Thread: Business is getting tougher

I don't know about you guys, but business is getting tougher. It is very difficult to advertise as the income from orders are drying.

What could be the solution? Stop wasting money in all kind of advertising wait and see or just keep going to waste money without ROI?

More I am working to promote my business, higher I rank for my keywords and less orders I have.

Please note that I am in business online for almost 5 years, I am not a newbie

What would be your advises?

Thanks

Maybe it's time to change your advertising strategy?

Mind to share with us what have you done so far? I am doing online biz and is not a newbie too

I agree with ReformedSlimer. Make your advertising strategy look unique and interesting that catches the attention of the customers or visitors. Right now I'm doing the same, formulating a brand new strategy that will make customers attracted and catch attention to my online business, since I'm just starting to manage about this business.

Strategies, specifically advertising strategies, never work forever. You'll need to revamp what you're doing as often as possible - test new ideas, find new advertising formats and venues, offer incentives such as coupons or special promotions for every holiday or something. People love variety and spice - sticking with the same method, the same materials, the same venues... it will ultimately lead to failure.

Tell us more about what you've been doing, and we can better help.

Well, like many of you said the strategy change time to time.

I have done many things to promote my business, as directories, my articles, blogs comments, blogger reviews, social medias, Press Releases, videos marketing, etc and recently I tried the article directories.

The only thing I barely tested was PPC but when I started to lose some money, I quickly stopped.

I offered coupons, on site giveaways, blog giveaway promotion, and still offering membership. I also offered free products and free shipping.

So what kind of new strategy can you suggest me, beside spending hundred or thousand of dollars?

It's not just advertising strategy that matters.

You rank for your business keywords - Good
But make sure you target keywords that actually convert and most searched by BUYERS.

You get visits - Good
But make sure your landing page/homepage/service page is good enough to CONVERT. It should be clear in its service message and must be different from what others have.

You rank on most keywords in terms of SEO - Good
But make sure your title and description that appears in SERPs is catchy and inviting enough to get clicks by BUYERS.

A little but SMART advertising can work better than a big budgeted and regular advertising

Hope this helps

yeah business is getting tougher as competitors are leading
new competitors are blooming and they're combatant with their advertising lol

You're in the bath and body niche? That niche is very sensitive to economic downturns. When home budgets are cut, those are some of the first luxuries to go.

If it were me, I would stop investing in that niche and start investing in a second niche -- one which is counter cyclical. What's up when the economy is down? Gold, ammunition, what else?

I think we're in for another 7-9 years of economic morass, so I wouldn't wait and hope that this just clears up by itself.

The first key to business is ROI: Return on Investment.

I would invest any amount of money into a project if I knew I would get a suitable return. It's important to first thoroughly research the potential idea and see how stable it is, what the return would be, and then you would have to personally determine if it was worth it. So, don't be too against spending money, because you might come across a good method.

Have you entered into social networking? You know: Facebook, Twitter, etc. These methods can often be very inexpensive, yet extremely worthwhile. Directories are great for SEO in some cases, but worthless for exposure. Article Marketing is always a good plan - have you looked into that? Depending on your product(s)/service(s) you might be able to craft awesome YouTube videos to help bring exposure, which is also inexpensive.

Blog Comments/Reviews can be useful depending on your niche. However, you might find more luck Guest Posting on related blogs. What about offline advertising? I once sold a product about making money online. I then distributed fliers in Philadelphia and New York City, which resulted in MASSIVE success.

A little but SMART advertising can work better than a big budgeted and regular advertising.

This is always true.

bath and body niche

This is a great niche for offline advertising - but as Will mentioned, you're going to experience difficulty due to the economic downturn. The great thing about this niche, though, is that you can profit off human insecurity - make them become concerned about their appearance and you can reel them in.

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

So what kind of new strategy can you suggest me, beside spending hundred or thousand of dollars?

Online advertising is one of the cheapist methods that you can use to sell your products. You should play around with the ppc. It's possible to target certain hours and geographic locations as well.

One thing that you may be overlooking is your current customer base. Repeat customers have a lower cost per sale than spending to find new customers. You can include a special offer to people that are purchasing.

You can also send out emails to the people that have purchased in the past or send out post card via snail mail. This will be a lot cheaper than ppc.

Originally Posted by Will.Spencer

You're in the bath and body niche? That niche is very sensitive to economic downturns. When home budgets are cut, those are some of the first luxuries to go.

Consumers are getting squeezed. Inflation was 2.7% for 2009 and wages were down 1.8%. A lot of people don't have jobs to buy any luxuries.

Originally Posted by Will.Spencer

I think we're in for another 7-9 years of economic morass, so I wouldn't wait and hope that this just clears up by itself.

Who knows what is going to happen. The US is spending trillions to stop the housing & stock bubbles from deflating. There's also going to be millions of adjustable mortgage resets occuring this spring. So the situation is going to get worse. The real question is how is the US going to pay from the $1.5 trillion per year Obama deficits, universal healthcare, a bankrupt social securuty and a balloning nation debt interest payments?