whats the best way to promote an online store. I have a low budget and am not sure wheres the place 2 put my $
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Getting more visitors is one thing; and turning those visitors into buyers is another thing. If you are running an online store, you need to do BOTH.\n\nTo get visitors to your website:\n\n1. Offer the best products. Sounds like a no-brainer, but your products are your best advertisement - if visitors love your products, then they will go back and spread the word to others.\n\n2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important -- and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. \n\n3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.\n\n4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News. Some sites that accept free press releases are PRWeb.com, PowerHomeBiz.com \n\n5. Advertise only if it will get you targeted traffic. Whether you use pay per click advertising or buying text links or buying banner ads, carefully monitor your return on investment. If possible, get metrics to tell you whether the PPC traffic is actually converting into sale. Google Analytics can show that to you if you are using Google Adwords.\n\nWith regards to getting the visitors to buy more stuff, here are some tips from the article "10 Ways to Convert Visitors to Buyers" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/072005/conversion.htm :\n\n1. Provide quality products or content. Good conversion rates start with quality and a great value proposition.\n\n2. Grab their attention immediately. Put your most important and succinct statement of what your website offer above the scroll (e.g. sales pitch, order button)\n\n3. It’s about the customer, all the time. Visitors will respond to your offer only if you can successfully make the case that your website exists for them, to provide them what they need and offer a solution to their problem. \n\n4. Design your page specifically for your target audience. \n\n5. Make it easy for them. Make the ordering process easy. An indicator of how well your process works is the ratio of abandoned shopping baskets to total orders – if this is higher than 10 percent, then it indicates that the online ordering process you have implemented is ineffective, or takes too long. \n\n6. Improve your site's copy. More than a tool to inform users of what the site is all about, the best type of web site copy explains to a visitor how your product will fulfill their wants, needs and desires. \n\n7. Think active! Use active voice to keep your customers motivated and fully engaged in the sales process. \n\n8. Increase trust factor. Trust is a key element of success on the Web. Visitors purchase only from websites they know will safeguard their information, provide them with quality service, and offer them products that are value for their money. \n\n9. Build customer loyalty. Loyalty marketing is a proven technique to increase conversion rates and improving bottom line.\n10. Study your metrics carefully. You must have a set of key performance indicators that you can look at every day to understand the pulse of your business.
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I would suggest that you stick to e-bay. More people visit there and you have a higher chance of getting your stuff sold than on etsy.
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Post a link to your site for free where it is allowed (always read the Terms of Use). Examples are:\n\nCraigslist http://www.craigslist.com\nGoogle Base http://base.google.com\nClassifieds for Free http://www.classifiedsforfree.com/...\nText Link Exchange http://www.txtswap.com/\nRecycler.com http://www.recycler.com/\nYahoo Classifieds http://classifieds.yahoo.com/\nUS Free Ads http://www.usfreeads.com/\n\n"If you build it, they will come" is not necessarily true on the Web. Putting a website up is one thing, but getting visitors to come to your site is another. The process becomes even more difficult if you have limited resources to market your business.\n\nHere are some shoestring marketing ideas that can help you get the visitors you need at the least cost possible: \n\n1. Create the best content you can with the best products you can possibly offer. Your content is your best advertisement - if visitors love your content, then they will go back and spread the word to others.\n\n2. Make it easy for users to recommend your site. Viral marketing is very important -- and easy to tap on the Web. But give your users the tools. Get a Recommend this Site script from websites such as cgiscripts.com and similar directories of scripts. Some even go as far as giving incentives to those who recommend the site to their friends. If only 10 people go to your site, but these 10 people invite 10 more - that's additional traffic that you get for FREE!\n\nRecommend Site Scripts (various) http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/\nBig Nose Bird Recommend this Site http://bignosebird.com/carchive/birdcast.shtml \nCGI Resource Index http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Website_Promotion/Recommend_Site/\nHostscripts http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Site_Recommendation/index.html\n\n3. Rank well in the search engines (organic search results, not the pay per click). SEs can be a big source of traffic. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience. Check the on-page factors and be sure to get linked from authority sites in your topic area.\n\nIf you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com's "Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day." http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm \n\nSEO for Google http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/google.htm\nSEO for Yahoo! http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/yahoo.htm\nSEO for MSN http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/msn.htm\nTying It Together: SEO For The Big Three http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/seo.htm\n\n4. Send out press releases. While outfits charge as much as $650 per release, there are free press release submission places on the Web. Press releases allow you to (a) attract media attention; (b) get more back links to your website without sending each website an email request; and (c) get more visibility especially if your press release gets in Google News or Yahoo News. My website (see my profile) accepts free press release submission (no strings attached!)\n\n5. Submit articles. Write articles and submit them to websites accepting author submissions. You get exposure for your business; establishes you as an authority in your field, and allows you to get backlinks for your website. If 50 websites publish your article and it contains a link back to your website, then you easily get 50 links from a single article. The more links you have, the greater your chances for increasing your search engine rankings.\n\nHere is a comprehensive list of where to submit your articles http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=AhzreGmnCUicOoyedqypscUjzKIX?qid=1006022407481
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In my opinion, and experience, the best small business to launch is an online business. Create websites about topics of internest to you, then put on PPC ads from servers like Yahoo Publishers Network or Adsense. You will be paid for each click, when visitors come to the site, see ads of interest to them, and click the ads. The best things about this business is the initial investment is very low. You have no inventory to stock,no orders to fill, no customers to contend with, no shoplifting, no breakage, no back breaking boxes to lift, no employees to hire, no rush hour traffic, and no credit card fraud. You are looking at monthly hosting fees of $20 or less, you design in, so there is no design fee. We are making over $4000 a month just in the PPC revenue, plus we sell ads to other business directly. We work from home, set our own hours, and just wait each month for the check from Adsense or YPN to arrive. It doesn't get any easier, or any more flexible.
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you have to visulise or research what is that your customers wants to know about on the internet & put that on the webpage. \nanother way would be based on your objective of opening up the site. let say you only want to give info about services offered by you then put that or you reason is to get customers to your joint then put promotional items on that.\n\nbye & best of luck
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That's a very good question. My wife started our ebay business four and a half years ago. She pulled some of our sons' clothes out of the closet and thought she'd try selling them on ebay. The clothes were in perfect condition, by the way.\n\nI didn't think much of it at the time, but when I saw that my wife was working so hard, I decided to hop in there and help her. The number one thing that filled my mind was the question you're basically asking right here: How can I promote my wife on the Internet - as a whole - and get people from everywhere - not just ebay - to come to her store?\n\nSince I'm a web designer, I already knew we needed to get our hands and feet stretched out there as far as we could on the Web. I already owned MrWebAuthor.com and my wife was going by MrsWebAuthor on her ebay, so we merged our online endeavors and created MrMrsWebAuthor.com. We now own a few different domains, we don't have any paid advertising on any of them, however, every page offers a link either directly or indirectly to my wife's ebay auctions or store.\n\nNow that we're both in all the main search engines (Yahoo, MSN, Google, etc), thousands of people show up at our sites looking for more than just ebay; even though, many of them arrive just for the ebay, too.\n\nI've said all that to say this: Promote yourself OUTSIDE of ebay and folks will come to your store from all directions. Consider this scenario, if you will. How many hundreds of thousands of people visit ebay by initially going through the portal of ebay.com? How many sellers do you think there are within the framework of ebay alone? Lots! Lots! and more Lots!\n\nIf a person thinks they can capture a large market by ONLY capturing the people who are already "inside" ebay, they're cheating themselves of the ever-growing market on the World Wide Web as a whole. My suggestion is that you promote yourself out on the Internet, not as an ebay seller, but rather as an authority at whatever you're proficient at doing.\n\nExample: Let's say you sell fishing stuff on ebay because fishing is your passion. Don't just try and promote your fishing ebay store in and throughout the Internet, but rather write articles in newsgroups, on forums, on your blogs, and even build a website that teaches people how to fish and how to catch those proverbial "big ones".\n\nIf you know how to build your own site, purchase a domain that matches your business, such as HowToFish.com, and make that domain name the name of your business. Then, when people visit your sites and blogs to learn more about fishing, they'll see links to your ebay merchandise and click on them -- if not for anything more than sheer curiosity.\n\nAll of this sounds easy, but in reality it's a lot of HARD work and requires countless hours of your time. But, if you're willing to invest in your business, trust me, it will pay off. Here we are, almost five short years later, and we're shipping product worldwide on a daily basis. It worked for us, and if you have what it takes (and I'm believing you do), it can work for you as well.
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Below is my answer to a question posted last week. Hope it helps:\n\nIf you have an idea and simply need a free website then you can use freewebs.com for a free website to showcase your idea. If you need a business idea that can be started with no money perhaps you can start a Blog which is also is free) and make it about something you enjoy, then when you get enough people visiting your blog every week you can start charging for advertisers that tie in with your topic. An example would be if you like to read you can start a blog for book reviews. After you get interest going you can charge for advertising from local book stores, local and national publishing houses and that sort. Or if you are interested in decorating on a budget you do the same thing would apply, but instead your advertisers may be, textile houses, and local furniture shops and if it was fashion then local dress shops and modeling agencies.\n\nNow if you arent interested in writing then I suggest that you go to a website like business owners idea cafe, check on their forum and go to "start ups" there you can read about other home business owners and also post a request for unique items (a lot of them hand make and design their own wares) you can work out a sort of consignment agreement where they send you photos of their products and you post them on your site and you split the profit.\n\nIf not, you can still use the consignment idea locally for friends and family, print up some flyers on your computer and post them advertising yourself as a consignment "shop". Then you can either sell the things on ebay and take a percentage or have a day where your apartment/home becomes a sort of "flea market" and tag everything, move you furniture to another room, and have some tea and coffee available and let people browse and shop your items. Then when you have a few dollars under your belt you can expand and rent a tabel or booth at local flea markets, since that is a way to get a lot more foot traffic with little to no advertising having to be done by you.(this idea can also be used for local artists and sculptors, you can turn your place into an "Art Gallery" a couple of nights a month and sell their works of art and take a commission, you can also showcase their art on your website) \n\n"pretty in the city" is an example of a blog that I love, I read her books as well.\n\nGood luck on your future venture.
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Offer something for free or run some sort of contest.  It will get picked up on contest/free stuff websites and will drive alot of traffic your way.  Doesn't have to be expensive..a 20 dollar amazon GC would do just fine.\n\nGood Luck!!
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if the site is for a small business you should check out http://www.merchantcircle.com\n\nTheir whole purpose is to empower the "little guy".  They offer tools to help grow your business and send traffic your way.\n\ncheck them out.  They're new and free so it's not going to hurt.
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I have a GREAT idea.  What you do, is you post a question like "why is no one buying our products?" on a place like "Yahoo Answers" and then when someone opens your question, post the URL of your website so that the schmucks who who see it will go to it and buy your product....  (Oh wait, you've already tried that.....)
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If you have the money, you can pay Yahoo or Google to put links on search pages for words like Hand crafted jewelry. You might like to look into webrings to increase your traffic as well. Watch out for sites that offer to list your store for free or in exchange for a link on your page, many are just scams to get a valid e-mail address to sell to spammers. See if your local chamber of commerce operates a website with member links. To increase your search engine position, make sure you have content in addition to merchandise on your site. For example a page with detailed descriptions of how you hand craft your jewelry that uses keywords liberally in the text will rank higher than a site that just shows the merchandise.\nIf you are located in Arizona, I will give you a link on my website if you meet criteria for a listing.
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start with a free site(geocities,freewebs, anglefire or lycos) or through paypal shopping or even ebay... but remember there are many of those same companies out there.. so hopefully you have something different and special to offer or you may get un-noticed.
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What kind of business is this?\nMy first suggestion would be to get some business cards. You can make these on your computer, if you don't have a lot of money. If you don't know how, you can get free business cards at www.vistaprint.com, you just pay for shipping. Pass them out to EVERYONE you meet- cashiers, bank tellers, waiters and waitresses, etc. Write a percentage off or special offer on the card, so it is like giving them a gift.\n\n TALK TALK TALK about your business. Do any free advertising you can. Maybe make a MySpace website for your business.
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You can make money off your article directory site with Google Adsense or any other contextual advertising service. You place ads on your site and you earn money every time a visitor clicks.\n\nHow to promote it: Write your own articles and submit it to other article directories. If you write one article, and submit to and get accepted into 1,000 article directories, you get 1,000 inbound links. If you need a list of article directories, here's one on my site:\n\nhttp://www.articledigger.com/article-directories.aspx
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You need to have a website that is worth linking to.  Your site should sell itself.  If it doesn't, make a better product.
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I would do a Yahoo store, and pay for Yahoo advertising, to get the word out that you exist.\n\nThey are CHEAPER than an Ebay store, and your site will look more professional!\n\nHere is the link:\nhttp://smallbusiness.yahoo.com
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I found a great resource on how to start your own comic bookstore, including where to get distribution agreements to be able to sell DC, Marvel and other comic titles. This site also discusses the discounts you can get from the dealers based on your volume, and other very helpful information.\n\nhttp://www.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/Tiltingv2_7.htm\n\nOne of the places where you can purchase your inventory is \nDiamond Comics Distributor http://retailer.diamondcomics.com/newaccts/customer.htm\n\nYou have the option of starting your own e-storefront with your own domain or using marketplaces such as eBay.\n\nOne article that I found very useful is "7 Steps to Successful Web Site Development" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol142/website.htm as it takes to you all the decision steps that you need to take when starting an online business. Like any other business, startup period is full of "should I do this" or "should I do that" questions. The article is useful because it helps you think through every step of the way - from why do you want a website to who is your audience to how will you create your website to how you will market your new website.\n\nHere are the steps you need to take when creating your online business:\n\nSTEP 1: Set Your Goals - Why do you want a web site? What is the size of the online market? What are the goals for your website?\n\nSTEP 2: Develop Your Web Site Strategy - Who is your website target audience? What typically appeals to your target audience? How are the other websites (your competition) reaching out to this target audience? How will you measure your performance?\n\nSTEP 3: Set-Up Implementation Plans - What name will you give to your site? How do you envision the design of your web site? How will you create your website? How will you create your content? How will you maintain your website?\n\nSTEP 4: Start the Ball Rolling - Do you have a logo? For e-retailers, do you have the critical components needed to run an e-commerce site? How are you going to host your site?\n\nSTEP 5: Create and Launch Your Web Site - Have you uploaded your site with your chosen web host provider? Are the scripts and application you need for your website functioning well? Have you tested your website? \n\nSTEP 6: Promote Your Web Site and Measure Its Results - Do you have a plan in place to market your website? Do you regularly review your traffic logs and web site performance tracker? How are you going to get sites to link to you? Do you know the search engine keywords that you rank well? If your site is not visible in the search engine results pages for its keywords, what strategies do you intend to do? \n\nSTEP 7: Maintain Your Website and Grow Your Web Business - Continue to find ways to grow your web business. How do you intend to continue your education on web development?