Do you sell from your Web-site?

[Robert Lambie]

what i would say here is…

"you" need a sign for your shop, van etc

do you call the loacal sign guy?
lift yellow pages and get some companies to come see you to give ideas etc?
go onto ebay?
google dozens of sign makers websites, but seldom find an online shop within them?

[Peter Normington]

The web is great for selling stuff, but you will need to sell either something "special" or "unique" or "different"or something in bulk and cheap.
Lots of competion out there. so you have to ..
A, compete
B, get your site noticed
C, be able to produce and post quickly.
Lots of people make a living on the web but its no different than any other form of promoting your goods.
Dont expect any returns unless you are prepared to invest time and money

Peter

[David Rowland]

well there isn’t much wrong with your current site.. i would leave it alone for a few years and let it mature.

[John Simpson]

I agree with Dave, looks great to me.

[Peter Normington]

Just looked at your WWW
very professional, if you think you have enough hits to sell on line I would go for it, but just my advice, web based sales do need money invested to generate real sales…

PETER

[Shane Drew]

I’ve been down this path too and decided to give it a miss. As has been said, unless you can offer something that is different it may not generate a heap of traffic.

Shopping carts are not cheap for a secure encryption, and it will cost a fair bit of money in the early days with no guarrantee of any huge income.

If you can afford to lose a bit to see if you can eventually make a bit, you will never know if it will work unless you try, so I’d go for it. If you can’t afford early losses, I say don’t do it.

I like your present site tho.

Cheers

[Pryam Carter]

Thanks for the input.
As far as l can see it could be worth a go, one of the draw backs is the set up. Another is the competition, to compete on price against some people you are having to drop your prices quite a bit.
Still weighing it all up at the minute. 😕

[John Stevenson]

I’m not sure I agree with some of my esteemed colleagues.

Your current site very good – streets ahead of most!

But it’s an on-line brochure and requires a visitor to make an effort to email you. There’s not even a simple enquiry form.

I think on-line business is evolving rapidly and now requires an option to do business.

Of course the "serious Buyer" will email you requesting a quotation or a meeting but if a lot of your business is at the lower end of the market then you have to make it easy for potential customers.

Shopping carts are a lot cheaper than they used to be – I’d say go for it.

John

[Andrew Boyle]

I think for a lot of small sign companies the website shows the cross section of work the customer may not be aware of….. would be interested to know if the online store type site works…

[Robert Lambie]

i am kinda of the opinion, if someone wants cheap-as-chips off the shelf stuff for car graphics and the like, they will use eBay…
if they are willing to pay for something done properly, they will lift the phone, but may use the web to get some idea on pricing before hand. (here is where your online brochure maybe found)
building an on-line shop is one thing, getting traffic to it is another. it takes allot time and allot of web/labour hours to get established.

[Phill Fenton]

The problem with websites is if you are offering the same as everyone else in your category then the only way you can compete is on price. 😥

Problem is – once you start lowering prices to gain customers – you are on a fast treadmill – "running to stand still".

If you intend to sell a lot of stock standard items such as vehicle graphics and safety signs then why not give it a go (If you find you can compete with the prices already on offer and yet still make a profit). 😉

If you are offering a custom sign service, then your website is probably best set up as an on -line brochure rather than a sign "supermarket".

Mind you – if you have discovered a "niche" market that no one else is serving then the internet is probably the ideal way to promote your business.

Just my opinion 🙄

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote Phill:

Just my opinion 🙄

and a very opinionated one too 😉

nik

[Phill Fenton]

too true :lol1: :lol1:

[Shane Drew]

quote Phill:

too true :lol1: :lol1:

I think phill’s answer is better than mine, so I’d like to say that I agree with Phill until someone else comes along with a better idea. :lol1:

[Bart Van Wassenhove]

hi guys,

a bit out of topic, but how do you guys know the name of billy’s website??? (?)

ciao,
bart

[John Stevenson]

Hi Bart

If you are logged in as a member you should be able to see a link to "www" beside his postings – I can see yours and visited your site.

I couldn’t read it but nice pictures.

John

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote John Stevenson:

If you are logged in as a member you should be able to see a link to “www” beside his postings – I can see yours and visited your site.

you can only access web-sites if your a uksb member 😀

nik

[David Rowland]

That’s UKSG member,

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote Dave Rowland:

That’s UKSG member,

:doh:

nik

[Bart Van Wassenhove]

ok, thx for the info!

ciao,
bart

[Hugh Potter]

my ‘basic’ website should be going live before too long, just a few bits to do, it will be updated quite quickly with proper galleries, a ‘request info’ type form to fill, etc, but for now i just want it up so i can get all my new business cards and flyers sorted out,

i’m currently working on a few jobs for one customer, where i have designed a few items that, as far as i’m aware, are not readily available through the normal channels, so a kind of online shop will be set up for these products, though the customer will still have to talk to me to a degree !

they wont be going on ebay cos they’re a quality bespoke product, that to be honest, are unlikely to sell due to the price, they’re really for serious customers only,

rather than a shopping cart, i’ll (initially at least) use paypal as the preferred method of payment for those who want to pay online, lets face it, most people have it now, and paypal offer this service, so i may as well tie it in.

the main thing as others have said though, is getting traffic to the site,

[Pryam Carter]

I’m a UKSBG member and l don’t see the website link (?) 😥