I started building my website in 2006 from a position of almost total ignorance. I knew what I wanted. I certainly did not want the kind of site that needed professional maintenance. I was unwilling to pay the $12,000 or even $5,000 I was quoted to have a professional do the job.
When I decided to leave eBay early in 2008 it was a business decision which had been coming since the removal of stores in search in 2006. I had been working on my exit strategy, but, in hindsight not as hard as I should have been. I really was not ready but the ‘fee decrease’ added to the feedback issue, allowing my hard earned feedback to be held hostage by trolls was an unacceptable risk, so I left.
Developing the Website
I had my website and started putting a lot more time into it, stocking and promoting. I decided to allocate a proportion of the money I was no longer spending on eBay fees to AdWords. I found and still find AdWords complex, difficult and confusing. The return on investment in AdWords has not been good and after a three month trial I abandoned it and started this blog on blogspot. The ROI from that has been much better, particularly since I moved to a self hosted Word Press format for which excellent advice I thank Scott Pooler of iBusinessLogic.
Diversification
After leaving eBay I signed up for:
- eCrater, nice clean simple to use and apparently unsuited to my buyer demographic
- iOffer, full of fakes, I was uncomfortable
- Loudfrog, nice community, not viable, now defunct,
- eWaey, bright, jangly, I was uncomfortable, now defunct
- ePier, felt like walking into a ghost town, half the links did not work, never got off the ground for me, keep my $30 you need it more than I do.
- PlunderHere, never got going here, it changed hands and war broke out, I fled
- Several networking and Ning groups, I don’t have TIME for this on a scale to make it work.
What did I learn?
I learned that it is really easy to spin your wheels and make a lot of dust.
I learned that if you are indiscriminately diversified on multiple channels you can spend so much time on administration that you have no time to promote, and without promotion there are no sales.
I learned that many ‘alternative’ sites which are not on my list are no bargain. Some charge double eBay’s fees for stores, have no traffic and expect their sellers to do all promotion. Some are so dysfunctional any buyer with more than two brain cells would think twice before signing up to buy. I learned to avoid ‘out of the box’ sites, the ones that all look the same because they all use the same software. For me this comes under the GIGO rule, to run a business one must invest, time, money or both. They haven’t, I won’t, in them.
Where am I now?
I am promoting my website through organic search, that is marketing speak for free.
I am on Bonanzle.com and very happy with the site. Sales are growing, it is a great community and growing like a weed.
Where I am going
Nowhere new! This is going to be a challenging year and many retailers will be going under. I intend to hang on. I am going to continue building my Bonanzle business and continue working on my website. I am not going to spin my wheels or make dust this year, I am going to build. I am going to narrow my focus and concentrate on working smarter.
Helping to build the Bonanzle venue is to my benefit, the bigger Bonanzle gets the more eyeballs are on my product just as long as I do my job and showcase it properly. I will continue to blog on a variety of eCommerce subjects and whatever interests me.
What are YOU doing? Are you over diversified?
Y’all come back!
I never feel like I get a return on my Adwords investment. I know that there are ways to play the game but I’m not sure that my business is a good fit with it.
It’s definitely easy to get pulled into a million different directions. Some sites are really just a distraction. Overstock, for one, gave me like $100 credit to try auctions so it was free but total waste of time.
Posted by Hillary on January 14th, 2009.
Great post! Don’t keep your eggs in one basket, but don’t put them in every basket either. Good advise.
Posted by Randy Smythe on January 14th, 2009.
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this lately also. Currently I sell on ebay, Ruby Lane, and Bonanzle. I definitely have the most sales on ebay but it is also the most expensive to operate, cutting down my profit. I do like selling on ebay so I’m staying for now & trying to ramp up the others. I would love to have my own site but just haven’t ventured there yet. Hopefully this year it will happen. I would say right now my sales are 75% ebay, and 25% Bonanzle & Ruby Lane combined. I definitely have a lot of work to do. Great thoughts Henrietta.
Posted by fitzcharming on January 14th, 2009.
Goals!! I love it when goals are identified and the way to get there is plotted. All CEO’s have their goals identified in short and long term plans. Hooray Henrietta!
Posted by Lori on January 14th, 2009.
Great post, Henrietta. I found Adwords a time-consuming, expensive, pointless exercise. So much time spent of trying to find the ‘right’ keywords, lots of clicks from ‘tyrekickers’ and very few actual sales.
This year I’m concentrating listing and optimising on my own sites, and occasionally listing a bit of excess stock on eBay. I’m still learning what works well on eBay doesn’t necessarily sell well on my own sites, and vice versa.
Posted by Judy on January 15th, 2009.
Hello Henrietta,
Thanks so much for the kind mention here, but I only pontificated, you did all the work (Humph, still don’t know why I lost that sale…)
You have done a fine job and the new blog is really looking great!
I appreciate all the kind words on my Trading Assistant Journal as well.
As you know and detail in this article, time is the issue. I wish I had the time to write articles all day every day, but alas that does not buy the milk. It does however allow you the means to create the reputation and recognition which then allows the sales to be made.
With the right amount of time spent on your blog and other social networking activities, I think you are finding that the traffic just grows and grows. With AdWords, it stops when the money stops.
Using all the different “venues” is certainly appealing, but also somewhat of a time killer. With your selection of Bonanzle I think you have made the right move if you are not going to ever go back to eBay. (and who would if Bonanzle works for you).
Eventually, I would like to get you on board with our Bonanzle Webstores program, so you can bring your products into the blog and give them additional exposure. I understand this may not be the blog to do this, but as you know by Cliff’s experience with http://vintagemeld.com it is a viable concept.
Keep up the great writing, it is really impressive to have seen your style and abilities grow over time. You are a first rate blogger my dear and I am proud to count you as a friend.
Scott Pooler
Posted by Scott Pooler on January 15th, 2009.
yoo hoooo,
come and see who won Thesaurush Thursday and play again!!
by the way,….you’ve never said (that I could find) what it is you actually sell….
Posted by mightymom on January 15th, 2009.
Very well said, Henrietta. I too was “all over the place” with many venues, including ebay, loudfrog, blujay, ecrater, webidz…etc.
Seriously if you name it, I am pretty sure I was there. Finally doing the same, contracting and expanding. Contracting in my selection of venues, expanding in new, creative ways to market myself, knowledge and products.
It has been an adventure to say the least.
Phaedra
Posted by Phaedra on January 16th, 2009.
[...] at Red Ink, Henrietta has reviewed her experiences of putting an eBay exit strategy into effect - the results and tidbits regarding some of the sites she tried are worth reading. She also had a [...]
Posted by Sunday Papers 18 Jan 2008 - BuildaSkill.com on January 17th, 2009.
Well well well, sad all that is defunct
I am one of the ebay refugees, if you will, put my eggs in the etsy basket and never looked back.
putting those eggs in one basket Lisa? Bonanzle Bonanzle Bonanzle!
Yes I would, BUT honey I don’t have enough eggs to go around
Etsy sales do so well… I need more chickens…
bok bok bok
Posted by sparkklejar on January 18th, 2009.
Darling Sparkki girl! How I have you missed!
Bonanzle you MUST, work fingers to bones, I admire my lids and pet them often.
Big hugz to you
Posted by Henrietta on January 18th, 2009.
Darling Henrietta,
Thanks much for your continued affection, your red ink is always a joy & i must say one of my favorite colors!
Lisa ♥
Posted by sparkklejar on January 18th, 2009.
[...] get get you spinning your wheels. On the RedInkDiary blog, Henrietta wrote an article titled Sometimes Less is More and she said something that I still remember — “I learned that it is really easy to [...]
Posted by Top 10 Countdown to a Better 2009 Year as an Ecommerce Seller « TheBrewsNews on January 24th, 2009.