'Tis the season for planning and setting goals for the new year.  In this newsletter, I want to share with you some trends to be aware of in your planning and a cool tip to schedule meetings. Enjoy!

Table Of Contents Four Trends to Watch For in 2012 Cool Tip: Make the scheduling of meetings easier with this free tool  Free Webinar: Facebook Marketing 101

Education: Four Trends To Watch For in 2012

2012 is going to be a great year! Here are four things I think every online business in the quilting industry should watch for in regards to online marketing.  I find that quilters are getting more tech savvy (and technology is improving to make the Internet easier to use).  What are your thoughts? Feel free to chime in on our Facebook page.

Social Media Marketing Focus

Businesses are always looking for efficient was to market their product. As a result, many turn to social networks for their advertising and marketing needs. Many small businesses have seen that social media marketing efforts are cost effective, due to the fact that social networks are databases of people grouped by common interests.

According to Digitalbuzzblog.com, an astounding “56% of consumers say that they are more likely [to] recommend a brand after becoming a fan [on Facebook]”. Businesses, both small and large, are beginning to find out how powerful it is to circulate their name through social networks.

Do you have a Facebook page? If not, we'll be happy to set up a Facebook page for you as a free service. Meanwhile, please be sure to “like” us on Facebook for news, education, and other helpful tips: facebook.com/websitesforquilters.

In 2012, expect to see a lot more of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ (pronounced Google Plus).

See below about an invitation to a free education webinar about how to do Facebook marketing correctly.

Facebook E-commerce

Jumping on the social networking bandwagon, an emerging trend for online stores is to set up storefronts right inside their Facebook page. Fans and customers can order right from Facebook page without ever leaving the social network. This is a more recent adoption of Facebook by business owners that could make this behemoth social network even larger. With more and more stores signing up on Facebook every day, you can be sure we’ll see more store owners put sell products right on Facebook. It makes shopping online a social experience again!

Facebook e-commerce isn't just for big corporations anymore. With the Dash system and Advanced Shopping Cart system, a version of your site can appear as a tab in your Facebook. This makes it easy for your fans to purchase products on your Facebook page. Your Facebook e-commerce site will automatically synchronize with your website.

Mobile Apps

Consider for a moment how many people you see today that browse the web on their mobile phones or tablet computers. Mobile connectivity is not only increasing in popularity, it’s a permanent, viable, and helpful resource that helps people worldwide to function on a daily basis. According to the Device Essentials service that reports web traffic by device, nearly 7% of U.S. Web traffic in 2011 came from mobile and other non-desktop computer devices. Also consider that the popular game Angry Birds by Rovio had 6.5 million downloads on Christmas Day 2011 alone! According to a Pew survey, 35% of Americans own a smart phone. How many of your customers are choosing to browse the web on their iPhone, iPad or Android instead of surfing the web at home on their desktop PC?

A “mobile friendly” website shows a different design or view of your site for tiny screens (such as smart phones and iPads). Mobile apps are applications written to run on the phone with or without Internet connectivity. We can help you with either strategy for reaching more customers this year.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a “pin board” or visual bookmarking site that is averaging 11 million visits per week, and growing. Pinterest has had explosive growth (especially among women) and can offer a way for business owners in the quilting industry to become increasingly seen by others and will probably be a game changer this year. Pinterest is a way to share your products and keep in touch with the most current design trends to get inspired. All you have to do is visit this site and you’ll be hooked. Follow our pins at http://pinterest.com/website4quilter.

Cool Tip: Use Doodle.com to Schedule Meetings

If you're trying to organize a meeting among one or more people, you've probably experienced that problem of trying to get everyone's schedules coordinated. It's even more difficult if you're trying to set something up over e-mail. This is where Doodle.com comes in. This free service lets you create possible timeslots for your next meeting. You then invite, via e-mail, your friends and they can easily communicate with each other to determine the meeting time. Try this for setting up your next guild board meeting.

Free Webinar: Facebook Marketing 101

To go along with this newsletter's theme, you're invited to attend a free educational webinar (not a sales presentation) about Facebook Marketing.  Our online marketing specialist will cover the pros and cons of Faceboook, walk you through how to set up a business profile, and strategies for expanding your network.  The webinar will be held at 12:00 noon (Mountain Time) on Wednesday the 25th of January.  Click this link to join the webinar: http://danemco.clickmeeting.com/Facebook_Marketing_101. More details are available on our Webinars page.

Thank you for reading!  Please forward to a friend.  Your feedback is welcome, and feel free to leave messages on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/websitesforquilters . 

Sincerely,

      Dan Purcell