Hi all,

Welcome to our December Newsletter. Its Christmas time and it's been a great year. Happy Christmas from all of us!!!

This month I'm writing about our marketing over the festive season. Now's a good time to get thinking about what your site's going to be doing for you while you're away on holiday!

In the world of web marketing, Christmas is a period of creative overdrive as we try to woo the people who have saved their pennies over the months and entice them to buy your products as the ultimate gift for someone they love, like or feel obligated to. So we've got a few tips and ideas for your marketing campaigns over the next few months.

Our office will be closed from the 22nd December to the 15th January, so if you have any urgent enquiries contact the team before the 22nd and we're happy to help!

Thanks to all who have responded to our What To Do Next Branding Workshop Opportunity! Don't forget the closing date isn't until December 15th - so remember to go to www.whattodonext.co.nz , click on 'newsletter' and enter your details along with this code: OO106. Good Luck !

Good luck in your web marketing in the time ahead, I hope that it is not only a profitable, but happy time for you.

"Peace and goodwill to all"

Enough from me... gentlemen and gentlewomen, start your engines...

Happy reading,
Robyn

In this issue:

• » Holiday Marketing Tactics
• » Sites of Interest

With less than a month to Christmas, it's our last call for all you website owners to start thinking about some holiday marketing tactics, so here are some ideas. Have you considered...

Free Shipping and Free Gifts

I've noticed that free shipping seems to be one of the most sought after special deal with online shoppers buying physical products. If you can afford to provide it, definitely consider it. Next on the popularity list are free gifts with purchases. For physical goods, it may be an item you're having problems shifting, for digital goods such as software or information products, it could be free upgrades for X period, or a report that may be starting to sell slowly. Also consider gift certificates.

Gift Certificates

We all tend to lead busy lives these days. Gift certificates are a great option for people who are time restrained or don't know the recipient very well. It may be considered a thoughtless gift by some, but it does allow the recipient to get *exactly* what they want or need.

The other benefit is that a gift certificate also exposes the recipient to your store, which they may not have been aware of otherwise. Added to that, it's not unusual for holder of gift certificates to purchase an item that exceeds the value of the certificate; extra cash for you. If you need a cart with coupon/certificate functionality; contact us to find out about building a Shopping Cart for your website.

Security

While Christmas shoppers may be in a mad panic to buy, they won't be so much so that they won't flee your store if they feel that their details won't be secure. Reassuring your browsers will turn them into buyers. Make sure your website is trustworthy and never underestimate the value of web site security seals.

Search Engine Marketing for Christmas

If you are struggling with what to do in regards to web marketing for this year's Christmas sales season, you haven't got much time left to make a decision - it's going to get mighty competitive very quickly this year. This especially applies from a search engine point of view.

You'll need to start adding and tweaking content now for your Christmas oriented advertising pitch to start securing good positions in rankings. Shoppers are already starting to search more on Christmas related terms. On a couple of search engines, it's already in the top 100 queries.

Jump start a new campaign

Another popular short-term use of pay-per-click engines is jump starting a search marketing campaign for a new site. Since organic listings take time, companies looking to have a presence in the engines right from the start need to setup pay-per-click campaigns at the engines you wish to drive traffic from.

Pay per click (PPC) ad campaigns

It is tempting to take out huge marketing campaigns with pay-per-click search engines leading up to Christmas. If this is an area that is new to you, proceed with caution. Pay per click can be very productive but can also turn into a financial black hole if you aren't careful.

Optymise promotes proactive thinking with quick turnaround, and we can suggest time sensitive and holiday campaigns so you're ready to harvest those seasonal buyers. If you're looking for an effective ROI focused PPC campaign, contact us today.

Pay Per Click promotion services we offer:

• » Select cost-effective PPC engines, keywords and keyword phrases
• » Writing effective Pay Per Click marketing ads
• » Purchase keywords with PPC engines
• » Reporting, monitoring and optimising Pay Per Click online marketing campaigns

Book banner ad campaigns now

If you've come across a web site where you would like advertise your products and services, it's probably best to book your space now. You may find that as it draws nearer to your intended date of launching a campaign, it will also be the same date for other merchants - ad space will be hard to get and may cost more. Now is the best time to negotiate an ad campaign with web site owners. Need help? We know how.

Link building

It's also a very important time to examine your link building strategies. Picking up a few links on some related sites with good traffic flows will definitely boost your online Christmas sales, as well as the added boost from search engines for having other sites link to you. Fancy some Christmas link building but don't have the time to do it yourself? See how we can help.

Most importantly, in your race to maximize online sales and profits in the months ahead, please don't forget about those who don't have much. If you can afford to, give a little to someone who isn't as fortunate as you or commit to dedicating a small share of your profits to organizations that care for these people - especially children. This can be the darkest time of the year for many, and every little bit helps!

Here's some sites we've designed/promoted/loved recently:

• » Underworld Fashions - Intimate gifts for that someone special!


• » Howick RSA - Website designed and built for the Returned Services Association in Howick, Manakau


• » Sanctaury Palms - Relax in Paihia this festive season with luxury accommodation at the Sanctuary Palms


• » The Greater You - The Greater You assists individuals and groups to create significant lasting change in their lives.


• » Interior Dezine - Interior Dezine is a free online guide to interior design and decorating.


• » Lanocreme - Lanolin and natural skin care products make for fabulous Christmas gifts


• » Fresh Flowers - Stuck for what to give as a Christmas gift? Try the gorgeous arrangements from the Fresh Flower Company


• » Citywide Florist - Gourmet gift baskets and wine gift hampers for your loved one for Christmas

P.S. How is your Christmas email marketing going? Ask us about our OptyMail campaigns to get you started!

We hope that you've enjoyed reading our newsletter over the last few months - we did love to hear from you with regard to what topics you would like to see covered or questions you would like answered in upcoming issues. Our first edition for 2007 will be delivered to your in-boxes in February, after our well-deserved holidays!

Have a happy and successful Christmas season - we look forward to working with you in 2007 !!