Can an online press release drive traffic for small business ecommerce sites?  Some entrepreneurs think so – and have been gracious enough to share their stories with the PRWeb community.

Auction Cause, a cause-related marketing firm, is the latest example in this newly published case study Auctions for a Cause.  CEO Eric Gazin, a long time PRWeb customer says his firm works with corporations, celebs and non-profits to raise money for charity by auctioning off donated items on eBay.  For example, this recent press release announced an auction for a pair of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert and a chance to meet the singer. Proceeds went to MyWorkButterfly.com, a social networking site that provides free resources to help return-to-work moms and working moms.

Eric noted that he sees a consistent correlation between an increase in Web traffic and the first two days following the publication a PRWeb release and estimates those releases drive a 20 percent increase in bids. “We get traffic days, weeks, months or even years later,” he added.

In another example, on How To Succeed In Spite of the Economy, Vedante founder, and self-described “entrepreneur of necessity,” Barbra Kantor, noted she’s found success with PRWeb in promoting products that she sells on Amazon.com.

Amazon pays bloggers and shopping cart search engines for referral traffic and as a result, this audience pays close attention to her Vedante press releases. Moreover, online press releases she has published on PRWeb were instrumental in helping Vedante rank in the top 10 for Amazon’s outdoor gear category during last year’s Christmas and holiday season. What’s more, she later learned, Vedante actually hit #1 in the pet category.

Vendante sells fashionable reflective accessories for people and pets to wear at night, as explained in this story by Internet Retailer: How press releases help drive sales at online retailer Vedante.  It’s worth disclosing that in working with Barbara to write the PRWeb case study, I became so intrigued with the product, I personally purchased one on Amazon for a friend who owns a dog – a great gift.

It’s important to note that both Eric and Barbara also share their content with their social media networks in combination with the other communications efforts.  Because multimedia, such as photos and videos, can be integrated easily into PRWeb releases, PRWeb is often the launch pad for new initiatives for these ecommerce businesses.

“We use PRWeb to launch our social media efforts – the release is always the lead announcement about our cause marketing or charity auction event,” said Eric in the case study. “Then the Tweeting starts, the interaction with fans on Facebook, and of course we tap our own newsletters and Vocus PR system.”

Note: PRWeb is always interested in speaking to customers that are willing to share their success stories.  If you have a great story to share, please feel free to comment below, or hit us up on Twitter — @PRWeb.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
How small business is using social media

Filed under: eCommerce, Small Business, Success Stories, Tips and Tricks by Frank Strong