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Does this marketing strategy make sense for a new site?

by WAL08
6 replies
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Background:
I currently sell on eBay pretty successfully, however with increased ebay competition, decreases selling prices and increases ebay costs my margins are shrinking.

Naturally, setting up an eCommerce site makes sense.

One of the primary reasons why I have not done so is do to SEO. I'm in a niche which has very tough competition. Top sites for KW's are generally major retailers, or the brands them self.

Strategy for new ecommerce:

1) Offline Marketing for brand awareness
- Direct Mail using USPS's every day direct mail.
- Local partnerships
- Radio

2) CPM marketing
I know my demographic, I feel that I can reach out to websites that cater towards them and see if I can setup CPM ad's which will bring traffic.

3) Retargetting
Cookies placed on visitors websites from the above 2 methods which will aid in the retargetting.

--Of course, I'll also be branding the site via my ebay channel.

Does this make sense for a new site?

Frankly if I were to spend the money on building SEO (it will take thousands a month to get the results I want probably) I'd rather spend the money on paid advertising.

SEO is good until google changes their rules making your site no longer relevant.

Thoughts?
#make #marketing #sense #site #strategy
  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    Whether or not those marketing techniques will work for your eCommerce store will really depend on your niche and a lot of other factors.

    I don't expect you to (and wouldn't want you to) share your niche but maybe you can share some info on whom you are targeting?

    I can tell you that I've had success with banner ads for almost all of my stores (depending on traffic source), I have only had success with direct mailing on a VERY targeted campaign for one of my stores (and lost a lot on others), I've never tried radio and I've been successful with local partnerships. I'm also just starting to experiment with retargeting (via AdRoll) and I am seeing pretty good results.

    You will find that with eCommerce tracking your sales is the most important thing you can do. You can enable the "eCommerce" feature on Google Analytics and this will show you which traffic sources are converting for you once you get going.

    - Anton
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    • Profile picture of the author ryshark
      Originally Posted by alksense View Post

      Whether or not those marketing techniques will work for your eCommerce store will really depend on your niche and a lot of other factors.

      I don't expect you to (and wouldn't want you to) share your niche but maybe you can share some info on whom you are targeting?

      I can tell you that I've had success with banner ads for almost all of my stores (depending on traffic source), I have only had success with direct mailing on a VERY targeted campaign for one of my stores (and lost a lot on others), I've never tried radio and I've been successful with local partnerships. I'm also just starting to experiment with retargeting (via AdRoll) and I am seeing pretty good results.

      You will find that with eCommerce tracking your sales is the most important thing you can do. You can enable the "eCommerce" feature on Google Analytics and this will show you which traffic sources are converting for you once you get going.

      - Anton
      Anton- I always look forward to your posts. In regards to the banner ads you place, are they usually placed on niche relevant blogs? Do you typically find the ads which run $30-$100 per month successful or only the high traffic CPM style banner ads? Thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by ryshark View Post

        Anton- I always look forward to your posts. In regards to the banner ads you place, are they usually placed on niche relevant blogs? Do you typically find the ads which run $30-$100 per month successful or only the high traffic CPM style banner ads? Thanks
        I prefer to work with niche relevant blogs/website that let me "rent" adspace for a fixed monthly cost. I typically start with a free week long trial to test the traffic while tracking my conversion via Analytics for eCommerce.

        It's important to test different ad sizes as well as different ad copies but when I try to get the free trials I usually look for a 250 x 250 pxl ad and I use a generic ad (gif) that flashes some of my best selling products and then ends on my store name with a message offering new customers 10% off.

        Some campaigns will be home runs and some will be duds but the beauty of being able to track your conversions is that you do not have to do any guesswork while throwing money at different traffic sources hoping that it converts.
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        • Profile picture of the author ryshark
          Originally Posted by alksense View Post

          I prefer to work with niche relevant blogs/website that let me "rent" adspace for a fixed monthly cost. I typically start with a free week long trial to test the traffic while tracking my conversion via Analytics for eCommerce.

          It's important to test different ad sizes as well as different ad copies but when I try to get the free trials I usually look for a 250 x 250 pxl ad and I use a generic ad (gif) that flashes some of my best selling products and then ends on my store name with a message offering new customers 10% off.

          Some campaigns will be home runs and some will be duds but the beauty of being able to track your conversions is that you do not have to do any guesswork while throwing money at different traffic sources hoping that it converts.
          That is a great idea for a banner. On that last message with 10% off, do you show a promo code? I know this is a hard question to answer, but what price range do you like to be in for a fixed monthly cost for banner ads? (My apologies to the OP for asking questions on this thread, but hopefully you are also finding them helpful)
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          • Profile picture of the author alksense
            Originally Posted by ryshark View Post

            That is a great idea for a banner. On that last message with 10% off, do you show a promo code? I know this is a hard question to answer, but what price range do you like to be in for a fixed monthly cost for banner ads? (My apologies to the OP for asking questions on this thread, but hopefully you are also finding them helpful)
            Sometimes I show a promo code and sometimes I just say "click here" and have the website show the promo code.. I've paid as low as $50/month for banner ads and as high ~$2k with the average probably being somewhere around $250.

            It's all based on the blog/site owners traffic and what they think it's worth. I can tell you that I have had A LOT of success with negotiating prices with them simply by asking. I try to start with a one week free trial and then I review pricing once I see my results.

            - If my results aren't worth anything I say "thank you" and move on.
            - If my results are only OK and I do not think it's worth paying what they are asking I request a more responsible price.
            - If my results are outstanding I will gladly pay full price ( I have no problem supporting other IMers )
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  • Profile picture of the author Shane Bellone
    SEO is good until google changes their rules making your site no longer relevant.
    Quality SEO will never cause problems regardless of Google's updates. The problem is many website owners expect overnight success which forces the SEO contractor to use un-natural techniques. These un-natural techniques tend to conflict with Google's guidelines.

    Follow Google's Webmaster Guidelines for content and site structure and your organic position will climb while others fall and fade.

    Regards,
    Shane Bellone
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