I have developed a new gift basket idea for new mums and babies, have a website (babybouquetsandgifts.com) the baskets are baby clothes created to look like flowers then complimented with silk flowers. When I researched the market everyone said great idea, but I am having problems generating sales and ideas.Help please. Kiwigirl.

>I have developed a new gift basket idea for new mums and
>babies, have a website (babybouquetsandgifts.com) the baskets
>are baby clothes created to look like flowers then
>complimented with silk flowers. When I researched the market
>everyone said great idea, but I am having problems generating
>sales and ideas.Help please. Kiwigirl.

Hi Kiwigirl,

Are you having trouble:

1) Generating qualified traffic to your website?

2) Closing sales?

3) #1 and #2 above?

The reason why I ask because these are two different subjects and must be handled separately.

If you're having trouble with #1, then I would suggest looking into the following:

1 - Word of mouth

2 - Participating in online bulletin board discussions

3 - Making your own flyers

4 - Include your business information in your email signature.

5 - Sponsored (pay-per-click) advertising

6 - Search engine optimization

7 - Networking on websites such as Idea Cafe, LinkedIn, and Ryze.

8 - Partnerships with other businesses

9 - Generating an opt-in mailing list

If you're having trouble with #2, if you haven't done so already, I would take a look at something called a "web analytics" package. Please note, this is different than your standard web site statistics package that you might get from your typical web hosting provider.

To keep it simple, web analytics is designed to tell you exactly where your visitors are coming from, what they do while in your store and how long they are in your store. It's the equivalent of having a sales associate on the sales floor of a retail store watching what everyone does while in the store. Web analytics also helps you understand where your website is failing to serve your customer. This is key. Nowadays, running a website without analytics software is the equivalent of watching people simply walk in and out of your store without knowing anything about what they did and what their intent was while in your store.

If you (or anyone else reading this post) need assitance with attracting shoppers or closing sales, contact me and I'll see what I can do to help you.

Also check out http://www.phardy.com/cafearticles for information on how you can improve your sales presentation.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Pat Hardy
P Hardy Technologies, Inc.
Retail and Internet Consulting Solutions.
50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. #400 Uniondale, NY 11553
1-800-896-4022 / 516-342-4825
Interested in higher profits this holiday season? Visit: www.phardy.com/ideacafe for more info.