oK guys - I have this site..WHAT TO DO?

18 replies
Hey guys,

My father in law has a fancy cutting/carving machine (called a CNC.) I am trying to get him online so he can transition from more of a cabinet shop (which is what he is now) to doing more letters and shapes (easier work, more profitable, and, more time with his new grandson - MY son!)

I currently have the 5th place in Google (3600 average monthly searches.) However, not much is on there.

I know VERY LITTLE about word press. What is on there is basically my practice.

What can I do to start producing income?

The website needs to have pictures/samples and also a handwriting or other font type thing - so, if Joe Smith wants to get "Cheerleader" in a particular font for his 13 year old daughter, he can choose something nice and fancy.

Jeremy
#guys #sitewhat
  • Profile picture of the author Trivum
    Originally Posted by Jeremy James View Post


    The website needs to have pictures/samples and also a handwriting or other font type thing - so, if Joe Smith wants to get "Cheerleader" in a particular font for his 13 year old daughter, he can choose something nice and fancy.

    Not sure what you're asking because you seemed to answer your own question. ... Put that stuff on there. Put up contact info. Start taking orders. Deliver product. ... Again, not sure what you're asking.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy James
    I know what I need to do - but, not sure on how.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Solem
      With the 5th place you have in Google - how much traffic are you seeing from that? Of the traffic you get, are these people interested in buying CNC made items or interested in some other aspect of CNC work?

      I might start with some photos of samples of his work and the types of projects that can be purchased, and maybe down the road some video showing the process involved would probably be a nice addition.

      Of course you'll need a way to take orders from people. That could be as simple as having a contact form asking "tell us what you'd like created" or you could setup a form listing every possible choice from wood type and size and what font they'd like used. Wufoo is an excellent form building tool that could get all the details from a prospect and email them to you and it could also process payment via paypal as well.

      Will you produce some standard items to keep in stock for immediate shipment, or will everything be custom ordered?

      You'll also need to tell people your policies about how much shipping costs and how long it takes to produce an order, will you allow returns or have a guarantee of some kind?

      I'd search and take a look at what competition you have out there too so you can see what you can do to stand out from the crowd.

      Hope this helps some, and if you have any specific questions about word press, I've been using it for years so feel free to ask any questions.

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author allenbroad
        Try to use the Search Engines, it will help you.....
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  • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
    One of the best things you can do is optimize the local listing for your business on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and any other major directory (ESPECIALLY Google).

    Claim the listing on google by going here:

    www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter

    And fill it out completely, being sure to verify the phone number. You'll now have done more than most of your competition

    Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy James
    That's a great idea. I will do that.

    My goal is to get his letter making business set up so he can do business nationwide - and, be able to mostly focus on that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy James
    In the last month, I only have 26 visits. So, obviously, something's wrong. I did notice in the past 2 weeks I went from #8-#5 for this keyword.
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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    Hey Jeremy can we have a look at your website and then can make some recommendations. If you don't want to put it in here PM me.

    Quentin
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy James
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    • Profile picture of the author Jean Clemens
      Okay, I would suggest you find a better suited theme for the site.

      And then I guess you need to get some experience with Wordpress.

      Watch Youtube for tutorials or buy a video basic Wordpress course.

      If you don't want to, you can probably find someoen who will set it up for you pretty cheap. There are a lot of people who can do that, as Wordpress already is so easy to use and learn to use.

      Just my advices.

      Thanks
      Jean-Michel
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Solem
      Jeremy,

      Thanks for the link - did you know your header graphic isn't showing (at least not for me anyway!)?

      I personally like the default 2010 WP theme, but would suggest at least a custom header graphic and changing the background color or using an image to personalize things a bit.

      You also need to get some photos on there pronto, and I think you need to be a little more detailed when describing your alphabet wall letters, because right now people are probably wondering...are these plastic, vinyl, wood or what?

      As far as visitors and keywords go, I think you need to find a bunch of long tail keywords to target to bring you just the kind of traffic you need to start making some sales. Don't know what keywords you're ranking for now, but of those 26 visitors, are they all in the market to purchase what you're selling..or are they there looking to learn to make these on their own...or something else
      entirely?

      You might want to take a good look at those ranking above you and see what they're doing right and wrong - and unfortunately as you're seeing here, being in fifth place doesn't get you a whole lot of traffic.

      Cheers,

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy James
    Well, for the most part, I am using this site to just learn WP. I still have no clue.

    I am ready to turn this from a "training ground" to a "money maker" for my in laws..who have been nothing but good to me.
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    • Profile picture of the author TimD
      Hey Jeremy,
      If you want a quick tutorial on what works for wordpress websites, take a look at this site:
      Wooden Porch Swings

      Jonathan Leger built the site for his brother Ted who makes wooden porch swings. The site is deceptively simple and extremely effective (at least it used to be, I can see that it's been hit by spam commentors and hackers).

      You may be able to find a post Jonathan wrote about this site. He was getting 47% click through rates at one point. I copied the formula for a wordpress site I made on emergency kits when I thought the swine flu would be worse than it was and I got 25-30% click through rates. I also use this formula whenever I put together a review site or affiliate site and it converts very well.

      Here are some things to notice:
      1. the keywords the site targets are all VERY HIGH OCI keywords - meaning that they show high commercial intent, they're buying keywords. So your job 1 is to figure out what someone puts into Google AFTER they've thought about and researched alphabet letters and JUST AS they are trying to find some place to buy.

      2. The site design is critical. Jonathan's formula is
      a. a call to action at the top in a color that contrasts with the theme of the site in order to get people who are ready to move right away
      b. an article that demonstrates expertise (NOT an article that sells) in order to increase trust
      c. another call to action that is overt and emphatic - I highly recommend you take this action

      So in a nutshell it's
      a. call to action
      b. demonstrate that I know what I'm talking about
      c. recommend action

      3. Other than the homepage, most other pages are just articles handpicked and downloaded legally from Ezinearticles.com intact. They are not random articles or just articles with the right keywords (though they do target buying keywords). They are articles that are meant to demonstrate authoritativeness and increase trust (even though they are "guest articles" not written by the person who owns the site).
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  • Profile picture of the author charline530
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy James
      I have been using this website to learn how to do wordpress. However, I am wanting to go from learning Wordpress to actually making money with the site for my father in law.
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  • Profile picture of the author nigelchua
    Hi Jeremy

    I'm not exactly sure if you're looking at making money/profiting by the original core business which is letter cutting, or if you're looking at monetising your site with the free traffic from SEO.

    Ok, let's start with the core business.

    The website that you have, now will be a good time to install an email autoresponder to capture emails of the traffic that comes to your site via organic search.

    Create a freebie product (ereport) that can be given away in return for their email, and start marketing via forums, social media etc.

    **At the same time, refine your/their sales funnel of their core business. Look at what is the type of products and services that is deliverable, and arrange it in place, and once you've got this in order, start to market to your leads by sending out emails periodically via the autoresponders.

    Here, i'm talking about using the traffic generated as leads for the core offline business.

    For the online monetisation segment, it'd be good to take a look at the online marketing and making money online segment.

    Hope this helps!

    Nigel
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  • Profile picture of the author warrior2003
    Hey Jenny,

    My thought here is that you are #5 for one keyword that is not drawing enough traffic. Next step while still improving the design of the site. Work on adding new keyword rich content.

    Do some research to see how many monthly searches are coming in for other key phrases and pepper those phrases in your content.

    No matter how good or bad a site looks the key is good content and keyword targeting. You may even add a few subdomains to enhance your targeted phrases.

    Good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author Cringer
    Does your Father in Law have premises on a row of other shops?
    Get some scrap material and create a logo for each of the shops on the street as a sort of Halloween gift or some such. Something small but so as the other shops get the idea of what you're doing.

    I remember once seeing a laser engraving machine etch out a baby's photograph on a piece of wood. it had a great 3D effect and the parents loved it. All it cost was the small end piece of some wood and about 2 mins of time.
    Not sure if that's what the machine can do for you but thinking along those lines you could quickly lash out some niche samples and offer them as gifts or something.
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  • Profile picture of the author jimmack
    Not that everyone hasn't given good advise, but freudianslip27 and TimD are right on. That is what I would do.
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