people say ' do what you love, love what you do' and that's exactly i am trying to do here, i have made a site with the products I know well, personally know the makers of the products, all are hand made and also had conversation with the FedEx guys for shipping options. But with my very limited budget and reach, can somebody tell me how i can make it successful ? How to see the first dot in my sales graph ? I have tried joint venture options, people are readily interested to invest in affiliate marketing but less interested in physical product selling as they involve lot of time and not instant on giving high profits ! So, now I have the site set up, some products added and ready to begin, but can anybody point me to the right direction, light up the torch ?
Okey I have made an eCommerce site, what now ?
- Thread starter arghya139
- Start date
OP since you took the effort to write a decent question, I'll jump in… Well, hopefully before jumping in you did enough Market Research to make sure your niche is profitable and you styled your website in a big brand manner so you can pass not only manual reviews but create trust and convey the right message to your visitors. Now it's time for some traffic. I touch on this subject briefly in getting traffic in difficult niches, but I want to give a quick refresher.
Basically it is time to start marketing. As long as you treat your business like a real business you're moving in the right direction.
Traffic
What you need now is that elusive thing we call "traffic". The ONLY way to get traffic online is to get it from a traffic source - that's it. So after completing the market research phase, you should be able to brainstorm ideas on where your target market "resides" online. What websites they like visiting, what are their tastes, and what's the perfect angle for each different demo.
Advertising
PPC (pay per click), and display advertising are the big boys here. Google Adwords is the dominant player in most niches. You can go the traditional route of going to different niche display networks or media buying opportunities to get in this. Another approach is to find blogs, forums, or websites in your niche and go directly to them to strike a deal to run ads on their website. You never know who will say yes. Usually these relationships develop to be closer business relationships and you can even sign them up as an affiliate so they get a percentage of sales from their traffic sources. I know some people even go to different Facebook Fan pages and pay the Admin $X amount of dollars to post on their Facebook page. Get creative, it's the same techniques just re-mixed.
Organic
Organic traffic is "FREE" traffic from the search engines. The reason I say "FREE" instead of free, is because most SEOers don't take the time to consider the effort it takes to get this type of traffic as a cost. The tried and true methods of creating quality content - images, videos, and textual content are one of the biggest factors of converting visitors into customers. Search Engines are moving towards more quality in this arena, so make sure not to skimp on wording. Make sure to A/B split test everything you do, content, images, videos, CTA (Call To Action) to constantly improve your conversions (traffic that converts into a sale).
Social Media is one aspect of this type of traffic - Facebook, Twitter, Myspace (just kidding), and Pinterest are all the hot raves. I remember a while back someone create a "hot trends" of websites that are moving in Alexa. It allowed people to see what websites are becoming hotter by moving close to 1 (Alexa 1 is the highest trafficked website on the site - Facebook.com at the moment is #1) meaning they are exploding virally - which usually signals a virgin new communication channel
Forums, blogs, and communities that are in-line with your target audience are also a place to go to engage and create dialog. You can get great ideas from these places for your own on-site content as well. If I were targeting internet marketers with my blog I'd come to a marketing forum, browse the newbie section or hot topics and go back to my blog and write an article on it. Then create links (backlinks) from traffic sources that will get that blog entry notice. You can create these links from other traffic sources to your product page for example - just have to get creative.
Affiliate
Creating an affiliate program for your website is another great method of getting traffic. For this, you'll have to trade off a percentage of your sales but it'll be worth knowing that you have an army out there sending you traffic in exchange for them getting paid. A/B split testing and maximizing the conversions on your website is more critical here than ever. It will allow you to recruit affiliates easier when you can say with confidence I've got 5% conversions on landing page A with social media traffic. With PPC I see 20% conversions with these type of keywords. With organic I'm seeing 8% conversions going to landing page W.
App (Mobile)
This is the newest beast in the space but essentially the techniques are the same. Helps your targeted audience do something easier, grow your customer base and target them with Permission Based Marketing efforts to create more effective sales funnels for your business.
Offline Traffic
Possibily one of the most overlooked channels for most online marketers, driving traffic online is not as difficult as it sounds. It requires the same creativity that small to large corporations use to get in front of their targeted audience. For example, If you have an older audience advertising your website in the yellow pages might be a way to go. Even direct mail make sense in certain niches. The possibilities are truly endless if you decided to go the un-traditional routes. Another example, Payday Loans are pretty hot. Why not take advertisement out in all the "low income" neighborhood's church bulletins? If you are targeting the hispanic market with payday loans - does your program have a spanish version of everything? Can you sponsor one of their events or a celebration? Think about where your target audience resides, what they do, their hobbies (going to church), and figure out a way to engage them there - if appropriate.
Conclusion
There are hundreds of ways to get traffic sources from millions of channels on the internet. It's going to be about not only doing what your competition is doing. But also doing it more creatively, doing things your competition has not thought of, and being on the cutting edge to get the advantage in your niche. Good luck bro.
Carry on...
Come on lettuce be cereal its CCarter, you need to read between the lines and one of those lines is my traffic source...
inb4 everyone is putting christian dating ads in church bulletins, and the price of this prime christian real estate goes through the roof.
What do you mean? I answered every single question you had. I even linked to several additional resources that will more than help you get on your way. Oh I get it you were looking for a magical widget that gets sales automatically? Like the fantasy all noobs have when coming online. I just gave you a plethora of ideas on how to start the thought process of generating Traffic - I'm baffled by your response. I can't get more specific, since you aren't very specific with your product. For all I know you could be selling mercury laden dildos to male quakers who are only interested in murdering one of their wives - and if so I'd tell you your problem is in your targeted audience AND your product.
Let me break it down I guess...
Let me break it down I guess...
Off to a good start…
Starting to get a little rocky here… You're going to need Traffic. Assuming you have "limited" budget (no budget), the freer the Traffic, the better the Traffic. You're going to need to use your brain to get creative with your Traffic.
Go to where your targeted audience is online and engaging them there which you can then pull Traffic from (Forums, blog comment, communities, church bulletins). To get your first sale you need your first visitor from Traffic.
They don't trust your ability in getting Traffic. I think you should get some Traffic.
The next step is generating Traffic - That's it. Period. That's the next step.
Sounds like the OP thought it was Angels in The OutField where you wave a magic wand without doing any more and sales will appear. This is not "build it and they will come…". You have to lay the road and bridges to your website. Think of your website like a house that you just built in the middle of a desert. No one has access to that shit. So YOU, yes, that's fucking right you lazy piece of shit, YOU, with your NO MONEY, LIMITED Budget Bullshit, have to build the roads to your house to get the Traffic. You have to build the bridge from major online sources to get Traffic.
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
Carry on…
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
You need Traffic.
Carry on…
ok sorry for giving less info, my site is Handicrafts, Arts & Paintings Store and I am selling Arts and handicrafts related products ...
What part of Get Traffic do you not understand? I gave you 5 different traffic sources you need to look into: Advertising, Organic Traffic (Social Media, Forums, Blogs, Community), Affiliate Traffic, Mobile Apps, Offline. Go to where your targeted audience is and engage them there.
This might be the thread that killed CCarter...
2 parts I didnt understand - Affiliate Traffic, Mobile Apps - how can I get traffic from them ?
....you're asking to be spoon feed. I'll try to be a little more specific but you got to help yourself.
Online Advertising
You pay for ads or buy traffic directly. You test different sources with the goal of lowering your traffic expenses and/or increase the number of sales. you can buy ads on google, bing, fb, amazon, etsy, etc.
Organic
see original post
Affiliate
you give people a commission for sending you traffic which turn to sales. they build traffic for you. you pay them only when that traffic buy your product. you want to search for an affiliate management program.
Offline Traffic
put ads in newspaper, church, colleges, cards, send out mail flyers, door to door, etc
OP, Just do whatever make sense to you. you have something to sell, go find people who want to buy and put your product in front of them. determine what you're good at and go try it.
ccarter, thanks for the posts. :love-smiley-085:
You need traffic to get sales.
for the Traffic, you need to create or outsource articles (start with 5-10 in the 1st-2nd month and dripfeed them through the month) focusing about low-medium keywords about your niche (5-10 keywords) and build some backlinks (social and web 2.0 and high PR) and you will get results for sure.
Take Action!!!
for the Traffic, you need to create or outsource articles (start with 5-10 in the 1st-2nd month and dripfeed them through the month) focusing about low-medium keywords about your niche (5-10 keywords) and build some backlinks (social and web 2.0 and high PR) and you will get results for sure.
Take Action!!!
Hi, Now focus promoting your website. You can use facebook fan page to drive traffic to your site. Update your fan page regularly with promotions, contests, etc. Engage with your customers and always respond to their questions on your fan page. The next thing is to create awareness to your website, you can locally target visitors from your city and state for a start by doing offline advertising. For ecommerce sites, online marketing and customer service are most important. For online marketing, you can engage in Google adwords, SEO, email marketing, affiliate marketing, social media marketing. What you need is a detailed marketing plan. You can select two or more based on your budget and industry. If you don't have such budget, SEO and affiliate marketing may be good choices. 