My newest project

[mallett]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on this forum and before i go any further i'll explain a bit about myself. Well i am 25 years old, i have owned, then sold a successful computer repairs/custom build shop, then after that i unfortunately fell ill...until now :) Whilst i was ill i started an online shop selling mobile phones, mp3 players and the like which didn't really get properly maintained due to my poor health. I have my cart set up and the website is practically ready to go! All i need to do now is find out exactally what i will offer and how to do so.
I was thinking of starting up again online, offering pc repairs, laptop repairs, xbox360 repairs and offering online tuition and possibly computer upgrades.

I was thinking of offering this service to only local people to begin with (guernsey channel islands) (population 65,000) and i was wondering if i could get some advice from the pros on where to start, valuable tips etc because i am a little bit rusty!

Thanks in advance

[BUCKdesigns]

Welcome :) and glad to hear your well again.

It sounds like a good idea. I think it will work locally but people sending your things from far away are more tentative in sending there things a long way apart from to huge companies.

I cant offer you much advice on a business like this but good luck with it!

[mallett]

thanks for the reply Buck ;) I'll keep ya posted my friend

[movietub]

If you have a general interest in computers, gadgets etc and want to work from home then why not combine the online shop with a forum, review centre and resource website. You could build an online community and let the success of that community and shop feed off one another.

You should certainly carry out any local work you can do. The great thing about running a website is flexibility. You can take a local job to make a quick buck when work exists, anytime you're quiet do a load of quality pages of content to grow the website.

There is one website I keep landing on for graphics card reviews (3dguru or guru3d I think...) which appears to be run by a proper fanatic, awesome level of information and I would assume off the back of his enthusiasm he makes a very good revenue in click through purchases of graphics cards.

[mallett]

that sounds like an excellent idea movietub! I will definately get around to checking out the 3dguru site. If you have any other ideas i would love to hear them! Thanks very much for your input so far :)

[CS-Cart]

It's surely a good idea to start locally and spread further in case of success.

However, I'd also advice you to perform some marketing research and find out how many local clients you may potentially have. In your case, it would be great to find companies whom you can work directly with.

Also, while optimizing your site for search engines, make sure you taken a location into account since relevant queries produce good niche results.

Good luck in your efforts!

[Nickdavis87]

Was the one you sold also serving this local population?

[mallett]

Thanks for your reply CS :)

michaeljohn???????

Hi Nick, that is correct :)

Thanks again for your replies, keep them coming :)

I'm still experimenting, but see what you think of the site so far...

rtelectronix.co.uk


:)

[mallett]

It's surely a good idea to start locally and spread further in case of success.

However, I'd also advice you to perform some marketing research and find out how many local clients you may potentially have. In your case, it would be great to find companies whom you can work directly with.

Also, while optimizing your site for search engines, make sure you taken a location into account since relevant queries produce good niche results.

Good luck in your efforts!

Hi, thanks for your reply,

I am a bit unsure about how to market an online shop entirely. Could you offer a starting point for me and something to work towards, thanks :)

[DaveBunny]

Organic (natural) search engine optimisation can take some time even to achieve modest results, If I was you I would initially market the site using Pay Per Click advertising (PPC). The most common PPC platform is Google Adwords. Incase this is new to you - Adwords are ads that appear under the 'sponsored links' when you perform a search in Google. The idea is that you bid for certain keywords i.e 'computer repair' the more you bid the higher up the page your ad will appear.

The benefit of this to you would be that you can target your ads geographically, ensuring that your ads only appear in Guernsey.

Hope this helps.

[highstreetsale]

Hi,

i also recommend registering with PeoplePerHour.com

You should get some business for the skills that you have.

[mallett]

thanks for the info guys. I'm new to Google Adwords Dave but i'll do some research on it and let you know. Also thanks for the site link highstreetsale i'm off to register now :)