Business Advice Needed

[Karen Mac]

Re: Business Advice Needed

What Vasili is telling you is a fact. You need to do some research on keyword STRINGS/PHRASES as opposed to individual keywords. Its a tough market to gain rank on ONE keyword. You can out do your competitors, even on google with a little practice. You need to look at what phrases are actually being used to search for your type of product. Keep in mind too, that the PHRASE doesnt have to remain in tact throught the page or the site, but can also be reinforced with some clever variations of it.

Karen

[Momus]

Re: Business Advice Needed

Hi Mindy,

It's really hard to sell a local, handmade product like this on the internet, for many of the reasons others have already suggested.

Have you considered selling your knowledge about beaded jewelry and how to make it, instead of selling the jewelry itself?

There are mulitiple ways you could go about this. You could write (or hire someone to write) an ebook or ebooks on the subject. You could set up a site with free information, e-courses and workshops, forums, etc., and then promote related products as an affiliate. This is what I do, and the site in my sig is an example.

If you go with this option, you'll want to search Commission Junction (http://www.commissionjunction.com) for affiliate opportunities. I would also suggest setting up with eBay as an affiliate. You could then run actual auction listings of relevant products on your site.

Importantly, you wouldn't be promoting "beaded jewelry" on such a site. You'd be promoting whatever products are needed to make it, to go along with the free information you provide.

Hope this suggests some new directions!

[ariyo]

Re: Business Advice Needed

I wnat to set up an investment website, can you pls give me all the necessary procedures and advice on how to go about it. Thanks

[Vasili]

Re: Business Advice Needed

Hi Mindy,

It's really hard to sell a local, handmade product like this on the internet, for many of the reasons others have already suggested.

Have you considered selling your knowledge about beaded jewelry and how to make it, instead of selling the jewelry itself?

There are mulitiple ways you could go about this. You could write (or hire someone to write) an ebook or ebooks on the subject. You could set up a site with free information, e-courses and workshops, forums, etc., and then promote related products as an affiliate. This is what I do, and the site in my sig is an example.

If you go with this option, you'll want to search Commission Junction (http://www.commissionjunction.com) for affiliate opportunities. I would also suggest setting up with eBay as an affiliate. You could then run actual auction listings of relevant products on your site.

Importantly, you wouldn't be promoting "beaded jewelry" on such a site. You'd be promoting whatever products are needed to make it, to go along with the free information you provide.

Hope this suggests some new directions!

Interesting approach, but don't you think that Mindy really needs to preserve her entire website as originally envisioned FIRST, as a viable and sustainable endeavor?
Your "alternative suggestion" is actually prompting a complete diversion, or an "evolution" into an enirely different website.

HOWEVER, (taking a bit of your suggestion into consideraton) were Mindy to develop and include richer Content in her website on such topics as the "how-to" and references that visitors might find useful, then that added Content would add distinctive metrics for SEO, and accomplish a natural means for overall positioning.
Additionally, were Mindy to add selective products offered through Commission Junction (selected carefully so as not to dilute her own marketing and conversion potential), this would add another set of helpful SE metrics development (reciprocol links) as well as greater conversion opportunities (if they don't buy her goods, then she can still earn a commission on related --not competing-- goods or services).

Whether you use a full-blown shopping cart (osCommerce, Soholaunch, Cube, etc.) or a PayPal enhanced BV foundation, most websites lack proper development across the board: either they are heavy in product selection, brand, or transactional structure, and always seem to lack the rich Content that is critical to the Perfect Page model the Search Engines are really looking for prior to assigning ranked Relevancy. Mindy's use of a BV/PayPal website can correct this by adding content easily, and also include the specific elements described above.......using a true cart is much harder to achieve the same balanced results.

It would be nice to see which way she has chosen to progress, with all of her peers offering so many wonderful suggestions!