Where to go next...

[mark27uk3]

Hi Guys,

 

I have been promoting my site for the last couple of months in the usual ways, backlinks, directory listings etc.. but have not actually paid for any advertising.

 

I have a feed on froogle uk (good response) and a months trial on kelkoo (with no response as yet).

 

I am averaging between 80 to 100 unique visitors a day with 3 to 4 orders a day (whatever percentage that works out at!)

 

This is my link popularity so far according to the contribution I installed.

 

AlltheWeb 23

AltaVista 351

Google 82

HotBot 23

MSN Search 29

Yahoo! 357

Total 865

 

Now what I really need ideas on is where to go next, is the only option paying for my advertising ie Google Adwords, Overture etc or is there anything else I can try (for free!) before handing over my hardearned dosh.

 

Are there any secrets out there that people use and dont like sharing or am I going about things in the right way and just have to be more patient.

 

Any info would be great.

 

Regards

 

Mark

[boxtel]

Hi Guys,

 

I have been promoting my site for the last couple of months in the usual ways, backlinks, directory listings etc.. but have not actually paid for any advertising.

 

I have a feed on froogle uk (good response)  and a months trial on kelkoo (with no response as yet).

 

I am averaging between 80 to 100 unique visitors a day with 3 to 4 orders a day (whatever percentage that works out at!)

 

This is my link popularity so far according to the contribution I installed.

 

AlltheWeb 23

AltaVista 351

Google          82

HotBot          23

MSN Search  29

Yahoo!        357

Total          865

 

Now what I really need ideas on is where to go next, is the only option paying for my advertising ie Google Adwords, Overture etc or is there anything else I can try (for free!) before handing over my hardearned dosh.

 

Are there any secrets out there that people use and dont like sharing or am I going about things in the right way and just have to be more patient.

 

Any info would be great.

 

Regards

 

Mark

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

well, with that number of unique visitors a day, I suggest you pad yourself on the back and get a beer.

[mark27uk3]

Cheers boxtel,

 

It has taken alot of red wine and arguments with her indoors to get where I am at the minute.

 

The thing is I have people on my site during most of the day but only in 1's or 2's and when I look at competitors sites some have 30-40 people on at a time.

 

I just need to boost my traffic (and hopefully get more sales in the process).

 

Mark

[♥bruyndoncx]

Mark,

Why don't you show your site in your card ?

Isn't osCommerce pagerank good enough ?

 

Carine

[mark27uk3]

Carine,

 

My site has had about 10 re-incarnations since it first launched and I ended back up with just about a stock layout with some colour changes.

 

This is my site, please take a look .

Mark

[♥bruyndoncx]

As you said just some small colour changes, but I think it works out nicely.

 

Just noticed error on http://www.24-7mobileaccessories.co.uk/about_us.php

in the email adres

 

and I would change the links in your product listing to avoid the blue as it really stands out compared to the rest

[mark27uk3]

Carine,

 

I must have missed that typo on the about us page, will you post the link to where there is 'blue' in the product listing as this i have not seen.

 

Are you talking about the blue 'read more' link in the featured product box?

 

Mark

[♥bruyndoncx]

just the links in the result pages section

http://www.24-7mobileaccessories.co.uk/index.php?cPath=49_23

 

It's not a biggy, also one of the things I need to change, I personally would like littleboxes around each of the page numbers, haven't come round to program that yet.

[mark27uk3]

Carine,

 

Any ideas on my original post on how to move forward?

 

Mark

[♥bruyndoncx]

1) your conversion rate is pretty good

2) what's your current market ? increase it .. why not sell into europe ?

3) get higher valued items, increase sales/customer

[mark27uk3]

Carine,

 

I am going to expand into europe once I can sort out the shipping costs.

 

I am going to be adding sim free mobile phones and Pay-As-You-Go phones as soon as I get all the accessories loaded (and theres flippin loads).

 

I will then hopefully try and tap into the contract market.

 

Mark

[mark27uk3]

I would like to hear some comments on what forms of advertising uk osc shop owners do to promote their store either paid or unpaid.

 

Thanks

 

Mark :thumbsup:

[Malawi]

If you have many visitors that put stuff in the basket, but don't continue to checkout, you may try something like this http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,355 as customers may hesitate on creating an account, fearing spam etc.

[mark27uk3]

Hi Trygve,

 

I already use the pwa contrib, what I am after is what marketing methods provide the best ROI.

 

Mark

[Romko]

I think that your domain is to long and having a "-" in the domain is also bad. People are less likely to remember "-" and long domains. You should have started out with a smaller domain, i think the only way you are geting orders is from other links, because it would be hard to remember that domain name. Stick with something small. I don't know any big companies that have a huge domain name ;).

[Romko]

one more thing, try selling on ebay and then having link or banner on your listings. Or, you can sell and then tell the customers if they buy from store they get like 5% discount (or whatever)

 

Good luck :D

 

Geting a site started can be very hard, and lots of sites fail

[mark27uk3]

Hi Roman,

 

I thought it was against ebay policy to have a link to your website in your listings.

 

As far as sales so far go, I am getting most of my sales through hits on google and froogle.

 

Mark

[cmbyrne]

Hi Roman,

 

I thought it was against ebay policy to have a link to your website in your listings.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

it is, but you can create an "about me" page and put it there. Then in the listings you can put a link to that page and say you have your website posted there.

 

Christina

[Guest]

Yeah the Ebay thing is a good idea i tried it and got a lot of traffic and a lot of buying customers as the traffic is people who are used to buying online and are looking to spend some money. For the ?1 ($ for you) it costs to put an add on Ebay for 10 days it is worth it. I would just put a link on the listing as many people seem to do that no problems, the worst that can happen is that they will remove the listing after a few days and give you your money back, so you got a couple of days free advertising and hopefully some sales. Plus if you put the link on your listing you will be able to check your webstats to see which adverts gave you a good return.

 

As for other free stuff i got a ?50 voucher for google adwords through the post. Might be worth having a look on the internet see if they are doing any deals or anything. Adwords worked very well by the way and it may be worth shelling out a few dollars to get a campaign going.

 

Also dmoz.org, get listed there if you are not already as this is a very important directory and it is free. Only problem is that because it is run by volunteers it can take a while to get listed. I have been trying to get my site listed for a while with no luck. You might get lucky, but it is worth kepping trying every couple of weeks.

 

If anybody got any other ideas especially for the UK and free or cheap i would like to hear.

 

Cheers

Mike

[mark27uk3]

Hi Mike,

 

I used to sell on ebay and then started getting a bit pi@*ed off with forking out 300 quid a month in listing fees (I did have a lot of products).

 

Now I might try them again and with certain products just to get some traffic to the site.

 

I have been in dmoz for ages (got listed very very quickly) and I am also present in zeal if that makes any difference.

 

My link popularity is growing stronger day by day and I am getting some good sales through froogle uk.

 

I am thinking about trying google adwords but can never come to a discision on what keywords to use (if anyone can help on that).

 

Are banner exchange programs worth trying, or are they a waste of time?

 

Can anyone tell me the best piece of software for creating some banners as I am a bit lame in the graphics department!

 

Also one last thing if anyone would like to swap links then please pm me .

 

Mark

[Guest]

For adwords there is a tool for selecting keywords, i think you need to sign up first, also look through your own web stats and perhaps use some of the ones that people are finding your site with already. If yoyu have a popular product you could perhaps base a campagin around that and see how it goes. Also overture has a keyword tool you can use without signing up first. Probably start with a particular product and find all the keyword for that product and link the ad directly to the product on your site. Or do a more genarall thing for categories on your site.

[yandus]

Hi Mike,

 

I used to sell on ebay and then started getting a bit pi@*ed off with forking out 300 quid a month in listing fees (I did have a lot of products).

 

Now I might try them again and with certain products just to get some traffic to the site.

 

I have been in dmoz for ages (got listed very very quickly) and I am also present in zeal if that makes any difference.

 

My link popularity is growing stronger day by day and I am getting some good sales through froogle uk.

 

I am thinking about trying google adwords but can never come to a discision on what keywords to use (if anyone can help on that).

 

Are banner exchange programs worth trying, or are they a waste of time?

 

Can anyone tell me the best piece of software for creating some banners as I am a bit lame in the graphics department!

 

Also one last thing if anyone would like to swap links then please pm me .

 

Mark

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hi Mark

 

(Excuse me for my bad english)

 

I just came across this topic since I am new to Osc. I couldn't help noticing that even do I live in Holland we are having a lot of common point. Also I had gone thru this ebay thing and got P*sd by the high bills and stopped.

 

That was my old website (gone thru many many changes too). I have also been on your website and I liked your layout.

After reading this thread I think I really should go back to Ebay because what you all wrote here made me realise that ebay was providing me a lot of traffic and I was earning far more then (like 5 to 8 orders a day). I have just started 2 weeks back modding osc especially for search engines. I had a lot of trouble with the contributions but it all got wel almost. At the moment I am battling the Kelkoo contribution.

I would like to hear your point of view about ebay.

-Did you after going back again noticed serious changes in your traffic?

 

Also I like your partner link contribution. Is better than mine I guess (just installed it)

Have a look here.

Please let me know which one you have used.

 

Froogle is not known in Holland, do you think I should get ready for it once it arrives?

The comments about is are nice and why not make use of a traffic generator when it's free?

[yandus]

Hi Mark

 

(Excuse me for my bad english)

 

I just came across this topic since I am new to Osc. I couldn't help noticing that even do I live in Holland we are having a lot of common point.? Also I had gone thru this ebay thing and got P*sd by the high bills and stopped.

 

That was my old website (gone thru many many changes too).? I have also been on your website and I liked your layout.

After reading this thread I think I really should go back to Ebay because what you all wrote here made me realise that ebay was providing me a lot of traffic and I was earning far more then (like 5 to 8 orders a day). I have just started 2 weeks back modding osc especially for search engines. I had a lot of trouble with the contributions but it all got wel almost. At the moment I am battling the Kelkoo contribution.

I would like to hear your point of view about ebay.

-Did you after going back again noticed serious changes in your traffic?

 

Also I like your partner link contribution. Is better than mine I guess (just installed it)

Have a look here

Please let me know which one you have used.

 

Froogle is not known in Holland, do you think I should get ready for it once it arrives?

The comments about is are nice and why not make use of a traffic generator when it's free?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

changed my contribution already...

[bigojuk]

Hi Mike,

 

I used to sell on ebay and then started getting a bit pi@*ed off with forking out 300 quid a month in listing fees (I did have a lot of products).

 

Now I might try them again and with certain products just to get some traffic to the site.

 

I have been in dmoz for ages (got listed very very quickly) and I am also present in zeal if that makes any difference.

 

My link popularity is growing stronger day by day and I am getting some good sales through froogle uk.

 

I am thinking about trying google adwords but can never come to a discision on what keywords to use (if anyone can help on that).

 

Are banner exchange programs worth trying, or are they a waste of time?

 

Can anyone tell me the best piece of software for creating some banners as I am a bit lame in the graphics department!

 

Also one last thing if anyone would like to swap links then please pm me .

 

Mark

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'd be interested in swopping links. Anything I can do to generate some extra traffic FOC is good with me...

[mark27uk3]

I'd be interested in swopping links. Anything I can do to generate some extra traffic FOC is good with me...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Just follow the link in my card and then click link partners on my site and add your info, I will approve it as soon as I see a back link on your site.

 

Mark