Rink

customers, a 24-7 presence and convenience. Today's parents have many responsibilities and will appreciate an online ordering opportunity. The next step is to decide what services to sell over the web. Classes, leagues, ice reservations and birthday parties are a few of the obvious. Some third-party vendors specialize in this type of sales, but costs are usually high. A major consideration is what kind of shopping cart (ordering) program to use. Many ordering programs are easy to use, residing on the web-site server, and others have to be loaded on a server by an administrator. A good shopping cart is self-service and easy for both you and customers to use. As mentioned earlier, all carts should use secure certificates and RSS encoding to keep credit card information safe. Many of the carts charge a percentage of sales. A cart with a flat fee will dramatically reduce web costs. Consider legal issues involved in web site sales. When guests sign up for programs, have them sign your contract when they come into the class or league. Consult your attorney for specific legal advice. Marketing an Effective Web Site Once your site is up and running, it is time to let people know about it. Here are a few ideas for promoting the site: • Include the web site on all of your literature. • Hand out business cards to current customers with the web address. • Paint the web address on the rink when putting in new ice. • Use Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing to promote your site on web searches. • Use meta tags to help web directories index the site. • Collect customer e-mail addresses and use a service to send e-mail blasts monthly. • Offer a discount to customers who use the web site a week before classes begin • Use web statistics to track web site visit data. • Have the web site included in the yellow pages listing. Following some of these steps will help increase your web traffic. As your traffic increases, web sales can contribute greatly to your revenue and growing your customer base! ★ Don Baldwin is the manager of the Lloyd Center Ice Rink in Portland, Oregon. november/december 2007 R I N K M A G A Z I N E 39 EVERYONE SAYS: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. WE SAY: WHAT IF YOU GOT MORE? Tempered aluminum extrusions, for boards with real strength, yet flexible upon significant impact. MORE Flexibility: MORE Modern Appearance: Anodized finish for the clean, attractive appearance your arena facility deserves. Get MORE for your money, Choose the World's Best Dasher Boards, Sport Systems Unlimited MORE

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