Imerex | Prepare Your Website for Upcoming Product Mention on TV Show

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Prepare Your Website for Upcoming Product Mention on TV Show

A morning show, talk show, or cable show featuring one of your products can get your brand and your products (along with the overt or implied recommendation) in front of millions of people who likely have never heard of you.

What can you do to make sure you can squeeze everything possible out of this moment?

Getting your website ready for the onslaught of traffic can make all the difference between having a TV mention that is impressive to family members and having a TV mention that pushes your business to new levels.

Once you have the appearance date and approximate time of the appearance, you need to get your website ready.

Getting Your Site Ready

Secure additional bandwidth before you need it. Do not be the business owner whose website returns this error message: “509 bandwidth limit - exceeded bandwidth. Limit exceeded. The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit."

Contact your hosting company to ensure this does not happen to you. There are two kinds of hosting plans:

1) Pay for extra bandwidth as needed

If your plan calls for paying for additional bandwidth, the extra cost will no doubt be worth it.

You need to inform your hosting company of the impending TV appearance and base your decision regarding additional bandwidth on the show’s ratings and viewership. If you’re lucky enough to make it onto Oprah… buy as much bandwidth as you can!

If your products will appear on a morning show or other broadcast show, increase your bandwidth based on cost and the show’s ratings (which you can get from a show’s representative). The more popular the show, the more viewers, and the more potential your site has for getting a huge bump in visitors at once.

2) Unlimited bandwidth

If your hosting plan is “unlimited,” call and speak to someone anyway. Many plans tout their “unlimited” bandwidth and it is nothing more than a marketing ploy. It is almost impossible for any company to offer unlimited hosting. Web hosting companies that provide “unlimited” bandwidth as a plan feature are relying on the fact that you won't use very much. And most companies never do.

The reality is, the hosting plan you are currently on has bandwidth restrictions and chances are it is set very low. You just don’t know it because you haven’t had to test the limits until now.

Call and get extra bandwidth. Push for it. Let them know the date and let them know there is a short period where you will need an extra burst of bandwidth.

Engage the New Visitors and Give Them a Reason to Buy

Make the TV appearance an event. Come up with an offer that moves the new visitors to action. Think of offers such as “order any of the products featured on TV, and get 20% off!” This kind of messaging services two purposes. First, it moves people to action because of the discount. But it also lets users who may not have known about your TV appearance know that you were featured on TV, giving your product more legitimacy.

Find Ways to Have New Visitors Sign Up for Email Alerts

Finally, use the TV appearance as a way to get people to sign up for your email alerts. Email marketing is a cost effective way to engage customers and drive additional revenue with a high ROI. Put a compelling offer on your home page for users who sign up for your emails. Provide a discount or a coupon for their next purchase. Whatever it takes.

Make Sure the TV Audience Can Get on Your Site. And Give Them a Reason to Become a Customer.

In short, it’s rare to get a large increase of site traffic. Make sure that people who want to get to your site can actually get there. And once they arrive give them a reason to buy something, or at the very least give them a reason to open the lines of communication with your business. Getting the TV appearance is a big first step. Capitalizing on it makes the effort truly worth it.