Can Your Appeal Span the Temperaments?
A lot of what I write is specific to each of the underlying temperaments but there are some things that span the temperaments. This is especially true if you are in the service industry or have a product to sell.
These guidelines will get you the broadest appeal.
1. Marketing and Budgeting
Businesses requires a marketing plan and a budget. There are ways to get the word out (marketing) about your site for free or fee. In any case, you need to advertise. One excellent technique is targeted commenting on high traffic sites. You may also purchase links on high-traffic sites that are related to your products. Expensive ads are not always the best. Less expensive, targeted ads can be an effective way to increase sales. Plan your marketing budget, implement it, and watch your results, and adjust as necessary.
2. Quality Images/Descriptions
Customers like to see items to help when making decisions to buy. Provide quality pictures and detailed descriptions. Ted Demopolous emphasizes this feature as being particularly important when marketing ebooks and other electronic media. Ted feels a quality “picture” makes the product more tangible to the buyer, and increases sales volume.
You should consider going to the community college to take a class in market photography. It will pay off in the long run. If not, hire a professional. But, developing the skill yourself will best long term solution.
3. Customer Service
Neck and neck in the race for repeat business are customer service and a quality product. Answer customer inquiries quickly, within hours if possible. Make certain you have a return policy in place and that it is easy for customers to access. When shipping an item, include promotional information with the package. Create a “FAQ” (frequently asked questions) page on your site containing questions that seem to get asked over and over. Make your site as user friendly and convenient as you can. Contracting a site design specialist might be a worthwhile investment at this time.
4. Online Ordering
It is nearly impossible to compete in today’s market without online ordering capabilities. Customers desire the convenience, ease and speed of online purchasing. Not only this, but with online purchasing as an option the merchant has the opportunity to capitalize on the opportunity of the “impulse buy.”
Here a few of the options available:
www.charge.com
www.merchantexpress.com
www.merchantseek.com
www.monstermerchantaccount.com
www.eaglemerchantservices.com
Additionally, you will need an automated way to track the customers desired purchase and provide them total costs at check out. There are several shopping cart programs that can provide this service for you.
As there are many providers that are specific to certain markets, I recommend you research you niche for the most advantageous provider for you.