Anyone have an online shop?

1. 44

   Mikeydoesposted 12 years ago

   Well my brother and his friend have started a online bakery, well it should be up in a couple weeks. Me learning quite a bit from Hubpages and adwords I feel that I can help him not only save money, but get them sales as well.
   
   I was wondering if any of you have an online shop, what do you sell? And what are some great methods to attract customers online?
   
   Any tips, stories or anything else please feel free to share.

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   1. 69

      Bill Manningposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have a leather jacket store online. I think it's a good idea to have free shipping in the USA and charge a bit more for your products to offset that.
      
      I also have a blog with it, in fact it's a wordpress store. I think I get most of my sales from people who found my site through the blog articles.
      
      They also seem to trust me more as I write in a friendly, honest way. So they kind of get to know me a bit.
      
      Don't give your customers too many options, keep it simple. Also try to use as few steps and clicks as you can to get to checkout.

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      1. 44

         Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Certainly agree with that, my friend is making the site. I don't believe he used WP. The few steps is very, very important I can only assume. Thanks for the tips.
         
         It is pretty exciting, it is great that I will be able to help them as well.

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   2. 56

      iversonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      i have my own online shop, selling the sexy adult costume. it is not easy to run the online shop too, cause for a new website, it is very hard to do the SEO. my website is http://www.chinasunstore.com, any guys here can give me suggestion?

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      IntimatEvolutionposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Invest in sound SEO software, or a SEO support site.  That way people can find them online.

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2. 71

   tritrainposted 12 years ago

   I did for several years.
   
   My number one tip is to hire a bookkeeper.
   
   Managing a 40+ hour per week job, my household, the bookkeeping and inventory was just too much for me.

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   1. 44

      Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That personally won't be my concern. I, luckily, won't be dealing with that, my brother has a full-time job, but the other guy will be working full time. I plan to help out with the internet more than anything. I will certainly inform them of this.
      
      Any good free ways to advertise? I'm aware of adwords, posting articles, yahoo answers and such. Facebook also is key. I was wondering if there was anything other cool ideas or tricks?

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      1. 69

         Bill Manningposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Try to get listing in Google business. It's free and can add lots of hits. Also list your biz with biz directories, like Merchant Circle, hot frog and so on.
         
         Make a Yahoo! account for the site and write blog post in that, with links to your site. Many other ways too,,,

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      2. 71

         tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Since their market is mostly local, I imagine, here is what I would suggest:
         
         Make a good Facebook Business page.  Offer coupons, special info.
         Google Places - You should make sure your 'click and mortar' business is listed properly.
         Twitter - Use it for announcing coupons.
         Groupon - Definitely try it out.
         Create a section of recipes that compliment your baked goods.
         Have an opt-in email list and send out a monthly or quarterly newsletter, include recipes, comments/stories from readers, etc.
         Use "AddThis" type of social network/bookmarking links on your content.
         
         I could go on and on.

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         1. 44

            Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Lol.
            
            Well I'm listening. Thanks.

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3. 0

   lynnechandlerposted 12 years ago

   I'm sure they have done this, but if they are running it from their home they need to check local codes to see if they need any special permits and such.
   
   As far as the online thing goes, I like what tritrain said about having the menu, specials, etc. User friendly is the key.

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4. 0

   lynnechandlerposted 12 years ago

   Oh and when you get the fan page up over at FB let me know, I'll do a promo on it via sharing and a blog entry on my blog too.

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   1. 44

      Mikeydoesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, when they are completely launched I will be sure to let you know!

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5. 41

   holliewinposted 12 years ago

   I sell Scentsy at candlescentproducts.com.  I use PPC.  It gets me sales, but at a cost...I know I have to find other ways to attract customers... I found it helpful to try forums, online business directories.  They say its a slow process to get out there on the web... but once you're up, sales should be coming in.

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6. 59

   smantyposted 12 years ago

   Well, I don't have an online shop exactly, but I technically do. Have you ever heard of zazzle.com? (I wrote a hub about it) basically, they host the store for you, you choose the products you want to sell and you put the artwork and pictures on your products. Zazzle will create the products and ship them out and you can choose the pricing of your products. It is a great system.

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