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7 Posts
Greetings everyone. I have been lurking and learning quite a bit. I have a million questions, but I will narrow it down to only a few for now.
Thanks to everyone for providing such a great resource. I'm still lost at this point, but at least now I know I'm lost!! 
Background:
I have registered a domain and a premium CP shop under the same name. So far I don't have any designs ready to go. My ultimate goal is to have the majority of my traffic routed through my external website running CPshop. I want that setup so that if things pick up for me then I will have the option of easily phasing out CP and either printing myself or directly contracting it.
Right now however, I have no web development skill so even setting up a basic external site is a big task. I'm up for the challenge of learning but I would like to launch some designs by Thanksgiving-ish to (try to) catch some Holiday $.
So my basic plan is:
1. Set up CP premium shop with my initial designs.
2. Set up my external website temporarily to be a
And that's where I get confused. If I use this approach and begin SEO before finishing the external site, then any links I build would be directly to my cafepress shop (on the CP servers)? This would not be in line with my long term goals of directing all traffic through my website.
So my main questions are: Given my goals, should I wait to launch my shop until I have the external site fully set up (i.e... running CPshop and pulling all my designs). I would still have to set up the CP store normally before setting up CPshop scripts right (told you I'm a noob)? Or should I just set up the CP store (CP server) as soon as possible and but hold off on my marketing/SEO campaign until the external site is finished. That way I could at least have a chance at getting some marketplace sales sooner.
Sorry if these questions are truly inane, but like I said, I'm new to ecommerce. Also, I know there is an element of getting a bit ahead of myself here, worrying about external traffic and whatnot when I haven't even started yet, but I would like to focus on my long terms goals from the start and devise the best way to work towards them.
Well, I think I ended up kind of rambling. Hopefully I expressed my questions clearly enough to get some advice. Thanks in advance to anyone who tries
Aaron
Background:
I have registered a domain and a premium CP shop under the same name. So far I don't have any designs ready to go. My ultimate goal is to have the majority of my traffic routed through my external website running CPshop. I want that setup so that if things pick up for me then I will have the option of easily phasing out CP and either printing myself or directly contracting it.
Right now however, I have no web development skill so even setting up a basic external site is a big task. I'm up for the challenge of learning but I would like to launch some designs by Thanksgiving-ish to (try to) catch some Holiday $.
So my basic plan is:
1. Set up CP premium shop with my initial designs.
2. Set up my external website temporarily to be a
- a. Landing page (or possibly a blog) with a links to my CP shop
- b. or just domain forward/grip to the CP shop.
And that's where I get confused. If I use this approach and begin SEO before finishing the external site, then any links I build would be directly to my cafepress shop (on the CP servers)? This would not be in line with my long term goals of directing all traffic through my website.
So my main questions are: Given my goals, should I wait to launch my shop until I have the external site fully set up (i.e... running CPshop and pulling all my designs). I would still have to set up the CP store normally before setting up CPshop scripts right (told you I'm a noob)? Or should I just set up the CP store (CP server) as soon as possible and but hold off on my marketing/SEO campaign until the external site is finished. That way I could at least have a chance at getting some marketplace sales sooner.
Sorry if these questions are truly inane, but like I said, I'm new to ecommerce. Also, I know there is an element of getting a bit ahead of myself here, worrying about external traffic and whatnot when I haven't even started yet, but I would like to focus on my long terms goals from the start and devise the best way to work towards them.
Well, I think I ended up kind of rambling. Hopefully I expressed my questions clearly enough to get some advice. Thanks in advance to anyone who tries
Aaron