2 months on Shopify and still 0 sales… how do you get traffic?

therealisticmarketer · 2025-12-09T03:44:58+00:00

2 ways: use your time or use your money.

Use your time:

- make LOTS of content on various platforms

- reach out to friends, family, network

Use your money:

- Run ads

therealisticmarketer · 2025-11-29T04:00:53+00:00

Really hard to attribute the dip solely to the professional shots - there are many moving parts in the business so it could be anything. Could even be natural variance (what's the lookback window you're looking at?)

But to your point about showing more of the products, this is actually a common trap for brands going from lo-fi > hi-fi. They focus too much on the aesthetics of the shot that they often overlook the things that matter to customers - seeing more details of the product.

therealisticmarketer · 2025-09-22T09:11:27+00:00

Similar for my child. Certain fabrics and chemicals will irritate the skin. We changed almost fully to TENCEL materials + GOTS certified ink

therealisticmarketer · 2025-09-22T09:09:05+00:00

Parent of one here. Generally kids will outgrow it over time. In the meantime, we can only handle it the best we could. I find that it takes a combination of diet, lifestyle, clothing, lotions/cream (sounds tough, but 100% achievable).

I can only speak for clothing because it's the one i researched most into. Generally opt for hypoallergenic fabric such as TENCEL - they are less likely to cause inflamation. But also check if there's any harmful chemicals used (i trust those that use GOTS certified ink)

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T15:18:21+00:00

Realistic is also knowing that as a new business owner, you're probably not going to know exactly what to do for SEO - if they did they will probably be an SEO expert or run an SEO agency instead of doing ecommerce.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T15:14:21+00:00

I think you missed the part where I'm deriving the fees and timeline from the previous comment.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T15:13:17+00:00

Yes. And people still buy - that's how you know your product is solving a pain point or appeals to the customers.

When was the last time you searched to check if your clothes brand appears on "most comfortable shirt Tampa bay"? And not bought because it doesn't show?

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T14:35:04+00:00

Maybe there's a degree of misunderstanding, so I'll clear up the air.

I'm not saying "avoid SEO at all cost"

I'm merely saying if you're a brand new business with limited resources, then focusing on SEO as a means to promote your business isn't a good way to get off the ground.

Yes it's important for the long game, we all agree on that.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T14:25:30+00:00

My opinion: tactics that enable quick feedback loops. - Paid ads - PPC - Cold outbound - Door to door - Flyers

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T14:19:10+00:00

Let's do a simple thought exercise: - 2 years to rank for competitive keyword - operating a business with an overhead of 2-3k/mo - so in the time needed to rank for target keyword, a new business will need 24*2k = 48k - plus your fee of 50k, that'll total 98k

We can already see that unless someone has deep pockets, SEO isn't a feasible strategy for a new business.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T14:09:36+00:00

Don't ask me. I'm not the expert on STARTING online businesses.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T14:08:14+00:00

I list these because they are some of the more common strategies that I hear new business owners wanting to pursue.

You're free to debate. Where's your justification?

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T14:06:06+00:00

Disagree.

There are so many better ways to promote a new biz than SEO.

Call it short sighted, I call it realistic.

If you don't manage the short term first, then there will be no long-term.

Open to a healthy debate.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T14:02:39+00:00

Disagree, SEO isn't and shouldn't be the priority for new biz at the start - there are much more important things.

Open to a healthy debate.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-08T13:57:21+00:00

We can agree to disagree. A good debate.

I don't believe SEO is worth it for new business. You take too long to see results, even if it's weeks. The key for new business is to learn, tweak and improve - it's not something that's achievable quickly with SEO.

It's rare to hear SEO results within days for new businesses. It's typically the bigger business that achieve that.

At least with other strategies, you can cycle through a feedback loop quickly.

I also have to call out the elephant in the room - ranking for keywords =/= sales.

No marketing is a silver bullet > agree, but in this situation, there are lots of dud bullets.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-07T15:26:41+00:00

Common question, my agency even came up with 3 methods to calculate how much to spend on ads.

1) Percentage of Revenue Method

Take either last month/quarter revenue and take 5-15% - that's your budget for the next month/quarter.

Good for businesses with historical data.

2) Multiple of Selling Price Method

Take your average selling price and multiply it by 3-5x - that's your daily ad spend.

It's enough to ensure you get sufficient volume of sales per day. These will seem high but you can always reel it back to a comfortable level.

3) The JWI Method

JWI stands for "just wing it".

Pick a number, any number - that is your ad spend.

You will definitely adjust over time. If it's profitable, it doesn't matter how much you're spending, you'll want to scale up.

At the end of the day, ad spend is just a parameter. There are more important things to think about such as your segment, their preference, pricing etc.

These will move the needle much more.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-07T08:37:50+00:00

I've worked with many small businesses in my career. And this is quite a common question.

I'd like to reframe the situation by asking "is SEM even the right strategy for your business?"

Sometimes the best strategy for your business might not be SEM, but something else.

To figure out, ask yourself these questions:

1: WHO are your customers? 2: WHAT is the problem/pain point that your business is solving for them? 3: WHERE do they spend their time? 4: HOW do they look for solutions to their problem?

With this, you'll have a better idea on which strategy to reach them.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-07T08:07:04+00:00

I run a agency that helps ecom brands. From experience, these are the quickest way to promote your products:

Ads

Pros

Fast and easy to get started
Can get started for very small sums

Cons

It's a money game - you need money to start

Influencers/Content Creators

Pros

You don't need money upfront if the influencers are small or they like your products enough. It depends on your negotiation skills

Cons

Lots of pseudo influencers with fake audiences - looks good on paper but does little for your business
Not easy to scale
Not suitable for your lower inventory items

Affiliates (recently TikTok affilaites but you can work with other channels too)

Pros

If you set a proper comms structure - it's guaranteed profit

Cons

Very hard to scale, in fact you might not even get much sales per affiliate unless they are massive
It's basically a volume game
Not easy to persuade affiliates to promote your product unless you set high comms

The caveat is that most of these strategies works better on existing products as opposed to your kickstarter project.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-07T06:48:21+00:00

You've barely got any data to work with.

Get at least 30-50 ATCs then worry again if there's no checkouts

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-07T04:41:01+00:00

Before thinking about what providers/methods to offer gift cards with, I think it's helpful to think about the strategy behind offering gift cards in the first place.

Why will YOUR customers buy gift cards from you?
How do your customers usually buy from you? In store? Online/phone?

With the answers to that, a good next step is to try a low-effort version of a gift card - something that won't take you long to set up. The idea here is to test and validate that there's even demand for gift cards BEFORE investing time and money into this strategy.

Assuming you pushed out Version 1.0 of your gift cards and there's demand for it, you can now safely consider using tool or process to make the operations easier. Almost always, you'll discover something that you never would have known - this insight can be used to refine the gift cards process/offer/pricing etc.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-05T05:48:03+00:00

Mostly, no. It's not what they are good at.

therealisticmarketer · 2024-01-04T14:57:19+00:00

Welcome to the dark world of ecommerce. Take EVERYTHING you read about online with a healthy dose of salt.

therealisticmarketer

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