How to shoot your own business in the foot
If I had a dollar for every time I had someone ask me..."I have plenty of visitors to my blog/website but no buyers, what is wrong?" I would be rich enough to just live without writing or selling ever again.
I usually go and look at their website or blog, but I have an idea what is going on before I get there. Most of them are very well laid out. They have lots of photos, links to other sites, a few ads but nowhere do they make it easy to let their visitors know that they sell things! They put their store on another page, link to their etsy store with a very small link or worse yet (and most of you are guilty of this) they giveaway the store. So what do I mean by "giving away" the store?
It means simply that you have either in-depth posts on how you made the article you are trying to sell or you made a video on how to make it. By doing that, you are attracting the WRONG type of visitor. You want customers, not fellow crafts people who get your how-tos and make their own. Quit giving away your information!
Now if you really enjoy doing the how-to stuff then here is a way to make money doing that instead of trying to sell your items. Join Associated Content which is owned by Yahoo. They pay YOU to write articles and make videos about almost everything. You get to choose what you want to write about. I have been working with them since 2006 and I can make about $20 an article (600 words) with them. I write, submit it to them for upfront payment and they usually approve my articles within 48 hours. They pay twice a week via PayPal.
Next, make your selling page, your home page and move the blog stuff to another page. You want your items on your store front.....not in the backroom somewhere on your site.
Also as a final note:
Remove any music on your site. You will have more people bounce off of your site due to music than anything else. People like to shop while they are at work and often have the volume up while they surf. Any website that they encounter that has music on is quickly shut off, because they don't want the boss to find out they are surfing while working.
Those are just a few tips to follow so you don't shoot your own business in the foot.
I usually go and look at their website or blog, but I have an idea what is going on before I get there. Most of them are very well laid out. They have lots of photos, links to other sites, a few ads but nowhere do they make it easy to let their visitors know that they sell things! They put their store on another page, link to their etsy store with a very small link or worse yet (and most of you are guilty of this) they giveaway the store. So what do I mean by "giving away" the store?
It means simply that you have either in-depth posts on how you made the article you are trying to sell or you made a video on how to make it. By doing that, you are attracting the WRONG type of visitor. You want customers, not fellow crafts people who get your how-tos and make their own. Quit giving away your information!
Now if you really enjoy doing the how-to stuff then here is a way to make money doing that instead of trying to sell your items. Join Associated Content which is owned by Yahoo. They pay YOU to write articles and make videos about almost everything. You get to choose what you want to write about. I have been working with them since 2006 and I can make about $20 an article (600 words) with them. I write, submit it to them for upfront payment and they usually approve my articles within 48 hours. They pay twice a week via PayPal.
Next, make your selling page, your home page and move the blog stuff to another page. You want your items on your store front.....not in the backroom somewhere on your site.
Also as a final note:
Remove any music on your site. You will have more people bounce off of your site due to music than anything else. People like to shop while they are at work and often have the volume up while they surf. Any website that they encounter that has music on is quickly shut off, because they don't want the boss to find out they are surfing while working.
Those are just a few tips to follow so you don't shoot your own business in the foot.
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