How to Get 2007 Christmas Shoppers Buying From You

By Barbara Mesar

Now is the perfect opportunity for you to be targeting 2007 Christmas Shoppers to maximize your profits before the end of the year.

Why is this do you ask? Forrester Research anticipates that US consumers will spend $33 billion during the 2007 holiday season, the time period from Thanksgiving to Christmas, which is a 21% increase from the 2006 holiday season.

Consumers report being more likely to spend online across a variety of product categories ranging from jewelry to apparel and accessories. The majority of consumers also expressed a continued interest in free shipping and a decreased willingness this year to pay for "frills" like gift wrap or overnight delivery.

The European market is also set for a good season with online shoppers in the UK spending more than €700 each online during the Christmas shopping season - accounting for a record-breaking €20 billion in online sales. Germany's online shopping spend has grown to €12 billion.

In order to take advantage of this shopping frenzy get your PPC Ads, email campaigns and other online marketing out there and boost your sales.

Here are a few tips to boost your sales this Christmas:

# 1. Offer free shipping with your products to increase your conversions. At this time of the year when spending is increased your visitors will appreciate getting something like shipping for free and could make or break that sale.

# 2. Add keywords which compliment the season in your PPC campaigns. For example if you are selling lights add change your keywords to Christmas lights, festive lights, Santa lights, snowflake lights in your campaigns to target shoppers looking for decorative Christmas lights for their homes.

# 3. As always you should be tracking your results with analytics software to enable you to construct stronger sales campaigns next year and obtain greater profit maximization.

# 4. Enable your PPC campaigns to run all the time the closer to Christmas it gets as you will be able to attract those last minute shoppers who haven't had a chance to buy anything earlier to your website or landing page.

# 5. Give your Customers a Gift this Christmas by offering them something that will benefit the both of you like a gift voucher for 10% off their Christmas purchase. They will perceive this as good value and will make their purchases with you rather than your competitors who may have forgotten them this season. At the very least send them a Christmas card via email marketing so that your customer feels like you remembered them at this festive time, building and maintaining that good customer relationship.

Christmas for online marketers is not a time to rest but to make great sales and conversions so don't wait too long to get yourself out there because you only have a short time to take advantage of it!