Internet Marketing?

[Aqua Girl]

I am so new to all of this. I hired a designer to design my website, www.hautemamacouture.com. So the site is up and running, but with no business. All of my profits came from eBay but I decided to close that store down with their new fee hikes.

I have no idea, aside from pay-per-click services that have not been working, to get buyers to my site. I feel like I wasted my money. I posted a question to get ideas and got lots of answers but I don't even know what most of what they are talking about is. Is there a company that will work on your website for you to make sure that all of the SEC and meta tags and all of the stuff that I have no idea about will be taken care of and my website will obtain the traffic and sales that I need generated?

I don't have hundreds or thousands of dollars to spend on this. I am a stay at home mother and I invested a lot of my resources into my inventory.

Thanks!
Well gee, Mark, I figured since I listed the web address you could check it out yourself so that I wouldn't have to waste characters on that. It's a maternity clothing line. I don't expect anyone to do it for free or that I 'deserve' customers solely from building the site. I'm asking for help because I don't know what it is that I need to do. I'm not looking to create a business plan, I don't intend on making millions of dollars on this site, I simply need it to supplement my income and want it to run at it's best, efficiently, and cost effectively.

[Mark Welch]

What are you selling? What is your business model?

There are thousands of companies and individuals who will work for you, but they cost money. It's really unclear what you are selling, or what you've spent so far. Every small business requires a "business plan" that identifies issues like marketing, order fulfillment, etc.

And nobody else can take responsibility for YOUR business; it's your business, not theirs. Ask yourself: if this firm can bring me customers and help me sell, what am I adding to this operation at all? All too often, people think "if I build it they will come" or they feel that just because they've spent money to build a web site, they "deserve" customers.

You need to clearly identify what you "bring" to your business, and what you need others to help you out with. You've clearly identified that you need someone to help with "SEO and meta tags" and I assume you also need help developing a marketing plan and specific strategies to use, but without knowing what YOU bring to the business, and what the business is, nobody can help you.

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Added: I did take a look at your site, and there's a lot about it that doesn't comform to "best practices" for designing an e-commerce web site. For example:
- I can't see any link to a privacy policy;
- the "about us" page doesn't actually identify you
- I had to hunt to find your location (city or address) or phone number (finally found it on the 'returns' page)

These are "red flags" that send negative signals to prospective customers.

[TopSavings.Net]

Yes, SEO will be what type of services you will probably will be looking for, but the main importance in SEO these days is going to be quality inbound links to your site so focus on keyword targeted anchor text and getting that anchor text displayed on various free directories and article sites.

http://www.bestcatalog.net/seo_tips/directories.htm
http://www.styopkin.com/article_submission_sites.html

Hiring a professional SEO firm is helpful, but I can have a look at your site real quick and possibly help with your meta tags and so forth in a quick spare time moment, for free.

You know aqua girl, you may very well be suited for a fish blog or information site. There is money to be made following your passion while using affiliate marketing and AdWords ... look into it!

P.S. Your site didn't come up.

[fxetoro]

I just also have this question and find some info http://google-makemoney.com/2008/02/24/making-money-from-top-affiliate-programs/ now you can see it,may be you could find the answers,

[Brian G]

FYI...your site doesn't come up as you have it listed.

SEO (search engine optimization) companys can help you. However, they can be fairly expensive. If you use a SEO...make sure you shop around. Many web site designers have marketing plans for you to use. I have been researching quite a few myself and found www.digiknow.com the other day...which is close to me and also provides the type of marketing I'm looking for. It really depends on you though. I would suggest trying to google a web designer near you and try to find someone that has designs that fit your personality...you'll be much happier in the end.

Also, you can use e-mail marketing and even voice mail marketing for reasonable prices too. I use www.constantcontact.com as my e-mail marketing. It is very affordable and it connects up with my outlook express very easily. I am also researching voice mail marketing that will work with my phones. I have great success with my e-mail marketing strategy though.

I would also have you reach out to your city's or county's web sites for business start up strategies. There are also many affordable networking groups you can join like AmSpirit, BNI and various all women's groups you can join too.

If you want to sell...you have to get out there and push it. Sales can be tough, but if you're not out there pushing it...you're not going to sell it.

Also, if you are making the stuff you are selling, you might try consignment as well. Find a store that you like that you feel could benefit from holding your merchandise.