We might choose to popularize our online shop in such ways as:

You should post only professional opinions in the forums—about various kinds of berries, about storing berries, about producers, and so on. You must gain a reputation as an expert in such forums—this will indicate that your online shop wants to be considered an expert in the field.

A good way of getting noticed is to star new topics and react on older posts.

Also, reading the forums regularly lets you know what people think about fruit-growing, about berries, using berries, and growing and selling berries.

For posting short messages, micro blog Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) is more appropriate. You can post information about the opening of your online shop, about sales and special offers, as well your opinion about the various issues that would interest your followers, because Twitter offers the option to follow a certain user to know the latest news.

When using Twitter, it is important to remember that it is a tool for the development of your business, though others might find it funny or exciting. Therefore, you should carefully choose the words when posting a message. This blog represents your corporate identity. It a useful tool for communicating with your potential customers.

For more information about using Twitter as a business tool, refer to A special guide here: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

Another option for publicity (which is free) is creating press releases. These should contain useful and important information about the main activities of your business. This tool should be used when opening your online shop and when informing people about some special sales or offers.

The above described means of popularization of your business are free. Yet, it takes some time to prepare the information. Once you publish some information, you should monitor what influence it has on the number of visits to your page and on the number of purchases.

You should state that you use Twitter or that you have prepared a press release in the web page of your online shop:

Such well-prepared and planned work with information should bring popularity to your online shop. This will bring new customers, higher sales, and more profit.

Another way to advertise your online shop is Adwords. This channel of advertisement is quite effective and it also allows you to plan the cost of advertisement.

The largest provider of such a service is Google Adwords. It offers placing advertisements, and choosing the keywords that are related to the product of your online shop—in our case, berries. You can relate those keywords with the ones you used in SEO (see Chapter 9). But you can also choose different keywords and synonyms. The advertisement will be displayed when people search for these keywords.

The efficiency of Adwords is related to various aspects:

For example, let us calculate the cost of keywords (using https://adwords.google.com) that can be used to create the following advertisement in Google Adwords:

Although the phrase tasty berries will cost you less per click, other data also has to be considered. For example, out of these three options, the phrase tasty berries has been searched the most—12,100 times per month. Therefore, it would be useful to use these keywords when creating an Adwords advertisement.

The text of the advertisement could be as follows:

To find out more about Google Adwords and to register for it, visit adwords.google.com.

Another additional option is creating catalogues that contain information about the kinds of berries, their prices, and producers. Descriptions and visual material should also be included in the catalogues.

Such catalogues can be placed in your online shop. The customers should have an option to download all the information for browsing, even in the offline mode.

Likewise, such catalogues can be placed in the web pages of your partners who are not your competitors. For example:

The availability of such catalogues will create an interest for potential target customers, the popularity of your web page will increase, and the information about your online shop will spread.

We will also consider the following methods of offline advertisement:

If online advertisement has the benefit of targeting those customers who use the Internet (which is crucial for an online shop), then offline advertisement can reach those who use the Internet less often but who, nevertheless, are your potential customers.

Using flyers is a very cost-effective means of advertisement for a new business. A flyer is a small leaflet that is very often colorful. Flyers are usually handed out to promote some product or service.

Using flyers can be an effective way to advertise and to attract attention to a specific product or event. On the other hand, flyers can also spoil the image of the advertised product. Therefore, some considerations have to be made when preparing flyers.

The design of the flyers has to be adjusted to the forthcoming event so that it quickly delivers the message to the customer. Thus, the number of people who consider this information would increase.

Depending on what is being advertised and who is the target audience, the flyers can be image-building or informative. The latter would contain information about the product, its price, and advantages.

The main task of a flyer is to influence the choice of the potential customer.

Flyers are a cheap and easy-to-distribute channel of advertising. The text on the flyer has to be short and concise. As in a good advertisement, the title of the flyer has to have a gimmick, and the text has to describe the benefits of the product. Depending on the target customers, the flyers are usually distributed in public places—shopping centers, bus stops, on streets, in parks, and so on.

The message of the flyers should be no more than 10 words long. If possible, use symbols. The message should be structured as follows:

Such flyers can be used, for example, to stimulate interest in your online shop even before its opening. You can urge the customer to visit the web page on the specific date of opening of your shop. In this case, however, you should not start your advertisement too early and you also should make sure that the web page contains the "under construction" information.

You can also use radio advertisements to reach potential customers who would be interested in buying berries online. Radio advertisement is very effective; it can reach a much larger audience.

This type of advertisement costs more, but if the text is well-formed, it is possible to reach a much larger audience and persuade them to visit your online shop.

Thematic magazines are also an effective way to reach your target customer. Those potential customers who have chosen to read a thematic magazine about, for example, cookery, healthy lifestyle, or food, have already, in a sense, taken a large step towards you.

As we know, advertisements in magazines can be large or small. The influence of the advertisement has to be weighted against your financial resources. There is no sense in placing a very small advertisement just for the sake of placing an advertisement—the advertisement works only if it can be noticed.

Among other means of advertisement, the affiliates marketing, the banner agencies, and the price information portals should be mentioned. For more information about these, refer to specialized literature or search the Web.

All these examples were meant just as suggestions or ideas for your advertisement campaigns. Of course, when your online shop becomes a large-scale business, you will hire or consult a marketing expert. But, at the beginning, you will have to get along with just this knowledge, confidence in your ideas, and a creative approach.

These various ways of marketing demand different investment of finances and time. Yet, the main idea behind popularizing your online shop is to provide the potential visitors of the shop with answers to some of these questions:

The popularization of your online shop should include the answers to these questions already in advance. Do remember that the way you organize the purchase of your goods, the delivery, and the communication with the clients will create the overall image of your online shop. If this image is positive, the customer will recommend your shop to his/her friends and may return to it later herself.

The use of online or offline marketing depends on the specific country where you are operating and its market. If you choose to develop a regional business, you will have to consider the tendencies and the specific character of this region.

Equally important is to help the customer to orient in the range of the goods. You can create specific banners containing information about new goods and special deals, as well as about goods that fit some special occasion, and the goods that are discounted or exclusive.

The Internet provides a lot of opportunities—the target audience is relatively easy to reach. At the same time, the most effective channels for communication to the audience have to be found. Only then can an interest in your online shop be created and the customers gain a positive experience. This then will ensure that the customers trust your professionalism, recommend your shop to their friends, and eventually, return to your shop.