What am I doing wrong with my online business?

I've been making handmade womens bags on and off for a couple years now.
I finally decided this is what I love doing and want to try to make a side job out of doing this.

About 1 1/2 weeks ago, I launched my a website hoping to get some good business.

www.jaggedlinebags.com

In the past couple weeks, I've gotten 550 website veiws and only one prospective customer, who did not end up buying anything. The only sales I've made with these bags are to friends and family.

I'm advertising mainly off craigslist and I just started google adwords. But I'm afraid I'll get a ton of clicks and have to pay for them and not get a single customer.

Any suggestions on how to 'capture' more customers? Other advertising ideas? Any website modification ideas?

Any advice will help! Thanks!

The best way to get started is to mix online with offline methods. Here's what I mean:

Online: Since you have a new website, you need to go where the consumers are instead of having them come to you. This means getting on sites like eBay, and trying to sell your items there to drive word of mouth.

Offline: Try drumming up some word of mouth by hitting the streets. Set up booths at local flea markets or craft fairs to get your bags in front of consumers. Be sure to hand them a business card with your website, even if they don't buy anything. Also, visit locally-owned boutiques in your town. Talk to the owners and see if they'll stock a few of your bags in their store. They can also be a good resource to give you advice about what their customers like.

Overall, the best way to start a business is to have satisfied customers that will spread the word for you.

I had the same problem. A friend introduced me to a company that helps home based businesses grow. Their web address is www.usdreamteam.com. It is easy to get a site and pay for clicks thru google or yahoo, but it isn't so easy converting the clicks to customers. This company offers a moneyback guarantee. It was hard to pass up and I'm glad I didn't. Give them a try. They are real pros!

First go to http://tymes90.googlepages.com/gettingtr... Read the article. Also if you don't do anything else for your business sign up for spin success there is a link in the article. check out that link. That program does cost 29.95 per month but it is worth every penny. And defiantly better than paying for clicks that gets very expensive. It takes a couple months to start getting your results from spin success but once its going it's hard to stop. And you have a pretty unique niche.
Good Luck

When I first went to your website, I noticed it took a while to load. When customers go to your website for a bag, they want to see it now and fast. Your website is cute....but not professional enough. It needs to look like a "shopping for bags" store instead of a personal website.

If you want, I can layout a media plan for you. Redo your website. And get you started. I myself opened up an agency where I'm trying to find new clients (such as you) and help them with their advertising needs. Feel free to email me.

You should not focus on getting traffic, what you want is targeted traffic.

You want to catch people who are in the final stages of the buying cycle. There are different ways that people search the web.

It's a known fact that the longer the keyword phrase the more likely it is that they already have done all the research and are ready to buy.

That's why Adwords is ideal for getting targeted traffic. You choose what keywords, which in turn brings you the traffic you are looking for (if done correctly).

The way you write your ad also has a huge impact. You want to entice people to click with Action words, but at the same time you want to make sure you're clear about what you are selling to avoid clicks from users that are not sure what you are selling.

The use of negative keywords is also a powerful technique.

Hope this helps.

Frank M.