Examples of questions asked of ThinkEROUS

Q: Why should I put eBay products in store categories?

A: Good question! eBay has an amazing SEO structure, inherent to their huge reputation as an online selling platform. Cataloging all your product into categories allows eBay to identify what your product is more accurately, making you show up higher in search results within eBay, as well as prompting your listings to be higher in organic Google search results. Ever noticed when you Google a product, a lot of the time it'll come up with eBay listings? That's because eBay has SEO dialed.

Q: My takeaway shop is struggling, any ideas on how I can increase my ovErall sales?

A: Righto. Seeing as you didn't say what kind of takeaway shop you have, I'll throw out a few ideas and examples, and see what sticks. You can alter these ideas to suit your business. Do you have any spontaneous items on the counter for people to buy while they are waiting for their food to be cooked? If I'm waiting for my beef and black bean lunch pack and I see some fried dimmies in the bain marie, I might grab one or two while I wait. Now, the lunch pack was eleven bucks, but add another two bucks for two dim sims, and my overall spend in the shop has increased by almost 20 percent. 20 percent! That is nothing to sneeze at. When you tell someone that it is a 10 minute wait, why don't you say 'do you want two dim sims for two bucks while you wait?' Give it a try! Put some nibbly cheap items that you can store hygenically and easily in ready access of the till, and start pushing them! McDonalds didn't become the billion-dollar powerhouse it is by sitting idly by. The 'would you like fries with that?' mentality clearly works.

Q: How can I track the metrics of my website?

A: My first preference is using Google Analytics, but this only works if you have it structured correctly with the proper nerdy Google tagging built in. The fact that you are asking about this shows that you probably haven't got Google Analytics set up, so in that instance I like to use the website www.semrush.com as it shows all the important stats. You only get 10 free searches within the site until you need to pay for a login, but you can quite easily just create another login using a second email and get another 10 free searches...but you didn't hear this from me!

Q: I have a mobile hamburger van, and I'd like to create a buzz using social media. Any ideas?

A: Howdy! First of all, make me a hamburger. Second, you have to give people an incentive to go to your hamburger van over any of the countless other food trucks out there. Do you do something special, like have a hamburger flavour that is unique? Do you have handmade hot chips that people drool over, versus the store-bought frozen chips that other vans use? Put some nice photos and videos up of your product. Be proud of your business, and show how good your stuff is, but try not to spam people with things they don't give a damn about. Maybe do things like make a post saying 'I'll be at Brighton beach from 12pm to 3pm today, the first five customers to say a random Simpsons quote will get a free drink with their burger pack!' and see if it gets a laugh. Humour works well, as long as you are a funny person. You might be like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld and have to let your product speak for you, but in this day and age where social media can make or break a business, you need to have a point of difference.

Q: Nice website, what colour should I paint my house?

A: Paint it clear, but be sure to always wear clothes when watching TV, as the neighbours across the road don't want to see what you've got going on.