Who has a Website & Is it worth it?

[JSR]

Just to update you JSR I thought I would bite the bullet and buy my little space on google. I'm now however about to throw in the towel!
Literally it is doing my brain in.
Filled out the form using key words suggested by them but they keep telling me they are invalid. I've swapped it, changed them, reduced the number to 10 and it still won't do it and can't even remember the keywords I originally started with.

Think i'll have to give up on that one.

Perhaps they've changed it since I set mine up a couple of years ago - I know they've been doing "improvements" (whatever that means). I think it's rather silly of them to make it too difficult for the newcomer to set it up.

[AJLA]

Couldn't agree more.

[Lorcan]

I get 80% of my business through my website. The other 20% is through Ebay. I use Google Adwords and Ebay to draw customers in, then keep them with Constant Contact marketing emails. I have a range of pre-designed products to sell though, I don't do custom work. I don't do events, or market stalls, or even publish my phone number - it's all online. I use Romancart for my online shop.

I currently spend £12 a day on Google Adwords, but I was spending £15-20 a day on ebay fees for the same turnover so Adwords is a better deal in the long run. You do need to put in some work on your keyword relevancy, and make sure your keywords are on your landing page(s). Use the search ads but also use content ads on sites RELEVANT to your market. Adwords is a big subject and there is much to learn, but there are some great tips on the Google Adwords user forums, so get reading if you want to make it work.

And don't forget your USP

[AJLA]

Sorry Lorcan but a reall ignorant question here...what's a landing page, is it your home page or a page or similar?
Can we have a look at your site? Always interesting to see designs etc Mine is probably a different product altogether but I do like to have a look at what you guys do too.

[Lorcan]

The landing page is the page that is linked to your ad. It needn't necessarily be your home page - you might want to take your customer direct to a specific product page for example, or you might want to set up two identical pages with different keywords and see which one works best.

[AJLA]

oh ok I thought so but how would I know which page works the best if I make two identical ones? I'm not really blone

[Lorcan]

The two pages can be identical in content, but have different names. Set up two ads in Adwords - one has the first set of keywords and points to www.whatever.com/page1.htm and the second campaign has a different set of keywords and points to www.whatever.com/page2.htm. You need not have the full URL displayed in your ads. Then see which gets the most clicks for the least money.

You can do the same thing with different ad content (but the same keywords), or with different landing pages. See what works best, and keep tweaking to get the best out of your budget.

[AJLA]

Oh that's interesting, thanks

[Flash]

Very interesting thread!
I have been 'playing' with another attempt at a website over the last couple of days I find this whole business very time consuming and in the past have had very little success from websites
Anyway I will link you to my efforts as I would be most grateful for your constructive comments:Flashtees Website

Phil

[GoldRapt]

Looks good, is it a template or did you do it all from scratch flash?
I believe you can pay some group of blokes in asia about £300 and they do everything for you. £300s alot mind.