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So my shops been up for a while now and I spent a fair bit of time on it, have reasonably priced stuff which is fairly original (I think) and I have had well over 700 hits from almost 200 unique visitors.
The problem? No sales. Not a single one. Bupkiss.
I enjoyed making the shirts and shop and it was never intended to be a cash cow by any stretch. I simply hoped I could make enough to keep it going and maybe buy a shirt or two of my own.
Now, I just wonder if I should even bother continuing. Honestly, if I had 4 or 5 sales a month I'd be happy as a clam over here. I just don't want to spend my whole life optimizing SEO and creating blogs just to whore my shop and paying money to Google. It takes all the fun out of it.
Anyone else have a similar experience, or is it just me?
200 visitors is really not a lot at all to even tell whether people are interested in your products.
It's not like a retail store in a mall, where people go in a store specifically to *shop*, people can "hit" your website for all different kinds of reasons. From forums where you ask for reviews, random people who are just curious, search engine referrals, ads, etc.
You really need to work more on marketing and advertising before you can even figure out if people are interested. At the moment, you have a very low stat that doesn't really reflect anything.
Hi. If I'm going to be brutally honest, a lot of your stuff just isn't funny.
All though it's totally a personal viewpoint, I think your problems are to do with your existing product range, rather than the need for extra marketing.
You need a LOT more items and designs. Right now you only have 2 sections with a total of 27 designs/sayings. No where near the amount you need to start making money on a regular basis. You need to give your customers a variety to choose from.
I am curious- you say you pay Google- what are you paying Google for?
I don't think your stuff is bad (kinda reminds me of my own designs) and I think we started our shops about the same time, however I have been very happy with my sales. 95% of my sales have come from the marketplace because I have not done any aggressive marketing of the shop yet as I wanted to get a good base of product to choose from.
I have done a lot of networking and guerilla marketing through internet sites such as Twitter, Squidoo and a blog and I put together a group that supports and cross-promotes members' cafepress shops.
There are tons of people out there that are willing to give you advise. I would give you some links but because I am involved in many of those groups, I don't want to be accused of spamming on this forum. Instead, I have links to most of them on the cafepress page or you can PM me here if you would like to discuss.
Exposure is the key. There is plenty of business out there for everyone (especially with the holidays coming up) so, as I figure, it is better for all of us to work together.
Peace,
Skeeeeeetz
Last edited by Rodney; September 15th, 2008 at 05:05 PM.
Reason: removed member URL as per forum rule - feel free to add it to your forum signature
Your site is a basic CP template and the designs are very common and look like the myriad other spoofy, funny phrase shirts out there. You have good copy for SEO, but there is nothing unique or interesting or very "good" about the shirts themselves (I do like the one about the outside). Some even look very familiar to me as if you perhaps gleaned ideas from others. I do agree you need to use more care with your font selection. Outlined fonts and small fonts just won't work. Then when I do go into a section, you have only a small number of shirts to choose from. I think experienced CP shoppers will expect much more before they will buy and in the marketplace what you have right now won't stand out in the crowd.
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Frustration 
Re: Frustration 
