Here's an idea to make your top-selling inventory available on the web to anyone who wants to buy. You don't need to have an online store and you don't need to pay a web developer thousands of dollars to build a complicated data base.
Instead, just create a catalog with all your merchandise on your own computer and then offer it as a pdf download from your website.
In many ways, a pdf catalog is better than an actual printed catalog. There are no printing or mailing costs, and customers can save it to their computer for future reference.
DO IT YOURSELF
It may take a little time, but a catalog is not that difficult to create. You can do it with Word as long as you are comfortable working with tables and graphics in Word. Find Word tutorials here: Word 2007 Courses
Lay out your complete catalog including a cover page, table of contents, product information, and ordering instructions. Be sure to include an order form that may be faxed or mailed to you. When creating your catalog, include as much color as you can and include as many product pictures as you can.
When you are finished with the creation of your catalog, proof read it carefully. Now you're ready to convert the entire catalog from Word into a pdf document. You may already have the pdf conversion software on your computer, or you may have pdf driver installed in your printing options. If so, try those first and examine the results.
If that's not working, use this free online pdf converter: doc2pdf (donations accepted). I've found it to be very quick and completely accurate.
Once you've created the pdf document of your catalog, save it to your computer. Then send the file to your web developer and add it to the website. Make sure you prominently promote the "New Colorful Catalog" now available online.
EXAMPLES
Here are a couple of examples of some catalogs (all pdf file links):
Huetter Mill & Cabinet Molding and Stair Parts
Classic Cuisine Catering Catalog
Schlueter Dairy Technologies Catalog
When you do finish your catalog, be sure to send me a link to jay-at-themarketingspot-dot-com. If you already have a catalog, please let me know so that I can link to it as an example.
For more information on our company: www.themarketingspot.com
Read our other blog on small business marketing: The Marketing Spot
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Create A Catalog for Your Website
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2 comments:
I was searching Google for this subject and that's where I found you, thanks for the info on creating the PDF but I also wanted to let you know your example links are broken.
All the example links have been updated.
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