# Blogs or website??



## kungpaofu (Sep 30, 2009)

Hello guys,

I am new and I was just wondering which should be a suitable route. Should i create a blog and then sell my tshirts there? do blogs have the "shopping cart" and "credit card" facilities/capabilities? 

As most blogs are free, i would want to minimize the cost. Instead of creating an online store (from scratch which perhaps would require a web designer and hosting as well, which can incurr cost as much as $5000?), perhaps use a blog to sell my tshirts first? Any recommendations for which type of blog host to use? Wordpress? Xanga? Tumblr? 

Also do you think you can recommend a website that is deemed a good tshirt online store? Perhaps I can mimick their mood board or what not? Also do you think by using blogs i can "delete" the "wordpress" part? 

ie: "tshirttt.com" instead ofhttp://www.tshirt.tumblr.com? "tshirt.tumblrrr.com" I know it depends on the availability of the domain name? Which means I have to purchase the domain name first? 

Sorry but I am really confused and lost... Hope to hear from you experts soon!!!

Cheers.


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## KINGSARTIST (Jan 19, 2010)

If you are selling shirts online with a shopping cart, I would recommend you buy a domain name.
If i was buying t-shirts I wouldn't buy t-shirts off a blog site. 

Be professional.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

A blog can be a great tool for selling. I know Wordpress, at least, has an ecommerce plug in that can be used to sell items. 

A free blog probably will not accomplish what you want it to accomplish. Your site has to look like a reputable business and free sites are often not the best way to accomplish that. I sure there are exceptions to that rule, but generally if you want people to give you their money, you have to spend yours. 

Downloading Wordpress and adding the ecommerce plug in would get you started. You can find downloadable Wordpress themes for free. All you would have to pay for is hosting and you can often find relatively inexpensive hosting plans.


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## KINGSARTIST (Jan 19, 2010)

EnMartian said:


> A blog can be a great tool for selling. I know Wordpress, at least, has an ecommerce plug in that can be used to sell items.
> 
> A free blog probably will not accomplish what you want it to accomplish. Your site has to look like a reputable business and free sites are often not the best way to accomplish that. I sure there are exceptions to that rule, but generally if you want people to give you their money, you have to spend yours.
> 
> Downloading Wordpress and adding the ecommerce plug in would get you started. You can find downloadable Wordpress themes for free. All you would have to pay for is hosting and you can often find relatively inexpensive hosting plans.


I agree. 
I ment for him not to get a free blog site. I use wordpress on my website, even though its blog software you can manipulate it anyway you like.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

yea, but you can only manipulate wordpress the way you want IF you hire a designer or know something about website design..

there ARE e-commerce plugins for wordpress, but they leave a LOT to be designers as far as shopping cart functionality. 

There are free shopping carts that are released under GNU license, but again, to get ANYTHING On the web to be customized to work specifically for you and your brand, you need to have a web designer OR teach yourself web design.. It took me almost 2 years to fully understand my shopping cart, but now i am a web designer and its what I do.. but you HAVE to have the passion to learn. 

The point is.. It takes money to make money - ESPECIALLY online. You are competing with the biggest and the best.


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## KINGSARTIST (Jan 19, 2010)

But only in the beginning to do you need a web-designer for a legit wordpress set-up. If he/she does it right, you hardly need a designer after that. 

Of course if you want a unique website obviously you will have to hire a designer at one point.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Well.. even with a shopping cart you should only need a designer to hire to set it up.. a good developer SHOULD set up your site in a way that you dont have to learn anything except how to use the functions.. 

Same goes for wordpress.. Someone should design it and cusotmize it for you and then teach you and send you on your way.


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## KINGSARTIST (Jan 19, 2010)

Yeah i agree with that


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## GAW (Jan 11, 2010)

Try webs.com

Free hosting/website design and for a free user you can have up to 5 products you sell....You can use paypal.

You can add more products with premium services.

I have my site thru them and I did everything Guardian Angel Wear - Home


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

You're selling website design yet you use a WYSIWYG editor on a free hosting platform? 

Becareful selling something like that, you will end up on over your head


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## KINGSARTIST (Jan 19, 2010)

http://www.hostmonster.com
That is what you need


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

hostmonster is definitely my hosting provider of choice as well, but that isnt going to build you a website.. its just a place to host it.. A good place, i'll def. give you that, but NOT a place to build a site..


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## designnbuy (Jan 1, 2010)

Yes, wordpress can be used effectively! With the proper use of plugins you can set up your blog for shopping purpose also. So you can try a search for proper ecommerce plugins over there. But remember that the blog should looks like a professionally created. It needs to be attractive enough with a neat professional looks! After creating your blog you also need to promote it properly in search engines for achieving high ranking that can help you also to get target traffic!


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## hellodestroyers (Sep 22, 2009)

i suggest you just get an account at bigcartel or storenvy and also have a blog...and once u get more publicity and capital then get a website.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

i wish people would realize that most of the time with online businesses you need to spend money to make money. Stores like Big Cartel are ok if you don't intend to actually create a working business and just want to sell some artwork.. but if you are serious about starting a business/clothing line - you should have a real e-commerce website that has a professional and memorable look. You also need to pair that creative marketing and brand recognition and you are one your way to a top clothing company. 

OR if you ask me.. the other best way to start small (with little to no money) DONT do the internet selling.. Do face to face selling. Get the cult following by going to events that will have people there who are interested in your stuff and sell out of the back of your van. If your stuff is good, people will buy and then they will look you up. They'll find YOU which is the goal.

None the less, if you plan to sell online, you should know that you are competing with the WORLD and should plan accordingly.


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## kungpaofu (Sep 30, 2009)

Hey... thanks so much for all the advice guys.

From what i can recollect here, wordpress is actually a blog host that can encompass ecommerce capabilities? Making it feel and look more like an ecommerce website but not having to pay thousands of dollars for it?

Also for the back-end, does wordpress allow or enable me to "keep track of stock, hence notify me when stock is low?", "give me a chart to see how many people use certain search words?" etc etc..

Sorry for my ignorance but I do appreciate all your kind advice. 

Also can anyone recommend a good fashion/tshirt website that is powered by wordpress?

What about the themes/templates?

THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE!!


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

No..

Wordpress is a blog "software" (kinda). Hostmonster is a host.. its a server (like a computer) that holds all of the files and content that builds your website.. Wordpress is a premade "website" that has a lot of prebuilt content. You install wordpress on a server like hostmonster.

Wordpress is more than just a premade website because there is a large community of individuals who submit scripts that advance the basic use of the wordperss website even further (like the e-commerce script). 

The wordpress e-commerce plugin lacks a LOT in inventory control, reporting, and other things. I have it enabled on this website:
Cappy's Power Nubby Foundation! Raising money for handicapped and special needs pets. 
I have not yet had a chance to add prodicts, but there is VERY VERY little chance for customization. You can purchase the next level up for the e-commerce plugin, but it is still very difficult to work with and customize. 

There are tens of thousands of themes out there for wordpress.. just search wordpress themes.. But will need to know something about coding if you seea a theme and have visions of changing it (even a little) you also need to know something about code if you want to choose a stable theme that is widget ready. You absolutely NEED a theme that is widget ready for the e-commerce plugin. 
Because of the load of wordpress themes out there, there are great ones and horrible ones.. Ones that are completely not flexible and you can't physically change the way anything looks. There are others that are great and can be changed easier with CSS and HTML knowledge. 



If you want the ability to control stock and inventory, control the way your stock looks and acts, you will want something like an actual shopping cart.


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## lolliemay (Feb 1, 2010)

I think a blog is a great idea for advertising and getting people interested- maybe not so good for selling. My website (signature link) was £50 altogether, which is probably about $100? and that included the domain name, hosting etc. it also has a really easy to use tool for building the site (technology hates me!)

have a good look around at options. you could also try having a facebook/myspace page to get things going?

hope this helps!


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## robbhand (Jan 23, 2010)

Since I just started putting shirts up on a web site, I can't tell you how effective it is, but I did find a decent free theme for starters. Crafty Cart 1.0.6 by Billion Studio. It uses a free ecommerce plugin that has premium upgrades if you need it. It lets you put in inventory amounts, process credit card info and add detailed product descriptions. What it lacks is the ability to select size and color.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Well, you can absolutely tell when someone paid $100 for a website versus had a professional design it.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

You can make a blog site look 100% like a non blog site very easy but still have all the advanatages of a blog site like the admin area for updating things and Google loves blogs sites for SEO.



KINGSARTIST said:


> If you are selling shirts online with a shopping cart, I would recommend you buy a domain name.
> If i was buying t-shirts I wouldn't buy t-shirts off a blog site.
> 
> Be professional.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

Here is my wordpress blog that i am still working on.
It is a full shopping cart built on WP.
I will have photos in it and products i hope by the end of the month i am working on the products now.

This cost $69 for up to 3 sites or you can buy a unlimited version for as many sites as you want.


my site with my custom look is at.
I will be changing the top image and all the other images soon to.
I added a blog to the bottom of my page as i want it to be on the home page for good SEO and information.
This is wordpress.
Destin wedding accessories Wedding favors Wedding gifts, Beach wedding dress accessories, Wedding t shirts, Caps, Destin Wedding lingerie,

The shopping cart website to get this is 
ShopperPress - Wordpress Shopping Cart


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

but you do realize that for $69 you are getting a website that will look like hundreds of other websites with the exact same theme right?

Also, you aren't getting a fully customizable back end. With things like this you can't just add functionality or change they way something works. 

There are lots of times where you wish your website did something a year or so after you open and because you are stuck in a cookie cutter template, theres not much you can do.

Blogs are great for SEO, and thats why I always suggest to my clients to add a blog to their website. its not hard to create a seamless design so that the store, blog, and/or main page look exactly the same. Its just CSS and structure to do that.. 

Sticking a cart INSIDE of a blog is not a complete solution UNLESS its an opensource cart. You can stick oscommerce inside of a blog using wp oscommerce


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

Well if you look at mine you will see it looks nothing like the default ones that come with it i have changed it around a lot and will be making more changes as i add in my products so it will not look at all like any of the included templates.

They include a lot of themes you can change around any way you want.
This is no different then using any other cart if you do not make changes to the default look then that is what you get.

The back end is great and includeds all the code you can edit and make changes to i have all ready done that to.
You can see and track orders and a a lot more.
The view each item area has very nice pop up images i do not have going right now.
I love the e-mail this to another person button, the product Reviews and the print this page button.
Plus the guy that makes this is very open to adding in more things all the time. Every update has more and more features included in it.


I looked at a good 50 carts and this one had everything i wanted as far as how it works and looks.
And how easy it is to set up on many sites fast.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

OK.. so then that means that you are a coder. What I am talking about is people who dont know website design. That is the majority of the people here isnt it. 

The majority of people who come here asking about how to set up a website don;t have the knowledge to make the changes a web designer could to make that template any more than the standard.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you if your design is deviated enough from the template to be memorable..

But the point is, if you need to add functionality to a cart like that, you need to know how to code from scratch because there's not even addons out there pre coded for you.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

I am far from a coder that is for sure.

You can ask how to do something and the shopperpress guy will tell you how to do it.

I am not sure whet else i would need that is not all ready included it is WP so you can use thousands of wp plugins for this as well. I have many running in the back end now.
For the cart i am not even using all the functions it offers.
I think the check out area is much nicer then what cafepress has

As for the look of any site i do not think the customer can care less as long as the site is easy for them to find what they are looking for and they can get it at a good price.

The most important thing is will they find your site?

If they find a basic site that is on page one in google they are more likely to order from it then digging to page 20 to find a site selling the same things but the site looks a little better.

Look at cafepress and zazzle both very basic to look at i like the zazzle look better myself.
With the Shopperpress WP plugin you could make a site that looks just like eather one of them very easy.

I think for someone who is not a coder and just wants to get a website cart up and running fast that works and offers as much as you want to put into it this wp plugin is fantastic.

I found about it here posted by another user.


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## AngrySpade (Feb 7, 2010)

Storenvy is a free storefront service that you could use. You can edit all of the CSS and format your store how you want it. Its a good way to start out, atleast. Thats what I use.

If you dont want the .storenvy.com thing in your URL then buy a domain name and forward it to your URL. I have also done this. Its really simple to do even though it sounds complicated.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Woah wait.. I am not saying that Cafepress is the way to go.. Not by any means at all. they are worse than what you have there.

What I am saying is, if you want a professional online store that is a REAL business you need a real website. A real shopping cart is a complete option, what you have is not. It might be fine for someone who just wants to get a cart up quick and dirty.. but most people PLAN on making their business into a real business, otherwise your t-shirt company will fall by the wayside with the tens of thousands of other t-shirt businesses out there,

And yes, you want your website to be found, but guess what.. Being on the top of google means a whole lot of nothing when you are a fashion based t-shirt business. You know why? People don't buy t-shirts like that. Marketing marketing marketing.. branding branding branding.. And you can do BRANDING with one of these templated website shopping cart blog hybrids. 

People don't go to google and type in "Really cool t-shirt for emo guys" or "Awesome shirt for MMA style clothing" 
No, they learn the brands and the stores that carry the brands that they like. If you are not there, you aren't on the customer's radars. 

And I can list a load of things that a real shopping cart can do over that script.. Just look over the THOUSANDS of actively updated and supported addons at oscommerce.. Or even zen cart. 

Can you create a gift card that is redeemable through your store without the need to go to paypal? Does it allow the user to keep a balance on their card to use whenever they want? Can you create a bridal registry which lets the bride track who gave her what and export her list so she can send out thank you cards without much work? What about the ability to add things to a wish list? 

What I am saying is.. If you take your business seriously, the best way to go is to have a professional website.. Something that someone puts together with branding, navigation, features, and ease of use in mind. There is a reason why the big companies are as big as they are. 

Just because you are on the internet and just because people can find you on google does not mean that they will purchase from you. There have been studies that prove that an online shopper will pay more for the same item if that item comes from a website where they feel more secure putting in their personal and credit card info. The definition of "more secure" also almost never includes the use of an SSL certificate but always includes something along the lines of "professionally built" or "professionally integrated"


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

I hate to keep on with this but i have to disagree with most of what you are saying.

I run a 100% Internet business that we get all our business from no its not a T Shirt business the T Shirt business is something new that is why my site is not filled up yet.

I can tell you for sure being on page one in Google and near the top is a almost for sure way you are going to make money and sell items. We make our living with out websites and they are all WP blogs.

A blog site is so widley used and people are so used to going to blog sites it is the norm now days.

If you look at lots of T Shirt sites and i have spend a lot of time looking at hundreds of them i see very few that _function_ much different then what i am using - most do not offer as much as what i am using.
A simple clean design works.

*gift cards* - this is built in i can give a coupon code to a user and they can use it to take a amount off the total before it goes to Paypal or any of the other pay services.
*
Does it allow the user to keep a balance on their card to use whenever they want?*
No - but i have yet to be at any website that dose that and i buy on-line all the time.

*Can you create a bridal registry which lets the bride track who gave her what and export her list so she can send out thank you cards without much work?*
No but what T Shirt site offers this i can not see a bride using this on a T Shirt site. I do have a bridal registry built into another shopping cart we use for our other business and almost no one uses it and we deal with brides everyday we get maybe 1 user for every 300 brides we deal with.

*What about the ability to add things to a wish list? *
No just like most T Shirt sites i do not have a wish list do not need one.
*
There have been studies that prove that an online shopper will pay more for the same item if that item comes from a website where they feel more secure putting in their personal and credit card info.*
So what about my site would make a customer not want to put the CC information in Paypal.
If you have a nice site that looks good clean and works well and you have what they are looking for they will buy.

We sell on-line Now and take 90% of our payments on-line and have been for years now.
I have also started another business for a family member and they get all their work from the website i made that is a WP blog and is on page one in Google. 80% of her customers all pay using Paypal and all of them are Brides as well.
We are in the wedding business and have been for over 15 years.
For website marketing i have websites in over 30 towns in the US and everyone is a Wordpress Blog.

Word Press is used buy some of the largest businesses all over the world for selling products and for information sites.
Not much you can not do with a WP site.

You can use a WP sites on the front end and any shopping cart in the back end as well.

*And you can do BRANDING with one of these templated website shopping cart blog hybrids. *
I think to ment to say can not? if so why not you can change anything you want on the site and brand it any way you want.

Just becouse you do not think something will work says nothing as so many people are doing very good with basic sites.
If you have something people want they will buy it if your site is found easy like on page one.
If you are not on page one or two your chance of selling something gets lower and lower the more down you are from the top.
That is the way it is i bank on it..


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

You are living in a bubble of "You" and "your site" 

Again, the T-shirt industry is NOT going to get customers from a search engine and if you had read what I wrote I explained why. Its not like that for all businesses because every business is different.. but this is a t-shirt site is it not?? 

Oh.. and didn't i ask if you can create your website generated coupon codes??? Your site requires people to have and use a paypal account. The surveys show that website visitors who are forced to use paypal as a checkout method (the traditional paypay not the payments pro) feel that it gives a more amateur feel to the overall experience of the website. They like the option to just pay on the actual website. By foricing people use PAYPAL coupons you dont give them any choice. 

Just because you haven't had a gift card that lets you keep a balance in their account doesn't mean that the feature doesn't exist 

The point about the bridal registry is that you COULDNT even if you wanted to.. and that works out to just about every new feature that's not on their feature list.. If you want, I can make a literal comparisson.

What if you wanted to show your attributes in a grid so people can add multiple sizes and colors of the shirt to the cart at one time?? What about a product zoom image like some of the larger t-shirt sellers have on their page??? 

The point with a little premade shopping cart is that you have nothing more and nothing less than every other site that uses what you have. You are seriously limited and your website will not grow with you.

having PAYPAL as your only checkout.. or 3rd party checkout system seriously decreases customer confidence in your store as an actual viable brand. It makes your site look like you just threw it together, and that means that in the eyes of the buy, you aren't as big as the other guy in position 5 on google who has a professionally built website. It's a proven fact with PROFESSIONALISM comes buy confidence..and with buy confidence comes more sales. Period. 

I could say that setting up a table on a street as a street vendor has the same "features" as the small boutique shop down the street.. because i can take credit cards on my iphone, I can have the same EXACT products, I can have a sales person and a little tent for a dressing room.. WHO do you think instills more buy confidence?? 

You really are in a bubble of "your store" .. So another question.. whats your bounce rate and your visitor conversion rate? I'd be VERY interested to know since your site seems to have it all figured out. 

Also.. I'm not KNOCKING wordpress. I'm knocking the premade crap that people put om their sites as a complete website. The large companies you speak of that use wordpress as a platform.. yea, its awesome, but they aren't using a free theme or premade theme with some limited feature shopping cart (if thats even what they have). The amount of development that goes into these major corporation's wordpress websites is MASSIVE and something that a general user would never do. 

I am also using wordpress to develop a great website, but i am not using anything premade because it looks cheap and looses buyer confidence. 

You also keep talking about your bridal business. what business would this be??? Again, VERY VERY different than the t-shirt industry. T-shirt industry means that you have the WORLD to compete with .. Bridal industry generally is localized.. like my website. I am only REALLY competing with other bridal companies in our tri state area.. BIG difference..

*If you have something people want they will buy it if your site is found easy like on page one.*

This is one of the biggest misunderstandings around in the world of e-commerce. Let me tell you something.. If (and thats a big IF) you are on top of google for your keywords, then your biggest competitor is RIGHT below you or just 5 spaces down. Just because you rank over them doesn't mean that you will get that sale. The beauty of the internet in the minds of the buyer is the ability to shop around in the matter of minutes. If this buy goes to your website and sees what you have, then they end up at an aesthetically pleasing website that has a memorable brand and instills confidence, you WILL loose that sale, even if your product is cheaper. 

Now.. in the TSHIRT INDUSTRY this is a moot point. People don't find t-shirts online like that. There are no real keywords to market for. If you have a "cool t-shirt brand" the only way to sell shirts is to create brand awareness and get people excited about your designs and learn your branding and it's name/website. Period. 

You are arguing with actual proven facts in the web design industry. I can go through and dig out all of my case studies that I have read and refer to you a million branding / online marketing books that I have and they will all say the same thing.. but it wont do you any good because you are stuck in your little bubble.. The bubble of mediocrity.. Of having just enough to make your company sustainable. Last I checked, people dont start their businesses to have just enough.. Most people (especially t0shirt business people) do it for the recognition.. Why do you think that way more than half the people end up here wanting to be like Johnny Cupcakes? Or Ed Hardy?? 

How do you think that Johnny cupcakes made it to where he was?? He didnt just slap a half done logo on a template and wait for customers to come through google, and i dont know one successful business that has done that. 

Again.. show me your conversion on bounce rate numbers and prove me otherwise.


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## ShiroiNekoOnline (Feb 7, 2010)

For me, I think web is better than blog as it would look more professional.
There are free online store template that you can use without hiring web designer.
It's much easy to organize.
There are also plenty of books to read about HTML. It's not that hard.
Good luck


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

This just gos on and on.

*Again, the T-shirt industry is NOT going to get customers from a search engine*
I am all ready getting people at my sites from search engines and they are searching for wedding t shirts, bride shirts, bride caps and a lot of wedding related items we will be offering. I have the web stats from my sites showing this. Of the sites i have set up for this i am getting around 150 or more a day of people (brides) going to my sites from searching for the items i will be selling using goggle. And right now i still do have anything for sale but they are finding me.
If i convert only a small amount of them into sales i will be making over 100k my first year.
I have a very good marking plan in the works.

*What if you wanted to show your attributes in a grid so people can add multiple sizes and colors of the shirt to the cart at one time?? What about a product zoom image like some of the larger t-shirt sellers have on their page???*
The first part is do not se many t shirts offering this. But i will have it set up to show pop up images that can show different colors. They can order as many of each item as thay want and pick any color they want. Produxt zoom can be added to the code.

Have you ever worked with a wordpress site?
It can use the same html and other code as any website and most of the time it is more easy to set up make work the way you want. And most times someone all ready has a plugin out that can do what you want.

I do not want a bridal registry on mt t shirt site but if i did i am sure i could set that up.

The shopping card plugin is not much different from any other cart but it is more easy to set up and run you can change anything you want and can add in anything you want just like any other cart system.

*The point with a little premade shopping cart is that you have nothing more and nothing less than every other site that uses what you have.*
This statement shows you do not know who to use a WP site. You can add in anything you want . But as it is i do not see much i even want to add in.

*having PAYPAL as your only checkout.. or 3rd party checkout system seriously decreases customer confidence*.
If that was the case half the people in business on the net today would all be out of business including me and we are not plus this cart supports more payment gateways them a lot of other carts. If i want to set up more i can in the admin area in a few mins its all ready in it.
*
I could say that setting up a table on a street as a street vendor*
This has nothing to do with a website.
But If both the store front and the table seller have a website and the table seller is on page one for a search and the store front owner is on page 20 for the same item who is going to get the sale the table guy on page one is. The store guys site will never be found even if it was a better site they will not see it.
This is why so many stores have gone out of business as the small guy is taking over a lot of sales on the net.

*whats your bounce rate and your visitor conversion rate?*
Right now i have no products for sale but as i pointed out i am getting people doing searches in google and going to my sites right now and yes i do have a lot of this worked out.
On each site i can see what pahes that are looking at, How many people come to the site, What search words they used in Google, yahoo and others to find my site. It tells me the website they are one when they come to my site. 
For excample *just today* on one of my sites people have searched and found my site by searchjing for.
wedding paratrooper
wedding supplies destin
rhinestone t shirts
rhinestone shirts
rhinestones on shirts
wedding gifts destin
wedding accessories
wedding cap
bride t shirt
destin wedding house
wedding beach bag
beach wedding t shirt

So yes people are finding me all ready.

*I am also using wordpress to develop a great website, but i am not using anything premade because it looks cheap and looses buyer confidence.*
This is nonsence thousands of business use premade template sites and do just fine.
Just look at half the businesses selling items to us the supplyers many of them are using template based sites so you are not going to buy your supplys from them if they have the best price on what you want. Some of the supplyers sites are very bad.

*You also keep talking about your bridal business. what business would this be??? Again, VERY VERY different than the t-shirt industry. T-shirt industry means that you have the WORLD to compete with .. Bridal industry generally is localized.. like my website. I am only REALLY competing with other bridal companies in our tri state area.. BIG difference..*
I am a wedding and portrait Photographer we have been doing weddings for over 15 years. I also run the website for a wedding service business that has a minister and wedding setup on the beach.
Yes it is different then the T Shirt biz. I am ready to compete with all the big sites i do have a plan and it is in place. *You are only as localized as you make your self*. I will not be localized.

*There are no real keywords to market for*
For what i am doing their is and brides are doing it all ready.
My big com is Cafepress and zazzle and i am all ready betting them both on most of my sites for the search words i am going for and my site will look just as good and offer many different products many at better prices and newer designs the others do not have.
So i do want the customer to shop around that is part of out marketing so they will come back to us to buy after they look at other sites and compare..

*Most people (especially t0shirt business people) do it for the recognition*
I can care less for any recognition i am doing it for making money with on-line sales.
*
How do you think that Johnny cupcakes made it to where he was?? He didnt just slap a half done logo on a template and wait for customers to come through google, and i dont know one successful business that has done that.*
You almost have to be living under a rock to not see in the news all the time how people have started a new on-line business in their back room and then make it big and this is from 100% google and yahoo search finding theie website and people buying.
I now many successful business that do it this way.
Looks like the books you are reading are out of date.
You can look up in google and see what people searched for each month for anything you want.
I am in the one million plus search range for what i am selling and listing myself under.

I do agree if you are selling custom T Shirts that have no real market then selling on-line will be a lot harder as you will not have search words people look for.
But that has has nothing to do with your website shopping cart.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

You can take the same html code from a website and use it in a blog site and have the blog look 100% the same as the website and havd all the advantages a blog offers in the admin for easy updates and management.

A WP blog dose not have to even have a blog page you can turn all that off in the WP admin area if you want and use it just as a normal website many business do.

You really can not tell now days if the site you are looking at is a WB blog or not.

here are some Wordpress sites that are not your normal blog site..
All done with WordPress
Anything you can do with a website you can do with WP.

The Ford Story: See where we are. Be a part of where we’re going.
Network Solutions Company Overview
Eye-Fi memory cards: wireless photo & video uploads straight from your camera to your computer & the web.
Kimberly Caldwell | Official Website
Wandering Goat Coffee Company
Richardson and Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay Real Estate
eBay Ink
Margaret Cho :: Official Site
PlatinumGames Inc.
XPLANE | The visual thinking company
Carnival Cruise Lines News|News & Updates from the Fun Ships
News & Finance | Online videos for busy business professionals | All episodes from BNET Video
Giada De Laurentiis
Nivea Soares




ShiroiNekoOnline said:


> For me, I think web is better than blog as it would look more professional.
> There are free online store template that you can use without hiring web designer.
> It's much easy to organize.
> There are also plenty of books to read about HTML. It's not that hard.
> Good luck


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

You are really having a hard time understanding me here. I dont know if it's me or you.. but its wild none the less.

I said t-shirt brands.. You're selling genertic shirts - I'm talking T-shirt BRANDS/fashion.. 

heres another quote of yours that is seriously lacking in understanding:
*This has nothing to do with a website.
But If both the store front and the table seller have a website and the table seller is on page one for a search and the store front owner is on page 20 for the same item who is going to get the sale the table guy on page one is. The store guys site will never be found even if it was a better site they will not see it.
This is why so many stores have gone out of business as the small guy is taking over a lot of sales on the net.*

This has everything to do with the net because ecommerce websites are just stores online. Again.. lets put this in more literal terms that you can understand/

Theres a guy with a table on the corner of 42nd street in the center of times square who again.. just has a table but all the same products that H&M has down the street. I am telling you that while people MIGHT purchase from the table guy, the majority will pass right by it because although he has all the same products with the same "Features" for payment and customer service, it doesnt look like what a REAL STORE should look like. It looks like am AMATEUR job.. and thats what it is. People dont' trust amateur jobs, and this has nothing to do with online or brick and mortar and everything to do with retail in general.. but apparently you aren't getting this. All you seem to care about is page views. 

*Congrats that people are finding you* but really.. who's buying?? You never answered your conversion rate. I told you that people will definitely go to websites on the top of google,but they will likely NOT purchase from sites.. And your bounce rate and conversion rates will likely show that the majority leave without purchasing. 

*Just look at half the businesses selling items to us the supplyers many of them are using template based sites so you are not going to buy your supplys from them if they have the best price on what you want. Some of the supplyers sites are very bad.

*Seriously?? you're going to talk about BUSINESS TO BUSINESS WEBSITES?? Are you really grasping that badly. All B2B sites are is a shell of a catalog for businesses to use. Do you not understand that retail is so very VERY different?

You said you are a photography business.. And your big competition is Zazzle/? What are you talking about?? 

You ARE a localized market and seriously beyond me why you think that you can even comment in the world of retail and branding when you are a photographer. Your photgraphy business may be doing ok - but that has nothing to do with suggesting websites to people who want to choose a clothing line. You seriously are living in a bubble of "well its working for me so it will work for everyone"

What you are seriously in a need of a lesson about is the fact that these businesses are a LOT less likely to succeed with your method of e-tailing than you think. 
*
You almost have to be living under a rock to not see in the news all the time how people have started a new on-line business in their back room and then make it big and this is from*

You almost have to be a half wit to believe that this is how people have made their successful businesses successful! The "if they google they will buy" theory is so far off that its sad that people buy into it. Sure, a few (less than 1%) of online businesses make a killing and generally make a decent amount through google advertising and search engine optimization, but do you REALLY think that's it?? 

My books are not out of date, you just seem to think that you're an expert because you have one website that actually gets page views.. You have focused everything around google and will be sorely. 

And what really freaking frustrates me is that you seem to think that I have something against wordpress websites. Like I said I am building a bunch of websites powered by wordpress.. and yes, wordpress rocks for content management and yes... wordpress can be expanded to be anything you want it to be

BUT without a web developer/ designer.. you just have a crappy wordpress blog with an OVERUSED THEME and a limiting shopping cart that will seriously hinder your business when it comes time to grow. Instead a person who is serious about thier online business needs to look into real solutions because the customers know when something is half assed.

and what you also fail to understand is that if corners CAN be cut and still be on top, the BIG GUYS will do it. People don't hire branding consultants, web developers, and designers just because they can. Its because stuff like that DOES make an impact. A quality build website that can actually grow with your business and a brand that can make in impact will only help your chances.

So you can stay happy with your mediocre designs and branding attempts from an amateur, or you can take some time and learn what takes most professionals many years of research and more years of learning that never stops. 

You really need to spend some time thinking outside of what your OWN business does as the "BEST OPTION FOR EVERYONE"

on a side note, i'm interested in seeing your wedding photography business website. You have your big plans to what.. be hired across the country??? Not local?


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

P.s.
I know wordpress inside and out.. i know you spent lots of time putting together those links and you should know that none of them actually have a FREE THEME and some limiting cart plugin.. They are all highly customized and developed by professionals with wordpress as a structure.

And for your own knowledge - I had developed and coded my own themes, created websites that fully function on top of wordpress that no one would know were wordpress and even developed an e-commerce store from scratch. You dont really apparently know WHAT i do.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

Ok this it getting fun now.

*The table gut VS the larger store.*
If you are standing in town then yes this will matter but on-line it metters very little the internet evens things out. Yes the stor will have its customers go to its website to order but a new customers that has never ordered or ever even heard of the stor and its site will buy from any site it likes and finds that has what they are looking for at the price thay ar willing to pay.
This has been proven over and over that is why a business can spend a lot of $$ money on ad words and working on getting their website on page one as page one gets resoults and sales.
If you are looking for lets say a new leather wallet and you8 have no clue of any store on-line that sells one you will do a search and 9 times out of ten the sale will go to a website on page one in that search.
I understand what you are saying but i think you are wrong.
I am not a coder but i have been running website for very long time i did run my own web server at one time selling webhosting and i still do some websites for people when i have time

*I said t-shirt brands.. You're selling genertic shirts - I'm talking T-shirt BRANDS/fashion..
*Ok then this all has not much to do with someone starting a website with their own products then.. 
New products from a new website have no real brand except for what the website is calling it.

*Congrats that people are finding you* *but really.. who's buying??*
I will say this for the third time my t shirt sites have no products in them right now for sale so no one is buying i have no products up for sale yet but i do have customers looking. If i had products up for sale i am sure i would be taking in orders. I guess i will see soon if people like what i am making..

*B2B sites*
I see a lot of B2B sites that are great as many B3B sites also sell retail to anyone. But many are very bad and a lot are using template sites and run their business that way on the Internet.

*Please show me* some of the great business sites you talk about that have all the features running you talked about in a t shirt selling website i can not seem to find any.

*You said you are a photography business.. And your big competition is Zazzle/?*
Look back and read. I run a photography business and we are starting a t shirt business a second business. So Zazzle has nothing to do with my photography business.

*You ARE a localized market and seriously beyond me why you think that you can even comment in the world of retail and branding when you are a photographer. Your photgraphy business may be doing ok - but that has nothing to do with suggesting websites to people who want to choose a clothing line. You seriously are living in a bubble of "well its working for me so it will work for everyone"*
My t shirt sites are not localized only my photography business is.
I can suggest websites for selling T Shirts and other items based on the fact that it is working for other people selling all kinds of things not just clothing. And you make the site into anything you want by changing anything and adding in anything just like a so called high end site you have yet to show us even looks like..
* 
What you are seriously in a need of a lesson about is the fact that these businesses are a LOT less likely to succeed with your method of e-tailing than you think.*
You can have the best custom website from the ground up site like you talk about and have no success at all. Also some with a template bases site can be a lot more succesfull then the guy with a custom site.
A custom built site VS a template site that you edit will make no differance to the end new customer at all.

If both sites offer a clean easy to use interface, Easy ways to see the products, Easy way to order and a easy way to check out then one site is no better then the other.
What will make the $$ is what site is found the most easy in a search. This is for a branded site or not

*think that you're an expert because you have one website that actually gets page views*
You do not know me at all. I in fact have over 60 websites up and most are on page one for the search words i want. 
As for making it with a high google page search if you do not have this then you will most likley not make it with out this.
Yes i have focused a lot around a google search it is how millions of people every day find what they buy online. The super bowl Google commercial about sums it up people use goggle to find what they want to buy on the Internet. If your business is not found easy in goggle you many not have much of a business. If you are not found you have no business or brand or anything you only exist to yourself.
*a person who is serious about thier online business needs to look into real solutions because the customers know when something is half assed.*
But a good template website and cart dose not have to be half assed what i am using works just as good as any other cart and the customer will see no differance so this will be a non issue.

*and what you also fail to understand is that if corners CAN be cut and still be on top, the BIG GUYS will do it. People don't hire branding consultants, web developers, and designers just because they can. Its because stuff like that DOES make an impact. A quality build website that can actually grow with your business and a brand that can make in impact will only help your chances.*
I agree but we are talking here about a new business starting out getting a website up to start selling their product. None of the big guys started out with the sites they have now most started out doing them self even amazon started out with just a basic page of listings for sale and look at them now. I think if everyone have a ton of cast they all worls hire to do all the website work but most people do not have that kind of money so a good site that works as good as the big guys can get you started for very little money.
But the fact is many people can and do make a site that is just as good with the same impact as any of the big guys and you can do this with a template cart system and Wordpress.

*So you can stay happy with your mediocre designs and branding attempts from an amateur, or you can take some time and learn what takes most professionals many years of research and more years of learning that never stops.*
Show us the great websites that sell t shirts that you are talking about that have so much impact and have super sales. Post links to them i want to see a site the sells t shirts has a bridal register, zoom images, a grid of images to pick a color shirt and order many from, includes a way to keep a tab of your money so you can come back and spend it another time, has a favoriets area for prodcuts you may want to keep looking at, a coupon system and more.
Lets see them. When i search for t shirt sites i can not find one that offers all this in one site most every site i find only offers the same basic ordering system.

*You have your big plans to what.. be hired across the country??? Not local?*
We are hired across Fl, Al, Ga, Tn, Ak that is as far as we want to drive.
So no the photography business has not much to do with the T Shirt business except we will offer shirts to our brides.
I have photography websites up and down the coast of Fl and AL and most are on page one in google. In summer we shoot 7 days a week and turn down 10 to 15 jobs a day all from our websites. Last year we kept two other photographers booked all from our over flow of people calling us to book.
I am very good at internet SEO better then most people. I get most of my new sites on page one with in two weeks some have been in little as 6 hours to page one in google.

I am looking forword to the next Wordpress V 3.0 that is going to be a big change in the way people and business run their sites. I guess you are up on that??

This is what is so great about a WP site you can get a new version of your site up super fast with little problems.


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## GCharb (Jun 12, 2009)

Hello all!

I am a programmer, been for 25+ years, I made a living of making web sites and marketing them, here's my suggestion.

Get a web site, you could go to http://www.hotscripts.com and search for t-shirt, several scripts there you could get either for free or real cheap to get you started.

A web site is not self promotion, you need tools for that, I suggest the following ones.

Facebook: Start a Facebook page, this is a blog with a viral twist, it could get you tons of traffic and a nice flock of followers, it is build just for that. Once you get followers, take care of them.

Twitter: Twitter is a micro blog, also viral, and by viral I mean that if one of your followers retwitt one of your post, it will be posted on his or her followers page, and so on.

I think Lynda.com has a video set showing the workings of both system and how to use them to market a web site.

I helped a friend start his site and he uses both to promote it, he's got over 1800 followers.

A site where you show your product and allow peoples to buy them is a must. Facebook and twitter are the fastest growing viral tools on the web, they have been for quite a bit.

G


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Wow this is all very revealing. You actually have no experience with selling stuff online! You have not yet made one sale because although you said you have run a lot of websites, you havent yet sold anything

You will have an awakening. I'm not saying you won't sell anything, but your visitors versus sales will be very low - its a proven fact.

Now with the competition thing. You said that the internet evens everything out and the small guy can be as good as the big guy.. well, yes and no.. but more often NO when you have a "little guy" website. You can make yourself look bigger than you are by having professional branding and a professional website, and that WILL level the playing field - but people dont need to know where the big stores are because they know the names of the big stores.. People want bridal things? They go to DAVIDSBRIDAL.COM and go from there. Or they want silly bachelorette party things, they go to SpencerGifts.com.. they KNOW these big guys because they are the big guys everywhere.. Online OR in malls.. And the reason they remember these stores is because of the branding they have done. They dont need to turn to google because they will go there first, google second, and pick the store to buy from after looking at the few on top of google... Their choice is HEAVILY weighted on the look and design of the store. 
*
You can have the best custom website from the ground up site like you talk about and have no success at all. Also some with a template bases site can be a lot more succesfull then the guy with a custom site.
A custom built site VS a template site that you edit will make no differance to the end new customer at all.*

This is wrong, and if this was true, none of the major companies would have paid a boat load of money to brand their website and try and innovate their user experience. Yes, there are standards in website design and structure, but you are sorely mistaken that all websites can generally use the same template and be successful businesses. They can be successful in that they can sustain themselves, but they will never turn into a successful brand. 

*But a good template website and cart dose not have to be half assed what i am using works just as good as any other cart and the customer will see no differance so this will be a non issue.*

You don't give the customer enough credit. They know when they are looking at a template or something that is premade. I wish I could find my case studies that I had, but most of them were printed versions, but you need to do some reading about user experience and studies along those lines. 

*I agree but we are talking here about a new business starting out getting a website up to start selling their product. None of the big guys started out with the sites they have now most started out doing them self even amazon started out with just a basic page of listings for sale and look at them now.*

First off, you don't need a ton of cash to hire a designer and the return on investment is MUCH larger than the return on investment of most people's time spent figuring out how to install whatever feature they need and on the templates.. Its a waste considering that the proof is in the case studies that show that professional design means growth in the business that you are in. 

You aren't going to find a website that has EVERY SINGLE FEATURE I mentioned because those feature's aren't right for everyone.. What you are failing to see is that your cart can't change it's functions and you rely on the plugin builder to hopfully add whatever function you need when he gets to it. 

As for competition.. YOUR competition would be these guys:

David's Bridal - Personalized Wedding Graphics Ribbed Tank - Women's - what this site has that yours doesn''t. 
A clean professional look that inspires the thought of stability and reliability, the ability to personalize right then and there, and a one stop shop for all types of bridal things, favorites and more with the "dress your wedding" option

Before the I Do's.com - Wedding Accessories for Less! this place has very memorable branding and a lot of aesthetic features that create a specific feeling inside of a bride that will make them complete their purchase and probably come back for even more items. The brand makes it easy for them to remember that store instead of it blending in with every other site. They have the nice zoom image option on their product page, nice shipping rate table, wish list, and order tracking. ORDER TRACKING is very important for a bride. Nice coupon system for free shipping using coupon codes.

Theres two of them.. and they were the top of the list when I type in BRIDAL ACCESSORIES - your major competition right there and they will have more sales than you because of their design and branding. You will not be stealing their customers, but they will most definitely take some of yours. Its the world of retail. 


I'm sorry, but now I am talking in circles. Clearly this is the case of a person who thinks they know as much as the people who do case studies and user studies.. Someone who knows just enough to be dangerous. 

One more question.. Why in the world do you have multiuiple websites for the same photography business?? That makes a lot of no sense if you ask me and actually will HURT your SEO in the long run. You also say that you are "better than the average person" at SEO but you never mention what your ranking is for what your target keywords are. 

The wedding photography industry is a hard one to rank at the top for the highly covetted keywords, but not impossible. I'm just curious if you are really ranking for quality keywords or more just on your businesses' name. Show me. You still havent showed me your MANY websites that rank high. 

SEO is such a SMALL SMALL part of the website industry.. So small that some companies just trash it all together and focus more on branding and marketing than SEO. Plenty of companies dont care if people google them, they would rather have people who know their brand and just put the brand name in the URL than to have to go to google everytime.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

Ok one more thing go and watch some of the wedding tv shows and you will see over and over the brides going on-line and searching in google for things not going to one store on line..


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

You are really stuck in a delusion of grandeur here. 

Your keywords are way to specific to be on any use to an online store that is marketing nation wide.. MY business, which i have done very little SEO for specific keywords has the same ranking for similar keywords like yours.. 

and photographer's shopping carts are so different from retailers that its not even worth mentioning

And you are so sadly mistaken about the habits of users because you are, again in a little bubble. The REASON actual studies are done is because people don't tell the whole truth when questioned. You can ask every bride and every bride will FORGET or just plain not answer honestly. 

So actual user studies are done on their searching experience.. but since you seem to really want to disagree with science (very smart BTW) and you plan on maintaining a templated website then I am done here.

I'm sorry, but you are arguing with actual real facts using anecdotes - anyone in an field will tell you that it doesn't stand up.. but your delusion of "WHAT I KNOW IS CORRECT" is over riding any sense of logic and reason.. and web development AND design is all about logic, reason, and statistics.. Its ALL SCIENCE


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## Fr4nk13 (Feb 10, 2010)

Why don't you build a website with blog elements?

My site has a blog attached to it, but it's meant to be used as a store first and foremost. 

Research the CMS Joomla!, I think you'll find a lot of useful information on it, and ultimately consider it a strong contender (not only in this site, but any that you might build)


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

I think you need to look up the facts in google

take Davids bridal in jan goggle had 823,000 people search for them
but also in jan more brides searched just for wedding dresses 5,000,000 not searching for davids bridal that is over 4 million people more all doing a google search for a non brand search.
so if you sell wedding dresses you have 5 million people doing a search that might find you.

The key words on my sites are the words people put in to find my services and they do find us..

*MY business, which i have done very little SEO for specific keywords has the same ranking for similar keywords like yours.. *
Like you asked me lets see yours list all the keywords that you are on page one for you business in you area for in google.ot side words but real words people search for.

*and photographer's shopping carts are so different from retailers that its not even worth mentioning*
Why is this so different customers are using them everyday to buy things on-line.

*And you are so sadly mistaken about the habits of users because you are, again in a little bubble.*
Google is not mistaken and is up to date each month on what people are searching for are your books and reports updated every month with that months update of what people are searching for so you can change your market for differet times fo the year and know for sure what they are reall looking for. i think not.


*So actual user studies are done on their searching experience*
You can look that up on the net for free and it is a lot more current then a outdated book.

*I'm sorry, but you are arguing with actual real facts using anecdotes
*No i am using google's real facts of what people did search for each month not a guess using *anecdotes.

web development AND design is all about logic, reason, and statistics.. Its ALL SCIENCE*
And you seem to be using the wrong statistics is google wrong? and you are right.

Rhinestone shirt was searched for 60,500 times in google last month
wedding cap 22,200 times
I am going after what real people are searching for not a anecdode


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

Google shows that one of my main local sites had 14,800 people search for the name of my website and only 880 people searched for a photographer in that same area so i had more people find my website then all the other photographers in that complete area combined.
The numbers are what counts.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

I love when people use stuff that they find on google as fact. You act like google (and search engines) are the be all end all in online sales. They mean NOTHING if people come to your site and it looks like crap and people are scared to put their credit card info into it. 

You are only going by what people search and not how they act after they FIND a website. I have said this time and time again that it doesn't matter if people can find you if they dont actually buy from you. You can't even produce conversion rates. 

Your "google facts" aren't facts// they're just little bits and pieces from ONE SINGLE website and you are pulling the bits of info that you get and putting them into your anecdotes (the people who TOLD you that they found you XXX way)

Again.. You are only looking at what people search for and not how they react with what they find after the search and therefore all of your statistics are only HALF WAY THERE.. They mean absolutely nothing when it comes to sales and this is where you are failing to grasp anything that I have thrown your way.

You are stuck and your bubble and because you think you are all knowing your business will only go so far and then it will being stop making money or will plateau. 

Even something as simple as the position of the BUY NOW button have everything to do with how many sales you make. SO if that has an impact on sales and convesions, why do you think that the overall design wont? Seriously..


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

I also meant to mention that the fact that Rhinstone T-shirt was searched only 60,000 last month is actually not all that impressive when that is probably only 20% of the market of people purchasing rhinestone t-shirts (IF THAT). 

The fact of the matter is all studies point to the fact that 68% of people who shop online go directly to their favorite retailers websites first before using search engines and 50% of those people only turn to search engines to price match about about 80% of those people abandon their shopping baskets in order to return to their favorite retailer to purchase. 

THESE are real percentages with leaves your search engine retailing at a big fat lame in the grand scheme of things.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

You keep talking about all the so called facts you have how do you have the facts from who?
Everything i read that is current says different from what you keep saying.

Who says 
68% of people who shop online go directly to their favorite retailers websites first before using search engines and 50% of those people only turn to search engines to price match about about 80% of those people abandon their shopping baskets in order to return to their favorite retailer to purchase.

And what is that based on.

*about 80% of those people abandon their shopping baskets in order to return to their favorite retailer to purchase. *
And the other 20% many end up my customer that is still a large amount.

For me 60,000 posible in a month coming to my site that they will find on page one is a very good chance to sell a lot of items add in that i will be selling a lot of other items that my site will be found under and that can get upwords of 400.000 or more people looking at my sites as they can find it easy.

My shopping cart site looks as good as anyone else that is just nonsence that it is not.
Everyone who has looked at it but you loves it.

I guess you would think facebook and twitter and other social sites are a wast of time to for marketing..
They all look to non user frendly and un-save for the user.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

Here is some facts for you.

This is a report of digital media the internet and sales.
This is from the big guys on facts Nielsen and is new for the end of 2009

In a digital world, marketers no longer control the
presentation of their brands to consumers nor do they
necessarily have the loudest voice. Anyone can publish
content about your brand and that content is accessible to
all. Your competitors are no longer confined to the brands
adjacent to yours on the store shelf. As information and
product choice proliferate, many big brand advantages
—such as media and retail dominance—erode. *The playing
field begins to level.*

Shopping is a more consumer-driven experience online than
it is offl ine. Whether searching for solutions to a need, directly
accessing retailer sites, or deciding to click on an ad or link,
consumers have far more control over what they are exposed
to (and not exposed to) online than offline. And everything is
just a click or two away. *This allows enterprising small brands
to “look big.” Through search optimization, consumer reviews
and other social media,* and dynamic placement of “in store”
ads that appear when consumers shop the category or select a
competitor, *small brands can generate an online presence that
is effectively larger than their big brand counterparts,* while
serving up compelling messages, and undercutting leading
brand prices

The same principles that work online at the brand level also
apply to retailers, *often to the detriment of leading brands.*
In the beauty care category, for example, boutique retailers
with fewer stores and lighter foot traffic than the large offline
chains are as readily accessible as Walmart in the digital world.
Many of these players do not carry the leading offline beauty
care brands. Sephora is a great example of a prestige retailer
with limited offline presence that has smartly built a large,
successful online business.

The online commercial challenge for leading consumer brands
has less to do with the oft-cited “long tail” than with the
collapse of physical structures that literally help distance
leading brands from smaller brands offline. What matters most
is not the number of brands available online, but that there
is less separation between them. *This levels the playing field,
creating a flatter, broader marketplace for everyday brands.
*
Conduct a “virtual shelf audit.” Do a search on your category
and brand *at leading search engines*.* Does your brand appear
near the top of the first page of search results?* In what
context? Do the same thing using the search function at key
retail sites. Are the images and descriptions of your products
up to date? Which brands appear “adjacent” to yours?

In practice, sites should begin by guaranteeing “dwell time”
or the seconds a person is exposed to a given brand during a
given flight. Eventually, these guarantees could take the place
of currency. In this future world, a site would be paid by total
time of unique exposure (time of advertiser brand exposure/
time of other advertiser brand exposure) *rather than how
many impressions were served.* This measure would mitigate
clutter, increase time, reduce the need for sites to create extra
page views in order to generate more inventory—and reduce
actual inventory levels, which in turn should increase average
CPM.

Certainly quite a few tactics can help you
reap even higher returns. Blogs, CGM campaigns, influencer
marketing, and online communities all matter.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Your article only proves my point that you can only compete with the big guys and level the playing field IF you have certain things in place.

They didn't specifically say that templates are worse versus custom professional design BUT they did mention that layout and placement can seriously impact users and bring your website to the forefront.

These free or low cost themes do NOT use these methods and do not take layout and usability into account. 

This is also only HALF of the story. Just because you CAN be found (again) does NOT mean that people are buying. You seriously are failing to see this and that is why your online store will not succeed. 

Again, your delusion is seriously impeding your ability to actually LEARN.

The same study shows that 62% of ALL INTERNET USERS are at the point in 2010 where they don't use search engines and just know where to find things.. So your 1 year old report (while it makes some decent points) is now 1 year old. Technology is changing and the way users function on the internet is ALWAYS changing. 

Here is a quote from another case study that I had found by major leaders in the online marketing world:


> When you have two website equally ranked, with equal product offerings and services with the exact same value proposition, then the last determining factor will be the the look and feel and overall customer experience.


Again.. all of this will come to a head when you actually get some stinking experience in online retailing and learn about conversions.

The fact that you haven't had one conversions really just means you have no nothing really to stand on except for the few things that you googled and found and all the hundreds of blog posts by so-called "gurus" 


You know wha, when I have toime I will take real statistical data from a website redesign that I am doing and I will prove my case easily that a simple DESIGN CHANGE from free template/ amateur design to a professionally designed website WILL change your conversions and the page rank will mean nothing when compared to a larger picture which is brand appearance and marketing.. 

People have lost faith in search engines and they rely more on communities and social media suggestions/reviews. 100% of 20,000 is decent, but there are billions of people buying online every day NOT from search engines and thats where you loose. so you get the TOP rank in google, but the percent of people looking at the search engine is only 33% of online buyers in total. 

Not a very impressive number when the other two thirds of possible buyers are out there not even bothing with search engines

“Recommendations from fellow
consumers – whether they are people they know or fellow online shoppers – play an enormous role in the decision-making process. The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last year means that this reliance on word of mouth, over other forms of referral, looks set to increase,” said Carson.


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

All anecdotal

and just because you have been making websites since the dinosaurs doesn't mean crap when you know nothing about design, marketing, or user experience.. But that is VERY typical of tech-y guys// They know tech and think they know design...


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## Nicholas_Cardot (Feb 12, 2010)

*What? Are you for real?*

I think that it's absolutely ridiculous to try to justify the lack of a professional design on a website. 

Tell us that you don't have the time to put a better design together. Tell us that for your business model you are content to make the sales that you are currently making. But don't try to tell us that you're experiencing the same type of success that you would achieve if you appeared more professional to your potential customers. 

The internet is filled with scams and people know it. Just from looking at your websites that you listed in this post, I'm thoroughly convinced that your sales would easily improve 25% if you took the time to improve the professionalism of the design. 

You said that you make 100+ sales of that photagraphy kit and the copyright on the bottom says 2005. That's a piece of text that takes 20 seconds to fix. Do think that anyone who happens to notice that copyright is going to be really interested in your product? Imagine how many more sales you could be getting if you it said 2010.

They say that in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king. Well you're definitely the king. But those people with eyes are going to pay attention and they aren't going to have anything to do with it.

What gets me is that the entire topic of your work is centered around things that are supposed to be visually pleasing: photography. You don't think that it sends a mixed signal to the more intelligent members of the community who stop by to see your products? I mean, here's a guy who is telling me that he can help me make my product look amazing but his product doesn't look amazing. 

The worst part is when you consider the investment versus the potential reward. You can build an amazing looking site and then let it sit for a couple of years without revisiting the way that it looks the whole while it will be helping to convert more sales for you. 

Design is important. And your numbers that you flash about those sites confirm it even more. You should be making a lot more sales than you are. 

Sit back. Enjoy what you've got or decide to go after some more.

P.S. Your comments about being in the business of websites since the 90's don't add any credibility to your arguments. The facts aren't impacted by how much of a self-proclaimed expert you might think that you are. Those comments do, however, reveal what decade you got your design skills from.


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## EddieM (Jun 29, 2009)

I am done here someone is spamming me now to the sites i posted.


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## maiasaura (Nov 11, 2009)

kungpaofu said:


> As most blogs are free, i would want to minimize the cost.


I self-host a couple of blogs http://www.maiasaura.com for instance. You buy a domain name, set up the wordpress software on your webspace (should come w your hosting package. I use Hosting Matters) then point the domain to whatever file you put your wordpress files in. I can also access it through the root directory http://www.robopug.com/nest/
 
Same with my portfolio, which is a true web site, but same principle:
http://www.bluedoggydog.com
which resolves to http://www.bluedoggydog.com/portfolio

BTW, the plugin wp-commerce is a red-hot mess. Written by Russians who don't believe in documentation or support (IMO)

Maiasaura






i


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## Aquille (Dec 18, 2008)

EddieM said:


> You can take the same html code from a website and use it in a blog site and have the blog look 100% the same as the website and havd all the advantages a blog offers in the admin for easy updates and management.
> 
> A WP blog dose not have to even have a blog page you can turn all that off in the WP admin area if you want and use it just as a normal website many business do.
> 
> ...


wanted to thank for this post but didn't find a "thank" button. Anyway, it's a great idea inserting website HTML into blog (although I vagualy imagine how to do it just right now, but I think when the time comes to create an eshop I might capitalize right on this option, either getting somebody with more experience to do it, or... just learning it myself old fashion way).
I also agree with the idea to go for a cheaper option in the beggining. Although everything probably really depends what start-up capital you are bringing into your business. If you can afford it, avail a custom design by no means.

If you can't... there are other aspects in developing your brand recognition. Such as blogging about the things your customers might be interested in, giving advises, sharing experience, videos or tutorials (if applicable) for free, thus creating trafic to your website yet before you started selling anything (yeaa here comes advantage of easy to use blog environment).

One more big *Q* I have to everyone: everybody seems to talk about *wordpress*, does anyone use *blogger* and how blogger compares to wordpress here?

thanks


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Dont use blogger.. just dont... its a lot LOT less flexible and more of a pain because there isnt a lot out there .. DONT do it.


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## Aquille (Dec 18, 2008)

thanks for advise lindsayanng


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## Dennis Graves (Apr 27, 2009)

Another reason to not use Blogger or WordPress.com is because they will have control over your blog. They can close down your blog for any reason. It is almost impossible to have your blog shut down if you have a hosting plan from a hosting provider.

Good Luck,

Dennis Graves


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

i THINK he was talking about hosting blogger himself.. you CAn do that, but people rarely do because it's really ONLY good as a blogging platform and not flexible at all..


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