It's the first 24 hours of my store launch...what do I do?

**Shpigford** · Jan 29, 2006, 18:17

So we just launched the Fugitive Toys store and community. What do we do? I've submitted our product feed to Froogle and will be contacting a few sites/blogs in the genre...but what else should I do? Are there other services like Froogle I should submit the feed to? Any other pointers?

**BryceW** · Jan 29, 2006, 18:30

Love the design.

You should try and get into the DMOZ.com directory, perhaps run a Google Adwords campaign and possibly buy links off related sites.

<snip>

**MaxS** · Jan 29, 2006, 19:39

You should try and get into the DMOZ.com directory, perhaps run a Google Adwords campaign and possibly buy links off related sites.

DMOZ? Who cares about DMOZ! An adwords campaign couldn't hurt.

Josh, great looking site! I'm just wondering, what kind of products are those? Is that a television show?

Cheers

**Shpigford** · Jan 29, 2006, 20:26

Originally Posted by MaxS

Josh, great looking site! I'm just wondering, what kind of products are those? Is that a television show?

Negative. Urban vinyl toys are just a collectors item like swords, keychains, belly button lint

, whatever.

**SoftwareSquared** · Jan 30, 2006, 11:10

Originally Posted by RockNRollPig

Negative. Urban vinyl toys are just a collectors item like swords, keychains, belly button lint

, whatever.

Are you the manufacturer or just a reseller of the toys? Just wondering. I would focus your efforts in branding with toy related forums and PPC advertising as well and just build from there. I've had success with froogle with that being said you've always got to find new ways to get yourself out there. Cheers

**tgotch** · Jan 30, 2006, 14:58

An adwords campaign couldn't help.

Why not?

**MaxS** · Jan 30, 2006, 15:10

Originally Posted by tgotch

Why not?

Typo! Sorry. It couldn't hurt.

**Mr. B** · Jan 30, 2006, 15:18

There have got to be forums out there that focus on toys that might be similar to this. I'd most definitely hit those in addition to the PPC campaigns and such. I've got a niche site that I've been promoting that way and it's working surprisingly well.

**peach** · Jan 30, 2006, 16:02

Originally Posted by MaxS

DMOZ? Who cares about DMOZ! An adwords campaign couldn't hurt.

Josh, great looking site! I'm just wondering, what kind of products are those? Is that a television show?

Cheers

Dmoz links are incredibly valuable.

**Mr. B** · Jan 30, 2006, 16:05

Originally Posted by peach

Dmoz links are incredibly valuable.

And regardless, it wouldn't hurt to have a link in there.

**MaxS** · Jan 30, 2006, 16:19

Originally Posted by peach

Dmoz links are incredibly valuable.

I definitely disagree. It's merely a what, PR6/7 link?

I don't submit many of my sites to DMOZ.

In order to get into DMOZ, you need to give them some sort of description. The description can't be catchy, it has to be a standard/generic description. Google may decide to pull your description from DMOZ, ignore your meta description/content, and display it during searches. This is obviously a bad thing considering your competitors may have catchy descriptions while your site is stuck with something generic.

**Shpigford** · Jan 30, 2006, 16:24

As much fun as this DMOZ talk is, please create a new thread if you wish to discuss it.

Back on topic please.

**rtbenson** · Jan 30, 2006, 16:24

Just as a quick tip, you should make http://www.fugitivetoys.com/shop/ your "home/shop" page, and change your current home page to an "about" page. It will give users a more direct path to your products.

**Shpigford** · Jan 30, 2006, 16:51

Originally Posted by rtbenson

Just as a quick tip, you should make http://www.fugitivetoys.com/shop/ your "home/shop" page, and change your current home page to an "about" page. It will give users a more direct path to your products.

No I shouldn't.

That'd be changing the focus of the site. If you notice, the title says "Fugitive Toys - An Urban Vinyl Community and Toy Store". The "home" page is a portal to both the community and the store. The goal is to intertwine the 2 but not put a complete focus on product.

**defiance** · Jan 30, 2006, 17:37

May be setting up affiliate programs?
the toys are cute!

**Kylecl** · Jan 30, 2006, 17:59

Huck Gee Tattoo Dunny is dope, too expensive though.

adwords adwords adwords.

**turboweb** · Jan 30, 2006, 18:51

Overture Overture Overture.. err i mean Yahoo Marketing. You could also get a yahoo store to garnish some of that traffic.

**Washere** · Jan 30, 2006, 19:02

Lol, those toys look great. Great job, I might buy some.

**auveeb** · Jan 30, 2006, 19:06

Very cool toys indeed. Adwords would be a great way to get your site out there. Are there many forums/communities for places like this? If there are, it wouldn't hurt to put it in your sig on those sites, too

**Bleys** · Jan 30, 2006, 19:18

Originally Posted by RockNRollPig

Are there other services like Froogle I should submit the feed to?

I really don't know anything about ecommerce, but what about the comparison shopping engines like PriceGrabber, Shopping.com, DealTime.com, MySimon.com, BizRate.com, Calibex.com, NexTag.com, etc.?

Have you considered selling on eBay or Amazon zShops?

**louis11** · Jan 30, 2006, 19:28

I can't say that I know much about starting an online store, but just wanted to say... great design

**Ted S** · Jan 30, 2006, 19:34

Josh,
There's a whole lot you should be doing but what you can do really depends on where you intend to take this store and how much money you have allocated to marketing. Can you speak a little more as to your short term goals so I can provide some ideas that may actually be useful (rather than ones that are either too low or high volume for your needs).

**Frozentoast** · Jan 30, 2006, 19:39

www.kidrobot.com is one of the big players in this market, although I buy most of mine through www.qeester.com - they also have a community, maybe you should try and get involved.

You could always have some rare vinyl auctions on eBay to gather some interest, make sure to link to your website!

**furbsy** · Jan 30, 2006, 19:51

Here are a few things I would try...It would REALLY help if you could give us your budget.

Affiliate Program: Go to one of the many affiliate websites online and open up an account (cj.com for example). They have different minimum deposits and work required on your part, so make sure to research this a bit and see if you can afford it.

AdWords/Overture: I would defenitely use this resource. Run a preliminary campaign (just a few dollars even), and test your CTR and your ROI. From that point, you will be able to take a look at the information and see how much you are willing to pay per click and ramp up your campaign. If you are new to AdWords I would defenitely brush up, ask around the forums, or find someone to run the campaign for you.

Buy Links: Make sure to buy links from relevant websites. This is very important, or even a link from Fark.com (go to their advertising section, I believe they are cheap, but I haven't used it in years). Your audience is somewhat broad, and it shouldn't be too difficult for you to find some decently targetted traffic.

eBay!: I can't stress this enough. People think I'm crazy, but your best marketing tool will always be eBay. Keep in mind, Frozentoast's comment on linking back to your site will have your auctions pulled on eBay.com (and you lose out on your fees!). You cannot link offsite in your auctions, please make sure to put links in your Winning Buyer Notification Emails, Second Chance Offer emails, and heck even Payment Reminders. And only put up a few popular items, this will generate traffic, and you can email all bidders who lost out and refer them to your site. I would advise putting some inventory aside for this, and it should be extremely helpful. I did this on my storefronts in the past and this has been extremely succesful and cheap.

Post on relevant forums and communities and try to gain some targetted traffic that way.

Again, there are many more ideas that we can throw at you, but your budget is a big issue here. Good luck with your site, and I love the design.

**bacwebdesign** · Jan 30, 2006, 20:24

Set up a feed at shopzilla.com. We did this for our sporting good site right before Christmas and sales tripled for the month of December. Not bad for a couple of hours and $300 in PPC advertising!

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