usually goes to the trash.
If your comments on guestbooks and blogs are of praises, honest comments, useful comments, owners of these site will usually publish them. Reader will click on your username to check on you if they find your comments useful or if your username is funny or unique.

PS: If you buy something from this page...

... you'll automatically be making a donation to The Acumen Fund, working to solve global poverty.

Doesn't that feel good?

Marketing Books for You

eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business

by: Corey Perlman

Amazon Price: $15.61 (as of 12/06/2009)

Internet Marketing Methods Revealed: The Complete Guide to Becoming an Internet Marketing Expert

by: Miguel Todaro

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 12/06/2009)

Guerilla Marketing on the Internet: The Definitive Guide from the Father of Guerilla Marketing

by: Jay Conrad Levinson, Mitch Meyerson, Mary Eule Scarborough

Amazon Price: $14.93 (as of 12/06/2009)

How to Use the Internet to Advertise, Promote and Market Your Business or Website with Little or No Money

by: Bruce C. Brown

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 12/06/2009)

Web Marketing For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

by: Jan Zimmerman

Amazon Price: $16.49 (as of 12/06/2009)

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Vote My Favorite Internet Marketing Books

These are some of my favorite internet marketing books which I have read and learned from.

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Planning Your Internet Marketing Strategy: A Doctor Ebiz Guide by Ralph F. Wilson

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How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders: Boosting Your Business & Buzz on the Web (Voices That Matter) by Catherine Seda

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Clueless in Starting a Business by May Lwin

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Internet Riches: The Simple Money-making Secrets of Online Millionaires by Scott C. Fox

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