Posted on 04/15/2020 4:31:57 PM PDT by abigkahuna
Hello FR,
Some of you may know through my posts of our total loss of our Spring Fair season. It is looking like our Summer season will now be a bust. Now instead of crying about it, while mowing down one of our pastures, (because our tractor broke and we can't afford for Randy to come and take care of the fields), I had an idea.
The idea would incorporate multi-media to create a virtual store at the Fair. Now I have no money, but I do have an existing website that still needs to be brought up to snuff. But my idea would use that as well as either youtube, or zoom and Square or Paypal to generate sales.
The expert advice I need has to do with SEO and getting the views neccessary to create buzz and hopefully income.
Instead of cluttering up FR with posts about Sisters and Moose, PM would probably be the best route and then direct email after that if required.
I can't pay much for expert services, say for a special Big Kahuna tie dye shirt.
Thanks to all here at FR and thanks in advance for any and all help that is forthcoming.
If this idea pans out, it could be a nice template for others.
73
Forgot to mention....for contact management we use sendinblue.com
If you need any more info.....it’s definitely a learning curve. We were lucky thAt we had someone who knew what they were doing walk us through it all. We put our first campaign up in February and had to shut it down and put others in the pipeline on hold.
Looks like a ton of your merchandise could be put on your site. I’d bet most of it could be.
Have some grilled corn on the cob. Salt on the grill with black pepper. Grill until faintly blackened and top with melted butter. Yum.
You have a two-headed turtle?
I’ve been doing this for 25+ years.
Yes, don’t pay someone to “do SEO” for your site.
No, don’t use CF7 or JetPack. CF7 used to be good, and then they disabled the ability to use reCAPTCHA 2.0, and since then they suck. And JetPack just sucks, uses too many server resources.
I hate Yoast SEO, since their developers have HORRIBLE quality control. But they’re probably the simplest SEO plugin to use. Use it. And then write meaningful posts, and use the EXCERPT field, and use compelling titles.
CF7 is OK if you use this plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpcf7-recaptcha/
Make sure your site loads FAST — use a decent hosting service, and good caching plugins, and minification plugins, and run your site through CloudFlare.
I do work for Gateway Pundit and Pro Trump News and The Liberty Daily many other sites. I can help, but I would need to charge a bit to get your site whipped into shape. Let me know if I can help further.
Get set up on as many online business listings as possible including and most important, Google. Also, set up social media accounts for your business. The Google search engine algorithm loves business listings and social media pages. This will boost your online visibility when lurkers search for your products and services.
Yes. Zack and Mack are a real live two headed turtle
Thanks Theo...
I have to first wait until I am certain that our fair season is kaput. That should be by mid May. Right now it is not looking good.
The Plan then is to set up the booth here on the property and take videos of the products with each shirt being pulled out in each size, just like what a customer would do. Those videos can be hosted on Youtube with a linky on the website.
For example, if looking at tie dye tapesties, There would be a video with me going through all the tapestries, showing them....Just like I would if you were in the booth. Maybe I would burn the incense and play the Grateful Dead too!
So, through the video links, one could have a shopping experience of the actual product that would be purchased either through Paypal or Square set up.
So far so good. (A lot of work, but what else is going on, eh?)
Next step is to figure out returns and visability. I hate returns. I understand if at the fair one purchased the wrong size. We just switch it out easy peasy. But with the mail I end up eating shipping and other costs. But I will have to figure that out. We are pretty strict as well as loose on returns. We know that people want to return stuff because they want to spend their money elsewhere at the fair...Nope. Not going to happen. I have had people break stuff to come back and say....its broken...
What do you want me to do about it?
Anyway, enough of returns.
The real issue is visability. How to get people to “come to the fair.” That is why I was asking about SEO, but if that is the wrong question, then I could stand to be educated. I need a celebutard to wear one of our tie dyes and have the Daily Mail do that blurb on wear to get the same shirt...Ha!
Anyway, that is the plan. Shoot some holes in it please.
Just another reason to define all acronyms as I have said so many times to ridicule.
.........................................
Sometimes I believe some people just make them up as they go along.
I was on line for a few years before I finally asked someone what “LOL” meant.
Sorry ... where’s that age card? :O
I’m not going to say anything. I didn’t know what it was either. FRegards.
Look into Shopify. And I’d also look into Amazon. (Yeah, I love to hate them too but loads of merchandise goes through them.)
Don’t know what you’re selling; sounds possibly like produce. Many stores are now offering curbside delivery. If your customers could find you on the web or FB and place an order, you could arrange a pick-up time and have orders ready in boxes or bags. Cash is nice; or maybe you could use one of the new banking apps like Paypal, a handheld credit card swiper device, or an online app with your bank.
What you’re selling should do very well on Pinterest. It’s visual social media marketing without the personal privacy issues that plague Facebook. I ran an informational website thru Pinterest six months ago, and it was effective for my purposes.
The learning curve to use Pinterest is about four weeks. To be effective selling your merchandise, you will likely need to revamp your website merchandise into categories so that shopping will be easier for potential customers. Wordpress offers various merchandising themes that you can try for free.
You should also learn to use Canva if you plan to use Pinterest. Canva is fairly easy to learn in order to “pin” your merchandise or service onto Pinterest. BTW, Pinterest has no fees for marketing your products. Just be smart with your merchandising so you don’t get banned.
Good luck.
Thanks for the advice sergeantdave WIll take a look at stuff there. I already have a website through godaddy, just have to revamp it. It is listed here on the page somewhere.
Not selling produce, but fresh tie dye clothing. Have been doing so for decades. Thank you for your words of encouragement and tips.
You got it. :-)
You might also try a limited edition group of samples to show online that take advantage of the situation: Quarantine wear, or Shelter in Place wear, etc, which would be tie-dye pajamas, sweats and cotton face masks.
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