Who has a Website & Is it worth it?

[Stitch Up]

Just wondering how many of you have a web presence for your DyeSub business?

Is it worth the effort & cost? How often do you get business as a result?

I'm working on a website just now, trying to save money and all that!!

John

[Justin]

I have a shop www.32below.co.uk it no longer gets any traffic as I closed the business a couple of years back.
I've kept it running as I'm hoping for a change of use.

My shop was for a very specific market so getting traffic through wasn't easy. That said, at it's best it wasn't too bad at all. It cost me £1250+vat and I pay £20 p/m hosting (which will soon change!)
For that price I got a fairly basic site with PayPal integration. Personally I believe a good shop should enable the customer to get on quickly, find what they want...quickly, pay for it....quickly and then get off...quickly. I hate having to hunt high and low for something.
I have a good admin interface with this site that gives me full control.

Overall, yes, I would say it was well worth the expense. I set up my own but I could never get it to look half decent.

Justin

[JSR]

Pretty much all of my business is via my website. Okay, I'm not making a fortune but it is slowly growing.

Price of website: £0 because I use ZenCart.

Before using ZenCart I tried doing the whole thing from scratch. It looked okay, took me ages to do, and I couldn't work out payment integration. Result? No sales.

But I put up ZenCart and tweaked it. Almost immediately, I got a sale - proving to me that the previous version of the site was pants! :oops: This proved to me that people want to "see, click, pay" and that's it. Paying for a bit of Google also helped increase sales, but I'm careful what I pay. I've had a few orders with payment by cheque, but people have to write out a cheque and often "forget" (which is another way of saying they found somewhere else to buy from).

I'm fortunate in that I run a couple of websites for other people off my own server, so I can run my website on that without paying too much (the majority of the server costs are paid for by the other sites).

[AJLA]

How much does a little bit of google cost, often thought of looking into it but expected the cost involved to be high.

(By the way I dont do subli stuff from my site so it wouldn't affect anyone here)

[Stitch Up]

I'll have to take a peek at Zencart

[JSR]

How much does a little bit of google cost, often thought of looking into it but expected the cost involved to be high.

It's entirely up to you.

Google Adwords is a prepay system. You decide how much you're prepared to pay per day and the Adwords system puts your ad in an affordable position until your total for the day is used up. Some positions cost more than others.

If you don't want to pay much, you may find your ad appears on the third or fourth page or something. As Adwords is a pay-per-click system, if no one clicks on the ad (because it's hidden on the 3rd or 4th page) then your allocation for the day isn't used up - so the ad is moved closer and closer to more prominent positions (which cost more) until the allocation is used up. You could find yourself on the front page for paying next to nothing if no one clicks on your ad.

If you decide to pay huge vast sums of money (which I'm sure many do) then you'd probably be on the first page all the time, but you need to go careful because not every click will turn into an order.

As a prepay system, you pay in advance of the listings. If you decide to spend just £1 per day and you prepay £10, then your ads will appear for 10 days - on the 11th day, they'll stop. Google doesn't have a direct line to your bank account and so can't just keep drinking from it like a bottomless pit. If you decide it's not working for you, then just stop paying them.

I would recommend that, if you're going to go with Adwords, spend a bit of time setting it up and prepare to use it for at least two or three months before deciding if it's working. Paying for one week and then giving up is almost certain to be a waste of your time and money - but, who knows, you could get sales immediately.

[JSR]

I'll have to take a peek at Zencart

Like any free system, it helps if you have a little understanding of websites before you start. You'll also need a database on your web-hosting.

You basically download ZenCart as a zip file, extract the files to your hard drive, upload them to your webspace, and follow the instructions. So long as you have your database details, it pretty much sets itself up with the option of having sample products installed at the same time. Once that's done, you have a shop with the standard template all ready and waiting.

The admin section has numerous options for installing your own products, activating payment methods, and shipping methods. Give yourself time to set it up and you'll be fine. If you get stuck, there's an active forum of other ZenCart users.

And, if you decide you don't like it, just delete it. It's not like you'd be throwing money away! :lol:

[AJLA]

Would you consider a pound a day?
If I was to be in a more prominent position ie top how am I going to know what the cost per click is?
Could two clicks take up that pound?

Crazy I know!!

I make Cornish themed t shirts ie with Cornish yarns and fag designs on and I would be most gratefull if someone would have a look and see how easy or not it is to find me in Google.
I often do searches using various keywords to find the site but perhaps I use the obvious because I know the words are in the site.

If i'm not easily found then I clearly need to do something about it.

I am currently working on upgrading the site to remove the naff banner from the standard template and make it a three column design so I hope it will appear more proffessional.
Time will tell.
Unfortunately the site has hit a lull but i'm hoping it will pick up shortly for Christmas.

[JSR]

Would you consider a pound a day?
If I was to be in a more prominent position ie top how am I going to know what the cost per click is?
Could two clicks take up that pound?

I had exactly the same questions before I started. Rather than over analysing it, I started with £1 per day (or £30 per month) and I figured that if my sales increased such that the £30 per month was covered, then I hadn't lost anything. If I got more than that, it was worth it. If nothing improved, then I could just stop.

Your Adwords account tells you how many times the ad was displayed as well as how many times it was clicked (if it was).

I make Cornish themed t shirts ie with Cornish yarns and fag designs on and I would be most gratefull if someone would have a look and see how easy or not it is to find me in Google.

If I type in "Cornish t-shirts", then you're there at the top - but how many people would type in "Cornish t-shirts"? Probably not many. What you probably want to do is to attract people who are just browsing for t-shirts to consider your Cornish t-shirts. So you'd use Adwords to have less-familiar phrases show your ad - so, if someone searched for "Hen Night t-shirt", then they've half a chance of looking at your site and considering your Cornish themed t-shirts which they may not have considered before. (That's just a "for instance".)

[AJLA]

I KNEW I wasn't thinking outside the box and was sort of one track minded. So for my ad words which work as key words?
I could maybe focus on the custom printed tees/personalised tees/t shirt printing in Cornwall/ hen night as you have mentioned/gifts from Cornwall/gift ideas/funny t shirts.... along those lines?

Now if I want to do say a month here and there ie before Xmas or when I have promotions on that is ok?

I really appreciate someones feedback as of course I don't get any from the people who buy from the site. ( Several come back and buy again which is pleasing ) Hearing your thoughts outside of the box is great and i'm always happy for any comments.

I think I will try this soon as posting dates for Christmas delivery abroad is upon us and some are too late. A lot of my tees go abroad so I need to get my thinking cap on for the correct adwords :roll: