[silverbolt]

Hi all, today is a happy day because my website is finished and I really like how simplistic it is. My question for today is how do I go about marketing and getting traffic to my site at no charge. I have already utilized Myspace, Craigslist, ect but I know there are more sites out there. Also, I would appreicate any links that do not require a password. I have viewed several sites and they almost all require some sort of password and login ID. I will have too many accounts in different places and I really don't want that. So once again. I am looking for marketing links to post my shirts. I don't want to have a log in ID and password (unless you feel the site is really worth it ie. Myspace). I don't want to pay to post pictures of my shirts.
Thanks,
Desiree of sayvende

 

[m4nti]

Well... you definitely are cutting the whole lot of marketing if you don't want to get a username+password! And then you say you don't wanna spend money to market your shirts.

Well, I'm not a great marketing guru but I know this: you can't do everything free and pretened to get a great turn-over from it! Most marketing methods require some way of payment... and most of the free methods (such as signatures in forums) require you to be active in a forum = get a username and password.

 

[Rodney]

. Also, I would appreicate any links that do not require a password. I have viewed several sites and they almost all require some sort of password and login ID. I will have too many accounts in different places and I really don't want that.

You are sort of cutting out your chances for success with that requirement.

It's almost impossible to promote your t-shirt site effectively online without "signing up" at a few sites.

What do you want more? Sales or the hassle of a few extra usernames/passwords?

I know it can be a hassle though; I like to manage my usernames/passwords with www.roboform.com (been using it for years). I think they have a free version that will manage logins for you.

It's going to take work/time/research to promote your site

First, figure out who is your target market. Then figure out which sites they visit, which blogs they read, which magazines they read, and start marketing there.

There aren't many effective places where you can post your t-shirt design for free and get something in return.

Try searching google for t-shirt blog. If you decide you don't mind signing up for things, try searching for t-shirt ranking. Join forums that are related to your topic and become part of the community there. If they allow signatures, add a link to your site in your signature. Don't self promote, just become part of the community and you will gradually see your traffic rise.

Other tips can be found here by reading through some of the older threads in this T-Shirt Marketing forum. Here's a couple that should start you off:

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=6255

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4115

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4636

Here's another that lists a few sites where you can post your shirts:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=3191

It does cost money to run a successful business. Whether you are in a local offline shopping mall, an online t-shirt store or a fortune 100 corporation. So you may want to also consider setting aside some money for an advertising budget (if you haven't already).

 

[Shogun]

I dig the bilingual play on words. We are on the same page and in the same barco. I am in the marketing phase and I have listed on forums, myspace and am in the process of handing out thousands of flier. My biggest success has been offline. I constantly seek out my demographic and find venues where I sell directly to my identified markets.

To be short, it is not easy and it is more work and time consuming than the creative process that first brought me to making t-shirts.

One suggestion that I saw in this forum is to read up on marketing as much as you can.

Be Well
Shogun
skoolboiz.com

 

[Xenyo]

If for free, you can try some T-Shirt directories or General directories. most probably wont get you much traffic but it may count as a backlink improving your SERPs.

 

[promptees]

Hi all, today is a happy day because my website is finished and I really like how simplistic it is. My question for today is how do I go about marketing and getting traffic to my site at no charge. I have already utilized Myspace, Craigslist, ect but I know there are more sites out there. Also, I would appreicate any links that do not require a password. I have viewed several sites and they almost all require some sort of password and login ID. I will have too many accounts in different places and I really don't want that. So once again. I am looking for marketing links to post my shirts. I don't want to have a log in ID and password (unless you feel the site is really worth it ie. Myspace). I don't want to pay to post pictures of my shirts.
Thanks,
Desiree of sayvende

have you thought of an afffiliate program? i was and still am thinking about doing this with my site. From what i understand in order to take part in one of these programs you have to have an 'affiliate program' installed to your domain (something like that). but pretty much if you advertised your gear on my site and someone clicked on your link and purchased something i would get like 10% of the sale.

that's something i'm looking into, although my model is slightly dieffernt but i would like to take part in an affiliate program one way or another. good luck!

 

[promptees]

maybe i should read the forums b4 posting. if you're not wanting to sign up for anything an affiliate program probalby isn't for you. one thing i've been seeing is collegehumor.com has a bunch of sites otu that sell t-shirts. they all work in conjuntion, meaning they own a number of sites that all link to each other, to make their sites known among the tshirt junkies liek us.

marketing is so key in this field because they're so many models and so much competition.

 

[promptees]

working together and building relationships; networking is very impt. imo.
word of mouth is still a really valuable marketing tool.

 

[birdman]

I agree. Word of mouth is pretty much all I have going for me at this point. I get more consistant sales from that than from anything else right now.

Someone mentioned fliers earlier and while I don't have a concrete stance on that yet, I will say that I tried it once at a very big cross country meet for my other site that sells running t-shirts and the results were pretty pathetic. I may try it again, especially since I still have some fliers left over, but I'm not expecting much.

 

[Toptee]

Thanks Rodney and everyone, for the great info. I'd like to ad that article writing is helpful for getting one way links to your shop.

 

[Toptee]

Sorry I cut off before I intended. Just write your article and submit it along with your author's resource box to several article sites. When someone uses your article, you will receive a backlink.

 

[ExpressGearUSA]

There's also the simplest of marketing...Sticky notes to your web site on public places like the john or places where people wait in line. Who knows..

 

[karlking85]

There's also the simplest of marketing...Sticky notes to your web site on public places like the john or places where people wait in line. Who knows..

Isn't that a bit unprofessional? I usually disregard everything I see in places like that, besides no respecting customer worth their salt would actually buy from a site that would resort to such methods of "advertising."