HELP! Need ideas on how to get traffic to new website...

[jbjwanted]

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?

[KenCraw]

I am not sure whether you are trying to advertise strictly locally or not. But, you can put in up to 4 FREE classified ads in AOL, also put a search in your browser for things related to what you do ( i.e. www.custom beaded jewelery) and find ones that you can link to. If you want to spend a little money you can purchase email leads but you may have to do a little research depending upon your budget. Also think about doing a newsletter of some sort and submitting it to ezines that cater to the type of client you are trying to reach.

Hope this helps some. Good luck on your venture. Send me your web address and I'll check it out too. I have been known to buy jewelery every once in a while...lol

[jbjwanted]

Thanks for your suggestions. I really appreciate that you took some time to answer my plea. The only thing that I would like to know now is how do I go about submitting my 4 free ads to AOL and what specifically should I do to submit a newsletter to ezines. I plan to do a newsletter anyway, but I'm not sure exactly how to do the "ezine" thing. Any more suggestions??? Also, if you're still interested, the link to my website is included as a part of my signature.

Thanks again!

[napjones]

There are a couple of ways to generate some immediate traffic one would be to listed in various directorys on the internet, next would be to seek out usenet groups that relate to your business, and thirdly place some local classifed ads in thrifty nickle or pennysaver type of newspapers.