A Rookie promoting my website one idea, one day at a time

I fixed up my twitter page a little today and I used a service to find people on twitter using keywords that match my store: http://twitseeker.com/  I will spend more time making my twitter page so that when people start following me it will look a bit more polished.  Right now I am signing up at http://www.tweetlater.com to create an automatic message to those that are following me to draw a little more attention to my store.  There is so much marketing you can do on Twitter and the more you...
Continue reading...

Added my store to the TheFind.com. TheFind.com is a shopping search engine.

You can add your store to TheFind.com here:   http://www.thefind.com/main/AddMerchant.fhtml

You have to put an Upfront button on your homepage which displays all the important information, policies and payments accepted at your store. 

Read about UpFront here:   http://www.thefind.com/upfront

Continue reading...

Busy busy with my "real" job.  I will figure out and report the backlinks this weekend hopefully.
Today I set up a Google Adwords campaign.  Even those of us with little budgets for advertising can do this because you specify how much you are willing to spend and how much you are willing to pay for each click.  I set up very small spending limit (15.00).  I will see how well it works out. 

Basically you sign up, create an add and enter keywords you want to place your ads on and that is pretty...
Continue reading...

Backlinks are my real goal right now. They are ways to drive traffic and apparently very effective but it is not a simple thing. I want to get a better handle on it before I try it and post it here.  Hopefully tomorrow.

Today I added a link to 30 sample items I sell in my store. Once I get backlinks working this will be helpful to give people an idea of what I sell and hopefully will convert into some traffic and then sales.

I also added a place to leave comments on this blog. This is needed fo...
Continue reading...

Today I added my website to the google local business center:
http://www.google.com/local/add/analyticsSplashPage?gl=US&hl=en-US

I lowered my shipping on quite a few items.  I find I make that up by selling more quantity, it really works.

I changed some of my pictures. I shoot all of my pictures with a white background, it makes a huge difference.

I took new pictures of a few items that seemed to drop in sales recently.

building new shelves in the garage to reorganize. Everything to get ready for ...
Continue reading...

I did this about a week ago and I just converted a 130.00 order from Ebay to my FloridaGiftsOnline.com store.

I signed up for a domain on GoDaddy.com and I created a descriptive email Customer.Service@FloridaGiftsOnline.com

While you are not allowed to advertise your personal website on Ebay you are allowed to post your email address.  So I added my email address (in BIG print) on my store home page. 

I dont' even have to check that email address. In my regular gmail email account I set up the ...
Continue reading...

Ok, so how can code be cool?  I have no idea but if you are working on a website, you can really get into this stuff.

Now before I put what the cool code is that I learned I want to explain VERY BRIEFLY why I am working on a Friday night.  Well I am on a laptop watching baseball which I love love love.  I am a Tampa Bay Rays fan and if you are a baseball fan at all or just have a TV or a radio then you know what happened to my St. Pete 9 yesterday.  I am still shook by it so I can't just watch...
Continue reading...

So much to learn, so much to do!  I know why people get paid a lot of money to manage, customize and promote websites.  There is just a ton out there to absorb.

If I can do it anyone can do it.  I have a full time job, 2 teenagers, a dog and 3 cats!