best way to market online store

[My vanity Case]

Hi was hoping someone could give me advice on how to best market an online store. I have just launched an online cosmetics boutique and need to get more traffic to my site.

 

[Fingers In Pies]

whats your market...? The best way to promote an online business, is ONLINE...

But, if you know your market, and they're local, then 5000 full colour A6 flyers wouldn't be a bad option...

We sell them (and plenty of them) £95 for 5000 full colour double sided A6 - you supply the print ready artwork, or we can design them for just £60.

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING, so pay for good design, unless you know what your doing.

Use some good images. (here some cheap ones).

I'll happily talk you through it Michelle.

PM me.


Cheers

Jim

 

[Smackjack]

check google adwords out its low cost and highly effective. Google is by far the most used search engine. well worth a look.

 

[Sphinx]

I think the best way to market anything online is online. Its harder to get people to first of all pick a leaflet up, then read a leaflet, then go off to the computer, switch it on and go to a website.

Its much easier if they are already sat at the keyboard and they can just click

 

[SocialMediaUncovered]

Theres litereally 100's of options to look at and without knowing your business inside out, its hard to recommend the best for you to look at.

However, i'd run with 5 steps to getting started and begin to increase traffic to your site for the most economical way, on the basis of you having a small advertising/marketing budget.

1) Start writing a blog. Sign up to wordpress or blogger and start writing a blog, about your business, the challenges you face, testimonials, your position in the marketplace, why you started up etc
Convert your passion for the business into a blog.

2) Understand your demographic and go after them. Look historic information about the demographic you are looking for, and search for sites that have that type of demographic - then get involved in those sites and try and get your message across.

3) Google analyitics. Add this software to each of your pages so you are able to track and distinguish what is happening on your site, as you go out hunting for new users - you will be able to track what worked and what didnt in realtime.

4) Basic seo tatics. Make sure your site explains in full detail what you do, how you do it and why you're better than other people. Sounds straightforward, but one of the things search engines like is content, and more importantly, relevant content.

5) Videos. Set up a youtube account, and upload videos of your products, how they are shipped, how they are packaged etc to youtube, then link this back to your site with a link on your site to view these videos and more (via youtube)

Theres a few things to get started with.

 

[My vanity Case]

Thanks for the advice, i will get started on the steps you advised. For the software to track google analytics, do i add this myself or is there somewhere i can get this put on?

 

[Freestylextreme]

Read this thread-

"101 Tips to Improve Your Web Presence"

It's in the SEO, PPC and Online Marketing section of the forum.

Google anything in the thread you don't understand and read any articles that come up. Expanding your own knowledge is the single most important thing you need to do right now. It will save you A LOT of money in the short and long term

 

[silver]

I've been told that the best way to market your online store is by writing about your business in as many places as you can, online. This includes blogs, social network sites, forums etc.

Alison

 

to the op...you have gone about this back to front to the extent of getting a store and wondering who to sell them too.
rather than finding the hungry market, with traffic not too much competition and working out what to offer it...

I've been told that the best way to market your online store is by writing about your business in as many places as you can, online. This includes blogs, social network sites, forums etc.

Alison

Be incredibly careful with social media.

They are information networks , so they hate overt or covert selling.

So an article about...."Which is the most effective way to disguise wrinkles" which reviews different types of product and treatment, and a link to your site is good.

An article saying "my wrinkle cream is good" ...or "come to my store" will not only get no response, it is likely to get you banned too.....
and I am talking about the social bookmarking sites like propeller, not just social networking

The key is to give good information that gets you trusted, and then people will naturally come to your site...


A couple of thoughts for your kind of niche...

SEO...there are generally some easy long tail phrases to get rankings for,
I was quite amazed how easy some brand cosmetics terms are to SEO when I looked the other day..

Google shopping/google base....FREE!!

Craigslist/gumtree both can do well

Adwords..think out of the box eg
..watch oprah winfrey...any book or product that gets mentioned, offer it as an affiliate,
bid on the term and use it to list build....

Use all of these media to listbuild...
So offer some good guides for an email signup...

 

[YooHee]

I think you can use basic SEO like....

Classifieds and Blogging

 

[BusinessIdeas]

Open an ebay store, list some trivial items and put a link to your main website - Gina

 

[sandralewis]

Yeh I agree. Blogging would be a good way to get the word out! Maybe you could hold some parties locally? Or have like a launch night in your town for ladies only?

 

[socialmarketingmama]

I think all of the above tips are great, the key is whatever you post (blog/article) make sure its well written, and be consistent. Regular posting will keep you in front of the eyes of your readers, hence more traffic. Focus on SEO/SEM. If you have any questions, get stuck...feel free to contact me.

All the best,
Nic

 

[charles2]

Do More Promotion And Keep On Line. Of Course, Full Fill More Product Information As Possibel As You Can.