Marketing/Business Advice Needed

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Evanesce -> Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 9:58:40 AM)
I have a little Internet shop (see link below my signature), and I advertise that little Internet shop via Google adwords, along with having the link attached to my signature for every email I send out. The link has actually gotten me a couple sales that I know of (from CM, even!), and I know Google has gotten me some traffic, but sales have been non-existant since the beginning of May! My question is this: What are some other ways of increasing the traffic to my shop? What can I do to get people looking, browsing and buying? Are there any marketing gurus here who can give me a few suggestions?

RCdc -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 10:07:05 AM)
Have you thought of setting a store up on Ebay? Advertise - lots and lots. And get yourself of many websites and forums - get yourself known, not just the product. Business cards are a good investment. Drop them off at functions, hotels, doctors waiting rooms - anywhere! Register to more search engines. Set up a myspace and get a good network set up there. Wear your items always and only and get others too as well. Be a whore - and dont be afraid to be one either. You have to whore yourself around to get yourself known. Peace the.dark.

uwinceismile -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 10:34:08 AM)
great advice Darcy :) search engines ...search engines....search engines... its the locations locations locations of the cyber world :) and whoring yourself in advertizing cannot be understated! get your name out there at all cost. and create a servicemark,,that is unforgettable :) ( you would know the mcdonalds golden arches in ur sleep) best of luck

givemyall -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 11:22:59 AM)
Get as many people that you know to put links from their site to yours - you go higher in the google listings with that one. As Darcy has already said, business cards are a must - try leaving them in shopping trolleys - just the odd one here and there - its worked for me. Have you looked at investing in some magnetic business cards - they are designed with the idea of sticking them to fridges etc, they are great because they are at hand when someone wants to buy a gift. They are more expensive but its better to have one of those on someones fridge rather than the 10 normal cards that get lost in the bottom of handbags etc. Another one I use is pointing wacky domain names towards my site..... people click because they are curious.... sometimes worth a try. When you look at your site stats, is it showing people visiting but leaving within the first few mins or just low traffic, because if its the first option, it might be worth you having a sales section which changes every few days - it encourages people to come back and have another look. I hope you manage to sort it out, best of luck

Evanesce -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 1:59:30 PM)
Good advice, and I've done all that, except for registering on multiple search engines. I'm finding that to be a rather expensive proposition, unless there's a cheap way to do it that I've not found yet. I do have both business cards and refrigerator magnets, and I've even sent some out with my husband to be left on truck stop bulletin boards (I offer a discount to truckers who find my cards and give me the discount code on the back). I have a blog at tagworld.com, where I promote my own shop and others in the community where my shop is hosted, and I get a little traffic there. Haven't done the "myspace" thing, because my kids are both there. Actually, maybe I should do that BECAUSE both my kids are there. It's a thought, anyway. I used to have a FeeBay store, but found I was paying MUCH more in fees than I was making in sales, so I shut it down. Also, I do wear my jewelry, and when I show it in person, I get sales. My office has only 15 people in it, but when I took my jewelry to the office around Christmas for a couple days, I actually made 3 sales from those 15 people! If I could duplicate that percentage online, I'd be one happy craftswoman! Finally, I'm doing a local craft fair in September, which I'm hoping will be lucrative.

Wildfleurs -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 8:54:41 PM)
Have you tried putting some of your items for auction on ebay? A friend of mine has a very thriving antiques business thats pretty much ebay based and most of her sales are through auctions, not through her ebay store. C~

lighthearted -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 9:17:44 PM)
you might see if any local boutiques are willing to either carry your pieces on consignment or let you put a stack of biz cards near the register. another thought, my hairdresser sells jewelry...if you've been going to the same person for awhile, they might consider letting you put cards/displays etc in their shop.

EgosumDominus -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 9:19:38 PM)
First is eBay and a website. Establish a email account that makes it clear that you have a website...like ours. Sad but only about 40% of the people get that you have a website....but thats ok. Then do the ebay thing...we are a power seller on ebay. And make sure you use the email address in your postings. Use your company name often when describing your product. It seems to connect in a search engine. Change the key words on your website, and look at what others are using. The spiders that Google use make the rounds...but not often. And search engines like Google have tool bars...valuable tool...gives a ranking of the page you are viewing...including your web page. I could go on...but there is two much that could be done. Best of luck...and there are very good books that will tell you far more information. I need to buy one....LOL. [Mod note: email address removed]

Arpig -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/1/2007 11:51:00 PM)
Put porn-related words into your meta-tag

DarkDreams123 -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 2:20:10 AM)
Greetings Evanesce, Are you getting visits to your website ("hits") but no sales? Are you able to tell if you have visitors to your website? The advice you have been getting is about how to get traffic, but if you are getting traffic without sales, then you have a different problem. I am no marketing expert. My advice is worth every penny you have paid for it! [;)] If you don't mind some constructive criticism: what does your website have to offer that makes you stand out from the competition? In looking at your site, I don't really see anything here that is much different than many others. You need to offer your customers something that your competitor's don't. Take Amazon, for example. In the beginning, Amazon pretty much just sold books online. However, they set up a system where they could find just about any book you were interested in. They set up agreements with other booksellers to make their stock available through Amazon. So, if you were looking for a book and it wasn't in Amazon's inventory, they would find it through one of their "associates" and it would still appear to you as though you bought it from Amazon. Would it be possible for you to follow this model? Good luck, -DarkDreams

Evanesce -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 3:52:23 PM)
Well, the Amazon model doesn't work with the way my shop is currently structured. I would have to do a major overhaul and move it elsewhere in order to do what Amazon does, and I simply don't have the resources for that. My biggest problem is traffic. When only a half dozen or so people manage to find my shop and actually look around, it's nearly impossible to make a sale. Yet, when I have my merchandise available in person, it sells fairly well. As far as what I offer my customers... it's quality. Everything in my shop is made by hand - by me - and almost every piece is a one-of-a-kind original. I'm extremely picky about my work, and if I'm not satisfied with a piece, it's not going up for sale. The feedback I've gotten from buyers says they're very happy with their purchases. I'm just trying to get more buyers into the store. I'm registered with two "pay-per-click" search engines (Yahoo and Google), and I've actually seen my ad come up on a random search, so I know it's there.

PlayfulOne -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 5:04:47 PM)
What keywords are you using for your ads? Are they coming up to the right people? How effective is your ad? What is the rate of clicks per impression? What can you do once the people are there to make them want to buy? Now my personal opinion as someone who has produced commercials, written copy, executive producer for a national infomercial, for many years, its pretty boring. Better copy, better pics, and a few other things might help people buy. If your ad is not written any better I can see why you may be getting no clicks. Youi need to get the enthusiasim you use in person into your copy. K

Griswold -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 7:54:58 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Evanesce I have a little Internet shop (see link below my signature), and I advertise that little Internet shop via Google adwords, along with having the link attached to my signature for every email I send out. The link has actually gotten me a couple sales that I know of (from CM, even!), and I know Google has gotten me some traffic, but sales have been non-existant since the beginning of May! My question is this: What are some other ways of increasing the traffic to my shop? What can I do to get people looking, browsing and buying? Are there any marketing gurus here who can give me a few suggestions? Your link sends me to an innocuous page....certainly not (I hope) yours. Make the link (and the page more) intriguing. Make it something worth talking about. Make sure it is (talked about, that is). JJ

KenDckey -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 7:58:11 PM)
OK this may sound a tad bit odd, but have you considered Joining Toastmasters in your area? It is a great place to network and a lot of business professionals go and you can bring it up in conversation lol and ask for their advice and assistance. Most will be willing to give you some suggestions.

kittinSol -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 8:04:32 PM)
I didn't click on your link purely because of deeply-routed personal reasons about doing so. Thank you SO MUCH for asking, though :-)

slaveish -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 10:00:44 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Evanesce My question is this: What are some other ways of increasing the traffic to my shop? What can I do to get people looking, browsing and buying? Are there any marketing gurus here who can give me a few suggestions? Right up my alley - I'm in sales too, although of a different sort. Keep in touch with past customers - hand-written notes, little "gimme" presents, phone calls to your targeted market, (yeah, it's not fun, but it's necessary and god knows you will need to sign up for the do-not call list and its updates), regular direct mail to your target market (on a brightly colored postcard - they might not open an envelope and they might toss away a postcard, but they will at least SEE your logo / pic and remember you) and ASK for business. People love to help. Do demos, classes, freebies, set up stands at events, read read read and learn learn learn. I recommed "Thinkertoys" and "The Little Red Book of Selling". Ask a college if their marketing students would intern for you. Lots of ideas.

Evanesce -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 10:37:44 PM)
quote: Now my personal opinion as someone who has produced commercials, written copy, executive producer for a national infomercial, for many years, its pretty boring. Better copy, better pics, and a few other things might help people buy. If your ad is not written any better I can see why you may be getting no clicks. What's boring? My shop info? It says what it needs to say. Unfortunately, things like sales tax and shipping options just aren't all that exciting. How would you do it differently? And what's wrong with my pics? As far as the ad goes... they're both limited to less than 100 characters. I find it somewhat difficult to describe what I do in 100 characters or less, so the ads look pretty much like every other ad you see on Google or Yahoo searches. That, in itself, is a problem, because it just doesn't stand out. to slavish: Thank you for the suggestions. I'd never heard of either of those books, but will certainly pick up at least one of them. I need all the marketing help I can get! My merchandise is terrific, but if no one is looking, it's not doing me much good. I do have a craft fair lined up for September, and I'm hoping it goes well.

Evanesce -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 10:44:11 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: kittinSol I didn't click on your link purely because of deeply-routed personal reasons about doing so. Thank you SO MUCH for asking, though :-) Is there a reason you felt it necessary to make this announcement? I never asked you to click on my link. So click or don't click, as you prefer. If there were no link at all, the original question I posed would have been the same.

DarkDreams123 -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/2/2007 11:55:05 PM)
Hi Evanesce, I just did a Google search for "handmade jewelry". Your site did not show up in the first twenty pages (I didn't look further). If you want to get some traffic, you are going to have to show up sooner. What about a "sponsored link": the results that show up on the right-hand side of the Google results window. Have you checked in to how much it would cost to have your site listed there? By the way, three of your competitors also hosted on etsy.com showed up in the first 20 pages of results. I don't know exactly how the Google search engine prioritizes its results, but I do know that it has something to do with the number of other websites that have links to yours. Do you have friends with other websites that would be willing to put in a link to yours? You should also have some key words on your web page that will be indexed by a search engine. Put them in an invisible font so they don't show. I'm not a web designer, but you should contact one. I'm sure they have some more "tricks" to get the search engines to find your page. One other point. Visit Amazon.com and look at their Jewelry "store". Notice how the pictures of the items are nice and big. Also notice that once you begin browsing items, the items show up right at the top of the web page: there isn't a lot of "clutter" getting in the way of the customer seeing your stock. On your web page, you keep displaying a "Notice" to your customers: even after they have clicked on links to browse your stock. This is not as inviting as the way Amazon does it. Learn from your competitors. Steal whatever ideas you can! Good luck, -DarkDreams

SubinMaine -> RE: Marketing/Business Advice Needed (7/3/2007 5:07:10 AM)
Just a quick note... From my experience (yes, i run auctions and have a store on Ebay as well), the summer months (starts around May) are supremely slow for sales. Most everyone is out and about enjoying nice weather while it's here. Ebay has a forum for "Sellers" that you can visit...if you're not a member, you're limited to 10 posts per day, but the sellers on that board will give you some great advice for weathering the drought that summer inevitably brings. Slavish has some excellent ideas...if you have repeat customers, small things like "gimme" gifts or even discounting shipping prices (which have skyrocketed since May 14th) may bring them around more often, thus increasing your chances at a sale... Best of luck with your business, by the way smile

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