Help needed

[randallg99]

I am humbled by several of the discussions and knowledge many of you hold regarding e-biz and e-commerce. All of the advice and direction available from all of you is greatly appreciated.

Here's the task: I want to take the next step with our web presence.. Currently, we are experiencing about 300 to 400 sites per month... a nice site... nothing too fancy but we do get a lot of compliments from industry peers.

My objective: we want to build our website into a more interactive site to get more people to shop the stores (brick and mortar) and possibly being online selling and transactions.

questions I have:

1. has anyone had experience renting mailing lists? and have they been effective?
2. if yes to #1, are there any recommended companies that I can use?
3. how often are emails sent to rented lists for maximum
4. what kind of dollar return is expected upon an investment on e-commerce site?
5. at what point does it make sense to promote the site on other sites?
6. at what point does it make sense to entertain the possibility of having others advertise on my site?
7. A current web designer currently has all of my files. Are they my property or are they his? (I know, I know, I will ask him...) just wondering if there have been problems switching designers?

Thanks,:thankyousign::smx6::cheers:
Randall

 

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[aptohosting]

I am humbled by several of the discussions and knowledge many of you hold regarding e-biz and e-commerce. All of the advice and direction available from all of you is greatly appreciated.

Here's the task: I want to take the next step with our web presence.. Currently, we are experiencing about 300 to 400 sites per month... a nice site... nothing too fancy but we do get a lot of compliments from industry peers.

My objective: we want to build our website into a more interactive site to get more people to shop the stores (brick and mortar) and possibly being online selling and transactions.

questions I have:

1. has anyone had experience renting mailing lists? and have they been effective?
2. if yes to #1, are there any recommended companies that I can use?
3. how often are emails sent to rented lists for maximum
4. what kind of dollar return is expected upon an investment on e-commerce site?
5. at what point does it make sense to promote the site on other sites?
6. at what point does it make sense to entertain the possibility of having others advertise on my site?
7. A current web designer currently has all of my files. Are they my property or are they his? (I know, I know, I will ask him...) just wondering if there have been problems switching designers?

Thanks,:thankyousign::smx6::cheers:
Randall

Randall,

1) Yes, mailing lists for the most are effective if you target the right demographic. You do need to be careful with who you are hosting with if you use mailing lists. It is very easy to get the box(server) you are on blacklisted if you send alot of unsolicited emails.

2) www.infousa.com hands down has the most updated useful mailing lists we have encountered.

3) Don't understand?

4) It all depends on what exactly are you trying to accomplish. I have run multiple e-commerce shops they have ranged from mild success with only few hundreds of dollars per month, to some very successful ones that returned me 6 figures a year.

5) There is no real number you should look for before you start advertising else where. I would start locally, use word of mouth that is most powerful advertising technique. Also your budget if you have $10k per month ad budget hell go on Adwords and have your way with them if you do it right the returns are amazing!

6) You shouldn't even entertain this thought, unless you are a blog or a forum. It looks so intensely unprofessional to have ads plastered on a retail online environment. For example when you go to www.newegg.com do you see ads there? Ads on an ecommerce stores gives off a feeling of desperation, almost like you can't sell anything so you have to resort to selling web real estate. DON"T DO IT

7) Unless stipulated in his contract (that I am sure you have right?) the files are normally considered his until paid in full. Thats how we run our show, if you wanted us to design & develop your website we would request 50% of the payment upfront and 50% upon delivery. This way we retain all rights to your site until we paid off, otherwise people go take our work and run away!

Randall, if you need further help you can call me at 919-923-1176 (24/7) I have been doing ecommerce/blogs/web hosting for few years now so I am pretty well versed in this field.

Hope this helps


Tom C.
www.AptoHosting.com