Work Out Effective and Smart Couponing Strategy

A coupon code can generally only save you a bit of money – but this can accumulate into great savings if you have a smart couponing strategy. Let me share mine with you:

Pick up just a few reputable coupon code directories and monitor them effectively.

There are plenty of coupon code sites and blogs and keeping track of all of them would be too time consuming (and time is money too!), so pick just a few ones. How to choose? Here are my tips:

• It should be easy to navigate and user-friendly;
• It should provide some handy tracking options (for example, newsletter or RSS);
• It should be updated daily.
• It should focus on your needs (in other words, pick the one that mostly lists products you buy often).

Here are my personal picks:

• FreeShipping.org (for its clear interface and quality selection of coupons);
• QponCutie (for its RSS subscription and female-oriented coupons – just what I like).

Don’t trust the seller’s word, check what other buyers say!

I love it when the site not only list deals and coupon codes, but also allows their members share their experience on each one.

This way you save your money by choosing only trusted deals and retailers. My favorite site for that is Buxr.com. Let me tell you why:

• Each deal has ratings, votes and reviews.
• The site is attentively moderated, so totally spam-free (each deal should be approved before it goes live).
• It offers quite a few Web 2.0 goodies (like wish list and deal alert);
• Best deals are daily rewarded with cash, so members do their best to deliver most useful codes and deals.

Make sure you know how to track

Email box is by far not your only way to get updated on new deals. Use your couponing toolbox wisely:

• Try various RSS readers to choose the one you like best (my personal favorite is Wizz RSS FireFox plugin because it doesn’t take much space and is well-organized);
• Use Twitter! Many sites now offer Twitter as an alternative way to subscribe to their updates. The best thing about this tool is that Twitter delivers updates right to your mobile phone (if you are in the United States), so you can get new deals even when you are offline (again, don’t go too much into it, pick only one to follow closely).
• Use services that allow alternative subscription methods (for example, FreeShipping.org mentioned above allows to subscribe only to those sellers you plan to buy from via their “Favorite Coupons” option).

Use your calculator!

Right, your own common sense is your best weapon! It is a commonly-used trick to offer “fake” coupon: first increase the price and then offer a discount – so that the end price just ends up to be even higher just in the nearby store that offers no discount at all. So take your time, compare prices and make the right choice!

Good luck!

The guest post was provided by Ann Smarty, an SEO Consultant. I hope you will find it useful!