It’s always interesting to see the new and innovative ways that Online retailers are coming up with to generate buzz, links and customer interaction on their eCommerce sites in an attempt to boost rankings, visitors, conversions, average orders or sales. Recently, I came across a great example of one retailer who uses creative ideas to generate new links and engages customers at the same time.

May’s Lab, a clothing retailer, has recently added a feature to their site which allows shoppers or current customers to upload photos/videos of themselves wearing different items from the clothing manufacturers site. The new section, labeled Gallery, is a fun, innovate, creative way for May’s Lab to engage their current customers or shoppers and build brand buzz, which also helps to generate more inbound links to the site.

In addition to the new section and upload feature (as well as the promotional benefits), May’s Lab is also giving their customers a chance to be featured in the shop gallery, which wins them a swell prize from the retailer. The photo/video with the best rating will automatically be eligible to become a May’s Lab featured model.

You are the core of our company and we want you to be featured in our site. Submit a photo or video of you wearing any May’s Lab item and you will win a prize if chosen to appear in this gallery. The person in the photo/video with the best rating will become our next featured model.

How cool is that? Not only are they helping to boost their business, while engaging customers at the same time, they are also building a community of followers and even give several of them a chance to get modeling exposure on the site (which could even lead to other gigs for the featured models). This creative eCommerce idea is a perfect example of how to do it right. I had never heard of May’s Lab before finding out about the unique feature, but believe me, their name remains imprinted in my mind due to the fantastic branding and promotion move on their part.

Here’s one of the photos to give you an idea of what they are looking for…

Picture of Tanya taken during a photo shoot in San Diego, CA. (May’s Lab staff member)

Take a few notes from May’s Lab when brainstorming or thinking up new, fun and innovative ways to build brand buzz, generate more exposure, build community interaction, build customer relationships and appeal to the linkerati. If you can think of a unique and creative way to accomplish all of those things, that’s ideal. If not, keep trying, I am sure companies who use strategies like this regularly try many times before getting it right, so don’t be upset or get down if a few of your ideas flop, keep trying. It will be worth it when you finally think up the ones that are successfully or generate results beyond expectations.

Back-to-school season is over and it’s Halloween time now, so what better way to get into the spirit than to point out some of the trendy and unique ideas that other companies and eTailers are using to leverage linkers, social media and site traffic towards their seasonal campaigns or holiday promotions.

Clever Seasonal Linkbait Idea:

One clever idea I saw yesterday and the day before was a cool linkbait idea from the folks over at Get Elastic (they have been known to create these clever posts and linkbait ideas to leverage traffic to their eTail blog). Although they aren’t exactly eTailers, I thought the idea was still valid and worth a mention here, as many merchants can learn from what they did (as long as it’s applied to their business model or online selling niche).

The idea involves custom Halloween costumes and accompanying sketches of those costumes for some of the most influential Internet retailers and other large Online companies like Google. They came up with several awesome costume ideas, got a professional artist to sketch mock designs of them and had users vote on which were the best. The sketches were then ranked in order and even had 1st, 2nd and 3rd place runners up. After the large post with the top ten and runners up, Get Elastic released a completely crazy costume sketch of Larry Page and Sergey Brinn (Google Founders) dressed-up as a scary ‘Ghoul’gle’ for Halloween.

I thought this idea was so clever and creative that I couldn’t help but share with you all so I hope you enjoy and appreciate the effort and results these types of campaigns are capable of generating for nearly any type of Online business (if you did, be sure to Digg it or Sphinn it to help their efforts along). Not sure if there was any cost involved to hire the artist or whether it was a trade, but either way I am sure it was well worth the compensation. So many bloggers and social media posters are linking to that post and sharing it with others that I am sure their blog subscribers have grown up to double what they were getting a few days before that post was published. It’s one perfect example of seasonal linkbait and a clever holiday promotional idea.

Holiday Promotions & Unique Ideas:

Almost all companies can launch seasonal or holiday promotional campaigns. Even Carnival Cruise Lines offers a special Halloween promotion during the month of October 2007 and even last October. Their ‘Frightfully Fun’ cruise features Last years promotional efforts must have paid off big time, since this year Carnival announced the promotion with M&M’s, Coca Cola and others as this seasons partners.

And with the “Frightfully Fun” promotion, guests sailing with Carnival can enjoy a variety of fun-filled activities, everything from costume contests and Halloween-themed giveaways to scary movies, and, of course, trick or treating, with candies and other goodies from M&M’S. The “Frightfully Fun” promotion, which is also sponsored by Coca Cola, will be held on all Carnival voyages departing between Oct. 13 and 30, 2007. Guests sailing on Carnival during the period are encouraged to bring their costumes and they can compete for a variety of prizes during the always-interesting costume contest and parade.

This is a great idea and probably brings in a lot of business during the month of October (typically not one of the best months to take a cruise, depending on where you go). I thought this was a fantastic idea from the Carnival Cruise Company and they are doing a perfect job by announcing their promotions for others to link to and read about on the Web. Bravo guys on such a well executed holiday promotion two years running.

Cool Halloween Themes & Logos:

Caught wind of this earlier on Search Engine Land and found a few other examples of some cool holiday themes and logos that companies throw up as new holidays come around or as seasons pass.

The first example is from Ask.com, which posted their Halloween Front Page Preview for this year.

The second is from Barry Schwartz at SERoundtable who uses a cool Halloween graphic as his logo.

Third we have a Halloween Logo Contest by Zelixy.

Lastly, we show off a Halloween logo by Rebelscum for a contest they are having.

Practical Example Seasonal Linkbait:

Personally, I like to use lists. Quite frankly, they work well and they are usually easy to put together. Some seasonal linkbait ideas require a lot of planing and previous thought, other don’t require as much time and effort to launch. To me, lists cost the least amount of time and work the best, just my opinion. Obviously, there are many ways to attract an audience towards your seasonal linkbait, this is just my personal preference and what I choose to use an an example. I saw another good practical example of quality seasonal linkbait and top ten linkbait posts on Get Elastic this past month. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do, it’s packed full of insight into linkbait lists.

Since my blog audience ranges from merchants to industry colleagues I have to pick a top that will appeal to both. For this practical example I am going to use Halloween Costume Searches from 2007, which should appeal to marketers and eTailers, as on one end you have search stats for marketers, and on the other merchants can see how powerful niches like costumes can be if they are setup to appear in search engines correctly.

So here’s an example of a linkbait list I would do…

• Pirate Costume
• Master Chief Costume
• Tinkerbell Costume
• Fairy Costume
• Bumble Bee Costume
• Edward Scissorhands Costume
• Devil Costume
• Stormtrooper Costume
• Beetlejuice Costume

In 2006 the top nine costume searches were…

• Pirate Costume
• Darth Vader Costume
• Wonder Woman Costume
• Belly Dancing Costume
• Tinkerbell Costume
• Fairy Costume
• Batman Costume
• Dorothy Costume
• Gorilla Costume
• Beetlejuice Costume

Typically, I prefer not to use EVEN numbers for my lists, so for this example I chose to use the TOP 9 Halloween Costume Searches, rather than TOP 10, as reported on HitWise in 2006 and 2007. Extensive testing has determined that ODD number lists perform much better than lists that contain EVEN numbers in the title, in case you were wondering why I used 9 instead of 10.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts:

No matter how you draw in new users and potential buyers, it’s a good idea to follow what works. Lists, contests, logos, humor, controversy. They all have a place in social and seasonal linkbait ideas and, if used correctly, can increase brand recognition, order amounts, customer interaction and may even help entertain or retain users for longer periods of time (plays into bounce rate and length of visit statistical benefits).

In addition to weblinking, building links in the “real” world is just as important. While weblinking may direct a lot of traffic to your website, usually less than one percent actually convert. Let’s say for example you own a snowboarding supplies eCommerce site. Do you have friends who love to snowboard? Do you have family members who love to snowboard? Do they know people who love to snowboard? The answer to those questions (assuming people often have friends with similar interests) is probably, “YES.”

If you offer competitive prices, you can see how the value of each link has a significantly higher chance for conversion. The easiest way for you to link to those around you is simply give them a business card or two, tell them a little bit about what you offer, and why they should buy from you. (Offering the cheapest final price, i.e., product + tax + shipping, is always the best incentive. Fast service is a close second in my opinion.) Those who are hapy with your level of service are likely to come back and also refer friends. In addition, go to snowboarding competitions, conventions or just hit the slopes with cool gear from your store. If you see someone else using a product you carry, give them a compliment and ask them where they got it and for how much. If you can do better, say so and give them a business card. It would be a bonus if the card also acts as a promotional coupon with a code that gives the holder extra store perks. If someone asks you about your gear, tell them about your business and how you can offer them the best deal on the Web. It may also be helpful to offer bonuses to people you meet who refer others. But all of this depends on how competitive your prices are, and how good of a service you provide.

Good SEO and other forms of marketing will not be the deciding factor in a bright future for your eCommerce store; only good business practices can and will lead to success. This is just a snapshot of the infinite possibilities out there when it comes to promoting your website. The key is to be creative and understand who your customers are and how they think. More on this topic next week.