Website Enhancements
We've added a few new elements to our own website lately to improve the functionality. UniformMarket's site, www.uniformmarketnews.com, is a single portal to a huge mass of industry information. We want to help you improve your  business, and we know that means networking, keeping up with new developments in technology and style, and tapping into the trends early.
Earlier this month, we added a new industry calendar to our UniformMarket homepage. The calendar lists upcoming trade shows, conventions, our in-house webinar topics, and other events you may find helpful. We have also opened submissions for our annual UNIVATOR Awards. This year, we've added a Readers' Choice award that lets everyone have a say in what deserves special recognition for innovation in uniform and/or fabric design. Entry forms are due by January 8th, and winners will be announced in March. This is the sixth year for the awards, and we encourage all of our clients to enter to capitalize on the acknowledgment awards bring.
And as usual, we've been busy adding more catalogs to our StoreSystem. See the left column for a list of the most recent catalogs that are ready to be added to your store. Keep those suggestions coming for brands you'd like to see in our database! As always, you can reach me at 858-345-1212 or dave@uniformmarket.com.
My best,
David Sykes
SPECIAL OFFER FROM PREMIER EMBLEM
Attention UniformMarket
Store Owners!
Premier Emblem is pleased to offer UniformMarket web store owners a $100.00 credit towards any purchase from Premier Emblem if you load our product line into your web store!
That's right; Premier Emblem will reimburse you the $100.00 catalog load price that you pay UniformMarket.
So, you win because you will sell more products and we win because we get to ship you more of our products. Who doesn't like a win/win situation?
Call UniformMarket at 858-345-1212, have them load our Premier Emblem product line immediately and start selling more to your clients now!
Sincerely,
Vernon Thompson
President, Premier Emblem
FEATURED ARTICLE
Passive vs. Active Website Promotion
(Part 1 of 2)
 There are two major categories when it comes to promoting your website: active promotion and passive. Each one has its benefits and drawbacks, and white papers suggest a using a combination of the two for the best results. Below, we'll take a closer look at passive promotion, and next month we'll cover active promotion and why you need to use a combination of the two.
Passive Promotion
When you promote your website passively, you are simply putting your web address (URL) out there and letting people come to you. It's passive because you already have the website and all its content in existence; you aren't doing anything new to gain customers except to make your URL readily available.
The most common form of passive promotion is to put your web address on everything you possibly can (legally, of course, so no spray painting). There is a huge list of ways you can make your URL more public. Make sure your website is listed on:
- Brochures and flyers
- Catalogs
- Employee uniforms
- Business cards
- Google Maps and Google Business Listing
- Meta-search sites for your niche industry
- Chambers of Commerce and Organizations of which you are a member
- Any promotional product
Passive promotion is great because it doesn't cost you anything extra, in most cases. You already are making t-shirts for your staff, so why not put the URL on there? Most chambers and organizations will list their members on their websites for free as part of your membership dues. Passive promotion is also an essential part of having an online store because most people who type that website into their browser are already in need of your products, so they have a high rate of turning into actual sales for you.
It's also good for drumming up traffic to your site from a variety of sources. You aren't putting all your eggs in one basket, but instead are spreading them out. The more places your URL is out there, the more chances it will catch someone's eye. You're also not targeting a single type of person, where active promotion might only attract the person who's going to your site for entry in a sweepstakes, for example.
The biggest drawback of passive promotion is that it relies on customers to take the first step. They have to see your URL and type it in, or they have to do a search for your products and navigate to your website. There is no direct incentive – other than finding what they are shopping for – to get them to your website. Other drawbacks of the passive approach are that you have limited interaction with each customer, it's difficult to track where customers are coming from, and you aren't getting the highest possible return on your website investment.
Next month, we'll focus in on the alternative – active promotion – and help you strike a balance between the two for the best results for your business.
FREE Weekly Webinars for
All UniformMarket Store System Users!
 The UniformMarket staff is now offering FREE training during our weekly webinars. Each week a topic is explored to help web store administrators better use the UniformMarket Store System, market their web stores and sell more uniforms!
Webinars are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. CST. We will email notices of future webinars, or you can check here for a current webinar schedule. |
