Use More Bonuses to Jack Up Sales

Providing bonuses has become a key part of the online marketer's arsenal for a simple reason: they work. Since there are many ways to incorporate bonuses into your marketing strategy, limiting yourself to one or two could be hurting your bottom line.

Here are twelve (and two no-cost extras) ideas to make use of bonuses for more effective marketing:

1. To increase web site traffic, give regular time-limited bonuses. You could also make a game of it by connecting two or more bonues together. Ensure that part one is not quite so useful without the rest of the series.

2. Offer a bonus coupon to those who purchase your product. It could be a discount on another purchase of your own product or someone elses that you have obtained through a joint venture.

3. Swap rebate coupons with other vendors to be used as direct or surprise bonuses.

4. Give one of your branded products to other businesses in a similar target market to use as a bonus. The other merchants get a free way to add value and you acquire the no-cost advertising.

5. Develop reports linked to your merchandise and offer them as freebies to other marketers to use as bonuses.

6. Employ bonuses to pull in and retain ezine subscribers or to increase membership in a forum.

7. Swap items with other merchants so you can offer bonuses that are greater than the cost of your own item.

8. Be sure to list the price of your bonus, whether it be in your advertising or in your offers.

9. If you are promoting merchandise that will be shipped, include a downloadable bonus to give customers a quick reward for buying.

10. Don't have enough bonuses? Consider these ideas. You may create some by taking sections from your ebooks, or you could offer half an hour of consultation for a limited time. Or you can develop a members only section stocked with useful tools and products, then offer it as a bonus to purchasers.

11. Reward your most valued customers. Give those who buy an expensive item a substantial surprise bonus. The bonus may reduce the impact of the big expenditure, create greater value for your product and stave off refund requests. And don't forget the veteran customers. Their loyalty is invaluable and should be rewarded.

12. Create urgency by offering bonuses for a limited time. You can do this with products, services and ezine subscriptions.

13. Because everyone enjoys a surprise, employ this emotional grabber in two ways. Mention a surprise bonus in your ad copy to help encourage sales. But also send a bonus that wasn't stated to heighten customer satisfaction and produce additional purchases.

14. Connect with other marketers to merge merchandise and create a potent bonus package that no one else will have. Every contributor can then use it to sell major products.

Author Todd Kenovas is Marketing Manager for the PPC advertising resource, Webways Media. See http://www.webwaysmedia.com for more information.