How should I start my business?

[Tier1]

Hello everyone ! It's been a while since I have posted . I am wondering if some of you can give me some advice as to how to go about building my e-cig business . I have done my keyword research and have a keyword rich domain and have built an e commerce website http:// www.angele-cig.com . It is a good market with high searches and low competition.

I currently have a wholesaler on china who is givin me a great deal which will allow to double my money on the products. I am however hesitant to purchase my first bundle of products in case I get no sales ... My girlfriend who works in a e-cig store told me to do a test run on Craigslist to see if I would get any hits.. To my dismay only one reply on the add. I was hoping to sell a lot of kits on Craigslist then refer my new customers to my website for the e-liquid and the coils which is what returning customers need . As the juice and the coils run out ..I am stuck .. Should I keep tryin Craigslist ? Or should I purchase the products put them on the site and start doing seo?? I am hesitant with seo as I have tried to rank websites in the past with the aid o an seo specialist via odesk. He promised to rank our site in 3 months . 6 months later we were nowhere to be found . And we went bankrupt and I never wanted anything to do with an online business ever again ... Please give me some advice I know a lot of you are geniuses . And I understand the lingo .. I want to stay away from blackhat and do it right this time.! Cheers!

 

[Pirate Monk]

If you are confused, I would advise go on social media. Like Facebook, Twitter etc and there start a store.

I have seen many business that solely operate from a Facebook Group or Facebook Fan Page. First build a community of ecig smokers and then start posting some news and other stuff to keep them engage and then test a small batch selling on them.

 

[oxonbeef]

You are doing the time old mistake and finding a product and looking for a market
when instead you should find a market and introduce a product.
You are Jonny come lately in the e-cig game.
Rewrite your marketing plan.

 

[TurboSEO]

you better take ur website off this page fast. You will fail at SEO before you even begun!!

 

[bearhumps]

Since you are going to start from scratch, look for a new and innovative product to promote, ecig has already got many competitors.

 

[pranav7designer]

Try All Methods as above, Do Experiments, take risk and learn to minimize them. Soon you will become a smart business man.

 

[randybishop]

Not to be a downer, but I would advise to find a niche, there are just so many big players in e-cig already I don't think it is possible to make money in it anymore.

 

[ShotsFired]

Should I keep tryin Craigslist ?

You can try and stick it out or you can start fresh with a new strategy focused solely on SEO (I'd take this route over Craigslist).

...I have tried to rank websites in the past with the aid o an seo specialist via odesk

There's your problem; that site is a massive joke IMO - it may look pretty but the individuals looking for work on there don't have any capacity for lasting SEO. Second thing: they tried and failed...this doesn't mean that you'll fail if you're willing to put in the time and effort to make this work.

He promised to rank our site in 3 months

Alarm bells.

lease give me some advice I know a lot of you are geniuses.

Actually, a lot of people are very misguided here...so do your research when somebody suggests doing something - do not take it on faith that they're right because they're on this forum.

If you're serious about making this work for yourself, start off by researching some high authority blogs and sites that could benefit from an article on e-cigs.

Build your list of target sites gradually and only pick high quality/authority sites - when you get a good opportunity to share your insights with a site...share the article/post socially - push them really hard on social networks.

Hope this helped

 

[jenkinsbutler]

You are doing the time old mistake and finding a product and looking for a market
when instead you should find a market and introduce a product.
You are Jonny come lately in the e-cig game.
Rewrite your marketing plan.

that's really inspiring to the newbies, thanks for the valuable post dude.

 

[Tier1]

You can try and stick it out or you can start fresh with a new strategy focused solely on SEO (I'd take this route over Craigslist).



There's your problem; that site is a massive joke IMO - it may look pretty but the individuals looking for work on there don't have any capacity for lasting SEO. Second thing: they tried and failed...this doesn't mean that you'll fail if you're willing to put in the time and effort to make this work.



Alarm bells.



Actually, a lot of people are very misguided here...so do your research when somebody suggests doing something - do not take it on faith that they're right because they're on this forum.

If you're serious about making this work for yourself, start off by researching some high authority blogs and sites that could benefit from an article on e-cigs.

Build your list of target sites gradually and only pick high quality/authority sites - when you get a good opportunity to share your insights with a site...share the article/post socially - push them really hard on social networks.

Hope this helped

Thanks man!! And everyone else who gave me good advice !! ... What a lot of you don't know is that I'm not selling the same old e-cigs that are disposable ours have nicotine in them . And it is a booming industry with very little competition .. Any ways . I am going to focus on the Facebook fan page as I have installed big commerce on it . I am also going to sell them on eBay and amazon as well as finding high authority blogs to post articles on .. Any other tips would be great . And thanks again .. I know I have to take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt . Cause at the end of the day it's my vision and i see it being a successful business . People are quitting smoking because of this product and it us very new . I am in Canada so our markets are less saturated . And we haven't had the e cigs with nicotine in our country for very long

 

[Techxan]

The first thing you need to do is build a decent website. I hate to be harsh, but what you have now is ...inadequate.