Best way of marketing new online store

Best Price Accessories

Hi all,

I have recently started a small online electronics accessories company and am looking for advice on the best way to market it. I am new to Boards.ie but seems super for getting quick relevant responses.

Goldenpages has given me a range of options payable monthly but I don't want to plough ahead with that in case it isn't the best option. I did a small campaign on Facebook and payed per click but it is expensive for a start-up company.

Any ideas, past experiences etc would be very welcome.

Thanks

fishy21

usually, the best way to get traffic for a new site is google adwords. It will get you off the ground.
You could try and get an article on siliconrepublic

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Avoid the golden pages, people that use the golden pages are looking for phone contact not website contact. Adwords is your best quick fix and SEO for the long haul, usually a mixture of both.

Best Price Accessories

Thanks - I'll give Adwords ago. Fair point about Golden Pages. To be honest I'm thinking of including a number so that people can contact us directly by phone as I always like to talk to somebody first rather than emailing.

And I've spoken to quite a few people about SEO (and am willing to pay) and they've told me I'm better off doing this myself........

gooch2k9

Do ya sell electronic components? URL?

Best Price Accessories

Hi, we don't stock electronic components at the moment but can source them no problem. url is www.bestpriceaccessories.ie

uniqpers

Google Adwords has been really good for us . . . just requires a lot of work.

Proper site optimisation is important too so that you're ranked highly on search results. Do your research and see what people are looking for - https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000&stylePrefOverride=2#search.none!ideaType=KEYWORD&requestType=IDEAS

You could always try hosting a Facebook page but to be honest i've only found this works with a handful of brands (Berocca, Skittles, Pablo Picante). . .

Best Price Accessories

Thanks - I'll try Facebook and Adwords and see how I get on.

uniqpers wrote: »

Google Adwords has been really good for us . . . just requires a lot of work.

Proper site optimisation is important too so that you're ranked highly on search results. Do your research and see what people are looking for - https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000&stylePrefOverride=2#search.none!ideaType=KEYWORD&requestType=IDEAS

You could always try hosting a Facebook page but to be honest i've only found this works with a handful of brands (Berocca, Skittles, Pablo Picante). . .

Tav

Hi,

Try to spend as much time as possible on SEO done by yourself and then hire some to take it to the next level. Be sure what are you paying for and it might cost a lot. Unfortunately it is hard to find someone who will deliver what was promised...

Tav

Here is a very good article on your own SEO: http://www.cubeonlinemarketing.ie/cube-seo-guide-for-irish-business/

Garyr1

Yeah, i agree about adwords. Its the quickest way to generate leads and sales, but can be expensive if you dont know what you're doing. We found the following resource for Adwords, some good free info and advice on there. http://www.perrymarshall.com

izzydumpling

Found adwords the biz for our website. Wouldn't touch goldenpages.ie with a bargepole (very long one) - total waste of money!

I set up my own adwords - didn't take too long and google guide you through it. I would suggest you try adwords for a few months, set up an analytics account and watch and see how it goes.

Iz:D

PaulPinnacle

izzydumpling wrote: »

I set up my own adwords - didn't take too long and google guide you through it. I would suggest you try adwords for a few months, set up an analytics account and watch and see how it goes.

Nothing like jumping in at the deep end to get you learning fast, but it can prove to be a very costly learning experience if you jump in too early.

Google have excellent material available through their learning centre to show the basics. There are dozens of excellent resources available on the web to help guide you (with hundreds of great ones and thousands of terrible ones). Finding the balance between how much time you're willing/able to invest into learning the ropes and how much benefit you gain from it is the key.

If you start off with a small budget until you've learned the basics, it should help you avoid blowing a large budget with some basic mistakes. There's nothing 'difficult' about it as such, just a matter of learning the ropes and picking up the methods that work for you/your target market before expanding your efforts.

Depending on your sector/market, it's also worth checking out the PPC (pay per click) offerings available from the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.. You might find that you can also attract relevant targeted traffic here (possibly even more targeted in terms of the demographics) at a comparable (or even lower) cost.

sfwcork

Have you a budget set aside? If so what are your current area's of advertising and marketing.In my opinion I wouldnt skint on marketing early doors.At the end of the day you may well get one shot in a competitive marketplace

Best Price Accessories

sfwcork wrote: »

Have you a budget set aside? If so what are your current area's of advertising and marketing.In my opinion I wouldnt skint on marketing early doors.At the end of the day you may well get one shot in a competitive marketplace

I'm giving the website a facelift first - got some very good feedback from another thread on boards, so I'm going to change the website before getting stuck into the marketing side of things.

I've tried facebook briefly but wasn't overly impressed but I guess until I know the website is topnotch I can't be sure what marketing is best. But it seems like AdWords is key

PaulPinnacle

Best Price Accessories wrote: »

I've tried facebook briefly but wasn't overly impressed but I guess until I know the website is topnotch I can't be sure what marketing is best. But it seems like AdWords is key

It could very well be that FB just doesn't suit your business, but from the experience of others in relatively similar fields I'd suggest that might not be the case.

I'd certainly not write it off just yet. A few recent studies have suggested that CTR's on FB (in general, so hard to apply it to one specific campaign or sector) are currently achieving better results than similiar or comparable campaigns via adwords (Almost sure it was on Damien Mulley's site [or a link provided via his site] I was looking at the figures, http://www.mulley.net/, but not 100% on that). Some suggestions that it's due to the novelty of the ads on FB for the time being, others due to the fact that images make the ads more striking, but either way it's a route to market that I'd personally not cut off too quickly.

What might be a factor here is that advertising via FB needs a different technique to your normal search engine marketing. You haven't got a user who is actively looking for your service when your ad appears, so you need to engage them in a slightly different manner. Given that it's social media you're on, you have a great opportunity to build up a relationship with them, let them get to know you and your services and build up trust with the customer. Direct sales via FB ads normally don't provide great results (again, a huge generalisation here, it works great for some), but if the effort is put in it has a huge capacity to provide leads that later become customers, if it's done correctly.

In the same manner you test out your ads on adwords (split testing, different copy text, different landing pages, etc.), you have to do similar with any FB ads. The difference that an image can make, or directing your target client to your own blog/website/FB business page, can have a huge impact on the performance of your campaign.

That said, the bottom line is all about your goals (be it ROI or any other goals you have). If FB isn't performing (or any other method), get out and put the funds to where you can/will/do get a better return.

sfwcork

Yes I would recommend you have the website 100% before you fully start launching advertising.The last thing you need is an unfinished website with negative word of mouth early doors.

Facebook is a handy free adver area but in all honestly it wont boost the bank balance out of proportion.

Have you been in touch with google to enquire about having it near the top of the search engine.It does cost worth it.

What do you feel you main Target market is?

Vim Fuego

Here is a beginners guide to AdWords written a while back but it's still relevant. Good tips in here for getting the basics right: http://blog.iia.ie/2008/advertising-on-google-the-bluecube-guide-for-beginners