Saturday, June 25, 2011
Tips for the Success of Your Online Real Estate Business: 3 Great Ways to Use Email Marketing
Utilizing your email marketing tools can be one of the most effective ways to keep the lines of communication open with your clients. By providing your buyers and sellers with new and useful information on a consistent basis, you not only show them that you have a wealth of knowledge in your industry, but you establish yourself as a resource that they'll need when it's time to make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.
Here are 3 great ways to use email marketing:
1.) Drip Campaigns: Drip email marketing campaigns are designed to send targeted emails to a list of clients or prospects automatically based on a timed schedule or calendar. Most online marketing resources for real estate professionals will provide pre-generated drip marketing campaigns or a tool to build your own. Whether you're using a pre-generated drip email campaign or creating one from scratch, the most important thing you can do is personalize the content of each email. If you have specific prospects you're targeting (i.e. buyers, sellers, military families, retirees, etc.), you don't want to send generic, irrelevant information to the wrong prospect and risk losing them altogether. By using different campaigns for different types of prospects, as well as tailoring the content of the emails so that they're more relevant to your target audience and your market, you make the information in your drip marketing campaigns more valuable. You want your prospects to feel like you're helping them, not spamming them with information that doesn't apply to them.
2.) Virtual Listing Postcards: Listing postcards are a great way to let all of your clients and prospects know about your new listings that hit the market, or updates with your existing listings. Trying to get a home sold in today's market can be challenging enough, so why not give your listings as much exposure as possible? Although adding listings to your website and keeping those listings updated is important, prospective buyers are not going to be visiting your website every day looking for new listings you've added or checking your old listings for new updates. It's time to be proactive! By emailing listing postcards to your clients and prospects, even sending them to other real estate professionals, you can generate more interest in your listings and increase the number of buyers at your open houses because those emails can be forwarded to the family, friends, co-workers, and clients of the people you send them to. Use your virtual listing postcards to expand your network and get your listings sold!
Email marketing is a simple way to hold on to your clients and keep them engaged, so make sure to utilize all the tools you have to see successful results with your online business!
Need help making your online real estate business more effective? Go to http://www.realpromarketing.info/ for more information.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
How Using Christmas Website Templates Can Multiply Online Sales Before the Holidays
Christmas is on its way and for most online stores this is the season to make big profits. Customers are willing to spend more money on consumption goods in the last two months of the year than in any other period. And as a merchant, company or even as an individual who just wants to earn some extra cash with their hobbies this is an opportunity to take advantage of. Christmas themed website templates are a perfect way to increase online sales before the holidays. Here is how.
1. Increasing sales with Christmas website templates for online stores:
In the last few years online sales have raised rapidly all around the world. It has been especially the case for Christmas shoppings. Ordering products and services through the internet is a quick, easy and convenient way of doing the Christmas shopping. As a merchant who sells goods via the internet it is a blessing for you that customers appreciate this worry-free form of making purchases. With the use of online store softwares and scripts, processing orders has become automated to the maximum. It saves both time and work for companies.
Free ecommerce softwares such as osCommerce, ZenCart and CRE-loaded online store management software have a huge number of features and enable merchants to accept different forms of payment through their website. These scripts can be used with a lot of different templates, depending on the profile of your company. If you sell gifts through the internet, you can download, for example an osCommerce template that is specifically designed for gift stores. If you sell MP3 players, iPods and other digital gadgets, you can choose one from the templates that were created for electronics stores. And if you wish to multiply Christmas sales, the best way is to use a Christmas themed template for your website.
2. Increasing sales with Christmas website templates for companies:
There still are a number of companies and merchants who don't use an ecommerce software for their online sales although they sell products and services through their website. These companies usually have a limited number of products or focus on promoting only one product. They might handle payments through more traditional ways which would explain the lack of use of a shopping cart script. For these companies a Christmas themed website is still a good idea and would enable a substantial growth in online sales.
3. Increasing sales with Christmas website templates for individuals:
As Christmas approaches, more and more individuals seek ways to earn some extra money before the holidays. Many people who have a creative hobby find it rather profiting to sell the products of these hobbies on the internet. For example, candle-making is quite a popular pastime activity and Christmas is the season when a large number of customers seek individually designed candles both as a Christmas present or as part of the holiday decoration in their homes. If you are one of those individuals creating something special - be it home-made soaps, orange jams or hand-made teddy bears -, take advantage of the effectiveness of online trading. Perhaps you might want to use a Christmas themed website template to awake the holiday spirit in your potential customers.
It's not without a reason that both small shops on the streets and huge department stores lay emphasis on Christmas decoration. It is proven that such surroundings improve the willingness of customers to spend more money on Christmas presents. So, if merchants use this sales promotion technique for more than a century now, why not apply it to online stores, as well? Use a Christmas themed website template and see how you can increase online sales before the holidays.
Ari Krizsan runs Webtemplatemall.com where you can download both free and premium website templates. Browse Christmas themed website templates and Christmas osCommerce online store templates for your site.
Taxes: Paying Online Sales Tax Doesn't Have To Be Taxing
Almost all tax payers would say that the process of paying taxes is one of the most tedious and less-liked activities that they can imagine and paying sales tax for an online business is not exempted from the common misconception.
When the issue pertaining to taxes and your online business arise, you usually take it negatively which would in turn end up in a negative note.
However, if you decide to change the way you think and turn your negative approach to a positive one, then you would surely realize that paying online sales tax is not a taxing job at all.
Online business owners or e-tailers are commonly complaining about online sales tax primarily because they don't clearly understand and grasp the meaning, scope and limitations of the law and regulation that pertains to it.
If you want your online business to boom and prosper, you should have the initiative to gain as much knowledge as you can about taxes and online businesses.
Be Aware Of Taxability And Exemptions
You should be aware that not all services or products are taxable or taxed in the same way as other services and products are.
Furthermore, the taxability of some products also differ from state to state. There are also exemptions based on how the product is used as well as who uses them.
An example to this would be schools and non-profit organizations - these kinds of institutions may not be required to pay sales tax if they avail any of your products or services.
Take note that exemptions require clear and concise documentation.
Consider State Sourcing Rules and Validate Addresses
There are more or less 12,500 tax regions in the United States and for you to come up with an accurate sales tax calculation, you have to identify and validate the "roof top address" and then apply it to the exact set of sales tax rates of that certain transaction.
You must remember that the rate of the sales tax applied to a sale or purchase may be made up of a country sales tax, a state sales tax, a city sales tax and other special taxing jurisdictions.
The so-called "roof top address" is very important is because it serves as a warning that one household in a neighbourhood can have a different sales tax rate that its neighbour, if it is located physically in a different zone already.
Use Tax
Consumer use tax or use tax is a kind of tax that pertains to the using, consuming, storing and sometimes distribution of personal tangible property.
Aside from that, it can also be applied to services which are taxable. For short, you will need to pay use tax in a state where that "usage" occurs.
A clear example for this would be: you bought a pair of shoes over the Internet and you did not pay any tax to the seller.
However, you used those pair of shoes in your state, so you are subject to pay your state the use tax.
As an online business merchant, the abovementioned tips and guidelines are just few of the other tips and guidelines that you need to learn.
Taxes and your online business should work together, if you want you business to become successful.
Nicholas Tan has been involved in Article Writing, providing Free Articles, Internet Marketing, SEO, Adwords, & Adsense for more than 5 years and designs and develops websites. Submit your free articles and get your articles noticed! Get your Free Articles here! Submit Articles! We provide free articles and information. Check us out at Free Articles!
How has recession affected online sales?
Recession in America narrowed down the overall global economy. Online sales are not an exception to it. Since recession, the online sales have been dropping down and the same is seen in the US holiday season. The most important thing to be learned from here is that whether these online sales be normalized soon and recover its losses. One thing is sure that the economical downturn in the global scenario has considerably affected the spending of global consumers. However, the downturn in online sales has not got down at par with the offline sales.
The recession has surely stopped the flow of online sales. But, it has started again to grow upwards now. ComScore is giving healthy statistics of growth in online sales. However, the overall online sales are still to reach its actual height. As compared to 2007, year 2008's holiday sales struggled significantly. The willingness of people to buy both offline and online has been deteriorated in 2008 as compared 2007.
Maybe consumers have presently been delaying purchases longer than typical. At present, America is in a recession and that thought will possibly have a psychological force on the willingness of people to indulge. It is noticed that the traffic was down one percent on Cyber Monday among the top 500 retail sites. In the battle between Walmart & Amazon on online holiday dominance, Amazon won the battle with 21% increase in traffic on Cyber Monday and Walmart was the second best.
The research conducted by Forrester put forward that the online retail sales grow up by 17% this year in overall retail scene. The online retailers are under pressure to balance acquisition activities with retention activities. The search engine marketing remains one of the most successful methods for online retailers to get connected to their new customers.
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What are Online Sales Business? Read More About It
Online sales business are business in the internet that are directly involves with the selling of goods and services. Many entrepreneurs are exploring the possibility of exploiting the internet as a platform for sales businesses. In fact, websites such as Amazon.com and eBay.com are proof to the profitability of the internet as a platform for selling items. A couple of decades more and the internet is perceived as a common transaction point for almost every essential human need, from food, to clothing, paying bills and even getting education.
The most common forms of sales business is the retail store. In this type of business, it is not required that the business selling the products actually manufactured what they are selling. They simply re-sell items that have been bought wholesale from manufacturers. Online shopping sites such as Crisco sells a variety of items at very affordable prices and is a popular example of online retailing.
Online sales business may also involve "selling" a service. Services such as repainting a house or cutting the lawn grass are paid services that are now being advertised over the internet. If a family is in need of a baby sitter for a couple of days, there are online sites which offer babysitting services at affordable rates. Other sites offer professional car check-up right at the owner's home. No need to get the car running to the car shop just to check it for defects.
And if people think that online sales business only deals with brand new items, second-hand merchandise are also included in this category. Online thrift shops selling books, VCDs, DVDs, pre-loved clothes and bags, jewelries, and even appliances are now sold online. eBay is an excellent site for finding second-hand items. But still, there are other places online that specialize in advertising and selling hand-me-down items.
Not only is an online sales business profitable, it is also a low-capital business investment. Employed individuals finding other means of getting extra income may partake in online sales businesses. They may post as many items they find still useful when sold and wait for people to respond to the ads. They can attend to queries about the products for sale when they got home from work or during weekends. It thus gives them enough time for their day job and family obligations while being an alternative source of additional income.
So forget about garage sales which need a lot of effort in setting up and overseeing the whole operation. Garage sales are a thing of the past. Why not do it in a better, improved medium-via the internet. Less fuss, more convenient, no fees needed. All that a seller needs to do it to take a picture of the items for sale, post it in the website, place a description for the items, and wait for people to respond to the ads. Once the business gets noticed, it will continue to generate sales (given that the seller provides good quality items for sale). And remember to maintain a good reputation.
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Venture Into Online Sales With The Right Retail POS System
For companies considering entering the global marketplace by offering online ordering from their website, or for companies who currently perform online sales, but find it to be full of hassles and problems, the right retail POS system (point of sale) can make all the difference.
Offering online ordering or ecommerce from a website is the key to cost-effective business expansion, and opening the doors of your online marketplace is an easy and affordable way to reach millions of potential customers around the world. Ideally, online transactions should be a natural extension of what you already do in your day-to-day business operations. For some, however, the extension to online sales is not as seamless and simple as it can and should be.
The key to successful online sales that easily incorporate into your established business operations is implementation of the right retail point of sale system. The right retail POS system will merge traditional retail transactions with ecommerce (online sales), seamlessly combining the two into one integrated system. Well-integrated systems should result in hassle-free purchases for both the buyer and the seller, meaning a quick and easy transaction for the buyer and little or no processing or monitoring of individual sales by the seller. In effect, both online and offline business operations will be synchronized by the right retail POS system. Sound too good to be true?
Note that not all retail POS systems are the same. They can vary by the type of business being conducted and the size of the business. However, the end goal is the same, which is full maintenance of sales procedures. A brick-and-mortar business establishing an online presence will have different POS system capability needs than a business with a storefront only.
Before investing in a new POS system to accommodate online sales, it is wise to consult a retail sales POS professional who can identify a company's needs and goals, and tailor a system for a perfect fit, thus minimizing costs and maximizing efficiency.
Infinity RMS is Australia's trusted resource for superior retail POS and ERP integration solutions. Visit them online to learn more about retail POS solutions available to your business.
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