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jbjwanted
Just Joined
Joined: 30 Mar 2005
Posts: 2
Location: USA
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 Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:16 am Post subject: HELP! Need ideas on how to get traffic to new website... |
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Hi everyone. I would like to ask anyone knowledgeable on how to increase traffic to a new website. To give you a rundown of my situation... I am (mostly) a SAHM with at most 6 total hours devoted to 2 extremely part-time jobs (LOL) and the rest of my time is spent making my crafts & playing with my 2 kids. Anyway, I've been making beaded jewelry since I was pregnant with my (now 8yr old) son. Of course, when I say "beaded jewelry," I'm not just talking about jewelry where I just string a few beads on a piece of thread or anything like that... I do some that can be personalized with names & everything... & they're not 5-minute "jobs," each one can take around 3-6 hours to make, so I know that not everyone is able to do it. I'm sure some can, but I don't personally know anyone myself that would like to do it themselves. Since I was/am always receiving compliments on what I have made, I decided last July that I was going to make my own website to try to have my own online store. I am always trying to update it (little by little) and I have since also started making other items in the form of beaded decorations (like candle holders & that sort of thing) that I will be adding soon to the website.
My problem now is that although I have reached a few "places" through friends & family's word of mouth (and I can find myself on google -- of course I also know what specifically to search to find "me")... I'm not sure what to do now to get more traffic to the site. I have now had my online website since August & I'm not getting the traffic I was hoping for -- it has been very limited. Can anyone help me to figure out what I might be doing wrong??
I would also like to add that I have been paying for a website that I actually "own" as far as that it isn't one of those "free" sites & also that I have my shopping cart set up for checks, money orders, & even credit cards (through my PayPal acct.). I wanted it to look as professional as possible even though I am extremely new at the whole web design aspect of it! Can anyone help me?
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DanPhx
Enthusiast
Joined: 02 Jun 2005
Posts: 21
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 1:49 am Post subject: |
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Hi Jennifer,
are you still here?
I have a few suggestions for your website, but no need to waste time writing them down if you aren't here any more.
Cheers
Dan
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jbjwanted
Just Joined
Joined: 30 Mar 2005
Posts: 2
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:05 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I'm still here. I check in from time to time just to see if anyone has written back. I do hope you can help... I'm getting a bit discouraged.
Jenn
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DanPhx
Enthusiast
Joined: 02 Jun 2005
Posts: 21
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 11:38 am Post subject: |
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| jbjwanted wrote: | Yeah, I'm still here. I check in from time to time just to see if anyone has written back. I do hope you can help... I'm getting a bit discouraged.
Jenn |
Okay. great.
Perfectly natural to get discouraged. As you have learned, "having" a website is a lot different than having a website people will A) find and B) revisit.
Here are some suggestions for you:
1) Take off the hit counter. These were cute for a couple years, but not for a long time. All it says now is, "ALMOST no one is visiting your website"
2) Replace the "last updated" with: Copyright 2004-2005 <your name>
3) The logo picture with the yellow background after you enter the store is squished. Widen it if you can. If that's a standard (or portable) font, I can probably create a new image for you, if you need.
4) The block of text that starts "Welcome to Jennifer's Beaded Paradise. Please " is huge. Way too long. Too difficult to read. Break it up into paragraphs so it doesn't look like I'll need a nap after reading it 
Almost all of that you have there can be handled *after* someone is "sold" on the notion of buying from you.
(notice how I put blank lines between my points - that's so I don't have to *pay* you to read the feedback. hehe )
5) The very first visual, when you enter the shop... has to show BIG thumbnails (at least double, may be triple the size of what you have) without scrolling down. If I walk into a store in the mall and there's a sign with a *paragraph* of text on it, I'm walking right by it to see the goods on display.
EMOTION is the key here. The first visual has make me wonder what it's like to OWN one of these beauties.
Text ain't gonna do it. Need pics.
6) Oh my.. when I do click on an item and then click again to enlarge (too many clicks), the pic is still the same size! That's no good. Need bigger, clearer pics.
7) Gotta show me the product in action if you want me to *FEEL* as if I already own it - so I miss it if I don't. In your case pics of people wearing the product. I have no sense of size of your product as it is.
 Whoops... too much information again.
On the front page, the flag pin is "new in June", on the detail page:
"This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 14 September, 2004."
Neither bit of information matters... and having conflicting info is just worse.
9) I like the "review" and "notify me" features, but probably no one is using them yet, since there's so little traffic.
10) If I can buy 1 American Flag for $3, how much for 10? or 20?
Put pen to paper and brainstorm plausible *reasons* people might make bulk purchases for gifts.
Girl Scout troups?
Bible Study group?
Valentines day?
Teachers for his/her class?
Keep going. Work hard to make a huge list.
And speak one-on-one with some prospects to get their feedback about price ( aka gauge their willingness to pay for quantity. )
11) The narratives for the products.
There's a story from a million years ago....
Home Shopping Network, when it started was doing much worse than they expected (but not worse than their critics predicted). Long story short, they pretty much stumbled on the answer of why some items sold so much better than others.
What they learned by observation is that when the host told stories, the phone lines lit up. It's sort of a TV version of the old sales truism - it's the BENEFITS, not the FEATURES.
You can describe a picnic basket a 100 different ways, but instead paint a *word picture*
"Just picture Grandma and Grandpa with the family, at the park, on a sunny spring day with the birds singing and dogs running free - so glad that winter is over - And when you open this beautiful <whatever> picnic treasure trove and catch the aroma of the fresh chicken salad, everything you need conveniently stored and easy to reach. You pop open icy cold sodas for everyone while Dad is over firing up the BBQ grill to cook the burgers which are stored fresh and protected from the ice.... you'll know it's going to be a great family day with the ones you love. "
Now be honest... aren't you ready for a picnic?
And you don't even know me. lol
Wish I had a basket to sell ya.
Get to the emotions, by using a word pictures, that evoke as many senses as possible in plausible and appealing situations.
Make the reader FEEL what it's like to already own the product.
11) Do eBay auctions to increase awareness and get more traffic to the website. Doesn't even matter much how well the auctions themselves do. It's some exposure.
12) Implement a fun little messaging system I created called Magnicon brand magnetic icon.
You put a link on your website for each product.
People who click the link fill in a form with email address, name, message, etc
and the system sends a magnetic icon to a friend of theirs -- just like a e-greeting card.
But, instead of getting an email with a link to a webpage that the receiver will click once (maybe twice), read, enjoy and then forget 2 minutes after the page is closed, they get an email with a link to an ICON on a webpage.
The picture on the icon is YOUR BEAD product the sender selected and the text the receiver sees when they DRAG and DROP the icon from the webpage to their DESKTOP is the message the sender sent!
So voila... the message is visible, the picture is visible and best of all you gave people reasons to come back to your website over and over, just for fun to send greetings to their friends.
Imagine the IMs flying a month later...
"You haven't sent me a magnicon in like, forever. Don't you love me any more?"
And you have a new service to promote on websites and message boards - anywhere where people gather. You go way beyond the story: "I wanna sell you beads". Most visitors won't buy of course, but what do you care as long as some do. It's a numbers game.
13) Implement another innovation I have created.
This one is a bit more involved, but only because it's better. 
Instead of letting customers get away from your website when they close the browser and *HOPE* they return over and over, you give them a way to stay in touch with you (and vice versa).
My software retrieves the latest published version of whatever the user selects to view and displays it (optionally) as a screensaver -- which means you are much more visible than just an old-fashioned website.
I have created a new way to have a relationship with an audience online that goes beyond the web, email and instant messaging.
This can be used in a zillion different ways, in virtually every industry, but for you, I can envision pictures of your products in use - sent to you by your customers - parading across the screen.
New bead product introduced? Of course first put it into osCommerce on your website, but that only makes it *available*. It doesn't make it *visible*. Publish it using my new system and everyone who wants to will see it - automatically. Text, pictures, audio, video, Q&A, anything you want. Some will click on it, launching their web browser directly into your store and some of them will buy.
It's Jennifer's Beaded Paradise coming directly to a PC screen near you!
What would it be worth to have your brand/logo visible , your web store one click away, your "Bead-icon" service one click away, to a willing audience, literally dozens of times a day? Are there any single websites that a typical surfer visits each day more often than their screensaver kicks in?
No matter how great your website, webstore, weblog (message board) is, it's out-of-sight, out-of-mind 2 minutes after the web browser is closed. Phooey on that!
Sitting back and saying to your audience,
"If you want value from me, you must:
1) Remember my web address
2) Take the time
3) Make the effort
to visit my website, over and over."
The web's "come and get it" paradigm put what I call the "burden of return" squarely on the shoulders of the surfer, completely by accident.
Doesn't that sound a bit arrogant when you say all 3 of those steps outloud it like that? Being arrogant with prospects and even customers is a good idea exactly when?
My software is a better way (on purpose) to have an ongoing relationship with a willing audience online because it eliminates that "burden of return". I call my software Thoughtful.
It can be a persons screensaver - that they can interact with, and/or just be a normal program that starts only when clicks done. User's choice.
Will it make you a Beaded Internet zillionaire? Certainly not.
But it will help you (slowly) build a bigger audience than you have now.
Not everyone will want you to be *that* visible. That's okay. Nothing is for everyone.
Whew... speaking of needing a nap!
Dan
"Live with Passion"
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oldnickb
Enthusiast
Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:16 am Post subject: Well I'm Sorry..... |
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To be brutally frank your website sucks.
On your landing page you waffle on about making jewelry that you give away.
OK, that maybe is a slight exaggeration but the first thing you are doing is devaluing your product. You normally gave it away so it can't be up to much can it? A flag for $3 say 50c for the materials then this is something you can knock together in 15 minutes - must be cheap and tacky.
All the first page is doing at the minute is making you look unprofessional. If you want a bio, then link to it.
All that should be on your landing page is the best offer for your customer, what is in it for them.
"Welcome to Jennifer's Beaded Paradise, your chance to own an exclusive work of art. Jennifer has been working with the medium of beads for eight years now. Each piece is individually designed and lovingly handcrafted to give you a unique piece of art......"
Also you should be offering some sort of newsletter or guide . You could do a survey to find out exactly what your customers want.
Whatever you choose, you need to capture your visitors email address, so you can market to them continually.
Is it a "fun hobby" or is it a business?
Are you a stressed mum relaxing by doing your beading or are you a creative artist who works in the medium of beaded jewelry?
In other words are you an amateur that wants to make a bit extra money or are you an artist that wants to make a living from your work?
Take a look at http://swcreations.net/products/beadart/
That site promotes bead art as exclusive hand crafted jewellry. Your site on the other hand.......
Look at some of the things that sell online. eg button badges with pictures of elephants often make $10 on ebay. 
What could you get for a beaded wall plaque featuring an elephant?
On Ebay There is someone who sells litte figures sculpted from tin foil for about $100 a time.
I believe you need to be talking about individual handcrafted pieces of art if you are to make enough.
Concentrate first on getting the image right then find one of the marketing courses online and follow it. That is what I did.
The important thing is do something every day to further your business.
Best of luck,
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