Honestly I have no idea how to market this

[Inprogress]

(Sjoe, just saw my post in preview, sorry for the long windedness, I suppose from this you can at least see I do believe in the concept )Isn't putting your products on Bid or Buy putting them in directo comparison with similar products? Or putting your products on a website like Pricecheck, you are placing your products in direct comparison with others. So what makes you different than any other online business, or what makes your auction products any different than the next guy auctioning the same product? Service. You provide a better service than the next guy and it is seen by the rating you receive. For that matter, what makes your business different when you place them in direct comparison with others who offer the same products, when you list in the Yellowpages? The size of your ad? Or what your friends are saying about your service? Or the fact that you are carrying the item that I am looking for.

Businesses in SA should get the message: The consumer isn't here to be milked. If you are part of the Dual Sport motorcycle groups, you will hear the outcry for service delivery.

The way of the future is the web, and you either get with the program, or you are left behind. And to my understanding you have embraced the internet to your success. Aisle five isn't for everyone. If you sell antiques for example, Aisle five isn't for you. However if you sell solar geysers, that is easy to list. Plus, if I am looking for a Samsung Ultra Plano LCD TV, what makes you different than Makro, or the little guy on a side street you never heard off? Service delivery. And with these kind of products you wont have just one ever in your store. You stock TV sets.

The SA market is changing, and people want service delivery. They can find out everything they want from the net. However, they still need to go to a shop and listed to a sales rep who can tell them nothing more about the product than what is written on the box. And they charge a higher price for the same products, which when you look around, is obviously spent on making the shop look nice, and keeping 15 sales reps to annoy you with useless info.

Aisle five is about find the the product, sold by the business that is rated to be the best in service delivery by others. However I am suspecting that most businesses these days don't care about making a customer, they would rather make a sale. Only problem with that is that eventually everyone will hear about your bad service delivery, and you wont have repeat business.

But like I said, Aisle five wont be for everyone. There are some products that just wont work on the site for they are unique and once off. And many businesses wont want to list themselves on an online business directory in this way because they are more expensive but offer nothing extra compared to the bloke selling the products from his garage, but deliver and install the product free of charge. Its about finding the product with the best service delivery attached. Plus its about saving time for the consumer who has less time to spend looking for a product. If online shopping websites can do it, there is no reason why "offline" shops can do it online with selling online because the main concept is not to sell online.

Anyway, the service is there for the consumer. The service is aimed at providing the consumer a convient service. Serving the customer. And with the listing you can add your service to that product listing by including extra info on the product and its application and what extra service you provide not just for that product, but related. You can see each product placing as an advertisement. Like Google SEO and tag linking. You are not just advertising that you sell a solar geyser online, within that product article you are telling the visitor that you also install this product free of charge, and if you want, you can include your other services. And on your profile page, you list all the services that you offer. You can also link back to all the product categories that you supply.

I am in the process of filling my categories today with product listings from an imaginary business to properly display how Aisle five is serving the consumer.

Look, it might be a bad idea, it might even be premature for our SA market, however, I paid for hosting a year in advance and I will promote this business, if it fails, I'm one step closer to a successful business. However, I am looking at this website from a consumer viewpoint in full personal honesty, and I would love it if it works cause it will save me a ton of time in trying locate the products I have searched for in the past.

Thanks for your input Adrian, I appreciate it. Because of your initial post I am now including those demo products in order to help explain the concept behind Aisle five to the visitor.

I get what you are trying to do. The main aim of any retail business is to increase sales. Why would any company go to the trouble of placing their items online in a catalog that put them in direct competition with similar local companies.

Look, if I were running a retail shop I wouldn't put my products into a directory such as what you are proposing because I wouldn't want customers to do direct product comparisons between my products the products of other while sitting at home. I would want them to come into the shop and browse around - this way I have an opportunity to talk them into buying my product, even up sell and cross sell.

Another problem is that managing the correctness of information is very labour intensive. I am a teeny weeny business but my product portfolio is huge. The portfolio changes rapidly so I run the risk of looking like a tit if I put items on your ste and they become unavailable shortly thereafter.

[adrianh]

(Sjoe, just saw my post in preview, sorry for the long windedness, I suppose from this you can at least see I do believe in the concept )Isn't putting your products on Bid or Buy putting them in directo comparison with similar products? Or putting your products on a website like Pricecheck, you are placing your products in direct comparison with others. So what makes you different than any other online business, or what makes your auction products any different than the next guy auctioning the same product? Service. You provide a better service than the next guy and it is seen by the rating you receive. For that matter, what makes your business different when you place them in direct comparison with others who offer the same products, when you list in the Yellowpages? The size of your ad? Or what your friends are saying about your service? Or the fact that you are carrying the item that I am looking for.

Yes, but I can sell them on Bid Or Buy but not on your site. I do not provide a service on BoB, I sell a niche product.

When I list in the Yellowpages the customer is forced to speak to me. I am then in a position to get a picture of his needs and to sell to him.

The question is this: who pays for the service?

If it is the customer, then who will load the supplier product data?
If it is the retailer, then why would he put his products up or direct comparison if he can't sell them online.

These are hard questions to answer, what makes it even more difficult is that franchise stores will probably not go for it because there is large chance that they have their own websites already.

Anyway, just some thoughts to ponder.

[Inprogress]

The feature to sell online isn't part of the website yet. However, since you can see that a retail outlet has the item is stock, you can make an EFT payment (this option lies with the retail outlet to consider). Also, some products can't be sold online, only purchased...if that makes sense. And the other goal of Aisle five is to find the outlets in your area. It is cheaper to buy a solar geyser from a local store than one in another town. However, how do you find the local guy? Word of mounth? Driving to them? These are the things I want to eliminate. However, that function is in the works, however it does require some hacking or a move to a new software package.

Nope, I don't see franchise stores signing up. They have a reputation as it is, one I loath as no-one knows anything anymore about the products. I'm more inclined to find the stores who are not well situated in my town, but who offer me great service. Stores that don't look at you blankly for a few seconds when you asked them a question about a product. This knowledge can be conveyed on the product page, as it is allowed for. A store rating is also part of every product page, including a comments page. Its interacting with your customers on a different media. But yes, the online purchase function is in the works, saving more time of the consumer. Plus, the consumer will have to pick up the product unless you offer to deliver as part of your service. If they pick up, you get them in your store on a face to face basis, more communication.

The retail outlet/store/business pays for the service. No directory is free, unless you refer to EZdex. Only one I know off, however they cater for industry.

Look, its a great idea from a consumer point of view, that why I created it and why I am tweaking it. However, it might be that the business community in general is so use to providing bad service to the consumer who merely accepts it do to ignorance, that they see Aisle five is only a platform for price competition. It might never take off, but I wont stop now. Rather take into account comments like these you made and others made, and improve the service. Aisle five is about finding the best service related to a product, and added to that, near you.

Thanks for the interest and comments, much appreciated. Be well.

[TrudyVan]

Hello there InProgress Congrats on getting your site up and running. Now you have just asked the most asked question on the internet. How do I market my site.

You build a blog and post to your blog on a regular basis with a link back to your site. You can build a free blogger blog.

I have made a power point presentation that might help you build your blog. If you require further help please let me know. I will gladly help you.

[Inprogress]

Hello there InProgress Congrats on getting your site up and running. Now you have just asked the most asked question on the internet. How do I market my site.

You build a blog and post to your blog on a regular basis with a link back to your site. You can build a free blogger blog.

I have made a power point presentation that might help you build your blog. If you require further help please let me know. I will gladly help you.

Newcastle! HAHAHA, grew up there for 11 years of my life, on a farm. Well, my site has changed. My domain has changed. But I will be online soon with the new site. Thanks for the help, its just that I'm not sure what I will write in the blog. Honestly, there isn't much to write about the site, unless I just start my own blod about me, my life, my weird thoughts and crazy ideas, and link back to my other site

But there is a second site on the way as well, will also be online soon.

Thanks for the offer to help, I will be in touch.

[adrianh]

Trudy,

I have looked around your website and you've got me, I can't say that I know what you do. You have lots and lots of writing and a movie of a dude in a red Farrari that drives up every time I go to the home page. Each page is a different website that in turn leads to more different websites of unrelated stuff.

Are these people or websites or what: TrudyVan TvanMarketer VivBounty TeejTracy

I went into you Contact page, and no, I couldn't figure out exactly who or what I am contacting - Warts?...

Eish....I must really be getting old - I'm too slow to understand that lot.

Please explain it to me in simple terms.

[Dave A]

This is the bit that had me scratching my head:

Now you have just asked the most asked question on the internet. How do I market my site.

You build a blog and post to your blog on a regular basis with a link back to your site.

OK. So now you've moved the "getting traffic" problem from your website to your blog.

Do blogs automatically get traffic that the company websites don't?
Is that traffic going to be relevant?
How much of that traffic is going to click through to the company website? (the ultimate goal of this excercise, remember).

You've shifted the problem, got more content to write, and introduced an extra click-through to get people where you want them.

[TrudyVan]

I use blogs to drive free traffic to my sites. I have a personal one and then ones related to my niches that I market. It was just a suggestion. You sound as if you could really have a very interesting blog. Google likes blogs That is the free way then there is ofcourse google ads that costs. depends on your budget and what ROI you are expection Wishing you a ton of traffic

[TrudyVan]

You better believe it yes we are all real people "TrudyVan TvanMarketer VivBounty TeejTracy" Viv is in Canada and tvan and teej are my daughters following in my footsteps. Online Marketing that is our business. You need to approach your website in the same way you would for an offline business. You need to find places to advertise free and paid for. The "Warts' was a clickbank Widget ad that you where looking at. I really like the way you word things and will be following your posts

[adrianh]

I really like the way you word things and will be following your posts

Ah, a dangerous pursuit, I might annoy you. To be honest, I love reading and writing