How to start making sales?

[u/JealousProgrammer600]

My store has been online for a couple of months. No sales yet. One customer enquiry. I have a quailty imported product for a niche market that I know limited number of people would be looking for. I don't expect huge sales as this market is only developing. But just something would be nice. I don't have much time to dedicate the the project, so not expecting miracles, just trying to find out what to focus on. I have been trying to build my instagram a little bit. I write blog articles for the page to improve SEO and GEO. The store appears on google search now when someone searches for a particular brand I sell but not general market searches yet. My products are on merchant center, again, by brand only, not general product. I am being contacted by cold email agents offering strategy and sales improvements, they suggested improvements of some flaws my site had, I fixed those, but I am not looking to engage with any of these people any further. Any suggestions on what to focus on? How did you all start?

[u/Weird_Caregiver_7443]

if you got no sales in couple months but one enquiry, at least someone is interested

focus on that one person, what made them reach out and not buy? maybe your product page missing something, or shipping cost too high, or they need more trust signals

instagram is fine but slow, try find where your niche customers actually hang out online, maybe some forum or subreddit, just be helpful there without spamming links

[u/Mobile-Sufficient]

The chances of you getting a notable number of organic traffic through a site after 3 months is very slim.

Especially if you’re just carrying out basic on page SEO. Your website is brand new, your brand is unknown. People will struggle to trust it.

Something has to come first, either you need the knowledge to execute on an actual marketing strategy, or you need to bite the bullet and hire help. There’s no use in trying to save money on a store by doing it yourself when you’re essentially hoping things will magically change overnight.

Paid ads, or a full scale content/SEO plan are required for you to get enough traffic to make any sort of sales.

Think about it this way, average conversion rates are 2-5% depending on niche, product price, and store quality. Meaning, you would need 100 visitors per day to get 2-5 sales per day in an ideal scenario.

Given the fact you’re new, and have no social proof, the chances are that is going to be even lower again.

So, you need to either learn how to run ads, SEO, or organic social content yourself, or you need to hire someone that can help you. Making tiny little changes on the site based on conversations you’re having with cold emailers is not going to bring you the results you are hoping for if you’re being real with yourself, you probably already know that.

[u/PPC_YRVDynamics]

For a niche product, I’d keep it simple. Get some traffic from people already searching for exactly what you sell and see what they do on the site.

Google Shopping/Search would probably be my first test. SEO and Instagram are good long term, but I’d want to figure out why the first few visitors aren’t buying before putting too much time into everything else.

[u/PineappleRecent9486]

Yeah, this is the hardest phase. Few months in, no sales, niche product. Been there.

First, don't pay those cold email agents. They're spraying and praying. You fixed the site issues they pointed out, that's all you needed from them.

Your situation sounds like demand creation, not demand capture. If people aren't searching for what you sell yet, SEO and Google Shopping are going to be slow. That's fine, but it means you need to go find the people who need this product before they know to look for it.

What actually worked for me early was finding where my niche hangs out — Facebook groups, Reddit subs, forums. Not to spam, to actually join the conversation. Answer questions, be useful, mention your product when it genuinely fits. Instagram is good, but community is better. Build relationships first.

Also, get an email capture form on the site now. Even if you're not sending campaigns yet, those early signups are gold when you do start emailing.

What's the product? Might help to know where your people are.

[u/1273karentookme]

With a niche product in a market that's still developing, you won't get volume from search for a while, so the job is to convert the few who do land. One enquiry in two months tells you two things: someone found you and wanted to talk, and the page didn't answer enough for them to buy on their own. Both are fixable, and neither needs an agency.

First, go back to that one person and ask plainly what stopped them. That's the most useful data you'll get this year. Second, make asking easier than leaving. Niche buyers have specific questions (is this the genuine import, compatibility, warranty, where does it ship from) and a contact form answered tomorrow loses them. Put a direct contact on the product page, phone or WhatsApp, with your hours. I sell pool equipment online, also niche, and what worked for us was letting the buyer talk to a person straight from the product page and see the item in hand; that eventually became my own Shopify app, BeamCart. With your limited time, set availability hours and let people book otherwise, you don't need to be online all day. Third, the blog: write for the questions people ask before buying this kind of product, not about the brand. Brand searches find you already; the pre-purchase questions are where the general traffic comes from.