We receive lots of emails from potential customers wanting to know details about the cars and jeeps we sell, and among the most common is if the electric ride on car they have chosen is suitable for their age or size of child. Here are a few quick guide lines to help your decision making process.

We endeavour to make sure that all of our Ride on Cars have an age guide, either within the price and stock information, or within the actualy description of the Ride on Car. This is based on manufacturer instruction and our own experience and testing (f they dont, please just contact us and we will advise you). The main reason for this is that the children are tall enough at a given age to press down on the foot controls. There is no point in having a pedal or electric ride on car that cant be used because the childs legs are long enough to reach the pedals or accelerator.

We also stock a number of ride on cars and jeeps that come complete with remote controls, so if your child isn’t old enough in order to steer the vehicle then the adult supervising will be able to help them to avoid bumping off walls or doorways by remote control, given that the adults hand eye coordination is up to scratch

When choosing a ride on toy you should also take into account the type of ground you have available. All of our ride on toys are strong and powerful and are best suited to being driven on flat hard surfaces, such as tarmac, concrete or patios. Or if you have particularly short grass then the lawn may possibly be an option, but in this case I would usually recommend going for one of our 12 Volt Ride on Cars, but please keep this in mind when you are choosing your ride on car. Our electric ride on jeeps tend to have bigger chunkier wheels, so they may be a better option if the ground is going to be a little uneven. Gravel and loose stones will slow the ride on cars down and drain the batteries much quicker.

Another important factor is the actual space your child will have available. The Ride on Cars and Jeeps we have are large enough to seat one or maybe even two children so the ride ons themselves will be fairly bulky. Therefore you must make sure you are choosing a ride on toy that that will have plenty of space for your child to drive around, without bumping into walls etc. The cars and jeeps are made from strong durable material designed for childrens use, but even they can only survive so many full frontal collisions at speed. So if you only have a 1.5m by 1.5m square patio, you need to put some thought into where you can take your child to ride the electric ride on car in the first place.

Please remember that these Ride on Toys are not street legal so you cannot take them onto the road. If you can find a big carpark or childrens playground near your home, then your child will have a world of space to learn how to drive, steer and race their new ride on car.

Hopefully these few points will help you make up your mind. We will continue to think of other things we may add in the future, such as if you should decide on a ride on car with opening doors incase your child may have difficulty getting in and out, but these are minor things you have probably thought of yourself. As always, if you have any questions, please dont hesitate to contact us and we will endeavour to answer your enquiry as quickly as possible.

I know I know, its been a bit quiet here at ToyStoreUK Blog headquarters (que tumbleweed…trundle…trundle…trundle..not sure if thats what tumbleweeds say, but you get the idea) but we have been working on getting our new product lines up and running.

We took the decision to cull a lot of the Gadgety, Boardy Gamey, Softey Toyey stuff from our shelves and really go for the stuff that makes us jump up and down and clap our hands like kids at chrimbo. The Electric Ride on Cars, Jeeps, Quads, Trikes and their Pedal Ride on Car counterparts are what we have always been into the most. We have been working for a while to bring together some of the main brands within this product range, and we are really pleased to have Injusa Ride on Toys on board and what have to be the most amazing licensed Cars money can buy. Super Car Ride Ons and Sports Car Ride Ons that you will recognise from the street (if you live in Knightsbridge) or from Top Gear (if you are less geographically well off as ourselves ).

Injusa Toys have always been at the forefront of the more fun side of the ride on car market, with bright coloured Jeeps, Cars, Quads and Motorbikes which will be not only be great fun for your child to play on, but also incredibly sturdy and great to look at. There is a really good range and you can check them out at our site in the Electric Ride on Car, Electric Ride on Jeep and our Electric Ride on Quad sections, as well as throughout the site. You are guaranteed quality and value from these ranges.

Pride of place has to be given to our Prestige line of Electric Ride on Cars and Pedal Ride on Cars which are the most recent additions to our product lines. These cars have been designed under licence the original manufactures which ensures they are as close a possible to the actually street cars. The street cars in question are among the most sought after and popular cars on our roads to start with, so you can imagine that if Daddy or Mummy wants a big one, lil George or Sarah will be over the moon to get an exact replica Electric Ride on or Pedal Ride on version.

The new range include Audi Ride on Cars such as the Audi TT Electric Ride on Car, and the Audi Pedal Ride on Car also a range of BMW Ride on Cars with the BMW Z4 Electric Ride on Car and the BMW 335i Electric Ride on Car. The jewel is the crown is our new range of Ferrari Ride on Car with the amazing Ferrari F430 Electric Ride on Car Ferrari Enzo Electric Ride on Car. And if you have a wannabe Michael Schumacher or Felipe Massa at home the only choice is the perfect Birthday Present or Christmas Present is the Ferrari F1 Electric Ride on Car. We have much more in stock, but hopefully this should give you an idea of what we have, and never fear, we are always looking for new items good enough to add to our stock levels. I hope you are as excited as we are

 Cold Calling SEO Companies

Now, I work in Sales so I am a sucker for other sales people. I end up thinking “Ahh, aren’t they doing such a good pitch, I’ll buy from them” or I will analyze what techniques they are using on me. I really am that sad. So when I got a call from a company who wanted to sell my Electric Ride on Toy Business some SEO expertise I thought I would like to hear what they had to say.

Now, first off the guy was a bit too pushy straight off. I can understand and tolerate the (false) sense of urgency that needs to be generated sometimes in order to get a customer to make a decision, but surely not in the first few minutes of talking to me. Particularly when I told him my position in the Company was Sales Manager. You see, I’m nice like that, I like to give the sales guys a few points to help direct the Pitch. Again I reiterate, I’m sad. He tried to convey to me that my site was on the verge of slipping off into the void of the etherweb in the next 10 minutes if I didn’t sign up for their SEO Package. At about £1000. Now, dont get me wrong, for a new start business we do ok, but we aren’t Sir Alan Sugar territory just yet. So I turned the tables.

ME: How did you find us in the first place?

The Apprentice: Erm, searching on the internet.

ME: Oh, our Search Optimization cant be too bad huh?

Americas Next Top Model: Well, we actually ran a report on where your site currently ranks and you aren’t appearing in any of the top search engines for your main search term, which is why we feel…

ME: What search term? (Its always good to interrupt mid flow to see who quickly they can regain their mental footing).

The Badger: Umm, “Ride on”…we analyzed your competitors and found that to be the most important phrase.

ME: Really? Even though when you search Google for “Ride on” the top results include a mountain bike shop and a Railway Track Supplier!? According to my current Google Traffic Analysis Ride On Toys and Ride on Cars, Electric Ride on Toys Electric Ride on Cars are the top Searches. Which we do rank well on!

Trinny & Suzannah: Uhh we have Search Engineers who will specifically handle your project and over a year will guarantee a top ranking…

It was at the mention of the word guarantee that I felt I had to end the phone call. No company can guarantee you a top ranking. What position will I get, where will my competitors be, what if google changes. These are all pertinent questions, but a responsible SEO Expert will not be able to guarantee that you will get a top ranking, that you will get ahead of your competitors or that Google reshuffling the pack wont change your positions. Dont get me wrong, SEO Companies should be able to get you top rankings, but what they should be showing you are previous or current clients who they have optimised and where they currently rank.

Oh, and the SEO Company shouldn’t be dropping its pricing or terms just at the slightest indication that you want to go away and think about it/speak to your business partner/need to look at your budget.

I learnt a valuable lesson from the Cold Calling SEO Company, and that was being able to spot someone who knew what they were talking about and someone that is just doing a Sales Job. I am by nature a Salesman, but I always pride myself on knowing as much about my product as I can so that I can help a customer and give them guidance, not just flog them what I think is the most they can afford. Maybe that makes me a bad sales man, but at least I am a happy one.

In short, when approached by these companies;

1. Find out who the company is, how they found you and also the history of the company.
2. Ask questions to gather whether the person you are dealing with has a depth of knowledge into Search Engine Optimization.
3. Ask for examples of previous or current projects so you can go off and check the rankings yourself, and not just take their word for it.
4. Have a clear idea what you want to be ranked under, no point in spending money to get picked up on something not relevent to your business.
5. Do some background research into the SEO Company to see if they get any good or bad press on the internet.
6. Dont be afraid to ask them to call you back so that you can do your own research and make an informed decision.
7. Dont be pressured into making a decision, their discounts are usually always available.
8. Find out about the length of the contract, their Reporting Process and also cancellation if you are dissatisfied.

That should do for starters, I am sure there are a million other little things to keep in mind. But above all, this is your website they are dealing with, you Business, so you should be in control and should be kept 100% informed of everything they intend to do before they are going to do it. After all, would you let a stranger take your brand new Aston Martin DBS for a spin? Keep that in mind and you wont go far wrong.

Ok stand back rant on the way!

As a new company, with maybe not so new owners, we decided the best way we could push our products was via the h’internet. Or interweb as my Mother calls it. Ok, lets set up a site. Done. Lets get payment sorted on it. Done. Lets get the products on there. Done. And still doing but thats just us expanding. Finished? Not even close!

The Internet may seem like the King Solomon’s Mines of money making but that’s only if you have been online with a shop for the last 10 years, which is the bronze age in internet terms. For those of us who are starting out, we have to get our heads around, not just setting up a site, that’s relatively easy, you can either spend a kings ransom and get a bespoke job done for you, or go open source and get a pretty nifty site up and running for nought.

Once your site is up, you have to start getting visitors to you site. That should be ok cause there cant be that many people doing the same thing as me online. Ok, lets go to Google and search - type type type (that’s the sound of me typing by the way, or btw as all the kids are saying now) - Toy Shop - and click search….cant be too many results….ok…there are millions. After the cold sweat had dried and my heart had crawled back out of my stomach, we had to come to the cold reality that to sell Ride on Toys on the internet, we were going to have to get found. So that’s when we started searching…and came across a beautiful land with a wonderful still lake surrounded by lush green fields and trees, horse galloping across the hills and maidens frolicking at play. This land was good, this land was what we were searching for. This land was called Search Engine Optimization. Or SEO to the locals. And the Seonians (inhabitants of SEO) were numerous and wise, but oh so guarded with their secrets and knowledge. Truly it would take some convincing to befriend these skittish folk. Either that or a big stick.

There are several options available to the new start Internet business. Ok first of all you need to think about things and identify essentially what search phrases you want to be found under. In our case we opted for only a few “long tail searches” (searches phrases with more than 1 or 2 words in them). We went for Electric Ride on Toys , Battery Ride on Cars and Electric Ride on Cars. Ideally if we could get found under other things like jeeps , quads , trikes , bikes , anything for that matter all the better. Now, this is where the work begins. After our exhaustive reading and researching into SEO we have come up one absolute and unswerving conclusion and it is this;

No-one knows what will definitely get you to the top of Google, they all have conflicting advice. And those that might know, definitely will not be telling you. Unless you are willing to pay. Lots.

However, we did kind of distil it all down to 2 simple things, and everything branches from there. Ok, lets call them guidelines, not rules, because we are an Toy Shop selling Electric Ride on Toys not a Dictator selling authoritarian rule.

Guideline 1 - Content is Queen. You need relevent, up to date, non duplicated, constantly updated, authoritative content on your website about your industry, service, products, whatever you are trying to promote.

Guideline 2 - Linkage is King. You site needs quality, relevant, contextual, (perhaps even geographically relevant), links running to your website. The days of link farming are long dead and Google has become smart in the ways of the Force, so if you wanna get to the top, you better start researching and get Link Building. But, not just any old links, they have to be good links, from quality sites that are relevant to what you and your site are about. Its no good having links to your UK based Online Toy Shop from a 23 year old Alaskan mans site who doesn’t appear in Google, only gets 8 unique visitors a month, and these are members of his own family who like to look at the pictures of the nice animals he photographs. Got it? Good!

And that is where we are at the moment. We are trying to sort out our wonderful content and also begin the process of getting our links into decent Shopping Directories or other Toy Shops. Wish us luck! Oh, we will also explain some of our other revelations during our time in the Land Of SEO.

Hurrah!!! New Children’s Pedal Cars on their way!!

We have recently secured a new supplier for some fantastic Children’s Pedal Cars , but not just any Pedal Cars! These things are sa-weet (as my teenage nephew would say, he’s so street!). They range from children’s favourites like the Postman Pat Van and Noddys Car right through to Classic Retro Cars and my own personal favourite Pedal Planes !! We are talking Red Baron Pedal Planes and Shark Attack Planes here. I know I am now jumping up and down like a giddy Apple fan at the launch of the iPhone, but I promise you when we have these up and running in the next week to 10 days on the site, you will not be disappointed

Tee Hee…Its like Christmas all over again

Hello and Welcome Visitor!

 Just a quick hello as way of introduction and to say that we hope you will find this blog useful and insightful into the wonderful and enjoyable world of an Online Toy Shop for Electric Ride on Toys, Pedal Toys, Gadget, Soft Toys and everything else we offer.

 We will hopefully keep you up to day with new products, updated info on existing products, price changes, offers, reviews, industry news…infact, anything we can think of.

 Anyway, enough ramble for now. Terrible phrase to use on the internet, but watch this space and we will see what happens.

 Many thanks for visiting

 JD