# Best way to advertise?



## Futurerichman (Jan 13, 2010)

I'm getting ready to start a t-shirt business. I'm currently working on some designs, and I will later get all of the necessary equipment. I plan to sell the shirts online. What is the best way to advertise? Keep in mind that I'm just starting out, so price does matter.

I've heard about using google ads. Has anyone done this? What's the price, and did you see more traffic in your site?


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## Illrockmerch (Jan 19, 2010)

Launch your own website and if your websites brings traffic than google can pay you through advertisment


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## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

Google ads are good, you 'bid' for a keyword and your ad gets a place on the RHS of the search page. You only pay when it is clicked on. Popular keywords i.e. tshirt are expensive but if you concentrate on you locality you can get a better return. My site was dead until I used Ads.


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## victorlily (Jan 25, 2010)

You can advertise on Ebay!


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## AngrySpade (Feb 7, 2010)

Websites like Twitter and Facebook are great free ways to advertise, but they take a lot of time. You have to constantly be on them to spread the word.

I haven't tried Google ads but I don't know too much about them, maybe I'll look into that. I just recently opened my webstore too.


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## Hatter & Company (Jan 10, 2010)

I think word of mouth is a highly effective form of advertising. It takes time, but if you put a lot of work in your product/service, people will talk to other people about your business. Start local and then expand over time...


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## designnbuy (Jan 1, 2010)

See, if you're planning to sell t shirts online then you've to invest something for that. Unless your job wouldn't get enough to get some return from it. First try to make a professional looking site telling about your t shirts. You of course need to do some basic SEO for that so that it will come on top position in Google. Then you can go for google advertisement. Also do some blogging for your site at wordpress or blogger (free). Do forum postings, use facebook and twitter also. Those are also completely free! But remember your site should look professional and informative so that you can convince your visitors about the products you're offering to them!


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## pari (Nov 12, 2009)

google ads are best but for large business, it needs big money as to pay for keyowrds. i have not used yet but i know something about it. for the start i will prefer using FREE promotion methods, liek on Facebook, myspace, etc....... in free clasified websites and forums. 
After few days you may also use paid advertising.
Best Luck~


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## ShiroiNekoOnline (Feb 7, 2010)

I'm considering Google Ads too.
I start with free advertisements such as social network first. It takes so much time.
It's kind of building the brand awareness.


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## NigelT (Jul 25, 2009)

I'm not so sure about Google ads for small companies, you pay to get traffic but then you have to kep paying to get traffic. I think going for organic traffic is best.

This is just my opinion as I am just starting out too and am trying to put these things in effect.

There are a few main things I am trying to do:


Blog - get people interested in you and your brand by producing good relevant content
Facebook/Twitter - get your friends on first and start spreading from there (though I'm finding this on difficult myself)
Brand awareness - get your self out there. Have a clear concept, wear your own stuff and tell people about it.
Another thing I am doing is getting some models together for a photoshoot. I'll use the event to get pictures for the site and create video content as well as content for Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully this should get people interested.


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## Misdirected Male (Oct 7, 2007)

Futurerichman, before getting all the necessary equipment (I'm assuming for printing your own shirts), have you considered testing your designs on a third-party fulfillment site? I think CafePress and Zazzle are good platforms for experimenting with your design and marketing. I've been messing around with this since July '07, and I've gone through several phases of product and site redesign as well as advertising methods.

I've gotten high click-through rates with certain Google ads if the product works with highly focused keywords. I've had minor success with Facebook ads, but only for products tailored to specific, small groups. If you're using a third-party fulfillment service, make sure your design incorporates your business name or website. I put the website in small print below the design so that even if someone buys it on CafePress, they'll have my URL and maybe I'll get a second purchase from my Zazzle store, which gives me a higher commission.

SEO doesn't necessarily guarantee top placement in searches. For niche phrases, it might work out, but for something general like "funny t-shirts" it's hopeless without a lot of good external links to your site. I do great with "funny men's t-shirts", but for "funny t-shirts", you'll need mining equipment and an asbestos suit to find me. One little word...


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## LBClothing (Feb 15, 2010)

Use Facebook everyone is on it right now haha! Also its free just make a fan page and invite all your friends and try to get people you know to invite everyone they know. It should then automaticaly come up on other random peoples newsfeeds eg "John and Sam became fans of Lifeblood Clothing" and they might check it out and if you're lucky this will have a snowball effect. Thats good good starting point hope this helps!


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## Jimmytees (May 29, 2009)

My 3 cents is that google adwords will wind up costing a fortune. They're good for bigger businesses doing mega bucks and for others selling pricey items but for a $15 or less t-shirt vendor paying a .50 to $1 (or more) for some dimwit to click your ad that probably won't buy anything is a waste.

Go the free route for now with facebook, twitter, myspace, ebay, direct email, Youtube, etc. and see how it goes. Beware there's a ton of people selling shirts and it won't be easy unless you have something special.

Good luck.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

The best way to advertise is to go where the people who will want to buy your products go. In order to know where they go you have to know who they are. Until you know that, it doesn't matter what you do. Spending a ton of money to advertise to people who don't want your product is a waste of time and energy. Before you do anything else, figure out who your target audience is and then figure out where they go and how to get your message in front of them and then pursue those methods.


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## oddMarie (Feb 17, 2010)

That's a very good point. I'm just starting out, too, and would like to know the best way to find where my target market goes to buy shirts. Would sending out a survey help? If so, what are the best questions to ask?


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## NigelT (Jul 25, 2009)

I tried out that a while ago. I asked the standard questions of colour, size, price you'd pay etc Actually, you can see it here.

I has produce some good results, but I not sure how to take result from a random sample. Should you change you designs to all red because that got the most votes? 

Potential customer's opinions count no doubt, but you started your t-shirt line for a reason and I think especially when starting out, the best thing to do is to be true to what you want your t-shirts to be, put them out and get a reaction. I think you'll get a different class of reaction from people filling in a survey than when you are asking people to hand over money for one of your t-shirts.


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## tiger24 (Jan 11, 2009)

hi futurerichman,

google ads seem cheap but they add real fast... even at $5.00/day budget at $0.30-0.40 CPC.
facebook takes a lot of work but it has led to some sales for me.

in my group, i put photos of t-shirts and people wearing my t-shirts and under in the comments i put
"click below to buy, more details, pics and price... Throwin' Bombs.com MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT! "

if someone likes it they will click it and go right to your ecommerce site!

good luck


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## NigelT (Jul 25, 2009)

I think pictures of t-shirts is a good idea. It gives the impress that real people are actually wearing your products and sort of validates you somewhat. I'm trying to work on this bit at the moment myself.


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