We got this question in the Group a few weeks ago and again just yesterday. It was some variation of: "What's wrong with my website?" and then it's either

• How can I get people to visit the site?
• Why isn't anyone buying anything on the site?

Since almost all of these businesses are in the custom t-shirt, embroidery or customized items business and are trying to sell directly to consumers online - who better to answer those questions than Marc Vila - the brains behind ColmanandCompany.com

There are two things to consider when asking about your online store:

• Why isn't anyone coming to my store?
• Why aren't the people who visit buying?

This means we can break down the episode into 2 sections

• How to get people to come to your online store
• How to get people to want to make a purchase when they visit

How to get people to come to your online store:

• Do the basics
  • Listen to our episode on how to get found online
  • Google my business
  • Bing places
  • Social profiles / link to site
• Share your content (Links should be easy to view and share)
  • Social Media (Link in profile / comments if needed)
  • Emails
  • Previous customers
  • In-person
  • Text Message
  • YouTube videos
  • Blogs, forums, groups, etc
• Create search engine friendly content
  • Write up articles about what you sell
  • Set up a google product feed
  • YouTube videos (with a great description)
  • Answer blog posts or create blog posts
• Pay for clicks
  • Google search
  • Social media ads
  • Ads on niche websites

NOTE: it wont happen FAST unless

1. You are super lucky
2. You spend a lot of $$

How to get people to buy while visiting your store:

• Basics
  • Make sure products are good.
  • Make sure pricing is within reason (too cheap or too expensive is bad)
    • also don't be afraid of being a bit higher on the price, just watch out for extremes
  • Clear images
  • Clear descriptions
  • Make sure everything works (links, checkout, etc)
  • Build trust (logos, designs, connect with trusted brands, reviews, testimonials)
• Optimize shopping experience
  • Do your categories make sense?
  • Is it easy to find what you offer?
  • Show customers popular and related items
  • Reduce friction in buying process
    • Don't over sell
    • Make checkout easy
    • Offer free shipping when possible
      • Raise price of shirt / lower shipping costs
  • Be clear when item will ship and be delivered
    • You will lose sales if someone doesn't have at least a rough idea when they will get the product
• Test Test Test
  • Try different images
  • Try different prices
  • Feature different items
• Create a journey
  • You post content to a shirt on social
  • Have that shirt featured in the link you share
  • Show related shirts to that in the link
  • Have a featured price / discount / bogo (if needed - test test test)
  • Let them checkout easy (paypal, apple pay, amazon pay, visa checkout, etc)
    • If someone has to type in a credit card, you will lose some sales (harder to impulse buy or just dont trust your site yet)
• Follow up
  • Email them
  • Mail them
  • Call them
  • social link them
  • ask them to social link you

Here's some other Custom Apparel Startups episodes we mention in the show:

Episode 91 - Steps to Getting More Customers by Networking

Episode 101 - Marketing Plan: Picking Your Niche

Episode 102 - Advertising and Marketing To Your Niche

Episode 131 - 5 Cheap Marketing Options

Episode 136 - Building a Winning Ad Strategy for Your Business

Episode 141 - How To Get Found on Google Maps

Episode 166 - Your Marketing Checkup