Is DIY Hurting your business?

[beck180]

I know I will most likely ruffle some feathers here with this post, It is only in the best interest of the community that I approach this topic. I have learned a lot here and appreciate all the help I have received.

If you are currently operating a webstore on a DIY networking platform, how is your traffic and sales going? Are you generating the interest you expected? Are you pleased with your current performance?

If you really care at all about your business, your products and are truly interested in making a good profit from your store, there are some things you should know. If not, then you can skip this post.

For those of you that stuck around, please read on...

First off, this is not a solicitation but just a general FYI for anyone who currently operates a webstore under a DIY network or platform. This is not directed at any one service or business, but more about the technology in general that makes up a DIY type of platform.

My husband has been in web developement for twelve years and is quite knowledgable about the aspects of ecommerce developement and when investigating opportunities and solutions for my own online candle shop (when I first found the Candletech community ) and In reading and learning, pouring and perusing what others had done before, I noticed that quite alot of you here have a webstore with a DIY type of network.

You should know that this could honestly be hurting your business, your sales and your bottom line. With a little investigation you will learn that alot of DIY networking platforms or do it yourself web builders are far behind the technology curve when it comes to successful performance and web traffic generation that it takes to compete in this tough market. That the web pages and code generated by this technology in most cases, is not search engine friendly and not up to par with todays standards.

If your not in this to make good money or you get alot of sales through your own client base or just word of mouth, this will not really affect you.

But...If you know you have a great product and are dissapointed with your current sales performance and web traffic in general, and you know you should be doing a whole lot better than you have, this could have alot to do with that.

I have seen alot of talk on here from those of you who are ready to give up and throw in the towel, those that blame the the slow economy for poor sales margins and still more of you who feel that the market is too saturated or there is too much competition to make any money...

I'm here to say... that my friends, is totaly untrue. If you have a great product presented in a professional way and distributed through with the right methodology and technology, there is absolutely no reason you should not be making a profit from your business venture.

I'm not talking about the get rich quick without any work involved type of profit, but rather just genuine reoccuring consitent sales margins every month, a decent second income, or even just recouping what you have invested over the years in candle supplies and turning it into positive numbers.

There is no reason you can't do this unless something is holding you back! Is DIY the culprit? Maybe, or maybe not, I'm sure there are some who would disagree. But lets check it out in the next post, I will cut this off for the sake of brevity here.

Read on in post #2 and I will show you some things that may just open your eyes and give new fire (pun intended ) to your candle business.

If you are thinking of hanging up the pour pot, or think I'm just crazy stick with me and I will show you some things that may change your mind.

Thanks go to my husband for helping me put this post together, we are sick of seeing people throw there money away with no results...he really knows his stuff, and he's a great guy!

Beck ~

[Lisasoaps]

I am interested in what you have to say. I have had a website with them for about 2 years now and yes, things are slow. I have return customers but just not enough biz. I am thinking about closing my site. I do way better on ebay and home parties.

I have done a lot of research on rankings and found that if you dont swap links w/ others and keep your votes up with your top sites it can have an ill effect.

As far as you saying DIY being behind in technology, I do agree. They offer many templates with out telling you that if you choose the one with fancy buttons that it could seriously effect your rankings compared to using text for your catergories. Also having a splash page is not good. You can opt not have the splash page and set it to your home page BUT your home page addy has the word default in it and spiders dont like that word I guess. One issue that has been going on is in our sites email there is always 1-127 error messages that say that has been a problem detected w feature cart, and something about having semi colons in your tags (I belive thats what it said). Myself and others have gone through w/ a fine tooth comb only to find we have no semicolons anywhere in our site. When you ask the support team about it they say the search engines must have changed the way they are doing things and upgrading. Then its passed off by other members as HEY, be grateful, this only means that people are searching your site. Your getting hits so deal w/ it. SO TO SPEAK.

Why do I stay? The biz I get pays for the site and enough for a small profit.

Its REAL easy to manage my site and they have a built in shopping cart.

The price is reasonable. $60.00 every 3 months.

It has its pros and cons just like every other host I'm sure.

But like I said, I am thinking of closing my site in January if things dont get better.

[candlelady]

I'm listening..................

[MissMary]

$20 a month? Ouch - Yahoo Small Business is cheaper than that and has an awesome set up, templates, etc.

Here's the thing - with small business ANY site builder will be set of poor performance. Yahoo is an exception because of their coding for drag and drop properties and ease of meta tags, etc. (I used them forever ago, for a family site before I started learning html.) If you want real business, you need to build your own site from the ground up (or hire someone to do it). My simple site (www.cormarcompany.com) is maintained only by me. I have a host for the domain name for like 100 a year and that's it. All my sales are from my site right now and I rarely promote the darned thing. However, I've kept track and many many many of my hits are coming from things people type in that you would never have guessed led to my site.

Almost ALL of the small business hosting/website companies are far behind in technology and preparedness. As the net evolves, they go past the skills of the individual owner.

I've often thought about doing website management because I've read so many people with so many problems, and all they really want is something that can be done for them and easy to use. The charge for this kind of thing outrages me, same with logo design - because most of the time, it's incredibly simple stuff once you get the hang of it. My logo is boring yes, but I like simple. I can make a fancy logo with all the trimmings in an hour or two. People charge hundreds for that stuff. I've thought about doing sites for $15 a month, hosting included, with unique pages. LOL And logos for $25 a pop. (I'd do logos in vector too, so that it can be used in ANY size, from billboard to postage stamp.) It's always outraged me how much these guys charge (guys in general, no one company specific).

Anywho, I know not everyone is very good with "computer stuff". But to charge outrageous fees for stuff that is simple, and quite often messy coding is nuts to me.

[beck180]

Please!!! Do not give up. This is a simple problem to fix! I am going to pick his brain for all the info i can get!

For some the DIY is convenient and easy, especially for those who are not computer savvy.

I just hope I'm not starting a firestorm here! I really don't mean to.

I just have a passion for Soap & Candles and have always enjoyed this place even though i don't post all the time. It just bothers me that everyone is talking about how bad things are....

I like to help fix them!

[laura9259]

My site has been down since yesterday morning - I am not getting any answers at all as to why and when it will be back up

[beck180]

$20 a month? Ouch - Yahoo Small Business is cheaper than that and has an awesome set up, templates, etc.

Here's the thing - with small business ANY site builder will be set of poor performance. Yahoo is an exception because of their coding for drag and drop properties and ease of meta tags, etc. (I used them forever ago, for a family site before I started learning html.) If you want real business, you need to build your own site from the ground up (or hire someone to do it). My simple site (www.cormarcompany.com) is maintained only by me. I have a host for the domain name for like 100 a year and that's it. All my sales are from my site right now and I rarely promote the darned thing. However, I've kept track and many many many of my hits are coming from things people type in that you would never have guessed led to my site.

Almost ALL of the small business hosting/website companies are far behind in technology and preparedness. As the net evolves, they go past the skills of the individual owner.

I've often thought about doing website management because I've read so many people with so many problems, and all they really want is something that can be done for them and easy to use. The charge for this kind of thing outrages me, same with logo design - because most of the time, it's incredibly simple stuff once you get the hang of it. My logo is boring yes, but I like simple. I can make a fancy logo with all the trimmings in an hour or two. People charge hundreds for that stuff. I've thought about doing sites for $15 a month, hosting included, with unique pages. LOL And logos for $25 a pop. (I'd do logos in vector too, so that it can be used in ANY size, from billboard to postage stamp.) It's always outraged me how much these guys charge (guys in general, no one company specific).

Anywho, I know not everyone is very good with "computer stuff". But to charge outrageous fees for stuff that is simple, and quite often messy coding is nuts to me.

Yeah, That's a whole other topic, these guys are charging a fortune for logos that have absolutely no use beyond the web.

Photoshop logos for $299 or more...just crazy!

That's one thing about the web that sucks, everyones a designer now and the quality suffers for the whole!

[MissMary]

Amen!!

[beck180]

My site has been down since yesterday morning - I am not getting any answers at all as to why and when it will be back up

That's crazy! There lies the value really building it yourself and aquiring your own host. Most good hosting accounts offer like 98% uptime or better!

I'd put my foot down with that! Truly Unacceptable!

[Twoscentsworth]

Ummm no... I am on page one of Google and have a pretty high ranking AND my traffic is great as are my sales... and I use a DIY site. Which BTW gives me a LOT of help when I need it AND doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.

In the next (Step 2) thread you posted this:

"f there really is a market for people who want to do this type of stuff, I'm willing to help on an individual basis (because not everyone wants the same type of thing), and not for hundreds either..... "

SO this really is a way for you to drum up business. Why not just be honest about it?

[MissMary]

Actually, before you go off the handle, you need to read who does what - BECK typed this up for helping people. *I* typed up that I was willing to help with sites.

Get your facts straight first before bashing someone.

Care to share who you use? Care to share you site? Unless you are willing to share info - we can't learn from it, or learn where IS a good place.

And yes, you can still get high ranking with DIY sites, but what are you searching? Your exact name? Of course that will come up, without providing us any info AND getting the information from the threads wrong, I can't really take a lot of your word at this moment.

[Lisasoaps]

Ummm no... I am on page one of Google and have a pretty high ranking AND my traffic is great as are my sales... and I use a DIY site. Which BTW gives me a LOT of help when I need it AND doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Would you care to share on how much you have done to tweak your site and what you have put into it financially as far as getting a #1 ranking?

Unless you are an SEO pro or have a lot of knowledge in this catergory theres no way you can rank #1 just by doing what info DIY has offered.

As Becka stated she is not trying to bash any hosts she is just trying to point out that there IS a lot that these places DONT tell you freely. I know when I first got my site I thought I would get biz right away. Kinda like opening a real store and having a grand opening sale whare customers flood in all day. Well that was far from the truth because I didnt know there was so much more involve than just setting up your site. I went the support area and found I wasnt the only one that thought this way and got a few tips but then I just researched on my own and found all kinds of info. A lot of it I didnt understand and most had to be purchased or you had to pay someone to do it for you. NOT CHEAP either.

I want to say thank you to Becka and miss mary and anyone else who has offered to help us w/ issues concerning our sites.

[candlegrl]

Ummm no... I am on page one of Google and have a pretty high ranking AND my traffic is great as are my sales... and I use a DIY site. Which BTW gives me a LOT of help when I need it AND doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.

In the next (Step 2) thread you posted this:

"f there really is a market for people who want to do this type of stuff, I'm willing to help on an individual basis (because not everyone wants the same type of thing), and not for hundreds either..... "

SO this really is a way for you to drum up business. Why not just be honest about it?

I also use DIY would you share your site address.

Thanks ~

Lisa

[Twoscentsworth]

Well, I never expected DIY to do anything for me other than what they advertise they do. An easy format, lots of support, an integrated shopping cart etc. They have MORE than lived up to their end of the deal. They are a HOSTING site not a get you high in the rankings site.

It is very naive to think that their job is to get you customers or ranking.

Here is my best tip: GOOGLE is your FRIEND. Before I even opened my online shop I googled and read and googled and read. You can find out about meta tags, site ranking...almost anything you want to know by doing a Google.

There are sites that will show you how well your content ranks and will give you suggestions for meta tags...all you have to do is Google and read.

There are sites that will tell you what you can do to get a higher ranking. I found them, read them and implemented them. You can do it if I can.

There is no "magic" it is a job like anything else.

SOME OF YOU SEEM TO THINK SOMEONE ELSE IS GOING TO DO THE WORK FOR YOU....well trust me unless you pay them some really good cash you need to do it yourself.

The only money I spent was for graphics for my site and what I pay a month for DIY to host it. Which BTW is a very decent price...oh and I do use Propay for credit cards.

I DON'T THINK POINTING OUT THE TRUTH IS BASHING. SORRY IF YOU CAN NOT TAKE THE TRUTH.

I have given you some good advice...if you follow it and do your own work you too can be successful. I'm not going to do it for you, I did it on my own. NO I am not going to give you my site so you can copy my ideas. Been there done that have the T shirt don't need another.

Some of you need to pull up your big girl panties and grow up.

I've told you how I did it but I am not going to hand it to you on a plate.

[MissMary]

It's also naive to think that a site coded with errors isn't a problem with the rankings. No one is asking anyone to do rankings FOR them, but these problems with coding DO impact rankings NEGATIVELY.

As for Google, many people here don't know exactly what they are googling for or how to implement it - especially on DIY sites (not the particular company, the DIY as in dfo-it-yourself sites) where alot of these formats are either not able to change info like metatags, or it isn't very user friendly at all.

What's the point of having an ease of use site and paying EXTRA money out of pocket for it, if it's not - well - easy to use.

The truth is that alot of people here were promised things, or were given expectations based on what they were sold. I'm sorry but for a price of $20 a month - it should be more than just a host, which from my readings here, not a lot are getting.

You haven't given much in the way of advice except to search - and that's fine IF you know what you are searching for.

Suggestions for meta tags are also not always a good search to use because MANY other people do it to. A good place to start is to drum up your OWN, but I wouldn't doubt that there are people here who don't even know what they are or what they do.

And no, DIYstores is NOT a good price, if all you get is a host and some templates. Sorry to say. I pay 7 bucks a month right now and you don't have to even know coding to implement OSCommerce and get free templates from them. When my contract is up with Voda, I'm moving to Primary Target for FIVE dollars a month. Especially when you consider that many of the DIY websites are often using Open Source and FREE software, not their own.

But it seems awfully interesting that you think someone wants to copy when YOU bring up YOUR site. We asked to see it to see what can be done - I don't care about your site - I can build my own, from the GROUND UP. Other ladies (and fellas) can too. I think you may be more ashamed of your site than anything. But if you are gonna stop in here and tell everyone to quit whining and do work (that they don't even know about), then be prepared to share, otherwise - IMO - HUSH. This thread is about helping others, not about YOU telling people to do their own work without providing ANYTHING for them.

For someone who is here on a site that's dedicated to helping people by sharing ideas and recipes, a website is a BIG part of many of our businesses. Sharing info on a site is no different than sharing info on a good wick to use. Both help people in their business endeavors.

If you are in favor of other people doing their OWN work - I'd really hate to see the rest of this board follow you. If it weren't for this board - I'd be so lost. The people here for the most part are incredible resources.

[Twoscentsworth]

:cheesy2: I did tell you how to do it....you are apparently to lazy to do it.

You want it handed to you on a plate. sorry no one handed it to me I worked for it.

I am very happy with my site and it provides me with a good income but I worked to get it that way and I work to keep it that way.

there really are no free rides so grow up and stop being too lazy to do your own work.

[MissMary]

Looks like you can't read for crap. Seriously - *I'm* not the one who needs the help, so I think you might want to get your eyes checked, or figure out how to use a forum.

I think there's someone here who needs to grow up, but it's not me. I'm gonna let you be with your two cents worth (or less) and get back to the topic at hand which is HELPING people, not tearing them down like you when you have no idea what the hecklesbee you are talking about! :D

So Becks, when we gonna get the next update? I'm eager to discuss and read over it!

I really do feel sorry for all the HCM users - such a shame. I hope you guys get to recover at least some of your hard work.

[beck180]

:cheesy2: I did tell you how to do it....you are apparently to lazy to do it.

You want it handed to you on a plate. sorry no one handed it to me I worked for it.

I am very happy with my site and it provides me with a good income but I worked to get it that way and I work to keep it that way.

there really are no free rides so grow up and stop being too lazy to do your own work.

The fact remains...whatever your technical knowledge is on the subject, many of these people sign up with this type of service for the ease and hassle free ability to sell products! When in all reality if all of this customizing and tweaking, and learning is necessary, then it is anything but easy or hassle free!

Can you please go post on the other topic that says: Unnecessary unwanted and sarcastic comments welcome...

Thank You!

[kidsngarden]

Twoscents - why won't you share your website? why is it not on your siggy?

I'm so not a pro at this but I PAID to have just my homepage optimized by a pro and to have them tell me how to optimize my other pages (which I will be sure to do once I figure out if I'm being screwed or not by HCM). One thing that really helps with hits is to have your website on your signature for all forums. I get a lot of traffic from forums I'm on. so if you're so up to speed why not share your website? Are we going to copy the whole thing and call it ours or something?

Just wanting to see why you won't walk the talk and show us your site.

[Twoscentsworth]

Apparently I am not the only one who "can't read". I told you, been there done that got the T shirt don't need another one. My site is not ranked as highly as it is and I don't have the traffic and sales I do by being lazy or stupid.

You won't see my site in my siggy because I got tired of being ripped off. No one it seems can come up with their own labels, packaging, or any other creative idea and since mine sell they decided to just copy it. I'm NOT making it that easy for the lazy ones.

AGAIN the DIY sites are NOT in the business of working YOUR business for you and neither am I. You all seem to think you are ENTITLED to have someone else do all the research and work for you. No wonder you are not successful.

Ya know Beck I do not care one bit what you want or what you think. You just aren't worth the time. Oh and Thank YOU.

[Lisasoaps]

I dont think anyone here has said they want the work done for them just maybe some info to point ya in the right direction.

A small suggestion list, something like this...

Now that you have your site up and running it is very important to do a lot of research on the following to help people find you or you will be lost in cyber-space...

Swapping Links with others

spiders and bots

key words and meta tags

SEO

BLAH BLAH

These hosts also need to get rid of things that will only hurt you in the long run if used which would be

1.Frames

2.Enter page

3.overiding the enter page and going to the home page only ends up having the word default in the addy bar.

4.fancy buttons instead of actual text for your catergories

None of these are spider friendly but the options are available and this only sets you up for a fall.

It took me days to design my buttons and get them just right only to have to go back and take them off my site. ( what a nightmare).

You can research a website before you get it but if you dont know what your looking for your just wasting your time.

As far as people copying you from here. There are many wonderful recipes that people have shared in this community and others tweak them and make changes to make them their own. We're all pretty much reinventing old ideas. Making products by hand without all the harsh chemicals that can cause cancer and god knows what else. We all get inspired by each other here. Copying packaging I would say is pretty much a 50 50 chance of happening because the availability of packageing that suppliers carry are all pretty simillar. Now if you had a type of packaging customized for you only and someone had the same thing then yes, I would say it was copied but other than that its just coincident and kinda vain. Imagine how yankee feels:shocked2:

You must get inspired w/ new ideas by coming to this community because you've been a member since 2005. After calling us lazy and someone asking to see your site only to decline, may make others think your not as authentic as you claim to be. JMHO

[ladysj]

As I stated before I am very grateful for this thread. I'm learning so many things that I was not aware of. I can't afford to pay hundreds of $$$$ for someone to look at my site and tell me what needs to be done and then have to do the work myself.

My site isn't really bringing any revenue any way so I'm just about to the point of saying "screw it" and letting it go. I'm not asking for anyone to hand me this info on a silver platter. I'm not HTML savy and I'm a more of a hands on person. I have trouble comprehending and understanding alot of this jargon.

So anything that is posted that could possibly help my site receive more traffic and generate sales "I'm happier than a Pig in S*H*T"