Advice / Tips on getting a new website established and known to people

[fisicx]

My, aren't we Mr. Glass-Half-Full

Always. I’ve always said going niche is far more lucrative than trying to serve everyone.

Which means rather than stocking every type of bearing you become known at the go to place for one type of bearing and the stockist of the hard to find products.

I know someone who only sells BA screws. But because that’s all he does he can supply every possible length, head, material etc. All the model engineer sites get their stock from him.

 

[intheTRADE]

Always. I’ve always said going niche is far more lucrative than trying to serve everyone.

Which means rather than stocking every type of bearing you become known at the go to place for one type of bearing and the stockist of the hard to find products.

I know someone who only sells BA screws. But because that’s all he does he can supply every possible length, head, material etc. All the model engineer sites get their stock from him.

All within context though. The variants of BA screws as you say are significant and particular. You can't be niche in selling a 17x30x7 bearing so the alternative is stock a wide range and be known as the 'oh, they'll have them'

Its fine if they don't have high temperature bearings for rockers though. NASA won't be searching Google for them

 

[AlanJ1]

As do mamy, but when you say 'normal' do you mean a Smart Shopping Campaign or a Manual One? Both heavily rely on historic data and performance which the OP doesn't have and all new campaigns are being pushed towards PMax.

There is so much wasted ad spend in PMax with Google spending daily budgets like they are going out of fashion across multiple asset groups. Strip them all out leaving a PMax campaign just targeting shopping and even complete novices can't really go wrong with generating business

Manual for us, smart again was never amazing. Albeit better than Pmax.

Yeah we found wasted spend everywhere (and spend is in the thousands per day).

 

[intheTRADE]

Manual for us, smart again was never amazing. Albeit better than Pmax.

Yeah we found wasted spend everywhere (and spend is in the thousands per day).

I'm an advocate of the move to PMax but I can't deny manual (if done right) was, and still is, very effective and profitable. For newbies though I am not sure it can work. Very heavy reliant on previous performance data

What do you sell out of curiosity?

 

[KM-Tiger]

the largest roller bearing is made by SKF and is 1.25m in diameter

I would describe that as a slew ring, the sort of thing a tower crane head rotates on. That's a niche area.

 

[intheTRADE]

I would describe that as a slew ring, the sort of thing a tower crane head rotates on. That's a niche area.

Slew Rings R Us - new niche business nailed

 

[AlanJ1]

What do you sell out of curiosity?

Everything golf from clubs to clothing.

We have smart and manual running as we as search. (we use an agency for ads).

 

[AlanJ1]

Slew Rings R Us - new niche business nailed

Send an invoice for price of coming up with the name,

 

[intheTRADE]

Everything golf from clubs to clothing.

We have smart and manual running as we as search. (we use an agency for ads).

I'm impressed to be fair. I work (sporadically) with ClubHouse Golf and Scratch72 who both had to make the move PMax as performance tanked when they dug their heals on staying with manual

 

[fisicx]

I would describe that as a slew ring, the sort of thing a tower crane head rotates on. That's a niche area.

According to the webpage it’s for the mining industry.

I nearly got a job once as a draftsman in a factory making pit head gears and other large objects. Precision wasn’t a high priority. They cut the teeth using a stonking great shaper (that’s a reciprocating machine tool for the uneducated).

 

[japancool]

There's money to be made in shiny balls.

 

[intheTRADE]

There's money to be made in shiny balls.

Just ask David Beckham

 

[antropy]

I now need some help and/or tips on how to get a new ecommerce website out there to get both customers and traffic.

Regularly send useful emails to your email list - you do have one right?

Buy a good SEO book from Amazon and follow it step-by-step.

Paul.

 

[antropy]

There's money to be made in shiny balls.

Paul.

 

[KM-Tiger]

shiny balls

Now there's a name for a bearing company. No one would ever forget that.

 

[ctrlbrk]

Always. I’ve always said going niche is far more lucrative than trying to serve everyone.

Which means rather than stocking every type of bearing you become known at the go to place for one type of bearing and the stockist of the hard to find products.

I know someone who only sells BA screws. But because that’s all he does he can supply every possible length, head, material etc. All the model engineer sites get their stock from him.

Isn't that anectodal evidence though.

 

[intheTRADE]

Regularly send useful emails to your email list - you do have one right?

Buy a good SEO book from Amazon and follow it step-by-step.

Paul.

A valuable email list is one of previous customers or subscribers - a new business doesn't have that so any email list they have is worth nothing

 

[fisicx]

Isn't that anectodal evidence though.

Not sure what you mean. Specializing in one thing has been good business practice since forever. The rules don't apply so much to global organizations but for small businesses too much diversification has been the downfall of many.

 

[ctrlbrk]

however we have no followers - we aren't creating content at the moment because there is no-one to see it.

I'm with the others on this - I would create content because how can I expect to get followers otherwise?

 

[Shopclicks]

Created a presence on Facebook, however we have no followers - we aren't creating content at the moment because there is no-one to see it.

You have this completely wrong. You don't need followers to create reach, you need content. You can create a post or reel for a page with zero followers and still get reach and engagement. Followers mean nothing. It's the content that gets attention. You need to learn how to create posts and reels that get attention.

 

[jporter1TS]

I want to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread and I do value your input and am trying to digest what's been said so I can put things together etc.

Therein lies your problem. 'Everyone' isn't a market. To even get close to it you'd need to spend millions (For context, McDonalds spent £69 million on UK advertising in 2022 and are nowhere near capturing 'everyone' - nor do they plan to).

In the terms of my reply, 'Everyone;' means those who require bearings, this could be individuals who require them for hobby purposes, or a motorist who needs a bearing for his vehicle, or a company who need them for machinery. Of course we understand that we are not going to capture 'everyone'. (only in our dreams we do that!)

So essentially a side project which isn't getting your full attention?

It has been the focus of our attention recently, getting the site created etc. However. obviously it's dropped off a little as we have other work that needs attention, the aim now if to give this more attention - hence the post here for advice and help.

Can you not leverage that customer base?

We did email our customer base with details of the new range - not a lot of interest I'm afraid, that could just be that the new range not been in the range of goods required for that customer base.

That size product count will (I assume) consist of individual bearings for one off purchases for individuals to bulk, regular repeat orders from trade

Yes, spot on.

 

[jporter1TS]

I'm with the others on this - I would create content because how can I expect to get followers otherwise?

You have this completely wrong. You don't need followers to create reach, you need content. You can create a post or reel for a page with zero followers and still get reach and engagement. Followers mean nothing. It's the content that gets attention. You need to learn how to create posts and reels that get attention.

Ok, I will add that to my list of to-dos.

Thank You

 

[Mark T Jones]

I want to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread and I do value your input and am trying to digest what's been said so I can put things together etc.



In the terms of my reply, 'Everyone;' means those who require bearings, this could be individuals who require them for hobby purposes, or a motorist who needs a bearing for his vehicle, or a company who need them for machinery. Of course we understand that we are not going to capture 'everyone'. (only in our dreams we do that!)

The key point here - as others have also made - is about meaning something to someone.

A manufacturer buying bearings in thousands will be different in every respect from me spending £7 every 3 years on bearings for my bike. If you try to attract me in the same way that you try to attract the manufacturer you will fail on both counts. (As the cliche goes, an owl that chases 2 mice catches neither)

You really must digest and think about this!

 

[Nick@Daydot]

There's money to be made in shiny balls.

Erm ... bigshinyballs.com

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

The key point here - as others have also made - is about meaning something to someone.

A manufacturer buying bearings in thousands will be different in every respect from me spending £7 every 3 years on bearings for my bike. If you try to attract me in the same way that you try to attract the manufacturer you will fail on both counts. (As the cliche goes, an owl that chases 2 mice catches neither)

You really must digest and think about this!

This. Who are the biggest buyers of bearings? I would suggest it's manufacturers and industrial firms. And where are they buying bearings? I would suggest NOT online.

I would imagine your target market for online would be hobbysists & DIY'ers looking for very small volumes. Probably a fraction of the overall bearing market, but with good % margin to be made. I really would suggest looking at this in more detail in terms of who are the buyers and where do they buy from - try and find an area to focus on.

 

[antropy]

A valuable email list is one of previous customers or subscribers - a new business doesn't have that so any email list they have is worth nothing

Correct but is this a new business? Or just a new website for an old business?

Paul.

 

[antropy]

We did email our customer base with details of the new range - not a lot of interest I'm afraid, that could just be that the new range not been in the range of goods required for that customer base.

As I suspected there is a decent list.

Don't just email it once and consider it a failure because no one buys.

Send regular newsletters, offers, and updates - make sure they're genuinely useful to the subscribers.

Paul.

 

[jporter1TS]

As I suspected there is a decent list.

Don't just email it once and consider it a failure because no one buys.

Send regular newsletters, offers, and updates - make sure they're genuinely useful to the subscribers.

Paul.

I will talk about this and all what's been advised here with my colleague and see if we can get something going. Think we are going to have to go down the ads route and do other little things on the side.

Thanks to everyone for help and advise.

 

[fisicx]

Think we are going to have to go down the ads route and do other little things on the side.

But not until you have fixed the site. If not you will just be throwing away your money.

And before fixing the site first do as others have suggested and really focus on your target customer. You can't sell to anybody who wants a bearing. You need to be very clear on your market niche as this will drive you advertising campaign.

 

[campbeji]

Hello Guys,

Long-time lurker here, but I now need some help and/or tips on how to get a new ecommerce website out there to get both customers and traffic.

The website in question sells Bearings of all types from all the top manufacturers. I not sure if I am allowed to post the link here, if I can and need then I will.

The website has been custom developed (not based an any ecommerce packages like WooCommerce ect), we are quite happy with the looks and functionality. However, we are getting little traffic or interest.

Here is what we have done so far:

• Integrated Google Analytics
• Submitted Sitemap(s) to both Google and Bing
  • - both of these have discovered most if the URLs but have crawled/indexed very few of them
• Created a presence on Facebook, however we have no followers - we aren't creating content at the moment because there is no-one to see it.
• We have got a large number of backlinks.

Unfortunately our marketing budget is low, so we are having to watch what we spend this on.

Any help or advise would be greatfully received.

Many thanks in advance,

John

Hi John,

There a couple of things that spring to mind;

Are you a Bearing supply business already and are just adding a new website or are you a new company?

You have a presence on Facebook, are you using a personal or a business page, if it is a personal page then stop and open a proper business page, you'' save yourself trouble in the long run.

On Social media you need to have content before you will have followers, and yes it can be a lot of work for what seems like not a lot of reward.

A large amount of Backlinks sounds good, however it can actually be bad. For a new site to have a large number of backlinks sounds like either someone has done a lot of 'backlink' work or that you have bought them, it's pretty unlikely that they are 'organic' links. If you have gone to somewhere and bought a package of backlinks then there is a good chance that more than a few are spammy links and the likes of Google don't like that

I understand that you have a budget for the website, but remember that without effective marketing you will not get as many sales. You need to get good advice from someone who knows what they are talking about and also knows your business. It is hard to find good advice, you will get some good advice on forums but you'll also get not so good advice so you need to be careful.

Good Luck
Jim