BoomTime's servers will be taken down Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 12:00am MDT to perform security and system updates. The expected downtime is 90 minutes or less.

During this time, you will be unable to login to BoomTime and linked-in Gift Certificate pages will be unavailable. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to support.

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We're fortunate to have an artist on our team, an artist who's also incredibly techno-savvy — what a great combination! When Joyce gets on a roll and we can't stop her — she's a design machine in the best possible sense!

We recommend periodically logging into your BoomTime account and mixing up the GC designs that you make available to your online visitors. Simply log in, then go to Setup, GC Designs to choose what you'd like your visitors to see. Just Hide those you don't wish to appear in your GC design library. When you're done picking and choosing, then perform the Update Designs Task and you're all set!

Examples of new designs:

      

Posted in Gift Certificates, General • Comment »

BoomTime and BizLand have partnered up. The result? Small business clients with the tools to create great looking websites that now serve up e-commerce the modern way, via Instant Online Gift Certificates.

We share a vision, one in which small businesses easily and affordably build websites, then use Instant Gift Certificates to immediately generate revenues by reaching those online last-minute and long-distance shoppers.

It's a partnership with vision, lots of great potential and great common ground.

To learn more about BizLand, please visit: www.bizland.com.

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Of course there is still no such thing as a free lunch, and if you're a business owner you know this better than the average person.

However, with BoomTime Instant Gift Certificates on your company's website, you can get "lunch" for next to nothing - about 5% and even less if your sales take off.

When you sign up to have an Instant Gift Certificate page created, a very basic landing page is generated just for you.  After everything is linked up and ready for your customers, you can watch the extra sales start to trickle in.  Aside from your usual website maintenance costs, driving new customers to your door and the extra features of BoomTime are at no charge to you.

Granted, in the beginning it will be a trickle, but with some basic marketing and our SEO know-how, the flow into your cash drawer can increase dramatically.  We will cover many of these subjects in fine detail in future blog posts, but the very first step is just to get started and get that Instant Gift Certificate page live and linked to your website's front page.

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Help us welcome Joyce to our clan.

• Need a tweak to your existing look by changing your logo?
• Just beginning your business and need a perfect logo to share the essence of your business with the rest of the world?
• Want a completely yours custom Instant Gift Certificate that extends your brand into your online offerings?

We can help! BoomTime now offers up graphics design services on demand for our clients.

Let us know what you're looking for, we'll ask you a few questions, then our designer, Joyce, will provide you with a quote for your project! In just a short time you can have an enhanced look for your business and a fresh look to show your customers.

 

Posted in Marketing, General • Comment »

Over the last couple of years we've had some interesting responses to our you only pay if you sell pricing. We've heard, "No way! There has to be a catch!"; "I don't get it, how can you guys make any money doing it this way?"; and others that we really can't and won't share for obvious reasons (but if we did share, there would be a lot of funny exclamation marks and other characters in the post).

This pricing model, one in which you pay nothing if you don't sell, is based upon our belief that if you aren't making money, it doesn't make any sense for us to charge you for our Instant Gift Certificates each month.

We want to help you do several things, the first of which is to get up and selling ASAP. After that we want to help you sell more. You win, we win, life is good.

We'll use this blog to share marketing tips and tricks, and things that you can do to make your online presence more effective and profitable.

Tip #1: Tell people that you offer Instant Gift Certificates!

It's simple, really, but you must communicate that you offer a super-easy, instant online gift option. Include language to that effect on all printed materials AND on any signage you have in your business.

If you have your telephone number painted on your front door, be sure you add your website address right below it.

Do you use voicemail? Include that you now offer up a great, instant, online gift solution! Direct folks to your website using your recorded greeting and watch your sales increase!

Stand by for more ideas, and happy sales!

Posted in General • Comment »

Increasing your online sales has never been easier! By choosing to sell Instant Gift Certificates on your website you're acknowledging the power of the Internet, and the ever-increasing trend to buy online vs hassle with traffic, deal with long lines and get stressed where it's possible to avoid it.

Now what? You've got the link up on your website. Your logo automatically appears on every BoomTime Instant Gift Certificate you sell, effectively extending your brand online. You're poised for online revenue greatness, but there's still more you can do.

Position matters. Where did you place your Instant Gift Certificates link? It should be above the fold, ie easily visible, ideally on every page of your website, in the same place so people don't have to work to find it.

Frequency matters. Repeat yourself. Seriously, your Instant Gift Certificates link needs to show up on every page of your site, in the same place. Oh wait, I'm repeating myself.

Use your navigation well. Be sure you have an Instant Gift Certificates link in your main nav. Businesses that do tend to sell more. And make sure your navigation is consistent on every page of your website.

Feature your Instant Gift Certificates! Go ahead and dedicate a small paragraph to your cool Instant Gift Certificates. A heading like "New! Instant Gift Certificates" can work well. Text like, "We have the perfect last-minute gift! Design, preview and immediately print or email an Instant Gift Certificate" will do the trick. Note: Avoid graphics with this mention. People have been trained to ignore them. Turns out if a person is besieged with flashy graphics and banners for long enough, they simply tune them out over time.

Embrace the Boom! You're a BoomTimer now. You're unique, and you're offering a great gift solution for your online shoppers. Always include the word "Instant" when you're describing your offerings. Lots of businesses offer gift certificates, only savvy ones know enough to offer up "Instant Gift Certificates."

Link directly.Make the link from your Instant Gift Certificates links in your site go directly to your Instant Gift Certificates page.

Promote printing, too! Emailing Instant Gift Certificates is convenient and FAST. (Good for the last-minute buyers.) Guess what? 75% of people actually print them out at time of purchase–they are beautiful, after all!–so be sure you tell them they can.

Role play with your website. Close your eyes and pretend that you've never seen your website before. Play the role of first-time visitor and see if you can figure out how to buy an Instant Gift Certificate. It should be very straightforward and nearly effortless. If it's not, simple changes can do the trick!

Now go on back to your website and tweak it. It'll make a difference.

Posted in Website Design, Gift Certificates, General • Comment »

Have you ever wondered why it's so hard to buy something from most websites? It feels like there are layers and layers of to do's and a lot of steps between wanting to buy and actually purchasing a service or product. We got tired of that, and decided to offer BoomTime Instant Gift Certificates to small businesses.

Look here for ideas to help you sell more online, and for feedback from other BoomTimers on topics we'll throw out for discussion.

If a great idea strikes you at some point, feel free to me with it.

Stand by as we ramp up, and once again, welcome to the BoomTime Blog!

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