[AlpacaTalk] Re: Question about setting up farm shop and where and how to start with product
There is no way we can create all of the products ourselves, just the
two (four if you count the kids) of us and we work full time jobs
outside of the farm. We sell our products on request wholesale, but I
haven't gotten the full wholesale side of the site up and running
yet. For right now, it's just email and phone conversations. As far
as getting the rest of the store going. I did the work on the website
all myself. I found a shopping cart software package that I could
modify and use on my site. I am technically oriented, so that wasn't
terribly difficult to get going, just a lot of time and effort. If
you aren't technical, you are going to probably need to look into a
shopping cart software package that works with your service provider.
There are many to choose from out there. I am willing to accept
payment to help out with integration. :-) You will also need some
way to accept payments. There are several options, and some of it
will depend on the shopping cart you choose. To accept payments, you
will need some sort of merchant account. I chose to go with PayPal
for name recognition and features, but I also accept Google Checkout
(Shhh...don'
offerings...
Once the shopping cart software is all up and functional, then you
get the fun task of putting all the pictures of your products on the
site, and writing all of the descriptions. That takes some time to be
sure!
Once the site is up and functional. You will want to market it.
Google Adsense will drive people to your site, however, be warned,
that the people that get to your site may not be the ones that will
actually purchase from your site. Yahoo Search Marketing will also
drive people to your site and in generally I have had better luck
with people from Yahoo actually completing a purchase. Your
experience may be different depending on your ads that you place. I'm
not a marketing expert, so I may be falling down in that area a bit.
You will also want to consider any free shopping comparison site you
can find. There aren't a lot of free ones any longer though. Google
Base has been my main free site that I use. I also submit my products
to a couple of other sites like Shopmania.com and Shopzilla.com.
Also, if you don't want the hassle of running the store and managing
the products yourself, you can have a similar experience by setting
up your site as an affiliate to other sites. It just so happens that
I offer an affiliate program as well. You provide links to the
products that we offer on our site, and get paid a percentage of any
sales generated from the links on your web page to ours.
I hope this helps explain it a little bit. I will be happy to help
more if needed, and if I can. Somethings I can do for free, some are
going to require payment of course. :)
Thanks,
Dennis Parker
Fancy Fiber Farm
http://fancyfiber.
http://alpaca-
--- In AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
>
> I have a quetion and hop you all can help.
>
> I want to get a farm shop set up as that is my next goal Where and
how
> do I start. Dennis, I went to your website and saw alot of alpaca
> products and wondered where you get the product to get this
started.
> Does all of the products come from your own alpaca fiber or do you
> purchase from somewhere else and use part of your own. I know alot
of
> questions, but this is my goal for next year to start getting it
ready.
>
> Hope you all have some great ideas to help get me started. I am
sure
> there are others out there who are wondering also.
>
> I read this site all the time, even if I dont always post and think
we
> have alot of great information on here.
> Thanks ahead of time for all and any information.
> Carla
> Country HOme Alpacas
> McPherson Kansas
>
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posted by Chaddo at 4:07 PM
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