Is Facebook's Pay-Per Click worth the expense to a Small Bicycle Business...Hmmm...NO! Believe it or not, Facebook probably has the most sophisticated consumers of any Social Networking page out there.
I will not waste space and quote their market demographics but it is safe to say that the average consumer on Facebook is much more savvy than the MySpace crowd. People with Facebook profiles tend to be Home owners whereas Myspace users tend to be renters...blah..blah..blah!
I have personally used Facebook's PPC advertising so I speak from experience when I tell you that the MOST VALUABLE piece of this for small bicycle business is not the 'Cost Per Click' but rather the 'Cost Per Impression'.
The difference in a nutshell shell is the cost to get someone to click on your ad could vary from 15 cents to 50 cents depending on your keyword selections.
Bikes are normally considered mid-level to high ticket items so that cost may seem small. It even becomes more attractive IF the bicycle biz drop ships the item. Customer clicks on ad, arrives at your website, buys a bicycle, you ship it and life is good, right?
How many people buy WHOLE bikes from websites though? Especially from an unknown small business? Parts...YES! But bikes are something that a discerning buyer wants to touch and feel.
After all reader, how many times have you purchased a complete bike off of a website?
Is it any wonder most companies put more focus on helping you locate a dealer as opposed to selling straight from their site.
For a small business, CPC can get expensive so I suggest you focus more on the Cost Per Impression! Facebook can get your ad in front of, say 17,000 people in a few days (if keyword is searched), out of that, maybe 150 people will click in your ad.
Let's assume that the 'Cost Per Click' is $.40, that would be $60 per day using CPC. If you have that kind of money...JUST for people to see your business that probably won't buy ($420.00 per week) GO FOR IT!
In contrast, CPM (Cost per Impression) gets your brand out in front of people who will see it, but may not click on it, therefore it will cost you no money!
What a great way to build your brand folks for LOW COSTS!
There are about a billion bicycles in the world, twice as many as motorcars. Almost 400 million bicycles are in China. Every year some 50 million bicycles - and 20 million cars - are produced.
Although Leonardo da Vinci drew some rough sketches of a contraption that looked like a bicycle, the Frenchman De Sivrac built the first bicycle-type vehicle in 1690. It was referred to as a hobbyhorse. However, it did not have pedals. Those were added in 1840 by a Scottish blacksmith, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, who is credited with inventing the real bicycle.
On a penny-farthing bicycle, one pedal gave the wheel one turn. A lot of pedalling was needed to get around! With the advent of gears, bicycles could move as fast as cars.
Air-filled tyres were used on bicycles before they were used on motorcars.
The bicycle as we know it today - with two wheels of the same size - looks almost exactly the same as one from 1900.
The first five-seat bicycle, the quindem, was built in 1940.
The world speed record on a bicycle is held by John Howard, Olympic Cyclist and Ironman triathlon winner from the US. In 1985 he reached 245,08 km/h (152.2 mph), cycling in the slipstream of a specially designed car.
http://www.sitecube.com/promo_bw.asp?pid=bw309_kw_us (Best Value IF you THINK you need a Flash Site)
In a previous post, I waxed philosophical about concerning a status quo website OR a Social Media profile was the best way to interact with your customers. It is true that customers prefer to sit on a bike before they buy it which makes the job of a 'Website Bike Hustler' that much more challenging. That is why it is necessary for you to build an environment of TRUST with your customers and website visitors.
There is also the challenge of the right bike size for your customers. A guy my size, 6'5 230 lbs. would tend to stay away from a regular 26" cruiser frame and nothing would drive a customer crazier than such a large expense and it isn't a GREAT FIT! Adding a Widget to your website-profile where a customer can plug in their height and weight and this script could spit out the right size bike for the customer would certainly make your customers better able to chose the bike that is right for them.
Undoubtedly a Social Media Profile is a mandatory part of business on the web these days.I do not want to suggest that a regular web page is not necessary. I do believe IF your business requires a Flash Site utilize it...However, IF possible, stay away from them!
Why? Flash websites are viewed (by my readers anyway) as 'Sizzle' with no 'Steak'.Arguably, Flash Sites were the place to be in the late 1990s to probably 2004.
However, as Social Media began it's long march to where it is now, with all of it's pop and sizzle, these sites DO NOT hold the attention if visitors like they once did.
Where am I leading with this? I would seriously re-evaluate this expense! However, if you are insistent on building such a site, there is NO REASON (even a novice should spend more than $50 FOR HOSTING, SET-UP AND BUILD) to launch such a site. Email me and I will send you a link that will allow you to have the SAME STUFF the pros build for PENNIES and YOU CAN DO IT YOUR SELF it is SOOOO SIMPLE!
YES you have to have a 'Store Front' of some kind....However, Social Media Profiles have become a HUGE way to drive traffic to your website.
Social Media Profiles on Twitter, Facebook and LINKEDIN, in my opinion, can be the difference between 150 site visits per day and 250 or more (dependent upon the viral nature of your campaign). Traffic generates interest, interest generate return visits, return visits build relationships and those relationships will build your online business.
Even IF you just have a Blog (not to minimize the impact of this median), traffic can make you a few buckets without selling product of your own! We will talk about this in the next post which will deal with some simple changes and additions to your website that can generate TONS of traffic.
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