My Startup is Tanking -- Need serious consultation

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terrace17

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Greetings!

I apologize for the abrupt nature of my post, but please allow me to be direct:

I recently commissioned the construction of my first retail website after scraping up a few years worth of savings and my job with sales at a physical locale, but once my website went from in construction to live launch, my sales traffic went flat! Now my startup is getting lots of traffic, but no sales!

Ive had to buck up and realize that my competence is not up to par with my competitors, and I need help evaluating every single facet of my website to determine how to get sales back to my site before my business falls through. This is my first startup and I need all the help I can get -- if this venture tanks ill be sitting at square zero for another few years or more!

Can anyone help me find the right person to speak to? I wilk provide more details regarding the site in PM. Feel free to email me as well but please help set me straight!

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,
Joseph Towers
 
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Be careful with who you share your information with. You will probably get a few PM's from hopeful amateurs.
What SEO have you carried out? If you are getting Traffic but no sales, where is the Traffic coming from? How competitive is your pricing?
Do you have the funds to pay for a proper SEO Consultant? Check out The Marketplace and Hire a Freelancer sections.
 
You have good traffics but you can not sell your products. I think you should focus on target customers. You wonder by yourself who need your products. When you find where is your potential customers, you should focus on them. You can sell products better.
 
I would be willing to take a look and give my ten cents if you'd like.
Best of luck
 
To those who have replied:

I have attempted to PM responses back, but I find myself unable to -- this website states I must have 15 points to reply to PMs

I don't know what malarkey this is but I still need these answers. Can you give me your email or some other form of contact I can reach you at? Or perhaps help me devise a way to meet or bypass this irritable prereq?
 
I apologize for not sending a PM but the website has restricted me from replying to PMs, claiming I need "15 points" to do so.

The url is unlimitedgg


My current SEO is Crystal Commerce -- they are also the developers commissioned to create the website.

Most of our traffic thus far has come from search engines as well as social media promotions from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit.

I believe I do have the funding for an SEO consultant, but in order to verify this I would need to be referred to a reliable SE
 
Have they sold you a turnkey business? Every site they sell is your competition.

Looks like they are pumping those sites out:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q="This+tool+is+...st.+Simply+paste+your+list+into+DeckBuilder,"
http://www.facetofacegames.com/
http://www.magicstronghold.com/
http://www.astralgamesonline.com/
http://www.kapowcomicsandgames.com/
http://www.nerdragegaming.com/
http://www.firstturngames.com/
http://www.campuscardsandgames.com/
http://www.coretcg.com/
http://www.thecollectorszone.net/
http://www.thecomplexme.com/

Personally, IMO, those businesses are worthless and you should just cut your losses.

Did they get you on hosting too, looks like all the sites are on the same server:
http://website.informer.com/67.214.223.184
WXyWM4R
 
I understand that this market is rather niche, which is why I went into supporting this website with my partner. However, now that the site itself is live I'm growing increasingly concerned that we have have too little appeal against a select pool of competitors.

At first my worry was that the sites construction did not support mobile, or perhaps the design is missing something. Later concerns were that the coding was probably incomplete, causing errors in search results, so we went into troubleshooting that. Now I'm just not sure -- perhaps were not sufficietly undercutting? Are new customers simply too apprehensive? Is our marketing promotional strategy that weak?

You mentioned an SEO consultant on the Marketing forums. With so many advertising, it is difficult to cross-reference a viable service. Would you vouch for any name or link in particular?
 
Assuming that your traffic from search is relevant to whatever it is you're selling, then I don't think your focus should be around SEO but around getting the traffic down the sales funnel and converting into a sale. Some suggestions:

Adding review/rating functionality - adds trustworthiness/makes use of social proof

Also, why is there no description/additional info? This makes the site seem incomplete, not to mention your missing out on SEO possibility.

You should also consider adding some functionality to collect emails (footer, sidebar, popup using lightbox, etc.) so that you get a second and possibly third chance to bring visitors who signed up back and convert them to a customer if you create an effective email marketing campaign.

Doesn't seem like an SSL certificate is setup? https://www.unlimitedgg.com/

The checkout page is also a mess in my opinion - checking out as a guest option doesn't really make sense since you're still asking for my name and email before clicking on the button and that information doesnt' get passed to the form. Don't understand why company name is on the form - doubt anyone is shipping this to a business address, but if you awnt to keep the field, you should list it as optional. Shipping took a good 5 seconds to calculate - made me want to quit. The CC form looks untrustworthy and yes I see that there are other options to pay.

Anyway, I think instead of focusing on getting more traffic, there are some changes you should consider doing to your site first, both from an aesthetic point of view as well as functionality, otherwise there really won't be any point in driving additional traffic to the site. Good luck - I'm sure other members will provide some solid advice.
 
Your suggestion is a difficult and dangerous pill to swallow, but is also the same reason I have come to this site seeking answers. My partner, however, will have a much more difficult time buying into why we should give it up after investing into inventory.

More important than 'why' however is 'what happens next'. My partner was convinced this would work out because this is what he knew best. When I tell him that you suggested cutting losses he will be furious at what he would think is just "hate talk", especially without direction towards a profitable venture.

It will take us a long time to recoup should liquidation become our solution. I *need* you to tell me why you think this wont work out, because I'm going to have to pass it on to him, as well as plan out how were going to get into something that promises earnings.

I can't say I'm happy with this suggestion. Can you help me realize the fault of this venture?
 
netmoney1 said:
A few years of savings for a template website? Sorry, but this isn't a startup...

How much money did they change for this turd?
Click to expand...

My apologies for not clarifying NetMoney1, but my reference to the savings in relation to the startup was including the cost of inventory in addition to the stores website.

Its pretty hard to hear you put it that way. May I ask why you put it like this? Perhaps, say, in relation to a proper website model?
 
Ryce889, youre feedback has been forwarded to my team. We are looking into addressing these deficiencies immediately.

Considering the severity of our sites integrity, programs, tools, services, information sites or reference books would you recommend to help the remedial process?
 
terrace17 said:
My apologies for not clarifying NetMoney1, but my reference to the savings in relation to the startup was including the cost of inventory in addition to the stores website.

Its pretty hard to hear you put it that way. May I ask why you put it like this? Perhaps, say, in relation to a proper website model?
Click to expand...

I think he's saying not to buy a 'business in a box' when that same business in a box is available to anyone else who wants to buy it. You need to be unique or you will simply be lost in the mix.

This is especially true when the big winner is the one selling the business. Is your inventory coming from the same company? If so that is a very bad sign, sorry to say. They're only concerned about money flowing in their direction

You could try aggressive social media marketing to gain an edge but that requires a lot of research, investment and trial and error. Doesn't mean it won't work though, just that it would be tough for a beginner marketer.

In this type of business it's either be better than the rest or different than the rest. Being different is the easier way to go.

It's best to come up with your own idea and build your own site. Research profitable niches. You can have a wordpress site up with like 10 bucks and a little time spent.
Find a high paying affiliate product and spend a few more bucks for some articles and place affiliate links within. No inventory to worry about and you have total control
 
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Reading your posts made me saddened and angry. You've spend your savings without validating your strategy beforehand? Think for a second - did you really need a full blown e-commerce site before testing your customer aquisition strategy?

I'll be hard on you cause you need it. You don't have a start up yet, all you have an e-commerce site with a cards invetory you can't push.

terrace17 said:
Most of our traffic thus far has come from search engines as well as social media promotions from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit.
Click to expand...

Untargeted and perhaps even fake traffic (I doubt you rank for any keyword of value and I doubt your SM "promotions" were anything special)? I went through the shopping cart process just in case you do have legitimate traffic and they couldn't order because of some bug. Doesn't seem like it.

That's was your plan? Build it and they will come? You need a damn strategy to get targeted traffic. Tell me you have one in your head. If you don't, THAT's what you need to work on.

terrace17 said:
but once my website went from in construction to live launch, my sales traffic went flat! Now my startup is getting lots of traffic, but no sales!
Click to expand...

Your website generated sales BEFORE it went live?

Oh, did I mention you don't have a start up yet? Stick this in your mind.

Ive had to buck up and realize that my competence is not up to par with my competitors, and I need help evaluating every single facet of my website to determine how to get sales back to my site before my business falls through. This is my first startup and I need all the help I can get -- if this venture tanks ill be sitting at square zero for another few years or more!
Click to expand...

You don't need to evaluate your website at this point. You will in the future, it's FAR from perfect but that's not the important thing right now. Targeted traffic. Think of it like when your someone tries to steal your car. Sure, your car needs to have well tuned air in the tires or it will burn more gas than it should, but that's not the first thing you're going to consider at that point, right?

Learn how to get targeted traffic. Learn how to build a list. Learn what to do with your list.

You did a good thing that you created this post. Get to talk with the people that will contact you, try to judge who can provide you with value and not hype and pray that you chose wisely.
 
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