Looking for fresh ideas for a fresh start...

[RobertBand]

Hi there warriors!

First let me give you some background on what I'm working with...

Recently a friend of mine asked me to help promote his web store. He went in for that Jeff Paul scheme you see at 5 am in infomercials... he had no idea what he was doing to start out and did minimal research. After he'd asked me to get involved I found a million holes in his plans and after some strategizing he decided to scrap the original site. His original plan was way too broad... the site name said it all... theoneplacetoshoponline.com. After seeing some feedback from other warriors he finally got what I was telling him. He needed a niche to market to. So now we're back to the drawing board. He's decided to go with the somewhat smaller catagory of Home Decor.

Now for my question... What can I do to make this site launch well and build relativily quickly? I know its a long process but knowlege is king and i love learning new ways to do things...

Here's what I'm planning as of now...

I can get a few hits from social sites like twitter and facebook, but I know that conversions from these will be few and far between until I get a respectable following... I'm going to get him indexed on some search engines and web rings. I know the basics of SEO but I'm not sure how to implement this other than maybe posting blogs about products on the site. Any tips on that would be helpful. I'd like to get a mailing list going for site deals and such, though I still have a lot of research ahead of me on how to implement it and exactly what kind of service to go with for it. I know I can probably get a few hits from posting in forums and such on the subject and either direct people to the general site or to specific products, or just through my signature... but that seems like the long way around.

Really I don't have a budget to work with until we get a couple of sales for it so paid adverts are out for the launch at least. I'm thinking maybe link swaps might help but this will probably serve us better when we're established and have some healthy traffic so we're attractive to another site so they might get some of our traffic in exchange for theirs.

So warriors, any advice, fresh ideas or ways I can improve what I already have ready for implementation?

[designbuyers2007]

The first thing I would like to convey is that patience is the key to success.
And I could advise you to start your Blog and you can work with distinction for you,
as you have knowledge people who will provide you with exclusive information for publication in your blog, with affiliates links and banners that could let you earn money from it, And you can do more after that and I wish you good luck.

[Steve Peters Benn]

I think there is already a wealth of information in the standard forum and the War Room. Probably more than you could ever impliment.

If your friend can't invest anything, then he needs to accept that without a huge time investment from you, things will be very slow going.

You can't have:

minimal time
minimal investment

and then expect to pull some unique and amazing out of the bag. I'd tell your friend to get serious.

[RobertBand]

I'm not looking for minimal time or investment. I've already put a lot of time in to research and development for this project. I'm really looking forward to seeing if I can make this site work for him (and me especially). And as for the investment portion at first does have to be minimal. I'd like to be able to pay for advertising but at the moment we don't have a ton of capital to work with. I'm just trying to find some ideas on how to hit the ground running.

Patience is my favorite virtue. Everything takes time to get moving. But with time and effort comes success.

I actually am planning on starting a blog of my own to help him out.. and make some money for myself. Should be fun too... I didn't even think about making a blog about home decoration... there's already a good wealth of info for researching... all I'd have to do is put it together in a creative way. And link over to his site for some added traffic both ways.

[Steve Peters Benn]

A blog on home decoration is good but here is the sort of comment that causes me concern:

'I'd like to get a mailing list going for site deals and such'

Basically, you are looking for a fully fledged site with all the bells and whistles, from the sound of it. It will take a lot of time to do well.

Now is as good a time to start as any but be aware that it may take a lot more effort than you think, particularly if this is your first major site.

Signatures off sites like WF will not generate you very much usable traffic, you really need to drill down to where your niche hang out and which bloggers they read.

Then approach those portals and come up with Joint Ventures that they might actually go for - this is a much quicker way to get started versus scrabbling around for random untargeted traffic.

[RobertBand]

First, the blog would be my own side project... I always love a good long term project like that. He's taking care of the build of the site for the most part with me helping to make it more SEO friendly, and for a second set of eyes for editing and such. He really is going for a major site with bells and whistles... I'm mostly in it for the marketing end and some tech support.

Originally Posted by Steve Peters Benn

Signatures off sites like WF will not generate you very much usable traffic, you really need to drill down to where your niche hang out and which bloggers they read.

Then approach those portals and come up with Joint Ventures that they might actually go for - this is a much quicker way to get started versus scrabbling around for random untargeted traffic.

Thats what I'm hoping to be able to do. I've been doing a lot of research into the home decor world and where people are most likely to go for ideas and supply. I'm hoping that maybe a joint venture or something might work or maybe some guest blogs at least for some credibility and to get myself out there.. and in the end maybe get some traffic to his site....

[1960Texan]

Do you have any plans to post decor tip videos on Youtube?

[josspam]

I'd go for a blog... but I don't consider that you should take all the investment part... I mean... at the end you could do all on your own, even when it was your friends idea... it doesn't work like that!

Jocy

[travlinguy]

Maybe he needs to cut his losses in trying to promote to a VERY broad market base, scrap the site entirely and re-think his approach with a smaller, more managagle niche.

That way you can both work on a very focused plan of attack with noticable and measurable results built in. I realize this probably isn't what he wants to hear but the alternative will be a struggle.

[RobertBand]

All really good ideas... I didn't really think about the youtube idea.. I like it! To be honest I'm using his general idea and drilling down to make my own project out of it... But I'd like to drive as much to him as I can. Its always nice to have a joint venture going with someone you know.. and if his site starts getting its own hits maybe I can get some traffic back... Any other great ideas out there warriors?