Last week I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan crafters. This week I’m profiling some of those sites on my blog.
I asked Christine from GirlShopSpot to tell us a bit more about her venue. And, as a bonus to my readers, she’s offered a $5.00 credit for a membership that will enable you to use all the tools she has available. This is a great offer to try out the site and all it has available. To receive the credit, all you need to do is enter ShinyAdornments as the referrer when you register to receive your credit.
What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?Girl Shop Spot, A Shopping Resource for Today’s Modern Woman.
http://www.girlshopspot.com/
http://www.girlshopspot.com/blog/
http://twitter.com/girlshopspot
http://www.linkedin.com
Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?
I was tired of seeing people spend their money on things that didn’t work and businesses that sold them the world and charged them all their profits. I also had a lot of requests from people on how I we could help.
I was also really tired of searching for things on search engines and not finding results to my liking. Especially unique boutiques and services. I was also really tired of the yahoo’s and other local sites who listed companies just to add to their numbers but didn’t have any real information to help find what we’re looking for. I love to see tons of pixs and info on whom this business really is. I don’t need a map. If I really like the place, I’ll order online or drive 45 minutes to get there, just give me all the information and pixs. I was tired of over populated websites just focused on product, product, product, and not anything about the business, such as larger sites who sell chain store products. I thought with both my husband and my backgrounds, we could help on a larger scale. That’s when we decided to create a niche site for woman to search local, national, and by category. Our goal is to become the ultimate resource for women.
So first we are focusing on fixing all those aspects above through our site, while still being able to sell through either direct contact with the owner and through direct links to purchase.
For instance you have a limit of products you can sell of 18. These are your top sellers, “Must Haves.” You’re already narrowing the search down for our shoppers by doing this. These items can be searched and found individually on GSS by the keyword title you provide for that item. The must have then brings the shopper to that item on their shop spot page when clicked. The shopper can then choose to click the must have to buy. This costs only 3 cents. This is a great lead, a lead you want to have and pay for. You’re not paying for the bounce rate, your paying for a pre-qualified lead. Someone who already learned about your business, has seen your product/service offerings, and likes what they see.
Tell us about the site’s staff.
We think like a big business, but operate small. We keep our costs down that way and still have new and different offerings and technologies than all the other sites that have been around for so long, who have big budgets, funding, and staff. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what they do with it all…some of them? I’d do things much differently.
It’s my husband, the tech geek, and I, the self proclaimed web enthusiast, who has been in marketing for a long time, works from home, raises their two kids, and loves to set things straight. We also outsource for a few things to some great talented people who are passionate about the same things we are.
What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?
Our plan is to expand our local and cyber reach, continue to deliver what we promise, stay cost effective, and develop more useful tools for business owners. We can’t tell all our secrets. There are some who are watching us closely. 
Who is your target seller audience?
Mostly women, some men too. They are entrepreneurs, moms, artists, designers, business owners, crafters, Dr.’s.
Who is your target buyer audience? How will you drive buyers to your venue?
Women. And again, some men too. But mostly women of all ages 18 and up.
Most of our buyers and traffic are driven from direct keyword searches on the Internet from our SEO we provide to our Shop Spot owners. We also have some great marketing plans and efforts we are working on.
Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?
Right now the local search is set-up for US, but we do have many international businesses who own cyber shops that advertise with us. Our intention is to expand to an international local search function as well.
What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues? Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?
We are a search site first, then a shopping community. There are so many social networking sites out there. We are more about setting things straight in the online advertising world.
We concentrate on getting our businesses found by those seeking them online. We also have a local search function to add to the mix and support Commerce by Community. http://www.girlshopspot.com/commercebycommunity.aspx
We have the first and only tool where advertisers can budget and measure their ad simultaneously. You can measure what, when, who, and where shoppers are finding you, what products and services they are interested in most, how they communicate with you, where specifically they found you from and what keywords, how many times do they click to view your sales and use the sales code…things like this make online adverting worth much more to the seller. And it’s only a few cents per interaction. It’s really cost effective and turns a light on for our advertisers on how much other forms of advertising are not working because you wouldn’t believe the numbers. And, yet some advertisers wouldn’t know what to fix, add, or change because the tools aren’t there.
We’re not discouraging sellers to have their own site or not to advertise anywhere else. It’s good to be found anywhere you think your audience may be and to create an online media plan. Have a budget in mind and weigh the site’s audience, brand message, professionalism, resources, tools, and costs to you and your business.
Even if a seller has time to keep up with a site of their own, they will still need to work hard to receive traffic and leads by advertising through other forms of online media.
GSS Blog and Marketing Tip for Today: Marketing of any kind takes time. Be sure your brand name and business is still receiving great recognition through all marketing activities that will correlate to increase of your sales in the months to come. Especially with online advertising, advertisers expect direct sales because they can make a purchase right then and there, but in fact online advertising is just the same as anything else. Just because people aren’t buying doesn’t mean they won’t remember you when they’re ready to make that purchase. Statistics show product and service research is done mostly online. Be sure to create a marketing plan and execute so your business has great representation when they do! http://www.girlshopspot.com/blog/
How have you structured your seller pricing?
The initial click to our advertiser’s shop is free. If a shopper doesn’t show interest in what they are selling that visit is free. This is what sellers get confused by because Pay-per-Click has been embedded in their heads. We are not Pay-per-Click. We call it Pay-per-Interaction. It costs a few cents for each interaction with their ad. This insures that our customers only pay for performance. The cost ranges from free to a few dollars a month. The more the seller provides and gives in an ad the more qualified their lead becomes, making both the seller and shopper a more satisfied customer.
In brief:
· The initial click to our advertiser’s shop is free.
· If there is no interest in what you’re selling you are not charged a thing.
· You get to choose and budget up to how much you wish to spend each month. There are no minimums.
· You can sign-in to view the interaction reports anytime. These reports are updated automatically when visitors come to view the ad. There’s also monthly e-mailed summary reports sent.
· We do offer a free membership with a logo image and use of many tools; however it’s much more beneficial to use the PPI Membership for both sellers and their shoppers.
What else should we know?
This truly is very cost effective. To be honest, it’s probably too cheap. That’s why sellers are better off taking full advantage of what they can sell and provide in their Shop Spot ad. Creating a page full of images and must haves can pay off for them greatly. They are getting much better exposure, brand recognition, and a chance to measure what’s working.
Note from the author: My initial email to this site was answered VERY quickly. A plus from the customer service side.
Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling venues with interviews and giveaways from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here
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Hi…
there’s an award for you at http://lovelypurses.blogspot.com
Duni
I’m quite sure that you never sleep. I love all the information that you find and share, so keep it coming….
truly lovely creations on the magazines c:
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