We are a manufacturer, with one product. It is pretty niche. Guess my first question is - Is it worth trying to sell our single product on our own corporate web site? I know of other niche product manufacturers selling 300 units per month. But they've been established 4-5 years, and have some half decent brand recognition. We do not have the brand reco yet. We have an affiliate network developing that drives 70% of our web traffic. Our site is only 3 months old, and we have been playing with content and analytics trying to determine why our current small daily visitation is not converting. Conversely, our website has attracted interest from 5 of the largest insurance companies in North America. Ouir site therefore works for corporate America, but not yet for online selling. What is that saying? My main question for this thread. What is considered good traffic volume for a small business web / e-commerce site? Is there a minimum number of visitors I need to generate before conversion or bounce rates mean squat. What is a good conversion rate/bounce rate anyway? Last question. We have several other channels besides affiliate networking. Does it make sense we develop those first, and then expect brand awareness to boost online sales? Cheers L A PS - for anyone interested in a look we currently own top Google spot for this search "safe driving monitor"
Usually the conversion rate is about 5% - out of 100 visitors 30 stay on your site more than 5 seconds and 3-4 click "buy". As for other things - there's never too much of brand recognition. Use all "clean" ways possible to promote it. Start a "virus" campaign.
anyways, your situation indicates you need to do something to improve your conversion rate, as soon as everything except for online website sales works well. You might wanna try to design your site to be more sales-oriented (it's "tell-my-mom", right?), as right now it does not look so. Being first for the keyword means a lot and you gotta explore it. Get a couple of links leading to BUY page between nice lines of inspiring text
how will brand awareness boost your site? you mean ppl will search your brand name in Google? I say you better push your keywords up simultaneously, and not only the one u mentioned, but some more
Well, the company I work for is the sister company of the company doing the 300 odd web sales per month. It is not their primary channel. They're pretty well nationally branded, but still quite niche. They are doing nothing to try to promote web sales. No affiliate program, nothing. Yet, they get 300 web sales per month. So I am told. Assuming people look up their product, and then buy it online.
Thanks Link Assistant. My background is direct P to P and P to B sales, so all this web marketing is a work in progress for me. I have heard of viral marketing, but have not the faintest where to begin with such activity. Care to point to a resource that I can read up on the process. Got some ideas you care to share. I'll also search these forums for ideas. Thanks again.
Well, you'll have to invest to get a nice "virus" going. In your case this could be a memorable video ad with car crashes and teens dying tragically etc. Spooky - but gets the word going. In fact viral is always worth it i thing, you need to invest into hiring a pro to shoot a video/flash ad etc., but it will pay off sooo soon. Anyways, violence, tits and humor get it all going usually you can read wiki to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing#Notable_examples
Thanks again, care to comment on the flash we have on our web site. A little more heart wrenching appeal, than crash and bang. You can search my user name to get our site, or see my profile. If you care to take the time. Most appreciated. Is that video too long for what you are suggesting. I'll read your wiki link.
I know corp sites that have 600 - 1000 uv a day, I also know individuals that have over 2000 uv a day. I guess it's what your selling or about
It depends on one product to another. Some will have high conversion rate while others don't. That also relates to how effective you write your sales page. To me, something in the region of between 2-5% should be reasonable.
if yu own the top spot for those key words then your doing something right for the engines now you just need to spruce up and make your site better at converting sales isnt always a home run the first time its like picking up chicks you don't knock it down the first night "well most people don't" you have to reassure your sales and let them get to know you. Most sales online take 7 touches to make a sale
Conversion ratings can vary greatly. Usually cheaper items on the same website will have better conversion ratings because they meet more peoples price range. However, there are things you can do to improve conversions. The conversion rating on my traffic is about 1% and I'm pretty happy with that.