I have a camping and outdoors related eCommerce site and have $20,000 to spend to get it up and making a profit. Any suggestions on where that money would be best put to use? The site is already set up so there will be no costs in design, etc. The conversion rates are 1% which I am working on increasing that number as we get more traffic. I'm getting very little traffic right now (400 uniques/month). I'm looking for answers that will give me specifics when it comes to how much it will cost and how long it may take.
Are you talking about the same site in your signature? Can you provide us with additional details? URL?
First make sure that you've got a catchy domain and decent design. Then focus on SEO and content (a few articles on your website will definitely help you). Continue building links even after you get ranked on the first pages of Google and meanwhile spend a few dollars on advertising. Here is the important part: TEST! While your website is still growing make sure to try different layouts and keep the ones that convert best. PS: if you haven't hired a SEO yet add me on skype: seo.spark
Have some one review your site professionally ? e.g. I know its not a major concern , but can i point out the" Copyright © 2008 Your Web Store" in your footer? While your site looks great, loads fast and without any issues... This one bit of text suggests to me that either you haven't changed the default settings or you haven't updated the site in four years. There's little chance a regular customer would notice that but your more experienced online buyers certainly would! Might also be worth looking at touch screen users, dont put any money into any type of adverts for mobile devices as your site is very hard to use from a touch screen ( hover over menus dont work on touch screens in general ) As for what to do with your money ? I dont have the single answer for you , but i can tell you to avoid just sink it into google ads , ( i/we did this ). Find an online marketing company to produce your adds, how they rotate what budget and where. Sometimes as big spenders they might be able to offer you discounted adds that you wouldn't normally get. They do normally charge you a monthly fee for managing your adds but they saving you make overall is worth it every time. oh that sounded like such a plug/add, FYI i'm not a professional SEO or marketing expert etc, just my opinion.