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WordPress is the ideal free website builder to create an ecommerce website to sell your products or services.  But to make a success of your site and get enough people to buy you need to drive quality traffic to your content.  Social media sites are the perfect place to begin, creating interest about what you have to sell and a network of people to promote to. 

Thousands of businesses now use social bookmarking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to boost sales, but often paying experts large sums to do it for them.  In fact for the first time ever online advertising spend in 2010 is set to overtake print, with over $119.6 billion to be spent in the US alone.  Advertising giants across the globe are recognizing the power of reaching a target audience using the social networking giants, and so should you!

The really great news for website builders is that there are some really successful strategies for using social media that won’t cost you a cent.  We’ve gathered five of the most effective free strategies from the world’s leading online entrepreneurs.  These are the secrets of using social media to skyrocket your products sales.

1.  Don’t Make a Sales Pitch

The key to using social media effectively to promote your products is to avoid using direct sales pitches.  This will simply put off your potential customers and certainly won’t encourage them to spread the word to their network of friends.  You need to be more subtle and provide them with valuable information.

For example, say you are selling outdoor security alarms, you could create a video tutorial on how to make your backyard shed more secure, of course featuring your alarms and sponsored by your company.  Or you could create a news article on the latest crime statistics on theft from backyard sheds, with quotes from  you and your company on how to make your shed more secure. 

If you keep sending your social networks regular and useful tips in your field, they’ll really value what you provide.  Then when you make a special offer or tell them about a current promotion, they’ll be more open to your suggestions and recommendations.  Whatever you’re promoting, try to provide at least 90% valuable information, with less than 10% advertising.

2.  Turn Negatives into Positives

Don’t be afraid of people talking about you on social networking sites.  Yes, you may get the odd negative comment but don’t be tempted to delete it.  Have faith that you’re providing a good service with great products, and your loyal customers will defend you, which is the best advertising you can hope for.  These customer testimonials are extremely powerful and can persuade potential customers in your direction when who to buy from.

3.  Become an Expert in Your Field

As a website builder this is one of the most effective ways of developing a loyal following.  By becoming an expert in your field, people will look to you for advice and information.  There are a number of ways of doing this:

• Find links to great articles, websites and posts that you can share, offering the latest news on your industry
• Share your opinions on current events relevant to your niche, with tips on how to cope or take advantage of these developments
• Become a guest blogger on popular websites relevant to your industry
• Join social networking groups related to your market and actively join in the debate
• Start a group on Linkedin or Facebook that is specific to your niche.  This enables you to position yourself as an expert, giving greater credibility to your business and your products
• Go to the answers section on Linkedin and become an expert answering open questions.   As a trusted expert your business instantly becomes more appealing.

4.   Exclusive Offers

Make followers feel special by offering them exclusive offers available only to Facebook fans, for example.  You could even put a line in your advertising, email signature or newsletter inviting people to become a Facebook fan, where they’ll find a 10% discount code or coupon. 

You could also give them a free item if they invite friends to become a fan, or offer time-sensitive discounts exclusive to your fans.  Finally you could offer significant discounts for a limited time period, such as 2 for 1 or 25-50% discount.  Such large discounts will encourage people to quickly recommend you to their friends, which can create a viral effect, spreading the word about your products and your site extremely quickly. 

5.  Same Time, Same Place

If you want to develop a loyal following it’s vital you send your product updates, promotional news and information about your latest products at the same time every day.  This will encourage your potential customers to follow your posts as people love consistency.  This is such a simple tip but really effective. 

Once you’ve downloaded your free website builder program, promoting your site using social media should be a top priority.  Blog owners worldwide are reporting it’s one of the most successful ways of drawing in quality traffic and ultimately boosting revenue.  For more information on how to use social networking sites this informative article has 5 Secrets to Using Linkedin to Boost Quality Blog Traffic.  Linkedin may be one of the less well known social networking sites but it’s proving to be extremely effective for product and blog promotion.