# The internet...and competition



## rrc62 (Jun 2, 2007)

A few people have asked me why I don't just run my operation out of my house and sell over the internet. Here's my take on it.

(1) Look at your competition. You're going up against lot of other web sites. Many of these were put together with venture capital money, so the owner has no real stake in it other than time. They can afford to spend millions, not make a dime and walk away after three years. I can't do that. I'm working out of my pocket. I NEED to make money. When I spend money on advertising, I NEED to see results.

(2) Look at the cost of keeping a website ranked in the top 10. You can do pay-per-click, use a site ranking service or spend the time to do it yourself. Either way, it's not cheap to keep a new business on top. Once you've been established a few years, it's easier to maintain a high ranking. Pay-per-click is the best way to get on top...Right now. Minutes after you sign up, your website starts showing up at the top Google. The more you pay for each click, the higher you go in the rankings. 

So...What are you guys doing to promote your websites? How are you handling search engine ranking, who's doing it for you and what are the costs? Are you running a local shop as well as a website?

Ross


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I don't think starting out you need to really worry about ranking #1. 

You just need to make sure your website is search engine friendly and work on the many other forms of advertising, marketing and getting the word out about your brand.



> A few people have asked me why I don't just run my operation out of my house and sell over the internet. Here's my take on it.
> 
> (1) Look at your competition. You're going up against lot of other web sites. Many of these were put together with venture capital money, so the owner has no real stake in it other than time. They can afford to spend millions, not make a dime and walk away after three years.


I think you'd be surprised how few t-shirt websites are backed (or started) by venture capital money and spending millions. 

I think that you have a much more even playing field on the internet than you do in a brick and mortar business. You can stand toe to toe with the best in the industry and as long as you can deliver original designs and a great customer experience, nobody knows or cares whether you work out your house or whether you're spending millions. You actually have a leg up, because _you don't have to spend millions to make it_. You just need a great product, great marketing and time.



> I NEED to make money. When I spend money on advertising, I NEED to see results.


You're in the same boat as many who have started t-shirt companies online.

That doesn't mean that you don't jump in the water because other people are in the pool. That means you swim harder and smarter.

Nobody wants to spend money with no return. At least no small business. 



> So...What are you guys doing to promote your websites?


A good start here would be to look at the marketing keyword tag search and see some of the great tips that have been posted.

Here's a few starters:


http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4115

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4636

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=4650



> How are you handling search engine ranking, who's doing it for you and what are the costs?


Also check out the SEO keyword tag search. There are some great tips on search engine promotion there.

I wouldn't pay anyone for search engine ranking and I wouldn't ever recommend anyone pay a dime for top ranking. I'm sure people do and it's working fine for them, but it's not something I would ever recommend to a client.


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

I never paid a dime for my tee square ranking.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Rodney said:


> You can stand toe to toe with the best in the industry and as long as you can deliver original designs and a great customer experience, nobody knows or cares whether you work out your house or whether you're spending millions.


That's often true in the retail world as well: the same store that'll stock BAPE will stock a new, untried brand that comes to them with a good product.


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## JohnnyMo (Jun 14, 2007)

I work solely from a small warehouse and sell exclusively over the Internet.... I like being able to sell a product that costs me roughly $4 (item, packaging, shipping) for $20+ online... rather than hustling for volume and selling one color prints to a local lawn care service for $5 each.... 

I'm a simple one man shop and my overhead consists of my webhosting, and the small space I rent to avoid having the whole set up in my garage (which I did for the first 3-4 years)..... marketing is some simple Yahoo keyword PPC, interspered with about $300-400 a month in ads selectively placed to reach a college age demographic... my listing in the search engines is helped by the fact that my site is very dense on keywords and content and has been online for over 5 years and has decent backlinks established... 

I'm not making a killing by any means, but I sell enough 
to pay the bills and to only have to work 3-4 days a week to keep up.... 

Keeping the overhead down, and selling a few pieces for a large margin has been a better proposition for me than trying to get loads of volume at small margins.... 

Good luck...


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