[e-tees]

Help!
My site has been online about 18 months, and I'm embarassed to say I've sold 6 shirts.
People use my designs on their blogs, but not
many buy. I know my designs are different and a little old-school but I refuse to believe
I'm not funny.So,site, designs,or both, what's
the problem? Thanks in advance.
Ray

 

[SBEMedia]

I personally like the sayings and the graphics on your site, but it does lack a certain 'pop' that makes people want to buy the shirt. You really need to get some models or friends wearing your gear. For example, for your 'Retired' shirt have an older relative or friend wear that shirt. Spice up the website a bit and I think you'll at least give people a reason to keep browsing through your site. Also, do you have a site stastics analysis where it shows you what pages people are looking at, i.e. do you see that your customers or browsers are spending only a few seconds on a page as opposed to a few minutes on another? If you do, come up with marketing strategies to get them to click on the next page. The longer they stay on the site the better you have a chance of making a sale.

 

[e-tees]

Thanks for looking, Tom. I will seriously consider your suggestions. Hopefully they will get me going in the right direction. Thanks
again Tom.
Ray

 

[dollen]

Tom makes some good points. There is a lot to it anymore. Many think "I have a website, therefor I deserve money" and unfortunately its not that easy. The web site supports the direct mailings, in store promotions and social networking leads you get.. you have to play the current game to score (that was a horrible analogy)

I would also find a model. who do you know of who is doing well. Look at the source of their site, look them up in spyfu.com see how much they spend on advertising.. get hooked up with all the free tools (mostly google.com stuff) and a big second on the notion of integrating Google analytics.. you really must know where people are falling off your site.

Cam

 

[e-tees]

Thanks for your observations Cam. I tried adwords, but I'm a one-man operation, and for what I wanted, they wanted $25 a day. I couldn't do that, so I'm looking into other means of advertising.
I do like the role model idea and plan to try that and some of the free things on the web. Thanks
again.

 

[SBEMedia]

If you're looking for SEO make sure you include a blog on your site. You should spend a minimum of 1 hour per day towards marketing and blogging. In order for the blog to be efficacious, make sure you headers and footers key words match those in the text, especially for Yahoo and MSN Search Engines (although they are more for paid . With Google it will pick up your site once you start getting continuous content. Each day you need to update your site so that it gets continuous 'pulls' from the various search bots etc. that are out there.

 

[e-tees]

I'm presently looking into how to start a blog, but I'm a little technically challenged, so it takes me longer than others who are more advanced.I just had some upgrading done and plan more in the near future.Thanks for your comments.

 

[dollen]

I'm presently looking into how to start a blog, but I'm a little technically challenged, so it takes me longer than others who are more advanced.I just had some upgrading done and plan more in the near future.Thanks for your comments.

This is part of the easy button approach I was speaking of.. True, you can start a blog at Blogger.com or wordpress in an hour or so.. but to integrate that blog into your site and use it as the content so that your efforts are streamlined and your work flow is as effective as possible.. it takes time. Making a blog and Flickr work for you not only on content management, but also on seeding the search engines is huge. If you do it right you get results in the long run.. but now without a blended marketing plan and a lot of leg work.

Best of luck to you.. and kudos for getting on the forums and doing your research.

Cam

 

[msabas]

Help!
My site has been online about 18 months, and I'm embarassed to say I've sold 6 shirts.
People use my designs on their blogs, but not
many buy. I know my designs are different and a little old-school but I refuse to believe
I'm not funny.So,site, designs,or both, what's
the problem? Thanks in advance.
Ray

Hey our site is the same way, we have had sales but not as many as we would like good thing is we still drive traffic withour freebies, but all it takes is a few good designs to hit big and just keep at it.

 

[e-tees]

Hey Mariano, It looks like you have alot going for you on your site. Hang in there!

 

[lben]

OK, I looked over your entire site and read every single shirt. What can I say? Instead of putting them on shirts have you ever thought of turning your designs into cartoons and selling them to Playboy, Penthouse, or Hustler? Or have you ever put a small ad in any of those magazines? You should try it.

Or maybe you could try marketing your tees to adult bookstores or Spencer Gifts. You need to find your target audience of dirty old men or "old school" as you put it. I know one, so I'm going to send him your web address. I will almost bet he'll buy at least one of them.

 

[e-tees]

Thanks for your opinion, Loretta. You might be right about my targets, I will definately check it out.
And yes, I've often thought that some of my designs should be cartoons, but I'm not selling cartoons, then again I'm not selling many shirts either.I will definately look into this situation.Thanks
again.

 

[lben]

Ray, I hate to burst your bubble here, but your creations are cartoons that you've put on shirts rather than magazine paper. Maybe you're just using the wrong medium. I do think they would sell to magazines that appreciate the style of humor that is depicted in them. They were funny to look at and read, but I'm just not sure if there's much of a market for wearers of them. Of course I've been known to be wrong on more than one occasion. Hey did anyone named Tony B buy anything yet? I did send him your webs address.

 

[e-tees]

Hey Loretta!
I'm thinking you may be right. I have'nt heard from your friend, but thank you for trying.

 

[lben]

Ray, give him time, he's usually broke, but he does like that stuff. Actually it may be a little bland for him, he's kind of a perv if you know what I mean. I feel bad for his wife. I don't think I could tolerate him for more than 8 hours at a time. We used to work together at the hospital. It takes him a while to get to all of his emails, but be expecting to hear from him. Your shirts are right up his alley.

 

[e-tees]

Loretta, I hope he buys a shirt, but I'm not sure I would like to meet him. fortunately, I've outgrown that stage.

 

[lben]

I'm glad you've outgrown that stage. He's in his mid 40's and still has the mentality of a 14 year old! You're right, you don't want to meet him.