Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Brick-and-mortar stores love Black Friday, because it’s the biggest shopping day of the year in the US. However, immediately following the weekend after Black Friday, customers go online in droves to purchase some more. This is a phenomenon that happens regularly, and which has consequently become known as Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday is a great opportunity for online stores, and brick-and-mortar retailers with an online presence, to boost their sales. This starts with search engine optimization, because most clients will reach the vendor through a search engine. Tech savvy companies prepare for this season many months in advance, but there are several things which all businesses can do to boost their sales during Cyber Monday regardless of previous preparation.

But before we talk about these methods, let’s take a look at the term itself, Cyber Monday. While it’s true that the term was latched onto by big companies as a way to create buzz and increase sales post-Black Friday, it is nonetheless a verifiable phenomenon. Not only that, there are more than one Cyber Monday, with nearly all the Mondays from Black Friday all the way into December seeing an increase in traffic.

Taking advantage of Cyber Monday

Search engines have ever-changing algorithms, which directly impacts retailers, because they can redirect customers either away from online stores, or away from brick-and-mortar retailers. This means that each company has to tailor their online presence based on their main mode of doing business.

For brick-and-mortar stores, showing up in local searches should be the top priority. An easy to find address, online map, and phone numbers for each one of your locations will not only ensure that you are found by customers looking to buy products in-store, but that you will show up on local search engine queries. Adding your business to your local directories and yellow pages will help with this as well.

Online retailers on the other hand should focus on targeting keywords for the products and types of items that they offer. Optimizing a website takes several months though, and as such it is a process that has to begin ahead of time in order to rank highly for the holidays. However, there are still a few ways to improve your online presence in the short term.

These are more aggressive and direct marketing tactics that require extra spending, but which might be offset by the increase in sales. Things like advertising in the Yellow Pages, or using Google’s PPC marketing campaigns all fall into this category. You can also go with press releases, partnering up with charities for promotional purposes, and discounting products. Finally, you can spread your offer horizontally as well, by offering your products on eBay and other online auction sites that already have a large amount of traffic.

For more information on how to make the most of Cyber Mondays, or to sign up for a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.