# It's 2015, how do you drive traffic to your online store?



## Life Attire (Aug 26, 2015)

Hey All,

I was looking around here and was seeing a lot of old threads dated back to 2008 regarding advertising and I know a lot has changed. I wanted to start a new thread for 2015 for us all to discuss and share ideas on how to drive the most traffic to a website in 2016!

*What do you feel is the best method of advertising in 2015?*

I really want this to become a in depth conversation on all ways & methods to advertise from minimal budgets to max budgets. 

Hope we can all learn something from this thread!

Thanks,
Angelo


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

Good business ethics and practices never go out of style. So any "old" posts are just as relevant today as they were when they were posted. In addition to any of that, you need to have some type of social media plan. So it's essentially double the work. No one, or the other, takes place of another and is a magic bullet.


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## Life Attire (Aug 26, 2015)

Hey Andy,

I have to differ on that. Technology is constantly changing and the social media platforms are as well and evolving. Being that most business are heavily eCommerce I feel information can be outdated rapidly. For example, SEO has even evolved and not the same as it was 5 years ago. Google had hundreds of videos on this. This is why I am bringing this up... 

Best,
Angelo


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## fwtees (Aug 27, 2015)

This is one of the exact same subjects I would like to learn more about here and I am looking forward to everyone's input. Thanks for publishing this thread, Life Attire


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## Tshirt Coach (Aug 27, 2015)

I use Facebook Ads for 90% of my traffic to my store. People seem to be under the false assumption that people on Facebook are not in buying mode. I'm living proof that they are completely wrong. It does change quickly but what you have the basics down, you can't help but profit with it. If your shirt(s) speak to the audience, they will buy and buy a lot.


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

Life Attire said:


> Hey Andy,
> 
> I have to differ on that. Technology is constantly changing and the social media platforms are as well and evolving. Being that most business are heavily eCommerce I feel information can be outdated rapidly. For example, SEO has even evolved and not the same as it was 5 years ago. Google had hundreds of videos on this. This is why I am bringing this up...
> 
> ...


I'm not exactly sure what you are saying. But...

Tried and true business methods, ethics and marketing are just as valuable and important today, as they always were.

IN ADDITION to modern techniques. 

Which is exactly what I said. 

You asked: "What do you feel is the best method of advertising in 2015?"

I basically answered: that in 2015 there is NO SINGLE "BEST" method of advertising. "Old" techniques are still just as relevant and important as modern methods. Such as social media. 

If you are putting all of your eggs in the "one single best method today" basket, then you are setting yourself up for despair. 

Trust me, I have retailers who carry my stuff who once sold thousands upon thousands of shirts per day and they put all their eggs into "THE" best method, abandoned the other tried and true methods, refuse to evlolve, and they are now suffering and close to desparation. 

So...maybe I am misunderstanding you? But it seems like you want the ONE solution. 

As somebody who designs, prints and sells my own brand/line of tees through my own site and retailers for a career, I can tell you that tried and true methods still need to be followed. 

I'm not the one asking, you are. And not trying to be snooty. But it seems like you are looking for advice. If you want advice - great. If you want to tell people who do this for a living and are succesful, that they are wrong, then dunno what to tell you. 

So:

Quality.
Word of Mouth.
Great Service. Aknowledgement of customer, etc. 
Some type of Value.
Traditional marketing and branding. 
Compelling product. 

All traditional methods which will always hold great value. 

However the difference NOW is that you must ALSO incorporate and keep up with the ever EVOLVING social and online strategies. 

So, yes there is no magic bullet. Social media solely is not a guarantee of success. Nor is strategic online/SEO marketing. Nor are traditional methods for that. On their own. 

You need to do it all. And you need to do it all constantly. 

There is no one "BEST method in 2015".


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## Tshirt Coach (Aug 27, 2015)

I agree, there's never a single best method. There's lots of stuff that does work online, (my area), and offline, (not my area). What I've found is that most of the online methods/strategies come from offline marketing basics. You just have to apply them to social media and evolve that way.

Never stop doing the basics though and yeah never put all your eggs in one basket. You need plan b,c & d just in case plan a goes awry.


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

I only personally sell online. But still market in traditional methods as well, in addition to modern methods. 

Doing stuff online, it's really easy to forget about the "human" touch that we need to hang onto.

Sounds a bit sappy I guess. But customers especially like to be made to feel important these days. THAT is great marketing. of course, it's not solely about marketing. It's about being genuine with people and they appreciate that.

I think way too many people have done away with the human, genuine aspect of marketing and think that ads on FB (or whatever) great google rankings, etc are the end-all-be-all and then wonder why they are failing.

Well...cuz you're essentially a robot. That's why.

I see this all the time in upstart "brands". All sizzle and no steak. Spending thousands of $$$ on tags or whatever before they've even sold a single tee. No marketing or service skills either.

Genuine methods such as:

Super quality, super service and such. Interacting with your customers on a daily basise. JUST aknowledging their existence. Create marketing on their own via word of mouth.

Add a bit of social marketing and SEO. And you get a foundation going.

Then you build up on it via stronger marketing and branding (tags and such). Then start going after paid ads on social media, print, etc.

It all creates a stronger business. And no one is more or less important than the other. And all are required. 

This business...it's a marathon not a sprint. It's a grind. But I continually see guys asking for the magic bullet. There isn't one.


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## Life Attire (Aug 26, 2015)

porkchopharry said:


> I'm not exactly sure what you are saying. But...
> 
> Tried and true business methods, ethics and marketing are just as valuable and important today, as they always were.
> 
> ...


Hey Andy,

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I appreciate the feedback though! I was started this thread to see what methods people are using most effective & best ROI to drive traffic in 2015. I'm sure most companies have bigger success with one way or another as putting your eggs all in one basket is not smart but wanted to see exactly what people felt was the best method of driving traffic being that the ROI was greater. 

In your experience? Where would you say drives the most traffic to your business? Affiliate Marketing? Google Adwords? Social media? Perhaps something else?

Thanks for the feedback Andy, much appreciated! I'm sure this is helping others as well.

Best,
-Angelo


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

Life Attire said:


> Hey Andy,
> 
> Sorry for the misunderstanding. I appreciate the feedback though! I was started this thread to see what methods people are using most effective & best ROI to drive traffic in 2015. I'm sure most companies have bigger success with one way or another as putting your eggs all in one basket is not smart but wanted to see exactly what people felt was the best method of driving traffic being that the ROI was greater.
> 
> ...


It's no biggie. It's just that I feel the need to clarify the fact that this business is a grind and it's an all encompassing marathon that entails the use of EVERY tried and true advertising method out there. Including current ones, and up and coming ones.

I mean - take coca cola for example. Have they abandoned older, traditional methods of marketing? Hell no. They use them along with modern techniques to reign supreme. Even if you don't like coke...

Anyway, what would I say is the most beneficial one? For a NEW business.

Product and service and quality. First and foremost. Because product is what will get someone to impulsively buy an item in the first place. And creates word of mouth. Either bad or good. But it's the foundation to build upon. 

I went from a 10 shirt a month printing hobby to full time career based solely on appealing product, exceptional quality and service. Without ever once paying to advertise. Or spend any extra on "branding". Other than a sticker or something. 

From there, I went to the next level. Paying to advertise, getting stuff in front of more eyes via retailers who advertise on social media and print ads, and now I'm working on branding (custom labels and the like) but I also print my own merch. So I have that as a benefit. 

I've approached it all very methodically with a marathon type frame of mind. Not a sprint/get rich quick, frame of mind. 

But you cannot discount the most obvious thing = product. And for some people they can't handle the fact that thier product may not sell. And they have a hard time rebounding from that. Reality states that you will NEVER know what will sell until it's available for sale. And the one's you think will go BIG - just might fall flat. And the ones you think are MEH - might just be the ones you can't print and ship fast enough. 

So product along with service is the foundation to build on.

As far as online/modern?

Honestly, I feel the days of crazy SEO and google based buying and affiliate stuff is over. People want stuff all in one place. News, shopping, say hi to Mom, etc. And they spend their time on FB. And many people spend time on instagram. 

I feel in the online/modern arena that time is best spent on FB and Instagram. Where they get it all served up at once. 

I do not like twitter. And Pinterest I've never had enough success with to warrant a massive investment of time. I probably SHOULD invest more time. But...I'm an idiot I guess in that respect. 

I would honestly say that almost all of my business has been derived from 1) word of mouth because of product, service and quality 2) Facebook and 3) retailers carrying my stuff who advertise on Facebook and print and 4) Myself paying to advertise on FB and 5) stepping up branding in a physical regard with the product.

As you see lot of FB and quality of product and service But...allowing a few retailers to carry stuff if you can get in - they get your stuff out in other traditional methods that you might not have time/$$$ to invest in. Like print ads. Etc etc.


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## gailkessel (Aug 29, 2015)

Most of the clothing brands promote their products through social media advertising as we all know that it drives more targeted traffic .Some online marketing companies like BBEX marketing provides effective marketing strategies to their clients for promotion along with professional websites .


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## LinuxGeek44 (Sep 17, 2013)

Social media, definitely. Some outlets are better than others for businesses. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are always great starts. They key is to engage with your followers. Like their statuses, retweet them, actually respond when someone gives you a shoutout. And post a lot of pictures, since they get way more attention than plain text posts. 

Secondly, build links. This can be as easy as registering your company on business directories like Yelp, Foursquare, Yellowpages, etc. Local listings are always helpful!


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