Ecommerce Website Owners: Win A $35,000 Makeover!
We're very excited to announce that BigCommerce, the leading innovator in hosted ecommerce software for small business merchants (and one of our fabulous clients!), has just launched the BigCommerce $35,000 Ecommerce Makeover Contest to discover online merchants who have the potential to become the next ecommerce giant (think Amazon.com, Zappos.com) but need a little help to do it!
From now until June 15th, 2010, small online business owners can enter the contest by posting a 60-second video to YouTube with the tags "bigcommerce" and "ecommerce contest" that communicates why they should win the ecommerce makeover and other relevant information about their business.
The grand prize winner will receive all of the following amazing services and resources to help grow their business faster:
- BigCommerce Diamond Store, with two-year free subscription
- Professional store redesign & migration of the store to BigCommerce
- Two-year MailChimp email marketing subscription
- One-year Fan Appz Pro license for social media marketing
- Google AdWords Account Audit & Strategy Session* from ROI Revolution!
- Online sales and marketing program consulting from Sales Rescue Team
- Significant promotion & various PR opportunities
- Full case study posted on BigCommerce.com
Four runner-ups will receive a two-year BigCommerce Gold Store subscription, PR opportunities and a case study on BigCommerce.com.
BigCommerce invites eligible contestants to submit their videos now through June 15, 2010. Five finalists will be selected by the judges to enter the final round, at which point finalist videos will be posted on the BigCommerce web site and Facebook page where the public will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite submitted video. Public voting runs from June 29, 2010 through July 9, 2010. The grand prize winner will be announced on July 15, 2010!
To be eligible, contestants must be online merchants based in the U.S. with less than 1,000 products on their site and have been selling online for at least one year. The contest is open to both current BigCommerce clients as well as customers using other ecommerce shopping cart platforms.
More contest details and official entry guidelines can be found here. Good luck and we look forward to helping develop the next ecommerce giant!
*Don't qualify for the contest but still want to grow your online business? Learn how we can help you get the most out of your online advertising with a comprehensive AdWords account audit & strategy session!
UPDATE:
As of May 25, 2010, the contest is now open to anyone (18 years or older) in ANY country with little to no experience selling online!
The contest was previously limited to US residents only with at least one year of online selling experience.
Click here for all the details and official entry guidelines. Best of luck to all the contestants out there!
Happy Holidays from ROI Revolution!
Last Friday, we held the first ever Tacky Holiday Sweater contest here at ROI!
Each contestant's sweater was judged based on unique features, creativeness, effort input, tackiness, awesomeness, and even repulsiveness. General enthusiasm was also taken into account.
After a vote was taken, the following were our top 3 winners (pictured here with fabulous prizes):
(From left to right)
1st place: Matt Fritz - Matt won the crowd with his personally designed and handmade sweater
1st runner up: Justin D'Angelo - comments on his sweater included "just downright disgusting"
2nd runner up: Erin Skinner - Erin went all out from head to toe!
Your Ads Can Work 9 to 5 Too
Have you ever driven to a store in the evening to make a purchase, only to discover this sign hanging in the window?
Frustrated, weren't you? As a consumer, you just wasted your time and gas money, and now you have to come back the next day during business hours, go to a different store that's open, or just forget about it altogether and go home and watch some primetime television.
And as for the store that was closed at the time, they probably just lost out on your sale. Everyone loses.
So let's say you're shopping online in the evening instead, you click on an enticing ad and then decide that you'd like to speak with a customer service rep to make the purchase because you've got some questions and order specifications. You pick up the phone and dial the business number, only to hear the following automated message:
"Thank you for calling (insert company name here). Unfortunately we are closed at this time. You can reach us during our store hours which are Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm Eastern. Thank you."
Everything in this scenario is the same as the first brick-and-mortar example except for one major thing: the online business just wasted valuable advertising spend on a click that didn't result in a conversion.
Similar scenarios involving PPC advertising occur online every day, especially with businesses who carry out most of their transactions through the phone. Examples of businesses where this is common include ones who sell in bulk, have customizable products, or simply require all transactions be made over the phone.
If your business operates "9 to 5" and most transactions happen over the phone, you might test saving money by using Ad Scheduling to only show your ads during this time frame.
If you're not familiar with Ad Scheduling, it's an AdWords feature that lets you specify certain hours or days of the week when you want your ads to appear.
The Ad Scheduling feature is found under the Campaign Settings tab > Advanced settings > Ad scheduling. Click "Edit" and a window will appear where you can set your ads to run only during your desired hours.
If you click on "Bid adjustment", you can get a little more advanced by adjusting pricing for your ads during certain time periods. For example, if you know that your call volume is highest between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., you can bid more for impressions or clicks during that period.
Remember: No one likes seeing the "Sorry, We're Closed" sign, so don't be the company that wastes money sending people there.
For more information on ad scheduling, click here and for more AdWords tips check out this video.
