Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Anything you do to draw traffic to your site is going to cost you -- in time and/or money. So you need to be sure your business plan makes sense before you jump in.

You should probably learn all you can about Google AdWords for starters. Figure out what keywords will make most sense for you; then see what it will cost to get decent placement for your ad with those keywords.

At the same time, you'll need to figure out what a site visitor is worth to you. For example, if you convert 10% of the visitors to your site, and the average profit from a conversion is $50, then you should be willing to spend up to $5 to get a click-through.

Of course, you will need a great landing path to get a 10% conversion, but you get the idea of how the calculation will go.

As for designing your site, you probably need a professional to set things up. It's not just a matter of having good graphics and copy. You also need to be sure your site is search-engine friendly, easy to navigate, etc. You CAN do it yourself, of course, but the chances you'll get everything right the first time are slim, and it will cost you more in lost sales/conversions than the amount you save by not having to pay a professional.

Note that even professionals will need a few iterations to get everything working properly, and even then there's always room for improvement. That's why the most successful sites are constantly testing and measuring all the variables, then testing again.

The two things that sink most new businesses are (1) not having enough money going-in, and (2) not understanding what it will take from a marketing standpoint to generate awareness and site/store visits. The way to make sure you're not a victim before you even begin is to create solid business and marketing plans. It sounds like a lot of work, but it can make all the difference in the world when it comes to ensuring that you're on the path to success instead of failure.

The people who will be clients for your website are probably not the same as would visit your retail store. So in effect, you're creating two businesses (perhaps with 2 different names/demographics).

The easiest way to create a client base is to find people who are searching for something (and willing to pay for it), but not finding what they're looking for; an underserved population. This may mean not making your website full-service - you might want to focus on a narrow niche, understand it well, and communicate with this group in their language. Once you've started the communication, finding out where they congregate (perhaps they read a common newsletter/blog, etc.) will speed things along, especially if you have a story worth passing around about your offering (not just something for sale).

You can try selling some items on Ebay. This may get your name out there. If people order be sure to send them info on how to find your store.

There are many companies that use Ebay to get their name out there.

Mike

Get the book Mining Online Gold with an Offline Shovel https://www.miningonlinegold.com. Its probably in your library and is available used in places like amazon or alibris. It'll give you some guerrilla marketing tactics for marketing your site, tactics that are low or no cost. You would market it just as a bricks and mortar location. Except you're sending them to your e-local.

I was at the grocery store and a woman came over and handed me her card-- a beautiful card -- she's a jewelry designer. She could tell by the jewelry I had on I'd be a prospect for her. As someone who coaches people on this kind of stuff I was impressed-- kept her card with the intent to dial up her website. BUT she didn't have one! So get this duck in row!

Places like godaddy are very inexpensive hosting and have some great tools to work with. My daughter built mine (I have 3), and zips thru it. Building sites is one of the ways she carries herself thru college.

Actually I would suggest you do some farmers markets, french markets, craft shows etc to build demand. There you give out cards and tell them about your website.

There are some good DIY web builder sites (https://wbb.riveroffers.com/?crid=92081) and even register.com has a completely free one....you just have to accept advertising banners on your site....which may or may not bother you (no adult sites, so don't worry)

There are traffic exchanges (trafficswarm.com) if you just want to get some hits. We did that for a few clients and actually got some business from it.

Michael