May I get your opinion on my site?

86badtips

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Apr 2, 2009
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86badtips.com

I sell T-shirts to Waiters and waitresses…they wear them outside of work for fun.

I am converting like 1 out of 1,000 unique visitors at best.

This number is over several years of offering online.

I have changed so many things (except theme) and it has never helped…at all.

I know they LOVE the t-shirts because I have personally travelled from Miami to Seattle, Cleveland to L.A. I have walked into thousands of restaurants, and have sold close to 1 million bucks worth.

I sell 1 out of 5 people I show!

In the past I have chosen to believe the reason they were not selling on-line is because waiters and waitresses live day to day and they come to my site, save me to favorites and tell themselves they will get one next week when they have more money, which never comes. So procrastination! Yeah that’s what I thought. It can’t be me and my internet marketing skills!

I now believe that anything of true quality and value will sell online and I’m just doing something wrong.

I know the culture of my potential customers 100% and could answer virtually any question about them.

They are 18-25 (for the most part). They have grown up making purchases online and are not afraid to do so.

They are big into pop culture. Most drink/do drugs and sexual harassment is the norm at work J

Why have I not managed to sell Virtually anything on-line?

Any glaringly obvious mistakes going on here?

I do know of a few things that could be done to make improve a conversion rate like making the ordering process easier, maybe a BBB logo or safe checkout logo, or have a place to enter e-mail and send out e-mails and discounts and the box where they enter their sizes might be easier to find (it’s at the bottom now) and the images could be higher quality/easier to read.

At the end of the day, this stuff will cost me money because my talents are not web design, and the technical no how to do what is needed. I have been very reluctant to make any moves because I always thought they these shirts ONLY sold in person and did not want to invest even a few hundred to make these small changes. So I changed what I could myself and hoped to see any kind of improvement.

but really I am basically selling NONE!!! I can’t speed up a ball that’s not rolling at all L

its not like I am at a horrible .25% conversion rate trying to get to 1%-2% +++

I’m at NO SALES at ALL

I am getting 2,500 unique a month with the average person going to 3.5 pages, staying on site 2 minutes and coming to the site 1.5 times each.

This is pretty consistent over the past 3 years.

All the t shirts I have sold, have the website address on the back, so when they wear it around their server friends they end up coming to my site.

So we are getting consistent traffic naturally!

Stores don’t want me because I offer a product that only 1% of the population is a potential customer and they don’t want to waste shelf space.

I have tried to recruit sales reps and that has not been successful.

For some reason nobody is crazy enough to pack up their car and take off across the country selling t-shirts out of their car for the hopes of making it rich…except me.

I know an obvious question is…Jason, if you have sold 1,000,000 worth, why don’t you just keep going? Because I have a family and I am tired of the travel. They are getting to old to take with, which we have done.

Any and all feedback would be taken seriously…as you can see I am very serious, and have a proven product!

I am humble and willing to learn.
 
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First of all I think your site looks generic and cheap and I wouldn't buy shit from it. If you've made some money selling these things why would you not drop some cash on design and conversion, or learn these skills yourself?

Second, I'm not sure I'd post this here.. there are tons of marketers here who could take your decent idea and shitty marketing skills and steal your shit bro.

I'd take it down. That way it will just be you vs me.

oh, yea... and get a more relevant, brandable domain. There are tons available.

and I would focus on social groups, rather than google.
 
site looks like shit...

and the rest
didnt-read-lol.gif
 
I didnt read what you wrote, but anyway, I would think it doesnt convert well because the site sucks, the designs are rather generic and boring, lack of choice, poor colour choices etc.

Also no postal address will put a lot of people off I would think. Put a fake one if you dont want to put a real one, but get one on there...
 
Since you have a shirt that says crop dusting is fun I feel inclined to give you some legit advice (former server & crop duster)

First until you are able to find a designer i would spend a few bucks on a premium wordpress theme. Get something that is very image heavy like a photographers theme. Try something like 99 designs for a more professional and fun logo.

You already have a few pics of people rocking the shirts, get some more. A lot more. If you work with servers I'm sure you know quite a few "aspiring models" so grab one and schedule a photo shoot. Get some high quality pics of people wearing the shirts and use those to sell each one individually. Look at sites like Gilt groupe or busted tees for example.

Product pages like this Heisenberg - BustedTees

Since there are only a few shirts I would get a good close up of the actual product where it's readable and follow that with several model shots. If you don't make it look like a tangible product that people are actually wearing people will find the site humorous but they'll never buy.

The ebook is a nice added bonus, but i wouldn't put that at the top. I would have a second page after they add the shirt to the cart that shows it's being included as an extra incentive to get them to continue with the purchase.

The product probably doesn't need much copy to explain what it is, but the back story of for servers by servers etc. is something I would make more visible.

Instead of a sales reps tab just make a simple "about us" page and tell your story of the company/website. Anyone who takes the time to read that will likely be a better candidate for becoming a rep, but don't make yourself look like a poser out to make a quick buck buy putting the sales rep stuff so visible.

I didn't check out any of your social pages, but it goes without saying you should have a fan page and be promoting this on facebook/twitter.
 
If you have sold close to $1M of your shirts then use a small amount of money to do the following:

1. Get someone to design a better site for you. Max $2k
2. Get models to model your shirt, right now they do not look like a real product. Max $5k if you go crazy...find a college student or hell even a server give them a free shirt if they let you post a picture of them online
3. Get more traffic.
 
If you have sold close to $1M of your shirts then use a small amount of money to do the following:

1. Get someone to design a better site for you. Max $2k
2. Get models to model your shirt, right now they do not look like a real product. Max $5k if you go crazy...find a college student or hell even a server give them a free shirt if they let you post a picture of them online
3. Get more traffic.

Why is it everyone is posting they make $1M a month online, this is like the second person to do so. Nice site op, but you need to add in some social proof, maybe real genuine people wearing the shirts in public. Get some social proof on there, and then add an irresistible offer, you'll kill it bro.
 
Im willing to do a joint venture if anyone is able/willing to do the im side...I print and drop ship + have 20 ish more t-shirts ready to sell...I have tested them across the country...PM me and lets chat.
 
1. Look at competitors.

2. Look at margins, if they are big enough give it to affiliates, I don't know the metrics in the niche but a few off the top - Funny Shirts Awesome T-Shirts Cool T-Shirts | BustedTees - Snorg Tees - New Funny T-Shirts Every Week (Vintage T-Shirt, Cool Graphic Tee Shirts) << You can't really compete with that using what you've got it's a stale old model and if you're doing well offline just expand that vs trying to beat your horse.

3. The lingo is there, the understanding is outdated/oldschool, it's going to take a lot more than just a new skin and some social salt/pepper. I'm not endorsing any certain advice other than you have to look at the leaders and either diversify hoping not to get duped (first to market with micro niche = squashed by bigger guys if it picks up), or outdo them. Re-evaluate what you're trying to do online and why customers go to sites like above vs lil' boutique oldschool sites like yours.

You'd probably make more by submitting your portfolio to cafepress or shit like that and ride their brand/eco-system with a signature shirt or two that's extra controversial with a big FB fanpage/contests/etc.

meh_f_fullpic_3.jpg


.02.
 

Thanks for your input on this thread. For a moment there I thought you were spamming.

Anyhow, like others said, the design needs revamped. If you lack the funds, get a nice wordpress theme (a responsive theme if possible) and definitely a new logo. Will that solve all of your problems? No, but it's the most obvious starting point because it's currently lacking that bad.
 
you fail at pretty much every single aspect of marketing. A thread on an internet forum will be able to help you. Maybe you should seek out and get someone who knows what's up to help you in return of a salary/% on sales.
 
The site looks like it was thrown together in about 20 minutes by someone with no experience in the industry. Some good suggestions in this thread. If you have really sold almost a million dollars worth in direct sales you need to get your online shit together double quick.
 
Why people keep saying he's a bad marketer. OP clearly states he went door to door (or bar to bar) selling tee's.



OP, when you want someone to spend money on the world wide web your sites needs to say, 'trust me'

Your site says, 'buy from me and expect to see charges on your next cc bill from Russia'