Typically, how long does it take to make sales...

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Typically, how long does it take to make sales...

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barose

posts: 108

Oct 14, 2008 3:16 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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In general, how long does it typical take to make your first sale online? I guess it depends on the business, products, etc. I don’t get a lot of web hits a day yet (close to 250 and my blog around 30-1500 depending on if I use StumbleUpon or not and how often I post). My products have been up since Friday and I know it can take weeks, if not months, but can someone give me a realistic idea as to what to expect? I blog, social networking sites, and my very armature SEO skills (mostly from reading blogs and books online)

venturevestor1

posts: 6

Oct 14, 2008 4:44 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Not to be a pain, but how do you know anyone really needs what you have to sell?

If they "NEED" what you have to sell, how badly do they need it?

a) Are you solving a dire problem? Why do they "need" your product.

b) If not, what`s the ROI (and even if it`s not dire, WHAT`S THE ROI?)

c) Could a customer buy a similar product elsewhere?

d) Maybe your product is not solving a need. In that case, refer to (c) and tell me why they should buy from you.

Moral of the story:

No one can tell you how long your sales cycle is, unless they`ve done it before for a "like" product or service. I`m inclined to believe that you are in the process of figuring that out. And I`d recommend that you have a sales process and adjust it accordingly, to address the time constaints of your sales cycle.

Best of luck (and become "special" and "unique" in whatever it is you are selling).

Parry

minimegeology

posts: 143

Oct 14, 2008 5:31 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi barose,

It sounds like you are doing all of the right things. Just keep it up and the sales will start. I found that when I started mine (I have 2 sites) that the sales come in waves and it is like that for both sites. I have some times when I get a bunch of orders and then I may have a lull where I don`t see much.

Tracy

-------------------------

Tracy Barnhart, Owner
Giverny, Inc. / Mini Me Geology
http://www.GivernyOnline.com
http://www.MiniMeGeology.com

barose

posts: 108

Oct 14, 2008 5:48 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Thanks for the information and advice. Though I had the site for a year, I only became active with blogging and driving traffic for about a month. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing keeping my target market in mind. Thanks you two!

CraigL

posts: 9051

Oct 14, 2008 8:51 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi Barose,
I took a look at your site, to see if there might be some reason people aren`t shopping. Your shopping cart works fine, from what I saw, and the items are clearly defined.

Although you have no meta-description tag, the lead-in text about your mission is what`s showing as the results description on Google. The problem though, is that it isn`t all that compelling.

There`s an awful lot of white space on the main page, along with the lines (borders?). It gives an interesting impression. Imagine walking into a store that`s going out of business. Most of the shelves are empty, but a few remaining products sit there on the empty shelves. There`s nobody in the aisles helping, and maybe only one person at a checkout counter, waiting for the day to end.

There`s no signs, no advertising, no displays, no nothing. It`s just a bare set of shelves with a few products looking sparse.

The psychological impression of your main site is like that....very little, very sparse, no help.

I`m thinking if you could perhaps close up the space, bring your product images together, and surround them with some interesting marketing content, that might entice visitors to look around, see what`s what, and get comfortable.

You`ve got a nice set of products, but they`re just so lonely looking, y`know? :-D

It`s all well and good that on your "About" page you talk about what you believe. But.....so what? How does what you believe get me excited about what I want to buy? See?

Oddly enough, I was much more interested in the layout of your blog. It at least got me thinking about the products, willing to scroll, and I could see additional information in the sidebars. Can you take the "interesting" from the blog and insert it into the Web store?

barose

posts: 108

Oct 14, 2008 10:37 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Thanks Craig!

The white space is because I`m just learning HTML and need to do this piece by piece. In terms of the design, I dont know what I`m doing really - the same with the blog. I do need help with that, I agree. Yes, there is too much white space. :/

DipLady

posts: 344

Oct 15, 2008 10:10 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Barose, I`m not sure how anyone could give you a timeframe of how long it will take for you to make your first sale. I can however share with you what I did to drive sales to my site. I hope this will help.

We have very different products, but, knowing what I know today, and how I handled marketing my own products, I can see a lot of similarities where you could do the same and be successful.

One thing you are doing that I have never done is blog. So, I can`t comment on whether that pulls business to your site or not. We are talking about adding a blog to our site, just haven`t done it. You commented that you get about 250 hits a day on your site, that seems like a fair amount, I would think of those hits, someone would be ordering. I don`t know what my traffic is at my website, I never check it, I don`t think we get 250 hits a day on our site, I might be surprised, however, we get orders every day. I guess I should check my traffic.

I`m curious, will you be doing any other marketing or trying any other avenue of sales, other than your website? Sorry if this sounds harsh, but, I shudder to think where we would be today if I had just put up a website and hoped people would find it and buy my products. Do you only want to sell via your website, or do you hope to pick up wholesale accounts and have your products in retail stores?

Good or bad, here is my opinion on this. My product, like yours, is a dime a dozen in the marketplace. Do you know how many places there are that sell "Gourmet Dip Mixes", probably as many that sell products that mirror yours. So what do you have to offer that will make someone buy yours over another? What makes yours so different that someone would want to place an order online, rather than pick up a tried and true product from the local department store or at any craft/trade show that they attend.

I mention craft/trade shows as this is our biggest avenue of sales. I wonder on this site what others think of this. When talking with people, I sometimes get the impression that this do not really see this as an actual business, but more of a hobby sort of thing that people participate in. I attended these shows for years and I never realized the number of people working shows on weekends and this is their job, their only job! I think I`ll put a post on the forum about this and see if others actually do them. . .Hmmmmm

Anyway, we have 3 avenues of sales. Craft/Trade shows, wholesale to retail accounts and our website. Each kind of feeds the others. I see products like your every weekend at shows. They all have the same types of products, make the same claims, etc, etc. So with so much other competition out there, what will drive people to your site and make them purchase. I think you will need to be more visual and have a presence with people to get them to buy. They will need to see, hold, try, sample your products if you want to push the big sales.

Here is what worked for us. I chose the avenue of craft/trade shows. Here in Michigan they pretty much run from the first weekend in March, thru the 3rd weekend in December and there are multiple shows every weekend. There are a handful in January and February, but we usually take these months off. Show costs can range from very inexpensive to pretty steep so to get started, they can be a fairly inexpensive way to get sales started and get your products in people hands. I mentioned before, our 3 avenues of sales feeding each other. By doing the shows, I was able to sample my product and get it in the hands of many people. Very quickly we built a substantial following of customers. It wasn`t long before people were emailing me to place orders and I knew I needed to get a website up and running. Once they purchased product at a show, they wanted more, so it drove them to my website to purchase. I may not have much traffic, but the traffic I do get is now return customers and they come to buy, not just peruse the site. Doing the shows also led to most of our retail accounts. There are lots of independent specialty/gift store owners attending the craft shows, looking for unique, new, exciting, home made products. I have not had to do much marketing to wholesale accounts as most of mine of found us at these shows. Or someone sees us and tells someone they know about what they tried or saw and we are contacted. This has resulted in our products being featured in close to 30 stores in 6 states.

My greatest fear was how we would break free of the box of the state that we live in. But this has taken care of itself. By doing the shows, we get tourists and customer that purchase product and send to family and friends all over the world. Little by little, others from all over the US (and even other countries), have found us and once they have gotten hooked, return again and again. So with a couple of years under our belt, our internet sales have doubled in some months and others we have tripled. It is great.

I would encourage you to find some avenues such as these to get your products in peoples hands so that they can hold them and feel them and sample! That is very important. Along with craft shows, there are any number of gift marts across the US that you can display your product in for buyers to peruse and order for their stores, the sky is the limit here, you just need to get out and get it moving, it is very doable and you can do it. Get your products in peoples hands and the orders will follow!

One more quick note on this novel I created here, I may have had a little bit different situation starting out, I needed a lot of money and I needed it fast. My quickest avenue of sales was to do craft shows and for me, it has created huge sales. We will do upwards of 250 shows this year. You can read my story in the about us section on our website. Which, before I forget, I read your about you and it was the same statement that was on your home page. I was hoping when I went to read "about you" that I would get a bit of your story, what got you started, what your passion or motivation was behind your creating these products or something telling me why you think your products are the best and why I should try them. What I saw seemed more like a "product description", than an "about us". Just a note. . .

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