Why August 15th is so important

Over the years the one thing that I have focused on more than anything else is the TRAFFIC. The traffic is what fuels the net. The traffic is REAL people looking for something. Most buy a million "hits" or they may be silly and buy a million "Impressions." But what they are TRYING to buy are targeted eyeballs. People, buyers, potential new customers, looking for their specific product. Many have not looked past THAT. But what is it about those buyers? How did they get to your site? Why did they get to your site? Ask questions. Get into their mind set. Profile them like you worked for the FBI. See the FBI catches criminals by putting themselves into the minds of the suspect. They get so deep that they basically may be able to figure out the criminals next move before the criminal figures it out. They know what they are going to do before they do. That same type of thing works for the customers coming to your site. When you figure it out for one you make a sale. When you figure out many, you make many sales.

You don't have to be that sharp to figure out that Christmas is probably the single slowest day of the year on the net. But do you know the second slowest day? The third slowest day? The tenth slowest day? The biggest day? The second biggest day? The third biggest day? Do you know why August 15th is important? Labor day? October 12th?

Let's start with August 15th. To me, this is one of the most important days of the year. Why? Because on June 21st summer arrives and surfers think more about surfboards than going shopping onlione. So you see a steady decline in traffic and earnings. Most factories in The USA close for July 4th week. Some run half shifts that week and then half the crew comes back and the other half goes on vacation. Then you have the heart of the vacation season. The last 2 weeks in July and the first 2 weeks in August. Europe goes on Holiday. The world is just out and they are distracted by life. So during this period it is a bit harder to get things done and it's a time and opportunity to recharge your batteries for the next business cycle that starts on August 15th. It may be invisible to the naked eye, but that is the day that a real transformation begins.

As I said before, you need to get into the MINDS of your customers. What are they doing on August 15th? Just look in your local papers. BACK TO SCHOOL!! So while some think August 15th is the middle of summer, and it is for some, the majority of folks are buying school supplies, and clothing for the upcoming school year. They are making the TRANSITION from summer to fall. A transition that takes about 8 weeks to complete. So August 15th represents the day that folks start to come back and pay attention again. Not the heavy hitters. They are just going on vacation. But if you deal with the MASSES, they are coming home each day and the eyeballs grow and grow until we have full strength again. When does that happen you ask? The answer.....November.

Now this may not be true for all business in all industries. There are many seasonal businesses that different rules may apply. For example on Candy.com, August is a very big month and interesting who the buyers are. This time of year candy.com gets “Industrial buyers” of candy products. School districts search vendors and start placing their orders. Retailers are also in play because Halloween candy starts to go on the shelves in the next few weeks. These are just things I have learned since owning the domain name and never actually selling a single piece of candy directly. But knowing who is coming to your site is vital if you are going to enjoy GREAT success on the net.

And let me add for the record, we are taking the "Long" view. There is another view. It isn't seasonal. It isn't monthly. It isn't even weekly or daily. It is HOURLY. Why do I even bring any of this up? Well for one thing, very few know it. Even fewer will agree with it. Many will be asking what the hell is he talking about?? I will repeat something I have said year after year. "More sales are being LOST on the net than are actually being made on the net." So then I say this and they don't know what the hell I am talking about so they just shrug their shoulders and move on. Well, just like there is a science and an art to selling in the real world there is a science and an art to selling on the Internet. The companies that understand this dominate their industries. The companies that don’t are losing market share to those that do. It’s the greatest shift of market share across the board in history.

I have the ability to go to virtually any website that is doing commerce, has traffic, and in 15 minutes I can increase their sales by a minimum of 15% and likey much more. I have done it many times. It’s easy for me. There are certain common and repetitive MISTAKES folks make that nobody ever told them were mistakes. So if they don't know, they don't see and they can't fix. Do you expect somebody to fix something that important that still doesn't understand what I have written here over the last few months? All I can do is try to give certain pieces of the puzzle that may lead to a better understanding. It could be as simple as a font change, a color change, a change in the location of a specific button. Usually a combination of all these and more. They need FRESH EYES to pick up those shortfalls that can make a huge impact on their bottom line. Most people just scoff if off. They don’t believe a few SIMPLE changes can add more sales. Ok, that is their right…..but they are wrong and it is costing them money. Costing them business. It is costing them customers that are likely being picked up by their competitors. Their businesses are getting weaker by the day and it is invisible to them until it hurts and by then it is too late. That is the cost they are paying.

It’s the heart of summer. Go have some fun, enjoy life, un-wind. Don't look for anything dramatic, just a trend. Like a large ship turning around, it takes time and the slowest part is at the beginning and at the end. The bleeding stops and the healing begins on August 15th.

Have a GREAT day!

Rick Schwartz

Comments

[Shivaji]

"Why August 15th is so important" because it is our(Indian) Independence day ;)

[YellowLocator.com]

Business.com sold. 24X eibta. 50mil annual gross. 15 net. Sale 355 million. some estimate value of domain at 60-70 percent of sale price.

[Scott Alliy]

Great article. Your analytical marketing approach akes perfect sense to me. AIS trimmed our ad budget by an amazing 80% by year over year by gaining a better understanding of what days and more importantly what time of day our site visitors were engaging themselves in search of the products we offer.

Actually I wrote an article about the deeper analytical processes that you are suggesting people apply. I call that deeper analytical activity Second Level thinking. Simply stated as a marketer if you can go one level deeper into why people do what they do you have blown by 70% - 90% of all your competition and you are well on your way to better understanding your customer and achieving a much greater level of success and ROI on your marketing efforts and investment in time money and energy.