advertising ideas

Sid_Wolf

does anyone have any ideas for how/where else i can advertise my business?

as of xmas eve i am jobless, and until i find something else i will be relying on the business for income

So far I sell a lot via a couple of dog forums. I also have a fb page and a twitter

I have got tonnes of business cards, so try to always have them on me when im out and about to give to anyone i see with a dog, i also have some on the counter in my current place of work, if i see someone take one i try to engage in conversation with them about their dog/s and give them a little more info on the products if they seem interested.

I plan to do some craft fairs aswell, and i've been thinking of blogging, but im not eactly sure what to write about!?

any other ideas on how to drive traffic to the site?

site is on my profile

stephent82

Here are a few ideas (some may be useful):
* Get magnets made for your car and attach
* Local paper adverts (usually from a couple of hundred pounds)
* Google adwords
* Pay vets to display posters
* Cross-sell on ebay
* Find local Kennel Clubs and arrange special Promo (eg. 10% off)
* Contact local pet shops and see if they will sell vouchers for your shop
* Have a banner made and see if a local farmer will allow you to attach it to a fence overlooking a busy road.
* Contact a charity (such as the Greyhound trust) and see if they would be willing to set-up a profit share. They advertise you in their newsletter and you give them a share of your profits.

I would say that your product is quite good value. Have you thought about increasing your base price (by say £1) and offering regular discounts? Just a thought.

paulwf

Sid_Wolf wrote: »

I also have a fb page and a twitter

Setting up a twitter account and tweeting 3 times in the summer isn't the way twitter works. To make twitter work you have to follow more people, regularly tweet and retweet and answer any tweets that come your way. Twitter us an incredibly powerful business tool but you have to keep plugging away at it day in day out. Fortunately it takes very little time.

paulwf

I think your website needs to be redesigned from scratch. Your current design looks ok but it is not done in a way to optimise sales at all. My thoughts are:

- I personally hate the way Wix websites work, all the Flash makes them slow and unresponsive and the layout isn't very good

- From arriving at your site you have to click through 4 pages before you can order anything. The landing page is completely pointless, ditch it. From the home page a customer shouldn't have to click through to more than one page before seeing the buy now button

- on first visit I missed a lot of the designs because I didn't realise what the "next" option at the bottom of the page meant

Basically on your front page it needs to be BOOM! we do collars, leads and harnesses with clear examples of each and prominent links to the shopping pages. Currently on your main page it doesn't ask the visitor to do anything. Also display your phone number and email address clearly at the top of every page so a customer can contact you in seconds.

With regards pricing by looking at your current structure I'd be tempted to put everything up by £1 and offer free postage on everything. Free postage advertised prominently is a good selling point and you can cover the costs.

You probably also need to sell more products, there are only so many collars you can sell! More items could drive more people to your site and also increase turnover. It doesn't have to be all custom made, even doing a few dog tags would make an easy add on sale.

Sid_Wolf

Thanks everyone

paulwf wrote: »

I think your website needs to be redesigned from scratch. Your current design looks ok but it is not done in a way to optimise sales at all. My thoughts are:

- I personally hate the way Wix websites work, all the Flash makes them slow and unresponsive and the layout isn't very good

- From arriving at your site you have to click through 4 pages before you can order anything. The landing page is completely pointless, ditch it. From the home page a customer shouldn't have to click through to more than one page before seeing the buy now button

- on first visit I missed a lot of the designs because I didn't realise what the "next" option at the bottom of the page meant

Basically on your front page it needs to be BOOM! we do collars, leads and harnesses with clear examples of each and prominent links to the shopping pages. Currently on your main page it doesn't ask the visitor to do anything. Also display your phone number and email address clearly at the top of every page so a customer can contact you in seconds.

With regards pricing by looking at your current structure I'd be tempted to put everything up by £1 and offer free postage on everything. Free postage advertised prominently is a good selling point and you can cover the costs.

You probably also need to sell more products, there are only so many collars you can sell! More items could drive more people to your site and also increase turnover. It doesn't have to be all custom made, even doing a few dog tags would make an easy add on sale.

just to answer a few of your points

Without the landing page the website can take a long time to load, and while its loading the customer is presented with a plain white screen (apparently you cant yet add a loading bar :mad:), so it looks like the page isnt loading. I know landing pages are annoying but its that or the site looks dead.

I sell multiple types of collars, leads and harnesses, im always trying new types of these, and i'm thinking of giving coats a go. I dont have an engraving machine so cant do tags. I dont really know what else i could do?

I will add 'then click next to add designs' or something similar on the design pages, you're right i think that does need explaining.

i'll also add a link pic to each different thing (collar, lead, harness) to the main page

postage cost is a good idea actually, recently i've put the prices of the larger (25mm) collars & all harnesses/leads up by £1, but free postage would be good.

thanks everyone

yes i know twitter is bare, im not great at twitter, must put it in my favourites bar!

paulwf

Sid_Wolf wrote: »

Without the landing page the website can take a long time to load, and while its loading the customer is presented with a plain white screen

This is why I hate Wix sites...they are so slow. Having to use a landing page because the site is too slow shows how serious the problem is. There are so many better platforms that are cheap or free.

I sell multiple types of collars, leads and harnesses, im always trying new types of these, and i'm thinking of giving coats a go. I dont have an engraving machine so cant do tags. I dont really know what else i could do?

I'm a cat person not a dog person so can't give specific examples. However in general I would suggest looking for consumable items you can sell, by that I mean items that a customer needs to buy time and time again such as dog shampoo or food. Your collars look like they last for years so even if you corner the market you will get very little repeat custom. You need a lot more products and a lot more stuff that you can repeatedly sell if you want to make a decent return from it IMHO. Either that or crack the wholesale market or find another route that lets you sell in bulk.

I will add 'then click next to add designs' or something similar on the design pages, you're right i think that does need explaining.

Why not just add more on the same page?

BTW I really like your products especially as the pricing and customisation options are fantastic!

Sid_Wolf

paulwf wrote: »

This is why I hate Wix sites...they are so slow. Having to use a landing page because the site is too slow shows how serious the problem is. There are so many better platforms that are cheap or free.

can you recommend a few with ecommerce features please?


I'm a cat person not a dog person so can't give specific examples. However in general I would suggest looking for consumable items you can sell, by that I mean items that a customer needs to buy time and time again such as dog shampoo or food. Your collars look like they last for years so even if you corner the market you will get very little repeat custom. You need a lot more products and a lot more stuff that you can repeatedly sell if you want to make a decent return from it IMHO. Either that or crack the wholesale market or find another route that lets you sell in bulk.

I will have to think about this

Why not just add more on the same page?

Yes I could do actually

BTW I really like your products especially as the pricing and customisation options are fantastic!

thanks!!