What’s the offer?

It’s the Watersweb Hot Summer Sale — this week only!

During this week, I’ll create website headers or banners, or modify an existing WordPress theme for you. What’s so hot about this?

First, it’s almost time for school to start. Time to think about your holiday promotions and what you’ll be doing with all that extra time. So beat the rush with some well-placed banner ads at your favorite online communities. Or, if you’re looking to improve your search engine rankings and traffic in time for holidays, add a blog to your site and we’ll create the header graphic or customize your theme for you. And that’s not all…

I’m moving these orders out like they’re hot potatoes. You’ll have your banner/header graphic today or your theme customization by Friday night*!

Normally, I charge a 50 percent rush fee for such fast turnaround, but I’m not doing that this week.  Place your order today, and I’ll have it to you before you can say, “Hot Potato!”

Graphic Design

We’ll create website headers, static banners or buttons of whatever size you need.

• Website Headers      $50 ea.
• Eproduct Images      $50 ea.
• Static Banners          $30 ea.

WordPress theme customization
If you need to have a theme customized, whether it’s a free or premium theme (I have an all-inclusive developer’s license to the Revolution/StudioPress themes), I’m willing to offer you a small payment plan (if you need it) PLUS free rush service.

Again, I’ll have it to you by Friday night*.

(We also create completely custom Wordpress themes, but I can’t get those out to you this week. We can get the ball rolling for you this week though.)

Are you ready? Click here to place your website graphics order or, if you’re needing a WordPress theme, just submit a sales ticket with the details of your project and I’ll send you more information about how to proceed!

One more thing — *I expect for the graphics to be ready in one day and theme designs to be ready to go by Friday, but if you need any revisions, I’ll work on them first thing next week. I offer two rounds of revisions so you’ll have all weekend to make your first laundry list of changes.

Sparkplugging is starting a new tradition called “Spark an idea Thursday.” As part of this tradition, I’ll be sharing with you my experiences and interpretations for each week’s topic for those of you who sell products or services online.

I invite you to grab our image over there to the right and carry the tradition through to your own blog. If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

The theme of this week’s Spark an Idea Thursday is: Spark an Idea about Creating a WOW Experience.

Naturally, when I heard this topic, I started thinking about customer service and awesome ways that small business owners can really make their customers say, “Wow!”

I also thought that with Jenn being our eBay Go-To Woman, she might have a slightly different perspective than I do. So we chatted about this topic on the phone for a bit and I put together this list of ways to create a WOW experience in your online business.

1. Jenn said that from a buyer’s persective, she is WOW’d by added bonuses with real value that arrive unexpectedly with her order. She said that the bonus must have real value, and be something more than just the typical free shipping.

She suggested adding a free sample of a new product for a customer to try, throwing in an extra, complementary item with the product purchased. She cautioned though that the extras must be of actual value – not just a $10 gift certificate when everything in your store is $80 or more.

2. Going above and beyond to provide your product quickly and with great quality is another way to give your customer’s that WOW experience. Just this week, I had a client order a banner advertisement as part of my Watersweb Hot Summer Sale. He sent in his order and within a few hours, I had the banner done, revised and returned to him.

His response:

Just got in and saw the banner! Wow!!!!! That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! Great, awesome, stupendous!

Now, that was a WOW experience for him! Getting things done fast and done right is a sure-fire way of impressing your customers.

3. Jenn and I both agreed that unexpected follow up makes us think, “Wow!”

One thing that I teach my clients is that when a customer complains, or if you see there is a problem with their order, this is a perfect time to call up the customer, see how their doing, find out what is going on, and most importantly, find out what you can do better.

The side effect of this phone call for the customer is that she is thrilled her problem has been taken care of – and WOW’d that you called her out of the blue to handle it quickly and efficiently.

Of course, sometimes you can’t make a phone call, so even an email that you send is better than just waiting for the customer to call you.

And of course, you can contact your customers randomly and out of the blue to find out how their doing and what you can do to help them.

Make sense?

Head out there and start WOWing your customers!

That said, I wouldn’t recommend spending a ton of money on social media workshops, ebooks and online courses.

Even getting started is pretty simple. First, find out which sites your target market are on. If you’re selling rock band t-shirts to teenagers, your target may be on MySpace. If you’re selling baby clothes to moms, you may want to check out Facebook and Twitter.

But don’t take my word for it. Ask your target market.

Once you know where they are, setup a profile for your business. (Unless you’re doing Facebook. You want to setup a profile for yourself on Facebook, then a fan page for your business.)

Now, you need to have a strategy in place.

For Twitter, I recommend following those in your industry who have something to say. If you’re in fashion design, for example, Kathleen Fasanella of Fashion Incubator is someone you want to follow.

I also recommend following your customers, competitors and anyone who has an interest in your industry.

Don’t worry about who is following you or whether or not you should follow someone just because they are following you.

Do download a Twitter client such as Seesmic or Tweetdeck and use them to keep up with those who direct message you, the replies you get and use the search featues to follow your business name and industry keywords. This way, you can start and participate in conversations.

You can also keep up with what’s being said about you or your company. This is an excellent way to be there to thank those who say something great about your company, answer any questions people may have, and take care of any bad situations in a positive and proactive way.

For Facebook, I recommend that you setup you personal profile as a place to chat with your real-life friends. You can adjust your privacy settings so only certain groups of people can see your status updates (and you can create your own groups as well). Then create your fan page for your business and send an invitation to all your customers and potential customers. You can tie your WordPress blog into your fan page and you can post business updates/sales on the page.

I also recommend keeping an eye on your competition here, as well.

If any of you have stories to share about how you’ve used social media to promote your business, please share them here.

If you’re one of the busineses promoted often by your online group, you know that it’s been a long road to reach top of mind awareness in your community.

But if you’re new to the whole social networking scene, it may seem like an unwelcoming clique, where being cool and being online the longest are the only ways to get your business on that oft-promoted list.

I’m here to tell you though that it IS possible to get yourself on the list of businesses that are talked about online. And I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it. But first, before you get out there and start making your first contacts, you need to make sure you have your business in order:

1. An outstanding product. You aren’t going to get to the top of the promotion list by selling dirt-encrusted ice to Eskimos. Make sure you have a product that meets your target markets needs and that does what it is supposed to do.
2. Excellent customer service. Now more than ever, people go online to purchase products for two main reasons: Better prices and better service. Why go to the local drugstore to buy pregnancy tests when you can call an online dealer who will answer all your questions, in the privacy of your own home?
3. Shipping and return policies. Makes sure your prices are fair and competitive and that you have well-thought-out policies. And make sure they’re posted on your website.

Once you have the basics down, you’re ready to start telling the world about your business. But first, consider this: Social networking isn’t selling. You aren’t going to go to an online group and sell the members on your product. You’re going to go get to know them. You’re going to build a relationship with them. Then they’re going to ask about what you do and that’s when you can tell them. Pretty soon, someone is going to buy your stuff. And if you’re product is great and your service is great, then that someone is going to start telling others. And that’s social networking for business in a nutshell.

Of course, taking that tidbit of truth and creating a social networking campaign out of it is another story. Below are three techniques you can use to get started:

1. Forum networking. Unlike forum marketing, you aren’t just joining forums and putting a link in your signature, or purchasing ad space. In forum networking, you must become a valuable member of the community. Share your knowledge, help other people, and provide information that is needed. For example, let’s say you sell baby slings and you find a forum full of parents who believe in attachment parenting and live in your state. You’ll want to join their forum and then socialize with them, just as you would if you’d joined the forum for purely social reasons.When you see questions being asked about baby slings, provide information. Never promote your own product in your posts. Depending on the rules of the forum, you may be able to link to your website in your signature or in your forum profile.Once people notice your helpful answers, they will start clicking through to your site. And soon, those who purchase from you will start posting reviews and recommendations.
2. Facebook. With facebook, you can friend colleagues and members of your target market. Then keep them updated  through your profile of any news you may have, or link to articles on your blog that contain information beneficial to your customers. You can also create a group of people who will benefit from your product or service and communicate with the group. You can create a fan page for your products and you can even run very affordable and targetted ads. But primarily, you want to get to know your customers through Facebook.
3. Twitter. This is an excellent way to communicate with your customers. You can send them messages, like announcements of a free event you’re hosting, product updates, and tidbits of information that will benefit them. You can also answer questions your customers have — and ask them questions as well. For example, twitter would be an excellent place to poll your market about new color schemes for a new line of baby slings.

Of course, I’m just scraping the tip of the iceberg with these short paragraphs of information. You can learn more about a social media marketing at Product Sellers Talk Radio.

Sparkplugging is starting a new tradition called “Spark an idea Thursday.” As part of this tradition, I’ll be sharing with you my experiences and interpretations for each week’s topic for those of you who sell products or services online.

I invite you to grab our image over there to the right and carry the tradition through to your own blog. If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

The theme of this week’s Spark an Idea Thursday is: Spark an Idea That Shows Appreciation.

From Jenn:

Today, you can search Google for “baby slings” and come up with almost 400,000 websites. Practically every popular parenting website already has baby sling and cloth diaper retailers advertising their wares.  How can you possibly compete with that?

Here are a couple of ideas that have proven profitable for other small businesses:

1. Promote locally. Check out your local area for competition and for customers. Perhaps your city, if it’s large enough, your county, or even your state may be able to support your business during the startup phase. Research the area to find out how much interest there is in your product, whether it’s baby related, jewelry, or something else.

Even though there are tons of other sellers on the Internet, you can become the local expert, the hometown face that everyone associates with your product. Just remember, do your research and be prepared to get out of the house and meet people, at local events, at trade shows, at festivals and networking groups.

2. Do something different. One of my clients started selling pregnancy tests online. You’re thinking, seriously? Who would buy pregnancy tests online when you can get them down at the local pharmacy? Well, that’s the thing. Many people would prefer not to leave the comfort of their homes to buy the product. Not to mention, my client offered exceptional customer support with the product, She’d answer your questions via phone or email, any time. Much better than asking the pharmacy guy questions about peeing on a stick, right?

3. Partner with others. If you’re starting a bath and body store, partner up with the already established candle shop to promote each others products. Go to your local boutiques that cater to your target market and see if they will add your products to their shops.  Not only will you benefit from their traffic and existing relationships, but their benefit from the extra sales.

The caveat to these three ideas? Do your research. Find out if your local market will support your business. Find out what your potential competitors do, so that you can stand out. And then find those partners who are willing and capable of working with you.

One of the most effective steps I took toward polishing my image as an eBay store owner was adding business cards to each and every package I send out to my customers. This killed two birds with one stone, actually:

I needed to give my customers something they could physically hang on to in order to remember me. I also needed a way to easily identify the bonuses that I included in each package. Up until that point, I had been including splashy invoices and just writing “Lagniappe” on the bag holding the bonuses to fill these needs.

The solution was simple, brilliant, and highly effective:

MOO MiniCards!

At the time that I ordered my first set of MOO mini-cards, I wasn’t very design savvy at all, so I kept mine incredibly simple. I chose the MOO Text MiniCards and created a card that simply said “Lagniappe” on the front and included my name, contact information, store name and URL, and eBay ID on the back, as well as a simple “Thanks” graphic, available right in the MOO options.

However, for you more design-savvy folks, MOO allows you to upload your own graphics for use on all of their products. You can match your cards exactly to your store banners, logos, etc. When I order from them this next time, I will most definitely be doing that, and I’m not even that much more design-savvy than I was before.

I also bought some stickers using MOO’s ready-made designs to use to tape the cards onto each bonus bag. (Again, MOO allows you to custom design your stickers if you prefer.) These I coordinated with the color scheme of my store, as well as the tissue paper I use in each shipment for packaging.

Viola! I had a polished way to identify bonuses and also a very hip business card for my customers to keep. All total? I think it cost me 20 minutes and $20.

But you? Aah, it can cost you even less.

With BlogHer and a handful of other blogging conferences coming up this summer, I contacted MOO and asked them if they would help me answer the question of “Where is the best place to get business cards to promote my blog?” and offer a discount for our readers. Their answer was a resounding, “Yes!”

Without further ado, here are your discounts, exclusively from Sparkplugging, Velveteen Mind, and Blog Nosh Magazine:

1) moo48Q

• 15% off entire order for NEW MOO customers
• valid until end of June

2) moo8BE

• 10% off entire order for existing customers
• valid until end of June

Please note that these codes are only good through the end of June. Also, MOO is located in London, so they use the British date stamp for their projected shipping date. If they they tell you your order will ship on 12/6/08, that is actually June 12.

I can’t recommend MOO MiniCards enough. And if you ordered them in the past but were disappointed when you realized that they didn’t fit your regular business card holders, MOO was listening. They now offer MOO MiniCards Holders, so you can carry your cards with you in style.

They have everything you need to be prepared, polished, and ready to promote your eBay store, your eCommerce business, your blog, or your self. They are perfect for crafting and to use as gift tags, too, which is the next use on my list for these.

Enjoy and be sure to send pictures of your MOO cards so we can share some of your designs! Also, I’ll be taking a photo of all of the MOO cards people give me at BlogHer this July, so be sure to track me down and hand me your card so I can show it off and link to you, your blog, and your business!

Now go! Design! Promote! Think big!