Struggling For Sales

[AWildDog]

Hey Guys,

I manage to make a few sales to friends and family pretty easily (with no encouragement for me either!) - but for the moment, I'm struggling on folksy to get any sales. With 40+ items on there now, I need to start making some sales! Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

[JhnStcks]

Get a proper shop not a facebook app.

[seamus]

I'd agree, get yourself a decent website and use everything else you've got going just now to back that up,

a proper site will give you a more professional image and should bring in extra sales and its easier to get yourself noticed in search rankings if its a proper website you'v got.

another thing to do is try and work out a marketing strategy, how are you going to get more people to notice your products etc, a plan of action, schemes to use on facebook to draw in more people, advertising (doesnt need to be expensive at all) facebook ads work quite well and dont cost much to set up, you could try and get yourself in the local paper or magazines, either an advert or try and get yourself featured for whatever reason, one off charity fund raisers are always good to get your name noticed, and a charity benefits aswell.

there's plenty of things you can do

[AWildDog]

Working on the website - though my funds are limited, so folksy will have to do for a few months!

Thanks for those ideas, will have to see what's available to me.

@John - Would have helped more if you'd explained why.  

[FionaJMD]

Oh if only we knew the holy grail of getting sales LOL.

I have been slogging for ages with all of the above, but I think it comes down to getting the right people in the right place at the right time and there doesnt seem to be anything you can do about that.

I watch with interest at the traffic to my site and if I post a link on facebook, within seconds my visitors can go from 2 to 32 but still no sales.  It is so frustrating - they say patience is a virtue, but unfortunately I dont possess that one LOL!

[AWildDog]

I have patience, but I also know I need to make some sales!

Any ideas for good hosts? Not too expensive? I can do design myself as long as the hosting has good support (just incase I happen to mess something up!)

[FionaJMD]

I have patience, but I also know I need to make some sales!

Any ideas for good hosts? Not too expensive? I can do design myself as long as the hosting has good support (just incase I happen to mess something up!)

I recently moved to Scotserve and I have not regretted it - slightly more than I was paying at 1&1 but the customer service is 10 times better so worth the extra pennies!  And they do backups 4 times a day and I am glad they do as I needed it recently LOL.

[JhnStcks]

Personally i think it is easier to market a standalone cart rather than a facebook app as you can set your own meta-data.  You can also interlink your products through description links and related products.

I see you do have some T&C's at least but you have no way to tie your customers to them during the checkout phase like you can on Zencart and Prestashop.

You could also run a blog off the site.

Scotserve is an excellent host and for me is good on price.  His security is second to none as is the customer service

His prices start at only £30/year for the lowest plan. http://www.scotserve.co.uk/shared-hosting/budget-hosting

[AWildDog]

Thanks guys, will have to have a look into scotserve soon, probably over the weekend, my brain has deserted me now.

[scotserve]

Thanks guys, will have to have a look into scotserve soon, probably over the weekend, my brain has deserted me now.

Alison take a look at this as well
http://www.e-commerce-forum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1394.0.html

[beads4breakfast]

I have found sales better on my website than misi, folksy, etsy etc.... but also I have found even with website things are slow at the moment people are not spending as much on 'luxury' items as people call them jewellery etc... .

My sales have I must admit been much better on the new website done by scotserve I have done more sales this month than i have since November !! not sure if it is because people are getting ready for fairs and are getting in supplies or what. I did accidently type in artisan lampwork beads in the google box the other day and I was on the first page    never had been before so whether its the new website all the key words etc... we are learning in the work shops here because I have noticed a lot of difference since joining here and reading up on all the helpful hints on here.

[seamus]

its not as difficult to get on to page one as people think, and wordpress is a cracking bit of kit, google loves wordpress and will index it properly quite often, I've seen posts I've made show up on google within a few hours of posting it on my site,

wordpress is great for SEO

[AWildDog]

Well it does seem to be the way to go then!

Heading over to have a look at that thread now!

[Andy c]

lol I would say zencart if you are on a budget like me ...everything is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  well just about

[scotserve]

lol I would say zencart if you are on a budget like me ...everything is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  well just about

Andy - your about a month too late - head over and look at her site now