[Solmu]

If you are doing a link based ad (adwords, banner ads, etc), you will want to link as deep into your cafepress store as possible.

Why is that? So people immediately encounter a product to purchase? (or immediately encounter the kind of thing they clicked through for?)

I ask because I can think of a few reasons not to do that (the overrated yet relevant SEO, people seeing the whole picture before being pushed to buy, giving a more general picture so there's less risk of them not buying that particular shirt), but can also see why it would have its advantages.

Why do you prefer deep linking?

 

[Rodney]

So people immediately encounter a product to purchase? (or immediately encounter the kind of thing they clicked through for?)

Exactly. If you are advertising a blue silly fish t-shirt, but when the user clicks the ad and doesn't get what they were expecting (either a page full of fish t-shirts, or a page full of silly t-shirts, or even worse, the main page), they have to take time to find what they wanted, and each extra click they have to make is another buying decision. Too many clicks and you've lost them.

Why do you prefer deep linking?

Most importantly, it works. If your goal is conversions and getting sales from your ads, sending them to the page with the add to cart button is the best way to do it.

I've tested this on several sites and invariably when I link to the product page instead of the homepage, the sales are MUCH better.

If you just want overall branding and traffic, then sending them to your homepage might be better.

 

[Solmu]

Most importantly, it works.

Always a good rationale

I've tested this on several sites and invariably when I link to the product page instead of the homepage, the sales are MUCH better.

So you'd also use specific advertising (i.e. advertise the blue silly fish t-shirt, not the fact that you do silly animal shirts).

Would this make a difference if you were paying per impression or per click-through?

If you're paying for click through you want a specific ad, so that if someone clicks (and therefore costs you money) they're more likely to be a sale.

If you're paying per impression, would you rather use an ad that would appeal to a wider audience in order to have more chance of getting clicked, or still be specific because ultimately they're more likely to click through and sell?

If you just want overall branding and traffic, then sending them to your homepage might be better.

But ultimately the point of branding and traffic is to get sales, so you wouldn't do that at their cost.

 

[BurnTees]

Always a good rationale


So you'd also use specific advertising (i.e. advertise the blue silly fish t-shirt, not the fact that you do silly animal shirts).

Would this make a difference if you were paying per impression or per click-through?

If you're paying for click through you want a specific ad, so that if someone clicks (and therefore costs you money) they're more likely to be a sale.

If you're paying per impression, would you rather use an ad that would appeal to a wider audience in order to have more chance of getting clicked, or still be specific because ultimately they're more likely to click through and sell?


But ultimately the point of branding and traffic is to get sales, so you wouldn't do that at their cost.

i was wondering that as well. any time i've tried google adwords, i was basically trying to advertise BurnTees. you think it's better to advertise a specific design that I'm selling?

 

[Rodney]

So you'd also use specific advertising (i.e. advertise the blue silly fish t-shirt, not the fact that you do silly animal shirts).

Yep, I'd try to be as specific as possible. You may not get the volume of searches that you'd get if you advertised for animal t-shirts, but you'll get much more targeted viewers and clickers of your ad. People that are more likely to buy.

Would this make a difference if you were paying per impression or per click-through?

Yep, if you are paying per click through, you want to convert as soon as possible. If you are paying per impression, you can try to appeal to a wider audience, but you still might want to optimize the ad to maximize the clickthroughs (since you aren't paying for how many people click the ad)

If you're paying for click through you want a specific ad, so that if someone clicks (and therefore costs you money) they're more likely to be a sale.

Correctamundo. Which helps you get a positive return on your ad investment (so you could theoretically run the ad forever and never lose money).

If you're paying per impression, would you rather use an ad that would appeal to a wider audience in order to have more chance of getting clicked, or still be specific because ultimately they're more likely to click through and sell?[/quote]

i was wondering that as well. any time i've tried google adwords, i was basically trying to advertise BurnTees. you think it's better to advertise a specific design that I'm selling?

There are so many competitors in the funny t-shirts market that trying to advertise your main page could be very costly.

If you are just trying to ramp up traffic and get people seeing your site, then sometimes paying that extra few cents can be a good way to launch a new site/product/idea.

Advertising a specific product makes sense (and cents) for a few reasons:

• less competition for longer keyword phrases (the long tail).
• less competition means lower bidding per click
• sending a visitor who searches for oregon trail t-shirts, directly to your page selling an oregon trail t-shirt, is going to give you a much better chance at converting a sale than trying to get someone who is looking for "funny t-shirts" in general to pick from one of your many t-shirts. It's great to show up in the organic (free) search results for funny t-shirts, but if you are paying to be there, those visitors who aren't sure of what they want could be costly
• If you find an ad that works for a phrase that less people are bidding for, you can basically run the ad forever and always be guaranteed a profit. It's just a matter of finding the right ad and making sure you are getting a return on the ad spend.

More information on long tail search here:
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050314-164653
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html

 

[Comin'OutSwingin]

Correctamundo. Which helps you get a positive return on your ad investment (so you could theoretically run the ad forever and never lose money).

Always comes back to PF, huh, Rodney?!

Good stuff, though. I'm sure this info helps a lot of people. Me included!

 

[Solmu]

Correctamundo. Which helps you get a positive return on your ad investment (so you could theoretically run the ad forever and never lose money).

Mmm, forever. I have a feeling finding that perfect ad (1:1 conversion) wouldn't be much easier than making a perpetual motion machine

Granted you don't need 1:1 to still run the ad forever.

There are so many competitors in the funny t-shirts market that trying to advertise your main page could be very costly.

The other problem of course is that the idea of funny varies even more than all the other subjective parts of t-shirt selling (price, quality, etc.). A lot of the t-shirts I buy I would consider funny, but I don't think I ever would have found them looking at funny t-shirts keywords.

I think Funny has become a genre, not just an adjective - because it's a genre customers expect certain things, and Funny T-shirts have certain kinds of jokes. A t-shirt which is funny could be anything, but a Funny T-shirt has certain expectations (SNL style humour for example), so if someone types in funny t-shirts into google and gets something other than they expected they may be disappointed.

 

[BurnTees]

I was going to start a new thread, found this one that I started forever ago and thought I'd just reply to this...

Once again...the same question. I'm looking to take BurnTees to the next level and I'm looking for advice. In your opinion, does that mean starting to do some local printing and doing some jobs outside of CafePress? Leaving CP all together? Just expanding the site to include more designs and more themes?

What do you think?

Thanks so much for the help.

Mathew

 

[kenscott]

did you design that page yourself? or is it part of the cafepress stores? If you did design it yourself, what program did you use? I think it looks great!
Ken

 

[rabbitdog]

Here's a few things:

I know you're trying to make it stand out... but the blue links on the yellow background in the left sidebar doesn't really match the site.

The logo on the same texture is off for me too, plus your logo is blurry and kind of small. Lots of space in the middle of the header that's just ... empty.

 

[Titchimp]

Without knowing your sales etc i can't really comment on what you should do, but if you are getting a good turnover of sales i would look towards moving from CP and either holding stock or looking towards local POD.

$30 for a slogan tee is steep (to me) by moving from CP you can give buyers a better deal.. for slogans especially.