Marketing your Miva store

[Wendy]

You can mask your email address by using a java script -- that's what we do and get very little spam.

A PO box is a good solution for a home based business and cost next to nothing.

An 800 number at ringcentral.com costs as little as $10 bucks a month depending on what plan you by and you can have it ring right into your home.

The 800 itself will increase your sales. I'm a seasoned online shopper (and merchant) -- if there is no contact information on the site, I move on! People are worried about fraud and idendity theft..........how can they trust your site if they have no way to contact you....email isn't good enough, you need to have a phone number so they can call you. If they have to pay for the call, they'll just move on..............check out www.ringcentral.com I think you'll be amazed how inexpensive an 800 can be. As you grow you buy a bigger plan with more minutes. We've been using ring central for 2 years, I love it and will never switch!

HTH
Wendy

[Wendy]

oops, sorry, I didn't finish reading this entire thread before I posted my message -- seems like everything has already been addressed.

[harvest-moon]

Hi Wendy, thanks for the post on ringcentral.com. I'll check them out...

Cheers,
HMB

[Red Flare]

You can mask your email address by using a java script -- that's what we do and get very little spam.

Wendy

Could you post your email masking code please?

thanks

[harvest-moon]

Hi Ales, here's the link:

http://www.minitutorials.com/webdesi...t/mailto.shtml

Best,
HMB

[e-Tail Coach]

You have already received a lot of great advice. To enhance your site's branding look at your site as if you are walking into a mall where all of the stores sold baby clothes -- and then decide why someone would want to buy from you instead of the store next door! That will help you to decide what is most important and where that information should be on your site.

EBay is a great place to start your customer base. You cannot advertise your site on your eBay listings but you can put your eMail address in your listings. My listings all have my eMail address with BestFriendsGeneralStore.com in BOLD, the smart customers then go to my website. In addition, I have lower shipping costs on my website than I do on eBay -- you can't have lower product prices, but shipping prices are OK. By the way, I do not direct eBay winners to my website for checkout; however, I do ask if they want to signup for my newsletter in eMail that I send them when their package ships. I also send a newsletter in their package with a discount coupon for my website.<O:p</O:p
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I never advertise my physical address (I also work from my home) I use a PO Box instead; I have never had anyone comment on that I use a PO Box instead of a street address. Many big companies use PO Box addresses too. I have a cell phone that I use for customer contact. I turn it off at night so those customers who think they are calling a large business do not wake me up at 2AM. By the way, most people have low cost long distance these days so I am not sure an 800 is worth the cost or necessary.<O:p</O:p
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Happy Selling,<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p

Candy Blakeslee<O:p</O:p
www.BestFriendsGeneralStore.com<O:p</O:p
www.eTailCoach.com<O:p</O:p
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[harvest-moon]

Hi Candy, Thank you so much for the feedback. Happy 4th ;-)

Best,
HMB