The salesman just wanted your money...

> OK, guys, here it is. I already have a website, but it isn't doing
> anything and I don't know why.

It's all in the marketing -- and the fact that when I google on your keywords, you're in competition with around 2 million (and I'm not kidding on that number) other sites. Imagine trying to advertise your business locally (with ads, etc) when there is quite literally one of these stores on EVERY corner of every street in your town.

That's what you're up against. (however, I have suggestions, so don't faint just yet, eh?)

> I had a phone call on Friday telling me
> that my meta tags and meta keywords were presented all wrong, but the man
> never called me back (he said he would) to tell me how to fix 'em.

I'm sure. For a price. Heck, for a price, I could do that, too.

> Please
> check out my website, particularly the tags and keywords, and help me out
> here. I have had the site for over six months with only a smattering of
> orders. I've been told that the stuff on the site is in big demand, but I
> also know that I have a lot of competition. Who doesn't? I sure would
> appreciate some pointers.

I think the key question you forgot to ask is: "Big demand? By WHO?"

Now... bear with me a moment. There's a huge difference in the way you market to older women and younger women and a big difference in the way you market to men and women and so on and so forth. We're dealing with intimacies here -- VERY touchy to market and has to make the right impression on your market.

So who's your market? You will NOT be able to market this to men and women equally, so you're going to have to pick one gender and go with it. Furthermore, you're going to have to pick an age range and stick with that, too (women in their mid-50's are rather unlikely to be that interested in the undergarments... though they might be interested in "how to" books. Men usually don't go for most of the self-help books, however.)

Reevaluate the site in terms of WHO your market is (gender, income level, age range, country of origin) and look for other products that fit with the line.

Second, you have to advertise OFFline. Trying to get your site listed as #1 for a lot of your keywords is going to run you well over $10k/month... and frankly, you could buy a lot of targeted local advertising for that amount. Some folks with sites like yours run ... ah... party events (actually they're kind of silly and harmless (I've been told. Never been to one.) which pre-sells your site for the market and gets word-of-mouth going.

That's kind of a delicate proposition, though... in some communities there have been problems with this. But one way or another, you will have to do some offline ads. You might try blogging as a "romance coach", but you're going to have to commit to a lot of writing and it'll be awhile before your site catches on.

You also need some sort of street address other than "USA." That just looks fishy. And the "affiliates page" probably needs some rethinking.

> PS: I have a coach, but she isn't doing me much good. She has suggested
> using banner ads, but I need to get this site as good as it can be FIRST!

I'd be terribly cautious about those. The wrong kinds of ads can leave the impression that your site isn't about romance; it's about sleaze. And banner ads work only to promote brand awareness. They're terrible for click-throughs.

Anywhom, that might get you started rethinking what you're doing. It's not that you're doing anything wrong, but there are better ways to approach the market -- once you figure out WHAT the market is.