Help wanted - promoting beanies online

[NikNikAndCauliflower]

Hey Warriors,

I'm trying to help my mate out promoting his beanies online, which is what got me interested in Internet Marketing to begin with.

If anyone has the time to give me some tips, it would be very much appreciated

Basically, I want to get more people to visit the site (we had a video on Metacafe that worked alright, and we'll probably do another one), and, obviously, buy when they are there

The site is Frankhead Beanie Co. - Home

I'd like advice on a possible mailing list, and opinions on whether the PayPal checkout is the way to go? Plus anything else you think is relevant

If we can, we want to avoid spending too much getting traffic, because unlike an electronic product, his margins aren't as big.

Currently we're targeting the Australian/NZ snowboarding industry (the season has just started), but any sale's a good sale

Thank you in advance for your help
-Nick

[jefferyjansen]

You need to start with what keywords you want to market. Then look up courses on offline biz internet marketing. Or have them hire a marketing consultant.

Good luck!!

PS: I like the video.

[kadensnga]

Would he sell them at wholesale by the truckload? If so I can sell some overseas for you 50,000 units at a time, but they have to be dirt cheap and I have to be able to make at least .5 cents per unit.

[NikNikAndCauliflower]

How cheap are you talking, kadensnga?

Jeffrey, yeah, the video's a bit of a laugh

Thanks guys

Cheers
-Nick

[NikNikAndCauliflower]

Anyone else?

[Susanrh]

I presume the beanies are hand made? So producing 50,000 'dirt cheap' is probably not something your friend will want to do!
You could do some off line advertising in the areas where snowboarders or whatever gather, small posters or business cards to bring people to the website.
Have you tried ebay? It's the sort of place that people are more likely to be looking for this sort of thing and you can link back to the website from an About Me Page, (list on several ebay locations, especially US and UK) Or Etsy it seems the sort of item that would fit in there.
They are really cute I hope you do well.
Susan

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by NikNikAndCauliflower

I'm trying to help my mate out promoting his beanies online

So a "beanie" is a hat, evidently? I'd never heard the word before. Just wondering whether there might be other potential customers who also haven't? But maybe not.

Originally Posted by NikNikAndCauliflower

If anyone has the time to give me some tips, it would be very much appreciated

I know nothing. But I suggest that when your mate has made a couple of sales and has a few dollars, it would be nice to move the website away from Weebly, which does look a little bit unprofessional to some people - or at least to pay for an upgrade and remove the Weebly emblems from the site?

I thought they look pretty nice (but was very disappointed to see that they're 90% acrylic!). Good luck.

[gacott]

I would agree with the need to move away from Weebly.

[bryce]

Hi guys,

I am in New Zealand after spending the past 15 years in Aussie. I liked the video too, and may be interested in helping your project along. I could be in a position to add your site details to 35 websites that I help manage, (4 of which are my own sites).

I also have an opportunity to potentially wear one of your beanies, and possibly promote it on an upcoming Youtube video, linked to and for a channel (musician) with more than 6000 subscribers, and who has just clicked over 350,000 page views.

In fact I could even host a new site for your product, and design a simple but effective platform for you to launch professionally.

There are lots of ways to do this, and if you are interested you can PM me for a more personal chat.

[Susanrh]

Hi, I said cute I shouldn't have said cute,cute is not cool, I should have said the beanies are cool !
Bryce's offer looks a good'un, and most likely to reach your target market!
All the Best
Susan

[YoungMoulah]

Hi Mate,

Learn SEO for cheap traffic as this is free. It just takes a little time depending on the niche. You can learn in and around the forums.

Sell on Ebay I'd say... probably the easiest to start with.

Are there any snowboarding forums about as well? You could post on there and try and flog a few.

Hope this goes well mate.

Let us know how it goes.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Post photos of beanies on Flickr - participate in the
community too. This works for a lot of things like
(don't ask me how I know) doll collecting.



Also list the beanies on Etsy.com - and when you
ship them MAKE SURE you have a "lift letter"
thanking for the purchase and making an offer
of more products - a catalog, and so forth.

Don't neglect to offer your customers related stuff,
even if you didn't make it. Skiiers wear these
oversized pull-overs which sell for $100 and up -
getting into making them could be a big back-end
profit-center for your friend - bigger than beanies.

P.S. the video is very funny.

[kadensnga]

Originally Posted by NikNikAndCauliflower

How cheap are you talking, kadensnga?

I will pm.

[ken_p]

i think the idea is to let your market know that you guys exist. so my best approach would be to go to social networks, and find the guys that in your market, and let them know about your product.

[NikNikAndCauliflower]

Susan - lol @ cute. Just made a few listings on my Ebay store, and will do some auctions today. Selling in different parts of the world is something I'd never thought about. Thank you.

Alexa - they're acrylic for the brightness. You can't get as good of an effect with wool. They still feel nice, and they're really warm And yeah, he's been considering going 'Pro' on Weebly, could be a good idea.

Bryce, interesting. I'll PM you.

YoungMoulah, yeah, we've found some snowboarding forums and made a few sales from them, but I don't want to abuse that channel Cheers

Traffic-Bug, thanks mate That seems to be the way to go, because he doesn't have a heap of money to promote them with.

Loren, Flickr's an awesome idea So, you mean like affiliate market other people's products? Good idea, I reckon. Glad you liked the video

ken_p, cool. That's something I completely hadn't thought about. How would you recommend I go about it?

Thanks heaps guys

Keep the ideas coming, and I'll update you on the progress in the next week or so

Cheers
-Nick

[NikNikAndCauliflower]

Gacott, what would you recommend as an alternative?

Do you think it'll be enough to just remove the "free website" jazz? It only costs $5 (but maybe US), a month.

-Nick

[NikNikAndCauliflower]

Shipping with no cost to Indonesia? I don't get it :S

I reckon I'll get my hands on Angela's backlinks

Cheers darkneva

-Nick

[bryce]

The changing of the website from a free platform, is basically for credibility. Some people don't care and some wouldnt even realise, but there are those who assume because you are on a free service, you have no money, and having no money whn you are in business, is sometimes related to your products not selling very well. If your product is not selling very well, it could be because it isnt any good, and so on......

Its not a biggie really, but it can create some credibility issues.

[bryce]

Originally Posted by NikNikAndCauliflower

Bryce, interesting. I'll PM you.

Cheers
-Nick

Cool, whenever you are ready

[scorpio7]

I applaud your product. They are cute. I wish you the best and hope they blow up. Would be great to see some PRESS RELEASES get your product featured on the NEWS. That will blow it up big-time. Good luck.

[NikNikAndCauliflower]

Scorpio, any tips for getting on the news? That'd be mad

Bryce, PM sent

Darkneva, for $5 a month, it's no big issue. I'll get him onto it when I see him next.