two problems please help!

[rachie37]

Hi

I hope I don't sound dumb asking these questions I haven't used a business forum before.

I have a website which has been live for just over a month. I am not getting any sales at all could someone help me to find out why?

How do online payments work when you take a payment from a customer? I am only asking as I use dropshipping services so need to pay them in order for the item to be sent to my customer if the payment has been made through the website using Worldpay can I then purchase the product using the money from the transaction or do I need a separate facility for purchasing the product from my supplier?

Many thanks for your help in advance!!!

Rachie37

[That Guy]

How are you advertising your site? Can you also supply a link to it?

Also you will probably need to use a credit/debit card to purchase the products from the dropshipper. They may also accept paypal.

[Rainbow Chasers']

First things first - youre not silly - if ever you are not sure in anything, find out!

If your website has only been up a month, then it prbably cannot be found yet - they do take some time to get there, usually 3/4 months minimum. You can submit to google, yahoo etc if not already done by the site builder. It will still take time though.

What you can do in the meantime is try the free advertising spaces such as BT Tradespace, Yell etc and as many as you can get! Put small websites on those, with links to yours - this will help bring you site up the listings, and also help others find your site! DONT spam though - that can be counter productive! Just use these little sites to help, they are like bouyancy aids! lol!

Payment over the phone wil require merchant services and biz bank accounts, world pay and payapal etc are escrow services. When using these, you will need an account with working capital in, that you can purchase stock with. It wil hurt for a while, but once you settle, you base account will always be topped up with what is due out of the escrow accounts.

[rachie37]

Thank you for your reply it is much appreciated. I am not too sure how I can carry on with the site as funds are very limited at the moment and I am not sure what to do about the site. I have a company helping me with the online advertising through Google the ads are on the right hand side sorry I am not sure what this is called but I am not getting any sales at all and now my funds are dwindling I am not sure what to do for the best. I am really happy with the site. I am unable to leave a link as I have only made two posts so far and I need to make 15 or more to be able to do this.

Thank you

Rachie37

[consultant]

Rachie37,

without sounding too rude, you should be worried.

You should be worried because you have set up a business and you admit to not knowing how (at least some of) it works.

You should understand how the site works, how you get paid, what the costs are and leadtimes, at the very least.

As for getting business to your site, adwords is a route, but you should read the mass of information on the web and learn how to manage it yourself. This would remove any third party charges, enabling you to use them in the business.

Read about SEO and see if you can improve your site via that.

Has your site been submitted to search engines?

How else are you marketing? If you have just set up a site, done a few adwords insertions and are waiting for the ££'s to roll in, shut up shop now and save any more losses!

You may/probably need to look at off line marketing.

Finally, what about your products - are they right, are they competative, are you in a saturated market?

Learn about your business and industry!

[rachie37]

Hi

Thank you for your honesty! it is appreciated. A little gut wrenching but I understand the reasons for your answer.

I have researched the market as I have two products which have been designed by myself and I have received some funding help for one. I just wanted the website to help with a view to in the future use it as an advertising tool for the new products.

If I took the products off the website and cancelled the google advertising and go back to the beginning and researched everything I think it would help me to understand the market and online business better.

Many thanks

Rachie37

[saxondale]

you still havnt told us the products or the link.


think of posting on sites like this as "free" advertising ............ you`ve wasted the chance - see?

[rachie37]

Hi

The products are baby and childrens products eg prams, nursery furniture maternity wear etc. I am sorry but I can't put the link on as I need to have 15 posts or more!

Many thanks

Rachel

[rachie37]

Hi

The products are baby and childrens products eg prams, nursery furniture maternity wear etc. I am sorry but I can't put the link on as I need to have 15 posts or more!

Many thanks

Rachie37

[crossdaz]

The products are baby and childrens products eg prams, nursery furniture maternity wear etc. I am sorry but I can't put the link on as I need to have 15 posts or more!


So you have a couple of products you want to promote and have set up a site to promote them but at the moment you want to also do drop-shipping for other stuff. Is that right?

We have a couple of kids themed sites so if you want to pm the details I'll see if I can suggest something?

[Ali-v-8]

Can you Tell me have you done adwords or any other form of exposure.
Building a website doesn't mean people will see it.

[LightingGiants]

Hey wheres the link??

I wana see it rachy dont worry it always is slow for the first couple of months if you havent prepared well in advance

[rachie37]

Hi

I am unable to provide a link to the site as I am new on the forum but can I ask what type of information you would require? Could it be discussed in the private area of the forum please?

Many thanks

Rachel

[saxondale]

Hi

I am unable to provide a link to the site



Rachel

think laterally - racheal<dot>baby<dot>co<dot>uk.


you got to work harder at this.

[Rainbow Chasers']

how about a used section??

there are lots of young mums struggling to buy prams, buggies etc that never get used for long. These could be offered cheap, wioth trade-in against new later.

Just let the midwives know, and they can spread the word for you!

Clean them, wrap them and send them off! Could be a nice little sideline to the new and that would get more peeps on your site, looking for used stuff with fast delivery!

[LightingGiants]

if you can pm it to me then use the tip given above

[MQ57]

Hi Rachie,

Consulatant (above) is making a lot of sense... and your situation is not unusual. More and more i think people are turning to the internet as a way of trying to earn a living but you need very definite skills... ranging from being able to manipulate images and insert the right data/text etc to being able to make basic decisions about how to take money (Paypal is uaully a good starter for an absolute beginner) and of course how to market it too.

Using Google Adwords is typical of how people may start to make sales - there is also ebay I suppose if you can be bothered with all the costs associated to that and try every other option available - most website owners find ways to sell by doing exactly what you are now - researching :)

You do have a lot to learn before you are going to start earning a 'proper' amount of turnover... but understanding the day to day routines is paramount... read the manuals associated with your website so you understand all the basics and if you are still stuck send me an email and i will look at your website for you and try to give you some very specific help. Email me at: myquestions57 (at) yahoo.com (had to break it up like this to use it here) and I will give you some specific guidance... send me your web site link etc and any other details that might help too.

Good luck :)
Fiona G

[MQ57]

Hi Rachie,

Consulatant (above) is making a lot of sense... and your situation is not unusual. More and more i think people are turning to the internet as a way of trying to earn a living but you need very definite skills... ranging from being able to manipulate images and insert the right data/text etc to being able to make basic decisions about how to take money (Paypal is uaully a good starter for an absolute beginner) and of course how to market it too.

Using Google Adwords is typical of how people may start to make sales - there is also ebay I suppose if you can be bothered with all the costs associated to that and try every other option available - most website owners find ways to sell by doing exactly what you are now - researching :)

You do have a lot to learn before you are going to start earning a 'proper' amount of turnover... but understanding the day to day routines is paramount... read the manuals associated with your website so you understand all the basics and if you are still stuck send me an email or pm me if you can and i will look at your website for you and try to give you some very specific help. send me your web site link etc and any other details that might help too.

Good luck :)
Fiona G

[Babybots]

Hi Rachie,

I also run a site selling baby products, more specifically cloth nappies. I started approx six months ago from scratch knowing nothing like yourself and so far have been very pleased with the results.

It does take time to get yourself out there. I would suggest placing links to yourself on sites such as netmums and babycentre, once the people on there find out about you, if your products and service is good then they will spread the word for you!!

Free advertising is fantastic

[alanc]

I have a company helping me with the online advertising through Google the ads are on the right hand side sorry I am not sure what this is called but I am not getting any sales at all and now my funds are dwindling I am not sure what to do for the best.

Rachie37,

From this post it looks like you were running a Google Adwords campaign. As you are selling in a niche market, an Adword campaign shouldn't cost too much - a few pounds a day; but you have to set the budget.

You don't need to let someone else run this, you can manage it yourself.

You have to be aware of how the adverts are being used. For starters, you want to turn off the option for 'Google Content Network' as that will just eat your money with very little return. You also don't need to be getting position 1. 4-10 is quite adequate, and is cheaper.

[consultant]

Alan,

I do not want to hijack this thread, but why do you say switch off google content?

BTW, this isn't a trick question, waiting for a heated discussion!

[alanc]

Google Content Network places adverts on every Tom, Dick and Harriet’s website that is registered to earn money from displaying Google Ads. Many of these will not be relevant to the advertiser’s business. As most people do their searching on a major search engine like Google, then it is better to only have your adverts listed on Google’s own result pages.

I’m not a Google Adwords expert, only talking from my own experience. When I first started, Google Content Network was eating my entire daily budget. Once I turned it off, the expenditure dropped considerably with exactly the same level of conversion.

I believe you can now limit the Content Network placement to relevant websites; I was trying to keep it simple.

[consultant]

Aha, I thought it was onlu content related!

I guess I will need to read up a bit more!