[XTREMEGRAPHIC]

I am finding getting your name out there is really hard. I have added my site manually to google, yahoo, msn, bing etc. Any experience from anyone how long it took.
These are the steps I have taken so far adding my site:
adwords
google checkout
opened big cartel store
merchant circle
ez-local
yellow pages
monster
I just am not getting any traffic to my website. When I search for myself I cannot even find me. Any suggestions on getting my name out there. I also just purchased business cards and they will be here in a couple of weeks.
Thanks so much Char

 

[Just Breathe]

Re: Google is frustrations

Don't rely too much on random 'walk-ins' to your site through such indirect means, especially just starting out.

Hit the streets, get the business cards (and other forms of marketing media with the web address on it) out there to folk likely to pay a visit to the site and get them to play the 'pass it on' game with the name.

The search engines should catch on as more and more traffic goes to your site.

 

[binki]

Re: Google is frustrations

All search engines today are location based. Your address on your site is with graphics. How can the search crawlers find you? You need to add text with your address. That is number one. If you have a physical location you do not need to pay web sites for search results.

Number two is to add the right words to your site. On your landing page you need to have words that go with the biz. Screen Printing, Embroidery, Awards, Widgets, or what ever else you do.

Finally, sign up with google local, bing local, yahoo local and whatever else local.

Plan on 6 months to move up on the SEO.

50% of our biz comes from our web site and it is one page that has our address. Why do we get that business? Because people can find us and most do not shop around. The first place that will talk to them gets the business.

For places with a retail location, this works great.

 

[PositiveDave]

Re: Google is frustrations

There are a zillion clothes sites out there, start thinking, 'Why should Google put me on page 1?'
Get the lynx browser, it's text-only and will allow you to see the site as the Googlebot does. You won't know what your site is about.
Do a cloud-map of your site, do the most important words match your intention? Not at the moment.

 

[HTW]

Re: Google is frustrations

go to getlisted.org and this will help give you some pointers on where to register and get listed usually for Free, plus check out merchant circle as well as a few others and that will help and also get your self a google account and this will help with some key words.

 

[prometheus]

How long have you been at it? It takes time to build it up. With the kind of work you are doing, it will be hard to distinguish yourself with the other 100 million or so similar business.

 

[JeridHill]

Like it was said already, there are so many tshirt companies out there, it's very difficult to get your name up high on the list.

1. Adwords does work. The problem is, with such a good keyword that you would have to use, someone else is most likely paying over $1 per click. Remember, that's regardless of a sale or not.

2. Backlinks. Everytime you visit a site and post your link, or someone posts information about your site, it is called a backlink. The more backlinks you have, the more relevant your site becomes to the industry. The problem is, you can't just go posting anywhere and everywhere without breaking many forum rules and policies. It's basically spam. So you have to participate. Even having a link to your site in your signature on this site is a backlink. As of me posting this, you have 2 backlinks generated from threads and one in your profile. So this site gives you 3. Not a very large amount. So you need to work it and it takes time.

3. Submit your site menu structure to google, yahoo, etc.

4. Make metatags on your site relevant to your articles. If you have an article about screen printing on your site and one of your keywords is pizza, and the word pizza is not in your article, it is not relevant. Your keyword will be overlooked. Plus this is an improper use of metadata and not only does it not work, I believe you can have problems associated with it in regards to google, etc.

5. Change your articles and information on your site often, to keep it fresh.

These are just a few...

 

[XTREMEGRAPHIC]

Thanks so much to everyone that replied. I started changing my home page of my website to better fit the suggestions that were given.

 

[Basikboy]

Re: Google is frustrations

There are a zillion clothes sites out there, start thinking, 'Why should Google put me on page 1?'
Get the lynx browser, it's text-only and will allow you to see the site as the Googlebot does. You won't know what your site is about.
Do a cloud-map of your site, do the most important words match your intention? Not at the moment.

Do you need to download and install this browser? or is there another way to view your site through it?

 

[PositiveDave]

Lynx source distribution directory

 

[Unik Ink]

Re: Google is frustrations

Do you need to download and install this browser? or is there another way to view your site through it?

In most browsers you can click on the view tab/page source to see the code.

 

[HesAWhore]

This page gives a good basic overview of what it takes to bump up your listing on Google. I'm listed equally on Google and Yahoo and I can tell you that 80% of the folks that visit do so via a Google search.