Hi! I recently launched an online store on cafepress.com. I have created pages on myspace, facebook and squidoo to drive traffic to the site as well as to promote it. However those things don't seem to be doing the trick. I have sent massive emails to my friends and family members but again have only managed to drive a little bit of traffic on to the site. Any ideas on how I can promote the store more effectively are extremely welcomed! What other sites aside from the ones mentioned can I post things on?

Thanks!

Alexandra
Sarobey Designs
www.cafepress.com/sarobey

Hi Alexandra,

Have you tried looking into submitting your items to product search engines such as Google Product Search, Yahoo! Shopping, MSN Live Product Search and others?

Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
When Retail Profits Count.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400, Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 (phone) 516-342-4825 (fax)

Looking for higher profits in 2007? Visit: http://www.phardy.com/ideacafe to learn how.

Is there a fee for submitting them? Also how do I go about doing that?

Thank you!

Hi Alexandra,

Generally no, but if you submit your products on your own, you have to know what you're doing if you want your products to be seen.

When you get a chance, give me a call at 1-800-896-4022 and I'll explain a little bit more what I mean. It's not that easy in a text post. :)

Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
When Retail Profits Count.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400, Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 (phone) 516-342-4825 (fax)

Looking for higher profits in 2007? Visit: http://www.phardy.com/ideacafe to learn how.

have you gone to craigslist?

Yes I have but not much traffic comes from there unfortunately.

-Alexandra

www.cafepress.com/sarobey
www.zazzle.com/sarobey

Make a link on www.craigslist.com

No message

Pardon me for being amused.

I don't know who told you "if you build it, they will come"... they won't.

You are going to have to do a lot more than just online marketing if you want people buying from your site.

I also am not sure that using Cafe-Press as your shopping cart is a great idea. I will add that I'm not sure it's a bad idea either, it just seems to me that if you're going to sell this many designs, you should have your own website, even if Cafe-Press is your printer.

That said...

I have been marketing my products for nearly five years in person, at shows, I see hundreds of thousands of people every year show them my products, they taste them, they buy them, we have had six-figure revenues for four years running, but my website only gets a few thousand hits a month, and the vast majority of the sales there, we make to returning customers. I say this not because I am a horrible net marketer, because some of my sales come because I have net marketed, but by far, the majority of them come from people we specifically sent to the website to order.

What you need to remember is that websites don't really sell stuff... People buy it. And unfortunately, your Cafe-Press link doesn't do anything to tell me about you, your products or your designs... And that is why I think it is key that you get off Cafe-Press and onto your own site... I believe you can still receive the orders in Cafe-Press and have them drop-shipped, but, for me, part of what is holding you back is the fact that this isn't your website... it's Cafe-Press' website. It is not expensive to have your own site, and it is not unthinkable to start with a free one, but it should be your own.

Good luck with it, some of your designs are quite catchy.

T



Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

Thank you for the advice! I am very new to this so I am stil learning. So it seems as if I would be better off promoting in trade shows and things of that sort? Also where can I look into getting my own site? Again I am sorry for all the questions but this is all new to me!
Thanks again!
Alexandra

I also have an online store and I use Homestead.com. They offer a lot for the price.

Good Luck!

What exactly is that? A hosting service?

www.cafepress.com/sarobey
www.zazzle.com/sarobey