Ever woken up one day and realized that your online store appears to be going nowhere and you just want to give up. Close it down and rub it off as a waste of time. Well to be honest I think we all go through this at one point or another.
I have had periods like that and have not sold anything for ages, so I can understand you losing interest. When I felt like that I stopped and asked myself why I was doing my on line business in the first place? For me it was never about making money but more about getting my artwork scene. So first thing I guess is you have to ask yourself why you really do your online business. If like me it’s about getting your work scene then there is nothing to worry about as it will be scene just slowly.
If it’s about making an income then you need to take a little different approach to getting people walking through the door or in our case looking at your page.
The question is how do you do that?
Well first consider your store sitting on small back street of Melbourne. No one walks pass so they don’t see it very often. Your paying all this rent but to no avail, because they don’t even know your there. How do you let them know your there? Well signage for one. Put up a few signs on the main roads pointing back to your store. Make it catchy, bright one that gets the drivers attention. Only you’re not on a road, you’re on a website that is lost amongst many other websites all trying to do the same thing. So you track down as many free sites as you can possible find and you start making signs, all of which point back to your online business. Make sure the store address ie. “http://www.onlinestore.com” is in the title of all you write and the stores name “online gifts” so this way when people search our online business it starts to be noted. Because what you’re creating is back links.
Is this enough I think not. Because if someone don’t see that sign on the road they are still not coming to visit you are they? So the next thing that little shop might try is flyers. They don’t have to cost a lot of money. They don’t even have to be in colour. All they need is to be catchy and get people’s attention. Make them yourself at home. Print it off and get a heap photocopied. Take yourself for a walk enjoy the sun shine and deliver them to every second letter box as most of our neighbours talk, so this way you can save cost. (Be sure to keep a master copy).
Make another one to go on billboards with tear off web addresses on them and go canvas your area finding those bill boards and community boards in shopping centres.
Design a business card it doesn’t have to be done through your online business; it can be done elsewhere if you can get a better price. Stop by your local coffee shops and ask if you’re able to leave some of your cards on the counters.
Most of us have little stores that carry odds and ends, so take a look at what they are selling and for how much. See what you think might sell in their store or what they might be interested in. Bit by bit get yourself a few products that you think might sell in their stores and take them up there and ask them if they would be interested in buying some of your products to sell in their stores. Remember your product doesn’t have to stay at your online business. It’s your design and you paid for the product. You may not make much on them but you will be getting your store known, and hopefully they will start ordering direct from your store. If your products come from overseas, then naturally you need to pick products that won’t be so heavy so they can justify buying them in as naturally there is postage on top.
Don’t look inside your online business only. You’re a designer so there are many things you can do. Check out some of the printers around your local area and see what they charge to have posters printed off. Cheek all different sizes. Speak with them and tell them what you plan to be doing and ask would they offer you a better deal on larger quantities. Posters don’t way a lot and can be rolled up. So go down your local post office and find out what it will cost for postage both locally and overseas to the furthest away place and see how much you would have to sell the item for to cover your cost and make a quid. Then set up a store on EBay, selling your posters. BUT again add a back link to your store by making sure there are feeds pointing to your store. This way you will generate traffic to your store through your own store on EBay.
How else do people advertise? Well creativity is the key. So make a few videos showing of your product and inviting people to your store. When you make a design make a video and put it on YouTube and Facebook. If you add music to it be sure it doesn’t have a copyright on it as this will be disapproved and you just waisted your time doing it.
There are many ideas out there it’s just finding what works for you. But if it’s an idea you’re doing online be sure your title always has your store name and added within it so you help drive the traffic back to your store.
If you have a Zazzle store then offer other Zazzler’s a space on your blog for other Zazzle store owners to advertise as well but be sure to add your store Associate ID to the end of theirs. This way you both win. They get to get free advertising and you might make a little cash if someone click on their product access’s their store and buys something straight away by referring them. You can do this also on all your other free sites you set up to help you along the way. But again be sure your store name and address is in the title or within the post so that Google bots picks it up.
My motto is don’t despair take action.
