Welcome to Succeeding on ShopMississauga.com!

 In an ongoing effort to remind and inspire you to use the tools available to you with your ShopMississauga.com program, starting today I'll be sending you occasional reminders and ideas to help you use ShopMississauga.com efficiently, effectively and profitably.

In future editions, we'll look in detail at each of the powerful tools on the site and how to make them work for you. Today's introductory edition highlights the top 4 tools you should remember to use and why.

Remember why you jumped aboard ShopMississauga.com - because it's different from what you're used to. Instead of taking out an advertisement, with static content, that you set and leave and hope for a return, this is a tool that grows, changes and communicates with your target customer according to the specific products and services you want to promote and sell right now and all year.

And since it's a tool, not a static advertisement, it works best like any tool - when you use it! As many of you have already heard me say, you don't lose weight by putting a treadmill in your basement; no matter how good the treadmill is, you have to run on it to get results. But better than a treadmill, this tool works for you when you're asleep, at work, on the road - any time your customer uses the internet to search for what you offer. And it takes much less time than a treadmill. Just a few minutes a week will have a tremendous impact.

So here are The Top 4 Tools You Should Use on ShopMississauga.com

1) The Product Catalog

If you look at your traffic reports every week you'll see that your product catalog is the biggest driver of traffic to your pages - often directly from search engines, bypassing the rest of our site and your profile. Yet most vendors haven't filled their store. Once a week, or even every other week, add one or two products or services to your catalog - and think search keywords! Each Marketplace Item is really a page designed to capture a Google search by a prospective customer.

2) Coupons

Often these rank as well as Marketplace Items in search engine results. Coupons don't have to be deep discounts to cost you money. Think of them as answers to the question "Where will I buy one of those?" When someone asks that question of Google, you want to be presented as the answer. The actual offer can be your regular price, your special this month or this season, even a donation to your business' favourite charity with each purchase. So don't promote 30% of everything in the store - nobody is searching "everything in the store, Mississauga." Instead promote something like "Free K-Cup Rack with Keurig Coffee Maker," because someone might search "Keurig Coffee Makers Mississauga," or even "K-Cups Mississauga."

3) News Items

Tell ShopMississauga.com visitors what's new in your business once a week. Whether you congratulate the hockey team you sponsor, encourage people to attend the charity fundraiser you're catering, give a tip that shows your expertise in your field, announce your midnight madness sale or promote a guest appearance at your store, prospective customers will see it on our home page and it may influence their next purchase. And, since it stays in your news history on your profile, it's more web-real-estate for Google to find about you.

4) Reviews

Customers love reviews. And that means Google loves reviews! You want attention from search engines and customers? Ask your happy customers to give feedback and tell them where they can do it. You can even include a link to your review page in your thank-you email to happy new customers.

Remember that just like the rent you pay for your store space, your investment in ShopMississauga.com works best when you put something on the shelf and invite people in to look at it.

If you would like a refresher on how to use the tools, please let me know - I'm happy to come in and show you and see if we can inspire you to use the tools. Contact me any time.

Andrew
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