If you're looking for ways to leverage your Website content and drive traffic to local businesses consider Planet Discover Gift Guides. Local advertisers use Gift Guides to promote seasonal and special products online, in addition to providing consumers with valuable information about unique items available from local businesses. Gift Guides are a great way for you and your advertisers to become the preferred source of everything local.
Gift Guides facilitate bricks and mortar transactions; they are specifically designed to draw customers through the doors of local businesses by featuring gift ideas for unique or special occasions. Some ideas local businesses use Gift Guides for include:
Gift Guides provide advertisers with exposure to their products and services while providing you with online revenue opportunities. Gift Guides are ideal for small businesses looking for cost-effective promotional programs, or medium-size businesses wanting to highlight gifts for a specific occasion. Gift Guides also attract local advertisers eager to promote their products to audiences in the local area.
The front page of an online Gift Guide features five gifts and three local advertisers. Highlighted products and advertisers rotate each time the page is refreshed. Users can browse products and businesses by clicking on these front-page items or by performing a keyword search, where results yield relevant gift ideas and associated merchants.
Featured products and listings direct users to an advertiser profile page with key business information, links to a business' website, a map, and more. Gift Guides also offer a variety of ads, including right rail keyword-based text ads and sponsorship ads.
Thanks to upgrades to the Planet Discover proprietary software platform, Search Publisher, it's now possible to have a Gift Guide active on your site while fulfilling additional Gift Guides for future publication. For example, you can begin to sell Father's Day Gift Guide opportunities to advertisers while the Mother's Day Gift Guide is still active. This feature allows you to maintain a schedule and help local advertisers consistently promote their businesses.
Again and again, studies show that consumers are window shopping online before making a purchase from a local business. Jupiter Research is predicting that the Internet will influence "a trillion dollars" of U.S. retail spending by 2011 or 2012.
Consumers want to buy locally. Planet Discover Gift Guides will help you drive those consumers to your local advertisers' locations.
Email us at support@planetdiscover.com or contact your Client Services representative to find out how Planet Discover can help you Get Results.
Ratings and reviews for virtually every product or service are available on the Internet. Do consumer ratings and reviews really influence people's purchasing decisions? Here are some statistics to ponder:
In this time when consumers are trying to stretch their dollars and are working hard to ensure they make wise purchase decisions, research shows that online ratings and reviews impact conversion rates, average order totals, product return rates, customer service costs, and customer lifetime value and loyalty. One recent study found that among those surveyed, ratings and reviews were the second most important site feature behind search.
With the impact ratings and reviews have on decisions, it may be time to take advantage of the ratings and reviews functionality in the Planet Discover Local Business Directory.
The Planet Discover Local Business Directory includes the ability for your site visitors to provide ratings and reviews for local businesses. Local advertisers can use the feedback too. In addition to driving traffic to an advertiser's physical location, local businesses can use rating and review content in their advertising and marketing materials.
Negative feedback can be valuable for online advertisers as well. By monitoring ratings and reviews, business owners can find out important things, for example, if a product they are offering is defective or if the customer service offered in their store needs improvement. Business owners also need to understand that displaying a valid and constructive negative review can build consumer trust in the business and its brand. Businesses can respond to negative reviews to demonstrate excellent customer service as well.
How can you encourage local consumers to utilize the rating and review functionality in the Planet Discover Local Business Directory? First and foremost promote the functionality on your own website. You can also work with local advertisers to enhance their business directory listings. Businesses can provide in-store materials including signage or business cards that guide customers directly to their enhanced listing to submit ratings and reviews.
A September 2007 survey by Deloite & Touche found that almost two-thirds of consumers read online user-submitted reviews. The Internet gives the masses a collective voice, but it also enables each website visitor to have a personal voice. If your local advertisers are committed to living up to the promises they make, then they should be interested in offering their customers an opportunity to speak up. According to a recent Forrester Research study, six out of 10 consumers rank ratings and reviews as one of the most trusted sources of online information, outranking other public forum sites, blogs, as well as advertisements including search engine ads, banners, radio and even television advertising.
As always, our goal is to help you position your site as the preferred source for everything local. Contact your Client Services representative or email us at support@planetdiscover.com to find out how user-generated ratings and reviews can help you Get Results.
You understand the importance of promoting your brand and your website. You may want to consider promoting local search and your online business directory as a way of differentiating your brand online.
It's important to remember that you have an historical advantage over search and business directory competitors in your area. For many years, your media brand has been a trusted source of local news and information. You can leverage the strength of your brand's reputation to promote local assets on your site. There are many advantages to promoting the search and local business directory features of your site:
We want to help you become the preferred source for everything local, so we've gathered examples of real promotions that will help you differentiate your online brand.
Widgets
Search widgets can be placed anywhere on your site. Several of our clients highlight their online
business directory and local search capability by placing a search widget in a prominent location on
their home page. Search widgets can also be renamed and styled to match the format of your site.
Online
Another way to promote local search and online business directories is to take advantage of your
Website itself. Placing sponsorship, banner or clickable graphic ads on your site provides an
easy link to the local directory or category-specific pages within the local directory. Videos can also
be used to draw attention to the business directory or local search.
In Print
Because many of our clients operate newspapers or broadcast outlets, they have the ability to take
advantage of organizational resources to promote local search and their online business directory.
Print ads in the newspaper or promotional spots on radio or television can be very successful in
making sure people know about your Website and what you have to offer. In addition, you may want to
consider partnering with another media entity in the area to cross-promote your services.
Our clients have also used testimonials from local advertisers, talking about results they have recognized from their business directory listings. The resulting advertisements can be run in print, placed on the Website, used on television or radio to help drive business.
We want to help you promote your online business directory and local search. Planet Discover has examples of newspaper print ads, Website ads and videos to help you drive traffic. Our goal is to help you stand out in this extremely competitive market and Get Results. Contact your Client Services representative or email us at support@planetdiscover.com to discuss more ways to promote local search and local business directory.
Clients with questions or concerns should contact their Client Services representative or email support@support.planetdiscover.com.
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