Discuss the fun task of marketing a t-shirt shop. Where to advertise, local marketing tips, word of mouth, press releases, search engine marketing, keyword advertising, magazines, etc.
I have had my website up and running for a while now, almost a year; but i have had a website for around 3 years, i just changed the domain so in sense i treat it like a year. I will point out i only sell online.
I am top of google for some of my keywords, and near the top for some others.
I am looking to take the next step, but i am unsure which way to go. I do not really want to pay for advertising, it is expensive and i dont think it is very beneficial...I'm taking about adverts in mags and newspapers. I cant remember myself going to any websites i have remembered from reading a magazine.
I know there are lots of free things you can do online like interacting on myspace/facebook, posting in forums but this is very time consuming and i dont think it is worth it in the long run; I dont believe it amounts in lots of sales.
I know January is quite for most in retail but i was expecting to do better, now i am top/high for my keywords in google. I dont think i sell as many as i should, i get around 1000 uniques/3000 page views but last week i only got around 30 sales...I have been reading about people getting 20 or so a day which would be great for me; At xmas i was selling around 150 a week, if i could do this week in/week out i would be very happy
It makes me question lots of things; Are my shirts too expensive? Are they not good enough? Is my website not good enough?.......Or is it just a quiet time.
It's just quiet time ... don't panic ... always this way, following the major holidays. And the current economy isn't helping (at least, here in the US).
Just keek working the net, in areas that you typically don't need to when sales are rockin' (keep your exposure up ... yes, even on forums). And try offering some kind of limited sale offering to kick things up a notch.
see, this is my first year without using Ebay. In the past it has been slow but not this slow, but i was selling from 2 places (ebay and my website) so i am still new to selling online on my own site, almost done it for a year now though.
I dont really post on forums so i dont have that exposure, but because i am getting the exposure from my google rank (although not sales-because its quiet) I have made it into a few people's blogs who have stumbled across my site.
I am guessing the next pay day, the end of the month, is when things will start to pick up (or thats what i am hoping for).
Without knowing what you sell, one thing I like to do is target each up coming major holiday. So, if you can start targeting either products or sale offerings for Valentine's Day, I would put that together now.
Not sure why you left Ebay, but I would get back to that. We have always done well there, and sure fills in sales that we might not get from our website.
LOL, I think just about everyone I have heard from is hoping it will pick back up next month.
I am top of google for some of my keywords, and near the top for some others.
Depends on which keywords you are on top for. Some are searched for less than others.
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It makes me question lots of things; Are my shirts too expensive? Are they not good enough? Is my website not good enough?.......Or is it just a quiet time.
We have no idea whether or not your shirts are too expensive or if they are good enough or not You didn't put your website in your profile or signature. If you want a review though, you should post in the reviews section of the forum.
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i get around 1000 uniques/3000 page views but last week i only got around 30 sales
If I'm doing the math right, that's about a 3% conversion ratio, which isn't bad.
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I am looking to take the next step, but i am unsure which way to go. I do not really want to pay for advertising, it is expensive and i dont think it is very beneficial...I'm taking about adverts in mags and newspapers. I cant remember myself going to any websites i have remembered from reading a magazine.
I know there are lots of free things you can do online like interacting on myspace/facebook, posting in forums but this is very time consuming and i dont think it is worth it in the long run; I dont believe it amounts in lots of sales.
I think you need to rethink your marketing strategy some. You may be writing off some effective ways of advertising.
You should also keep thinking of different ways to get your website in front of your target market/potential customers. Some of those ways may involved paid advertising.
I should have some shirts for valentines day on my site this week.
My keywords are key to my site, so in busy times such as xmas i was getting lots of sales, i have done my keyword research and i am not worried about that part of my marketing, being top for some and in the top 5 for others is where i want to be (of course the ones i am not 1st for i want to be )
I wasnt asking anyone if my shirts are expensive etc. i know that they are competitive because i checkout my competition...I'm just saying when its quiet it makes you think more that you are doing something wrong; I dont know if my competitors are experiencing the same thing.
Sorry, thats 1000 unique/day and 30 sales a week; so its 7000/week and 30 sales, i dont think that is good.
I know that some mags would be good publicity however i cannot justify the cost. If it costs £450 for a month i would have to sell lots of extra t-shirts just to break even.
I wasnt asking anyone if my shirts are expensive etc. i know that they are competitive because i checkout my competition...
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It makes me question lots of things; Are my shirts too expensive? Are they not good enough? Is my website not good enough?.......Or is it just a quiet time.
It sounds like you're asking about those things - but if your questions are only rhetorical, and you don't want to spend any money on advertising or spend much time in other venues ("but this is very time consuming..."), that certainly narrows your choices.
I wasnt asking anyone if my shirts are expensive etc
Well you did ask the question, I guess I just didn't catch that it was a rhetorical question. My bad
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I know that some mags would be good publicity however i cannot justify the cost. If it costs £450 for a month i would have to sell lots of extra t-shirts just to break even
Look beyond the magazines. Blogs, smaller newsletters, targeted websites, free media coverage, etc.
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Sorry, thats 1000 unique/day and 30 sales a week; so its 7000/week and 30 sales, i dont think that is good.
Yes, that's not as good as I was calculating. There could be a lot of factors that come into play when looking at your conversion ratio though.
Yes, your competitors get the same feeling ... it's a knee-jerk reaction, and very normal.
I was gonna say, because I didn't calculate the numbers, correctly (my wife's dept) until Rodney spotted it ... if you are hitting 3%, you are ahead of the pack. But, since your correction ... that is more in line with our numbers, this month.
Still can't say whether magazine advertising is worth it, without knowing what you sell ... but, that said, and as Rodney stated, look for places to advertise based on who your product is geared for ... find websites providing banner ad spots that your potential customers are likely to visit.
As you said, you don't want paid advertising that is costing you more than you are bringing in ... I found that out trying a pay-per-click program (never liked em, but thought I'd try it out) - great traffic, never made a single sale.
My shirts are funny/slogan; to get an idea similar to sites like busted/tshirthell/snorg.
I am looking into magazines, but i hate paying for advertising!!....You have to understand i am from a web background not a clothing/designing one...I had a forum which i grew to over 18,000 members and then sold it to a media company with my advertising budget at 0. Its probably because of that which is why i dont like paying for ads. But i do understand that it was an informative forum, this is different, its ecommerce, a business.
So i know that sending out emails and posting here there and everywhere doesnt do much good (even on relevant sites); Thats why i was talking about things being "time consuming" i dont want to spend lots and lots of time doing something which has little impact; I am happy to spend lots of time working on something which has a positive effect (like SEO).
I tried things like adwords, they werent to my liking, too costly and not enough sales (although some sales, 1 of my campaigns actually was a success).
I have not seen this bad since I have been in the business for last three years.
It seems like people have put a hold on buying. People bought lot less during the christmas season and only where there were huge discounts. Also per person sales were down. So we are hitting a very low period. It is not t-shirt business only. It is hitting most of the businesses.
In USA, Fed dropped the interest rate 1% in last one month. There is a talk of tax rebate to give a kick to economy. When we will see the better market, is any ones guess.
Last, I still did not find the URL for your website. Did you publish it?
My shirts are funny/slogan; to get an idea similar to sites like busted/tshirthell/snorg.
I am looking into magazines, but i hate paying for advertising!!....You have to understand i am from a web background not a clothing/designing one...I had a forum which i grew to over 18,000 members and then sold it to a media company with my advertising budget at 0. Its probably because of that which is why i dont like paying for ads. But i do understand that it was an informative forum, this is different, its ecommerce, a business.
So i know that sending out emails and posting here there and everywhere doesnt do much good (even on relevant sites); Thats why i was talking about things being "time consuming" i dont want to spend lots and lots of time doing something which has little impact; I am happy to spend lots of time working on something which has a positive effect (like SEO).
I tried things like adwords, they werent to my liking, too costly and not enough sales (although some sales, 1 of my campaigns actually was a success).
I too, am from the web development end, and never paid a dime in advertising, until we got into e-commerce (and only one major ad campaign, at that).
Exposure is exposure, and everything you do online will have an impact ... just may not be an immediate one. SEO only goes so far ... once you are "optimized" ... that's it.
I agree, Anthony, with Facebook ... I read last week on a report, discussing how the current movers and shakers were likely to do in the coming year, and Facebook was one that was likely to fall, and fall hard (as most gimmicks do).
When we opened the restaurant, I started a MySpace account (all the family were on it). The spamming got bad, and very time consuming, so I dumped it. However, now seeing how MySpace is truly embracing artists, especially the garment designing industry ... I am going to have to return to it.
What to do after SEO? 
... "you can't take the sky from me"
