A long time ago, it was pretty easy to get noticed on the Internet. All you had to do was put a few lines of code on your web site’s home page meta tags, and let the search engines do the rest for you. Now it’s a whole different story, and there are more new ways being generated every day… as old ones are phased out almost as quickly. Is it even worth it? Of course, letting toptenwholesale.com and its network of sites manufacturer.com, wholesaleu.com, offpricenetwork.com help buyers to connect directly with the wholesaler or manufacturer of choice is an easy option, but there’s a few things you can do for yourself too. I’m going to give you a few ideas that don’t require a degree in Computer Science to implement, that will perhaps help you gain visibility in a sea that is awash in technological mysteries.

There’s a lot of buzz about what kind of sales figures we can expect to see this year, and every wholesale and retail specialist knows that the year-end is the biggest and most important of all for either wrapping 2009 up in style, or being left out in the cold when 2010 comes rolling through. Toptenwholesale.com and its network of sites (manufacturer.com, wholesaleu.com, offpricenetwork.com) help buyers to connect directly with the wholesaler or manufacturer of choice, and this would be a wise starting point… but let’s not forget about the tactics you can employ yourself,as you gear up to Increase your holiday sales in 2009.

Without a good strategy, it’s going to be tough this time. That’s the awful truth, and reports from trusted research sites like the NRF only add to the stress levels, as they forecast sales figures that are just 15 below the reported sales from last year. Not entirely encouraging, but not completely disappointing either… and if you follow these TopTen Tips to Increase Your Online Holiday Sales, you might have an added level of security to give you something to smile about.

You’ve been working hard all year, trying to tie everything together and make your online seller site a smooth-running machine… but there always seems to be more you can do to get that valuable search engine optimization (SEO) performance you desire. Maybe your site looks good, feels good, and is an absolute pleasure to browse… but you’re dismayed at how little overall traffic you’re seeing in return for your efforts? Isn’t there more you can do to maximize those hits, and get the rankings you deserve when people are throwing your category up on Google? Why is some random YouTube video from 2005 of a water-skiing cat showing up before your site’s URL on the results pages? Don’t take it personally… just know that it’s time for the wholesale and retail specialist to harness the power of SEO marketing this season, and really make those eyeball-hours count for something! Also, don’t forget that Toptenwholesale.com and its network of sites (manufacturer.com, wholesaleu.com, offpricenetwork.com) help buyers to connect directly with their  wholesalers or manufacturer of choice. This is a great first step to ramping-up your SEO options!

Finding and sourcing qualified sellers and buyers can be the biggest – and initially the most prohibitive – obstacle for first-timers who want to break into the wholesale and retail game. It helps to remember that Toptenwholesale.com and Manufacturer.com are the leading wholesale directories and search engines connecting thousands of buyers and sellers daily. These B2B directories and platforms were designed to connect buyers  directly with domestic and international wholesalers and manufactures. There are over 100 different product categories to search from including: general merchandise, apparel, accessories, gifts, electronics, handbags, jewelry, toys, and more. Toptenwholesale.com and its network of sites (manufacturer.com, wholesaleu.com, offpricenetwork.com) can get you started down the path quickly and efficiently, because aside from technical issues that require specialized knowledge, and other major points that should be handled rather carefully (like taxes and import / export regulations), there is clearly one important thing that must be addressed, in order to really get going with those goals of making an online business or small store a reality:

With the US Dollar shrinking rapidly, and a seemingly never-ending series of contradictions regarding the instability of the economy hitting all of the news feeds… it’s easy to see that this holiday season will present some interesting challenges to the wholesale and retail specialists that are trying to tie it all together in time for the major shopping wrap-up of 2009. General merchandise has always been a market with its upswings and downturns, but this time the numbers to focus upon are the forecasts for what kind of money will be spent by the consumer this season in specific areas like Christmas and party supplies… and how you can apply some smart spending of your own towards meeting their specialized demands, without resorting to too much guesswork.

It’s a brave new world we live in, and there has never been such a curiously amazing set of variables in the history of retail and wholesale shopping before. Let’s take a look at the old phenomenon of Black Friday, and put it up against the newer, Internet-driven market activity known as Cyber Monday. The two of these are basically about the same thing; they are used as indicators to ascertain the health of the economy… they provide direct insight about the general health of consumer spending… and they serve as a forecasting tool for the following year’s sales figures. However, this is where the two days of activity take divergent paths, and it’s crucial that the savvy wholesaler and retailer understands what drives these two markets independently… and what parts are best played in unison.

Here we are, approaching the 2009 Halloween parties, gatherings, clubs, events, and other assorted fun… and it’s the same old problem your customers have probably run into before; they don’t have a thing to wear, and they’ve got places to be. There’s also a serious undercurrent of heavy-duty budgeting that will insidiously work its way into all of the holidays this time… so the smart wholesale and retail specialists should be ready to offer wholesale fashion accessories to build your sales!

Today’s consumers are looking to you to provide them with the wholesale fashion accessories that transform a lifeless, drab, and uninspired costume into one that leaves people wondering why they didn’t find the source first? Clue your customers in to your secret (well… not so secret, I hope) cache of bling and other things that will increase your item count, and push your sales volume a tad further than if you strictly tried to rely upon the outdated strategy of thrusting a ready-to-wear costume in front of the customer… expecting them to dutifully take it, with no further questions to ask.

What makes your wholesale buyer or seller site feel safe? Are we spending too much time looking at the transaction, and not the system that supports it? Sometimes we do spend a lot of time and resources on setting up the sale… but not necessarily creating a feeling of security. It’s always a good idea to look at the shopping experience you offer your customers with a fresh set of eyes, so you can tailor it to meet the demands of today.

We’re hearing a lot of talk about the economy swinging upward, the improving health of the GDP, and a rebuilding of the country’s assets… we’re also hearing a lot of noise regarding the ’softness’ of the economy, and the second bubble bursting once those printing presses cool off after creating truckloads of fresh cash. Who’s right? Who knows what the answers are to the world’s ills? Who cares. As a wholesaler or retailer, you should hope for the best and prepare for the worst, in an effort to provide your customers with the highest level of security and value for their money. Those who protect their clientele will be rewarded later, as they are the ones who will be remembered for displaying a trustworthy and realistic mindset during these turbulent times.

As you can see, the Halloween buzz is in the air, and we at TopTen are anticipating this year’s turnout to be a great one for the wholesale and retail channels who prepare themselves for the unique market demand and conditions of these challenging times. Of course, the possibilities are not just limited to Halloween, but the following holiday events as well. Preparation is everything this time around as we draw ever closer to the end of 2009, and there are some great ways you can boost your holiday revenue — without breaking the bank — and by adding value to the message that you are broadcasting to your customers!

Take a look at the solutions on offer to the wholesaler and retailer as sales are slumping in some areas, and booming in others! Make the changes to your selling strategy before it becomes a problem… and capitalize upon the proactive approach to delivering the news about your products and services to customers, before you need to tell them as a last-minute reminder… or worse, a pleading call to shop with you…

With a total attendance of over 10,000 at the recent August 2009 Off-Price Specialist Show, and over 450 exhibitors showing off their best merchandise, there was an atmosphere of high-energy activity that resulted in the formation of intense, exciting, and fresh new buzz over the steals-and-deals in the Closeout and Off-price Industry. While many of the doomsday-types predicted a rapid cooling period for the Retail and Wholesale business that would lead to catastrophic results for anyone who dared to get involved in such a volatile and dangerous market… the people who make up the Wholesale and Retail sector know that the show must go on, and it’s really up to us to determine whether that show is going to be a comedy, a tragedy, or a gut-wrenching drama…

If you need further evidence of a market that is promoting successful returns for the ones who are coming up with new answers to the old questions, there’s actually more answers out there than there were just a few months ago. Let’s think about the leading wholesale distributors that are offering big benefits to retailers during these tough economic times. Some national online wholesalers are offering free shipping to all new customers, and helping small businesses that are looking for new and improved ways to dial-in their efficiency and crank up their competitiveness in the market. You might even be surprised to find out that top-quality apparel, handbags, and fashion accessories are being put up against the goods carried by larger department stores, at considerable savings! This new angle on the perceived value of branded goods is creating a huge opportunity for those who want to break into the market.

Here’s a quiz: Do you immediately think of China when you think of wholesale jade? If you do, it’s not an uncommon perception… most people think that wholesale jade is strictly a precious Chinese stone, and that it’s really only found way out in the far-flung corners of the globe. Truth is, jade can be found in many places… there’s even a two-ton piece sitting in front of the Visitor’s Center in downtown Anchorage, Alaska!

Something that surprises me is the fact that jade jewelry has long been the understated adornment, even though it’s been around for a very long time (some jade artifacts have been excavated from prehistoric sites) and it’s always been considered a thing of beauty and value. Today’s jade can be found worn by many men, women, and children in China, Korea, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. It’s still got the mystique of being a treasured Oriental material, yet has deep roots in South American history as well. Another thing that surprises me is the fact that while I was living in the USA, I saw jade on a very rare basis. Living in China, I see it all the time.

Business Week, with market researcher YouNoodle, announced 50 best tech start-up companies in June, 50 new companies driven by entrepreneurs with venture capital that promise to:

· Speed up how industries crunch massive amounts of data for market research, advertising and new product development (Cloudera cloud computing);

· Make e-books and documents available quickly to all (Scribd);

· Change our transportation world (Project Better Place’s build out of electric car charging stations worldwide, now receiving tax incentives in Israel, Denmark and Hawaii USA);

· Clean Tech ventures that cultivate alternative energy sources (Bloom Energy’s fuel cells) or that slash energy used by buildings, businesses and computer networks. These new niche companies gained 54% more in venture capital investments in 2008 … and benefit now from government stimulus money earmarked for Energy Efficiency;

· Saving the best for last – a number of start-up tech tools that help companies: