Can't Seem To Make First Sale -Ecommerce

[Aidanforsyth0]

How long did it take you to make your first sale online?

How'd you market your website to make that first sale?

What was your marketing budget?

[DavidL]

I would work from building the foundation first and then start from there. Its a combination of things that creates a strong brand.

Check if you can get a business grant.

Few things to think about (may be things missing)

Manufacture:

First are you able to produce the item 100 times and make it the same way nearly every time 1 or 2 redos is okay.

Are you able to manufacture different styles of wallets or zippers ect. You don't have to master them but at least be able to manufacture enough if you get a few sales. Also if you need to sell different styles of leather goods you may not be able to because you need time to learn

Business plan:

Set up the frame work of your business. Using the business plan your company will have a path to takes and also a foundation. Find a template online and add as much detail as you think is necessary and don't worry if its not professionally written, just need the important info. Is your products profitable - did you find the cost of a single wallet and the cost to run your business.

Marketing:

Contact whoever is willing to listen. Write up a short who you are, what your selling and send it to as many people as you can. Local news, newspaper, online sites.. Id imagine on a website people will come up from 2 main sources - from google/google images or from seeing you in the paper, on a website, youtube, a blog ect.

Do keep in mind the easier it is to get into the market the more competitors you will have. Compare your product to the brands that are selling and see what they have that you don't, what can you do that they don't have. VERY important - Why will they buy from me vs my competitors.

What is your brand identity - Are you selling mass market goods, premium goods, luxury goods, what does your brand mean to people - does your brand fit into a certain culture of people or groups? Take a look at brands like roots, hollister, american apparel and they are selling you a lifestyle first, clothing second.

Basically put in the work in your business before expecting steady sales. Sounds boring but do the homework and if you don't know how look to free online courses or free locally funded mentorship.

[SteelcityK9Cop]

The tough thing with e-commerce is SEO.... Search Engine Optimization, There are BOOKS upon BOOKS about it. I have read a munch and am still scratching my head trying to figure out how exactly it works and how to maximize my site's potential.

Oh... and two other keys.. Facebook and Etsty. Etsy hase actually brought more people to my site for sales than the Etsy page itself.

Edited November 24, 2014 by SteelcityK9Cop

[Aidanforsyth0]

Let us know your site, we might be able to give a little more constructive advise.

SEO is great, and that's all we do now, but in the beginning, Pay-Per-Click can get some traffic to your site and let people see you until you get more established.

Also if you're selling on Etsy or Ebay, make sure you have your name placed in such a way that people who are willing to look can go around Etsy and Ebay and find you directly (be careful your not too direct because those sites discourage you from doing sales outside them).

The sales trickle in at first but if you do things right, it comes along.

Another thing- you'll notice lots of folks have their website on their signatures here (an any other forum they post on), that can help as well.

Thanks for all of your responses so far. The site is http://www.lopaloleather.com . I'm currently running some pay per click advertising with facebook and Google. Small campaigns

[Chain]

An east option right now is to put your website URL in your signature.

Google places a lot of importance on "similiar" sites linking back to you.

[Ingrid H]

I wasn't even ready to make my first sale when it was made. I just showed a few photos of some stuff I made for my own dogs on another forum and people were throwing money at me. Of course I was an active member and had online relationships with these customers, but they were willing to shell out some big bucks for collars.

I never wanted to turn my hobby into a business, so I never did a real website or marketing. I didn't want to create my own little sweat shop and ruin a perfectly good hobby.

[snubbyfan]

I wasn't even ready to make my first sale when it was made. I just showed a few photos of some stuff I made for my own dogs on another forum and people were throwing money at me. Of course I was an active member and had online relationships with these customers, but they were willing to shell out some big bucks for collars.

I never wanted to turn my hobby into a business, so I never did a real website or marketing. I didn't want to create my own little sweat shop and ruin a perfectly good hobby.

Same thing here. After I made my first wet molded pouch and showed it to people at work, they started throwing money at me to make leather multi-tool pouches for them.

Now I'm on gun related forums and I get orders for holsters, knife sheaths and belts.

I don't advertise but I'm thinking of making some things to sell on etsy.

I do set up a vendor's booth at fairs and festivals in the area and get orders from that.

Edited November 25, 2014 by snubbyfan

[Jess Jones]

Go On Youtube and have customers of yours do reviews of your products.

Get an attractive logo (worth every penny) on 99designs.com

Post custom work on your personal facebook and try to attract friends to buy from you. More people than you might think want to support you and see you succeed.

I think your site needs some life to it. Looks very plain. Work on logo asap.

Consider SEO person if you can afford it. You need to rank for the key terms you are trying to attract.

Last but not least, just give it time...The sale will come. Try etsy if you'd like.

Hope this helps you!

[Jess Jones]

Look at my site and that will give you a good idea as to the life you should bring to the site. http://www.thompsontacticalbelts.com post your number, logo, you already hae nice pics and write a blog post every day for the next 30 days. This will increase your seo presenec but make sure you have all your keywords. Also look to do a giveaway to increase awareness to your facebook page. Focus, focus, focus on youtube even if you have to give products away for free so that someone will talk about it. Then post those reviews on your site. If you look on my site at the very bottom-I have a video of me making belts. Video is very powerful. Do a home video of you making the wallets. Does NOT have to be fancy. This will connect customers with you. Also, tell a story. paint a picture of what they are buying. Think of adding free shipping and posting a video fo you talking about yourself and how you got started in leathercraft. People want to connect with who they are buying from. I have that on my site under "About the owner"

[NVLeatherWorx]

I use my regular website as a "teaching and information" tool and conduct all of my online sales through Etsy with the remainder coming from face-to-face sales that I get at local/regional events and fairs. My Etsy Shop is linked to my main website (it actually has its own page there) and my Etsy Shop has links to my Facebook page and standard website. I use Etsy as my online outlet because it is so much easier than having to try and setup all of the various elements that go into creating an actual e-Commerce website or an internal module for it within a standard website.

Between my face-to-face orders (which are the bulk of what I get) and everything else I am quite satisfied with how it all comes out. Just a heads up though, it may take a little bit of time to get your first sale on a site like Etsy but you will get it much faster than if you were to have a full e-Commerce site setup. The key is how you use each element (website, Etsy, Facebook, etc.) that you attach to your name/brand and how they are linked together.