Below are five steps for businesses to get started with cross-selling and up-selling using email:

1. Collect Customer and Purchase Data

Using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, companies can collect demographic and purchase information about each customer. Knowing when a person last made a purchase, what they bought, and what their gender is can help a business to tailor future email offers that encourage customers to buy related or upgraded products.

2. Build a List

Just because you have a customer’s email address on a spreadsheet somewhere doesn’t mean you can use it for marketing. According to the CAN-SPAM Act, customers need to agree to receive your messages and must be able to opt-out of future communications. An email marketing company can help your business to build a compliant permission-based email list

3. Leverage Confirmation Emails

A transactional email that confirms a purchase, acts as a receipt, or contains shipping information is a great vehicle for up-selling and cross-selling customers. For example, if a customer buys a new chair and you send them a confirmation email, then include product information for the pillows and lamps (cross-selling) and sofas (up-selling) that complement their original purchase.

4. Personalize the Message

Using the information you’ve collected with your CRM software, personalize the email message with the person’s name and maybe even a note thanking them or asking for feedback about their recent purchase. A personalized email will make customers feel valued.

5. Use Targeting and Triggers

A jewelry store sending a Valentine’s Day email could target it to men who made purchases within last six months or one year. Using previous purchase data, the jeweler could also try to up-sell customers to a higher-priced product or cross-sell the matching accessories to their previous purchase. Customer information, like birthdays or anniversaries, can also trigger emails. For example, if a customer bought wedding bands, then about one year later, the jeweler could send the customer an anniversary gift email.

Does your business currently use email marketing to reach out to its loyal customers? If you would like to get more out of your email marketing communications, then contact the email marketing experts at Anchor Wave in Tucson. We can help your business build custom, targeted emails and track the results. Call us today at (520) 622-3731 to learn more.

A domain name is the cornerstone of your online marketing plan, and when choosing a domain name for your business, it’s important to get it exactly right. The domain should make it easy for people to find your website and should incorporate descriptive words or phrases to help communicate what the business website is about.

We suggest that you do a little bit of brainstorming and planning before selecting a domain name, so here are five quick questions to ask yourself before deciding on a domain.

1. What is a domain name?

A domain name is the name that visitors will use to navigate to your website. Behind every domain name is an IP address, or long string of numbers indicating a website’s exact location. Google.com and Amazon.com are both examples of domain names. Easy-to-remember domain names allow web users to remember and navigate to websites without memorizing each site’s numerical IP address.

2. Do I use the business name, keywords, or both?

Sometimes, a domain name works when it is the same as a business name and sometimes it works even better as a combination of keywords and location indicators. For example, if a business is called Jim’s Garage, a domain of “jimsgarage.com” may be too vague. What if we know that Jim’s Garage is an auto repair garage and create the domain “jimsautorepair.com” instead?  You can take that domain a step further so that it stands out from national competition by adding location information such as, “jimsautorepairtucson.com.”

3. Is the domain simple enough?

When selecting a domain name, the goal is for customers to be able to find your business. Think of the websites you visit regularly: Are the domains simple to remember and type or do you have to go find a bookmark or use a search engine to get to the site? Make sure the domain is memorable and easy to read and type. Watch out for unnecessary hyphens and off-beat spellings, as these will make your domain difficult for users.

4. What do my friends and colleagues think?

Brainstorm a list of about ten different domain options and shop this list around to friends, family members, and colleagues. Ask for detailed feedback about why they like or dislike particular options.  Getting outside feedback will ensure that your domain is universally appealing and that it meets the criteria of question number three above.

5. Are there availability issues or copyright problems with the domain?

First visit a site like domai.nr to check and see if your desired domain is available. If your exact domain is already taken by another business, then you can go back to your list of options or start the brainstorming process anew. If your domain is available, then you should visit the government’s copyright database and run a keyword search for the words or phrases in your domain to avoid any costly copyright issues in the future.

If you are working to create a business website or need a new domain, then contact the online marketing and web design experts at Anchor Wave Internet Solutions. We provide online marketing services to help businesses improve their bottom line. Please contact us at (520) 622-3731 to set up a free consultation.

It is therefore vital to make the best impression possible upon new and returning visitors to your business website. One of the most effective ways to do so is by communicating the uniqueness of your company.  Below, we’ll explain the benefits of a unique website and also some of the methods that you can use to define the uniqueness of your company online.

Use Keywords and Copywriting that Address the Customer’s Needs

Before reaching your website, a customer is searching for a solution online. Perhaps they need a new landscaper or maybe they want to talk to a financial planner about retirement. Think about what your customer is looking for and come up with search keywords that target those needs or pain points. Write web copy that identifies their problems up front and positions your services as the right solution.

Gain an Advantage Over Your Competition

If someone is comparing your business website with your competitor’s, what can you do to stand out? On your about page, or even your home page, tout the unique benefits that your company offers. Example benefits might include extended warranties or guarantees, a family-owned business, same-day service, free-shipping, online discounts, and bulk discounts.  Another great feature to offer is live-chat, so that you can immediately answer any questions or doubts that customer’s might have.

Promote Brand Recognition and Customer Loyalty

Use website design to help brand your business with personality and a memorable look and feel. When customers visit your website, you want them to immediately recognize your unique brand and what it stands for. A website designer can extract the colors and logos from a company’s existing marketing materials and use them as a basis for a custom website design.  Be sure that your site design offers easy navigation and readability, because the user experience online also influences whether people view your brand positively or negatively.

These are just a few of the ways a business can define its uniqueness through its website. To hear more ideas about how your business can build a successful online presence, contact the online marketing experts at Anchor Wave in Tucson. Give us a call today at (520) 622-3731 to schedule a free consultation.

Twitter’s basic function is just like the “status update” feature on Facebook.  Twitter users have a profile from which they can publish updates called tweets. Tweets are visible to anyone who clicks on or follows their profile. Twitter users can also follow other users, mention other users in tweets, and tweet links to outside material like websites, blogs, videos, and photos.

While many businesses take the initial steps of setting up a Twitter profile and broadcasting a few tweets, they then experience a sort of stalemate and don’t know what to do next. Below are four easy steps that businesses can take to maximize a Twitter presence and really build a sphere of influence on the site:

1) Brand Your Profile

First, decide whether you’ll be tweeting as the business or as a real person working at the business (both are good strategies). Create a custom image for the background of your profile and upload a logo or professional head shot for your profile picture. To be viewed properly, Twitter profile images must have a square aspect ratio. Be sure your profile URL is pointing to your home page or a very relevant page on your business website. Finally, use the biography area to explain your company’s unique selling points or value proposition.

2) Listen

Twitter is a great place to monitor attitudes, news, and trends around a certain product or industry, or even within a particular zip code. Experiment with the search bar, advanced Twitter search, and search operators to look up tweets with keywords and phrases relevant to your business.  See what other users are saying and follow other users, especially influential ones who have many followers and a lot to say.

3. Engage

After the listening phase when you follow and watch other accounts, you’ll likely see more people following your account, as well. Start to reach out to both the users you follow and users who follow you. Click the retweet option to instantly re-publish an interesting tweet from another user’s account for your own followers to see.  Retweeting someone else’s message is a great way to build goodwill. If you have the ability to make timely responses, then encourage customers to use Twitter as a contact or support method for your business.

4. Integrate

Make Twitter a part of your online marketing mix. Place a link to your Twitter profile on your homepage. Let customers and clients know about the new account by mentioning Twitter in email signatures, in any marketing materials, and also in conversation!  Twitter is a great forum for sharing links to content assets, such as a company blog, case study, product backgrounder, special report, or even customer testimonials. If you have Google Analytics set up for your company website, then you can track the effects of Twitter on your incoming traffic.

Let Us Help You Build Your Business

Does your business need help taking its social media and online marketing to the next level? Contact the web design and online marketing experts at Anchor Wave in Tucson. We help businesses to build websites and develop online marketing plans that generate measurable results. Contact us at (520) 622-3731 to set up a free consultation.

While more and more people are accessing the web from their smartphones and tablet devices, many websites are still stuck in the age of computer-only internet usage. Mobile-optimized websites are different versions of your original website, developed to suit the hardware of smartphones and tablet devices.

How Many Mobile Web Users Are There?
According to a 2011 report by eMarketer, US mobile internet usage has risen by almost 25 percent, from 77.9 million to 97.3 million users since 2011. By 2015, eMarketer forecasts that about half of the US population will access the internet from a mobile device.

Mobile internet access is not just a trend to be relegated to younger demographic groups, either.  While 43.2 million, or 44.4 percent of mobile web users fall between the ages of 18 and 34, 21.5 million mobile internet users are between 45 and 64 years old, and another 3.7 million users are aged 65 and older. Additionally, eMarketer estimates that the two older segments will nearly double their mobile internet usage by 2015.

Without a mobile-optimized website, businesses risk alienating mobile users with sites that are slow to load and tough to navigate. As the figures for mobile internet usage creep higher every year, it is recommended that businesses investigate mobile web design as soon as possible.

How to Get Started?
First take a look at how users are currently accessing your website. In June of 2011, Google Analytics rolled out mobile reporting, which shows a breakdown between mobile and non-mobile visitor activity on a website. If you have Google Analytics set up for your business website, then you can analyze the mobile metrics to determine how many mobile visitors you receive, what their on-site behavior is like, and what devices they use.

While you may see offers for mobile website software, with claims that it can build a mobile site for you, it’s best to work with an experienced mobile website design firm instead. Quick-fix software will thoughtlessly compress your site to make it fit smaller screens and slower processing speeds. A mobile web-optimization expert will know how to effectively design a mobile-optimized web site while maintaining the same great user-experience and branding as your regular site.

Does your business have a mobile-friendly website design? To learn more about how to develop a mobile-optimized version of your website, contact the web design experts at Anchor Wave in Tucson. Visit us online, or give us a call today at (520) 622-3731.