Online Business - Just needing an experienced online business owner to help me out..

hello everyone.

I recently started my own business. I have my own web-store and everything else. I realize that it takes time to get a business going to where its making money and bringing in revenue.. but I want to make sure I'm doing things the right way.

I guess, my question here is.. is if there are any other online business owners around here, I was just wondering if you could take a look at my web-store and just give me some advice.. you know, like let me know what you think about it so far. Make sure I have everything like it should be.. etceterra.

I've registered with many search engines and I'm getting a fair amount of traffic.. but I haven't yet made a sale.. and that's got me a little worried. I'm just wanting to know what could I do.. to help get some sales. I'm thinking that it might be that the pictures of my items that I have in stock.. I think the pictures might not be good enough pictures.. the lighting on some of them is dark.. eh, I dunno.. I'm thinking about taking new pictures of all my stock/items that I have currently in stock.. and putting the new pictures up. When I take the new pics of my items.. I'll make sure that there is adequate lighting.. and make sure that I get good pics of my items.. and maybe that will help.

I mean, I'm 110% honest with my items. I thoroughly inspect my items for any missing pieces, cracks, chips and or broken parts.. and I only list items that are in 100% Excellent used condition. Yea, 'excellent used' condition.. I'm a reseller. But again, I only post items in my store.. that are in 100% excellent used condition.. that have no missing pieces, broken parts, cracks, chips and or blemishes.

Anyhow, if anyone could maybe let me in on what I should do to help bring in a little more traffic.. and maybe help me make some sales, that would be GREATLY appreciated. I mean, I'm actually trying my best to make this business a legitimate and honest business. I don't want people buying one thing and then never coming back... I want repeat customers.. that way, they come back in the future for more items.. and maybe possibly even help spread the word about my store/business.. which would in return bring even more traffic/business to my store.


Anyhow, if anyone that has any online business experience.. would like to maybe help me out with some advice/pointers or whatever it might be.. please, feel free to let me know. I won't post the link for my store.. because that's considered spamming. However, if you would like to take a look at it, please.. by all means, send me a private message and I will be more than happy to send you the link to my store.


Thanks everyone.

peace.

what do you use to process payments??

if it's paypal then there's your problem. people don't trust paypal. you have to use something else. you also have to be very flexible about your margins at first. offer some sort of special to get traffic in the door then phase them out.

i have a buddy of mine who does inventory photography for online stores and it's not as easy as taking a point and shoot camera and taking a picture. get 4 clamp lights from WalMart or HD and you need a large white posterboard.

4 clamplights set up on 4 corners so no shadow is visible. place the white posterboard so it's flat on the bottom but curves up in the back. so the entire background looks white and you can't see a hard corner.

take around 20-30 pictures per item, look at them closely, pick the one with the least amount of blur....

what about warranty???

legalzoom.com has some pretty good prices on warranty contracts with enough legalese to minimize the amount of goods that qualify...

I am interested in seeing your site. i have to say that with the web and every other business, the majority fail. i have some websites and i build websites for people and i can tell you, it's all abotu marketing but if you're marketing to the wrong people, you''re wasting your time. lots of traffic doesn't do anything unless it is tageted for what you're selling. do you use pay per click advertising? ive owned a few sites and conversion rates are low. you have to have the best prices and something not everyone is offering. otherwise people will just buy it on amazon. i don't mind paypal but it's not good to rely on paypal because some people dont have an account and wont get one. do you offer free shipping? i hate paying for shipping. return policy? i order from amazon a lot bc shipping is free and they take anything back.

how much traffic are youg etting daily? i mean unique visitors. are you using analytics?

Yea send me the link. I've never started a website but I'll give you a consumers view of it. Plus i like to think I'm pretty business savy.

What is the nature of your web business?

Did you research a target market or did you 'build it and they will come?'

How do new customers find out about you?

so its like an online garage sale?

redivider said:

what do you use to process payments??

if it's paypal then there's your problem. people don't trust paypal. you have to use something else. you also have to be very flexible about your margins at first. offer some sort of special to get traffic in the door then phase them out.

i have a buddy of mine who does inventory photography for online stores and it's not as easy as taking a point and shoot camera and taking a picture. get 4 clamp lights from WalMart or HD and you need a large white posterboard.

4 clamplights set up on 4 corners so no shadow is visible. place the white posterboard so it's flat on the bottom but curves up in the back. so the entire background looks white and you can't see a hard corner.

take around 20-30 pictures per item, look at them closely, pick the one with the least amount of blur....

what about warranty???

legalzoom.com has some pretty good prices on warranty contracts with enough legalese to minimize the amount of goods that qualify...

Click to expand...

I have PayPal, Cashiers Check, Money/Wire Transfer - all are options for customers.. to use to make payment.

I've only had the site up for about 2 weeks now.. but I just figured that I would have at least ONE sale by now. I mean shit, my prices are lower than E-bay!! Basically, what I do is.. is I purchase items that I know I can sell and that I know are collectible and worth enough money to where.. if I can get it for a low enough price, I'll buy it.. turn around and put it up for sale.. but, I set my prices on my items to where, if someone comes along and makes a purchase, and for whatever reason or reasons.. they don't like the item that they bought, once they get it in the mail.. they can turn around and re-sell it.. and make they're money back and then some!

Basically, in a nutshell... I try and leave plenty 'meat on the bone' so to speak.

I mean, I know things are tough right now.. in today's economy.. but damn man, my prices are affordable even in today's economy.

I don't know.. I just don't know.

dam612 said:

so its like an online garage sale?

Click to expand...

Eh, yeah.. kinda. I mean, its just a side hobby I have bro. I'm not doing it expecting to get rich... LMAO. That's for sure..

I'm just trying to keep these older items alive.. by keeping them visible and available on today's second-hand market. Just trying to keep the younger generations aware of how things use to be.. and how things use to be made.. and just trying to pass on the great savings on great items onto the customer/consumer.

rosecitypapa said:

What is the nature of your web business?

Did you research a target market or did you 'build it and they will come?'

How do new customers find out about you?

Click to expand...

Well, I registered my site with many different search engines which includes Bing, Google, Yahoo, Search-Express, etc... and I noticed a fairly big jump in traffic after registering it with the search engines.. but it still hasn't led to any sales. I dunno..

I mean, I'm not out there to try and scam or rip-off anyone... I'm just simply trying to keep these older items alive by trying to find them a new home on the second-hand market is all.

The items that I purchase, are THOROUGHLY inspected for any cracks, chips, missing pieces, and or blemishes. If I do find just ONE problem with any item I purchase.. that item doesn't get put onto the online store. The only items that get put up on the store.. are the ones that are in absolutely 'LIKE NEW' but used, condition.

I just need that one customer.. you know, that one customer to make a purchase.. and then that person will see what quality items I indeed do have.. and hopefully from that one sale, the word will eventually make its way to other people... and eventually lead to more sales/traffic to the site.

I could be weaving dreams here.. but again, I'm not expecting to get rich.. or anything of that nature. Just simply trying to keep these older items alive.. by keeping them available to the public.

It's hard, no doubt.. its hard starting up a business. My brother inlaw owns/operates his own company.. but, his company is HUGE.. and he's been in business for 10 years or longer now.. and is doing great. So, maybe with time... my store will get more popular and maybe start making some sales eventually. I just have to be patient.. and keep moving forward I guess.

cannabisguru said:

Well, I registered my site with many different search engines which includes Bing, Google, Yahoo, Search-Express, etc... and I noticed a fairly big jump in traffic after registering it with the search engines.. but it still hasn't led to any sales. I dunno..

I mean, I'm not out there to try and scam or rip-off anyone... I'm just simply trying to keep these older items alive by trying to find them a new home on the second-hand market is all.

The items that I purchase, are THOROUGHLY inspected for any cracks, chips, missing pieces, and or blemishes. If I do find just ONE problem with any item I purchase.. that item doesn't get put onto the online store. The only items that get put up on the store.. are the ones that are in absolutely 'LIKE NEW' but used, condition.

I just need that one customer.. you know, that one customer to make a purchase.. and then that person will see what quality items I indeed do have.. and hopefully from that one sale, the word will eventually make its way to other people... and eventually lead to more sales/traffic to the site.

I could be weaving dreams here.. but again, I'm not expecting to get rich.. or anything of that nature. Just simply trying to keep these older items alive.. by keeping them available to the public.

It's hard, no doubt.. its hard starting up a business. My brother inlaw owns/operates his own company.. but, his company is HUGE.. and he's been in business for 10 years or longer now.. and is doing great. So, maybe with time... my store will get more popular and maybe start making some sales eventually. I just have to be patient.. and keep moving forward I guess.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you are not really starting a business, more of a self-managed job. A business is something that can run without you involved in the daily affairs.

It sounds like you approached it by a "build it and they will come" mentality. It's not that that approach won't work, it's that the odds are way against you.

I don't have much knowledge in the antique and vintage market especially how it ties into the online world. But if I were to guess you should look into products like Market Samurai (website optimizer) and research long tail keywords. Market Samurai and other software like it will give you a better understanding how to approach online business, where you are now and what you have to do to get to where you want to be.

fyi, the tone of your posts are apologetic as it relates to the subject of money - not the best relationship to have with money if you want more of it in your life.