Stef Sparkle
Hello Thank you for stopping by
Let me take you to a different world full of words, colors and unusual thoughts.
Enjoy your time here and don't forget to Take a Sparkle
I did not go to marketing school. All I have learned,
I learned it on my own. There are tons of articles, videos, news letters, tips, tools and other stuff online (most of them are free) that you can use to advertise your company/store/business/webpage or whatever. The hard part is that you should find, read and apply them. Constantly. Advertising is a constant process.
What works today may not work tomorrow and what doesn't work today may work tomorrow.
Most people (99%!!) that open an e-store FAIL quickly. Reason is: they think that products will sell themselves. They think that you don't need advertisement, one ad is all you need.
Certainly NOT!
That is not the only problem. You can place 100 ads, but if they have bad content or if you place them on poorly visited places you won't get many views and sales.
Then there are other important things that you should pay attention to, like: images, wording, length, spelling and of course the product.
Overall: Advertising is NOT simple.
That is why there is a whole industry on advertising and people are hiring professionals to make their ads, commercials, billboards...
You might think that advertising is an easy thing to do. Write something, post it and wait for visits, sales, traffic. Post something random on FB and get likes. Open a store and get sales immediately. The HARSH TRUTH is: It is not like that. YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALL ON YOUR OWN. I have experienced this on my own skin. Most of advertising is to emphasize the good things about the thing you are advertising and hide or ignore the bad ones. Same as when you write a job application. You surely won't write on it that you are lazy, you hate paperwork, you don't like to work with people ect.
There is nothing wrong with that unless it is misleading and considered fraud.
Online advertising for e-stores
My experience with advertising online
Five years ago, I had no clue on how to advertise or anything about websites. The only thing I ever advertised was when I was selling my home and that was in local papers and websites. Then a friend recommended an online company/site for advertising. I was there for 4,5 years. I learned a lot by reading online articles, watching videos, reading success stories, tips and things like that. So much so that I started writing tutorials and "how to's" for others. I was doing great, my store was very popular.
If you are still working at that site, you can get my products at a lower price than they used to be and also get access to the free tips I was sending.
There are plenty places where you can open a store and run it as you wish. It will cost you some money though, and you will need some knowledge. You have to do the research and read a lot of articles, tips and forums on the topic. Even if you are skilled at web design that is not enough to make it work. To have a good blog/website requires work, constant posting and updates, connecting with people, offering help, freebies, discounts, send newsletters, answer e-mails and of course advertising.
You can look up anything online by using keywords. Then read or bookmark the things you find useful and read them later. The usual places to advertise are: classifieds; Google Adwords; Bing Ads; social networks: facebook, twiter, linkedin, google+ ect.; other websites that already have good traffic; ads on apps; sending e-mails (although this one is a bit tricky since people don't like to be annoyed) ect.
There is always free and paid advertising. If you know how to work the free option you don't need the paid one, but if you find good offer then it pays off.
Here are some links for you:
Online Advertising: How to Create Effective Online Advertising
10 Inexpensive Ways to Advertise Your Small Business
6 Ways to Make Money with Advertising on Your Blog and the Websites to Help You
10 ways to advertise your business locally – for free!
To own a site and to actually make money are two very different things. You need several things to make it work:
1. Target group (audience) that has specific needs/ interests
2. Offer products that THEY want and/or need
(or find a target group that needs/wants your products)
3. Make sure the products are good and useful to them
(you can sell products with low quality too, but they have to be very cheap)
4. Advertise in any way you can, BUT try not to be too aggressive.
(For example, don't spam your friends in FB or in their e-mails about your products)
5. Offer freebies, discounts, news related to the product/s, tips, anything that keeps them engaged.
(For example, if you sell clothes send fashion tips)
6. Have a return policy, phone and address on your site
Then, after you make sales, make sure you have:
7. Good ratings and reviews
8. Deliver on time
9. Be polite and respectful in your replies and e-mails to the customers
1. and 2. always go together. If you have one of them, you MUST get the other one.
* But, to be truly successful, you need to offer something unique, something that is different than the rest. Something that stands out.
For me that was my product names and descriptions. I had them sorted out in such way that you don't get overwhelmed with a lot of information, yet you had enough to be informed. I also used some words that stand out and that other sellers rarely or never used, like: unique, logically, creative, ability, inspiration, exciting, enriched, specific ect. They were not copy/paste work. Something taken out of someone else's description. Stamped around. That is just a big NO, NO!
Being original and unique is not an easy thing to do. Nowadays we have everything we can imagine and even more. But that doesn't mean it is impossible. Other sellers started copying my things on a large scale, so I had to do something else. I had to go one step further. I wouldn't count on the weekly newsletters, special sales and contests I held because they were available to everyone and free to do. Not much time invested needed also.
That is when I started writing useful tips on topics such as : advertising, team building, business, personal development, inspirational ect.
Finally, the best way to do this is to think of yourself as a visitor to your site. What do you like in other sites? What you don't like? What made you click this or that link and avoid some other one?
Ask yourself the following questions, as if you are a visitor (and potential buyer) on your site:
1. Why should I visit your site?
2. Why should I return again?
3. Why should I buy from you?
4. Can I get a better offer elsewhere?
5. Can I get the things you offer elsewhere for free?
6. Do you offer something for free? Discounts?
7. Is your site fun and yet useful?
8. Will I be comfortable sharing it on my social media profiles?
9. Are you someone I can trust?
10. What is your story?
So, how can Stef's Sparkle help you?
Best way to help someone is to teach them how to help themselves. That is how they will become independent and you can move onto helping someone else.
But to do that, they have to learn. And learning takes time, reading, experiences... Thus, no one else can do it for you.
You can get tips, tools and directions, but you have to walk the path.
On this site (mostly on the blog page) you can find lots of tips and links to sites/articles that I've found helpful.
Also, I offer custom made :
1. graphics:
- logos,
- image editing,
- banners for your website/product (any size)
2. text:
- ads,
- product descriptions,
- articles for your website/product
