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Newbie E-Commerce

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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I just figured out why my landing page wasn't converting so well, I changed the name of my wufoo form so the link for the button was redirecting to a missing page. Instapage said I have 120 vists and 115 clicked on the button! That's a 95.8% conversion! But wufoo was only saying 20 people had visited the form so I figured something was up. I'm gonna give it a few more days so I can actually get some good data. Also as I type this I already got another lead!
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Now it's time to make my first business call, I'm a little nervous but I've written down a series of questions on paper so that helps. For those interested, the questions are :

Do you offer a dropshipping program? Retail or wholesale? Do you charge a fee?
Do you ensure my company's information is on the packing slip/package?
What kind of discount do you offer?
What are your damaged return policies? What is your defect rate?
Do you charge sales tax or require a seller's permit?
May I use your product images on my website?
How do I place my orders? (Online, Email?)
How long does it take for orders to be processed and shipped?
What shipping methods do you offer and do you offer tracking?
Are you the manufactuers of your product?
Do you offer credit for my orders? (How often will I need to pay?)
Do you offer samples?
Also would it be possible for you to forward me this information by email?

These questions help you find out more about your supplier and helps you decide if you want to work with them.
 
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SYK

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Instapage said I have 120 vists and 115 clicked on the button! That's a 95.8% conversion!

Temper this excitement. There is a big difference between people visiting a website shop and making a purchase. In my initial advice, I said to make it a "buy now" button for your product, which is the closest you'll get to intent to purchase. Visiting your shop is just browsing to another page; there's no commitment to purchase.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Yeah I know, I was mainly trying to get beginners hyped up, but after I fixed my stupid error I started getting leads up the wazoo! I got 10 leads already and 69 pageviews for my form, so my conversion rate so far is 14.49%. What's an average conversion rate for lead generation?

If I would have found my mistake sooner I would have probably had another 15 leads by now. But anyway, i'll see what happens if I switch the text on the button to "Buy now". Also how many leads do you require before you consider a niche profitable?

Edit: So after switching the text on the button I got another lead, so I believe people are interested in buying.
 
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D

Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Another update : Do you remember that first business call I made today? Well, I chickened out. The first time I was put on hold then got so nervous that I hung up, so then I called again and spoke to a "gatekeeper", it was pretty aukward but I managed to get the number for a representative for Ontario.

I still haven't called him, just because I don't really know what to say. So I started googling a bunch of stuff and came across some GREAT videos about calling on the phone, the guy is from warrior forum. I know a lot of beginners struggle with making business calls ( like me ) so I decided to post this, he says it's natural to feel that way, calling is a skill and can be learned just like any other skill.

Cold Calling:

Cold Calling Scripts:

I also wrote down my own script that i'm gonna use for all my calls. It goes like this :

Hey (name), is this a bad time to talk? (Name) I appreciate that, let me take a quick minute and tell you why I called. I'm Ben, from blablabla.com, my store will specifically sell blabla. I believe my customers would love your products and your brand. Would you be interested in expanding your distribution channels?

Then i'm going to follow up with the questions I posted earlier. And I AM gonna call tomorrow, tomorrow is the day I man up! I hope some of you find this post useful [emoji1].
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
So I just made the call, but he didn't even pick up, so I left a message. Hopefully I hear back from him soon.

I'm also starting to get a lot of emails back from distributors, however some of the ones I contacted do not dropship to Canada. Also it looks like I'm going to need to register for more stuff like a business bank account and a DUNS number.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Also an update about my landing page : It looks like most of my leads are coming from foreign countries, mainly india. I haven't got a lead from Canada yet and only one from the US.

And about my stats, my conversion rate just keeps climbing, I'm up to 15.87% right now, I have 20 leads and 126 pageviews for my form.
 
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SYK

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It looks like most of my leads are coming from foreign countries, mainly india. I haven't got a lead from Canada yet and only one from the US.

Do you plan to service these foreign countries? If not, change your adwords (presuming this is how you're getting your traffic) targeting to USA, Canada only.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Yes I do, I'm setting up a fedex account right now. I have also contacted a distributor who will allow me to import without any minimums, and that will dropship in the US.

Now I'm just waiting for them to provide me with their product/pricing and sign up forms. I'm probably gonna import from this distributor, as they don't offer shipping to Canada or internationally.

For my landing page, I'll let it go a few more days internationally then target Canada and US to make sure my sales don't all come from india.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
So I got my pricing list from my distributor, the margins are looking good! I can double my money on almost every model! But after calculating shipping, I don't think it's worth importing, I would only be left with a 200$ profit.

I'm going to see if I can find a distributor from Canada instead, or one that dropships to Canada. That way my overhead won't be so expensive.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I just finished signing up for a dropshipping program with one of my distributors! Now I just need to upload my products and write my descriptions, then I can start selling. However this distributor only dropships to the US. Should I launch my store with only one brand?
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I've decided switch the targeting for my landing page from international to US and Canada. That way I can see if it would be worth starting in the US and Canada or if I should just start exporting to India.

My stats for international are 48 leads and 310 pageviews for my wufoo form. (15.48%) This costs me about 140$ so I believe that this product could sustain paid advertising, if one of my leads makes a purchase then the cost of advertising will be covered.

So far I've got 2 leads from Canada and 1 from the US.
 
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DKNJ

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So I got my pricing list from my distributor, the margins are looking good! I can double my money on almost every model! But after calculating shipping, I don't think it's worth importing, I would only be left with a 200$ profit.

I'm going to see if I can find a distributor from Canada instead, or one that dropships to Canada. That way my overhead won't be so expensive.
$200 profit per drop ship transaction doesn't sound bad at all. Lol.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Not per transaction, per 10 transactions. I forgot to mention that. I would have had 200$ profit after shipping. That would have been if I were importing though. I've decided to just contact manufactuers from India directly instead. (My biggest market.) As recommended by AlterJoule. Thanks man!

I also received another email from a manufactuer, I scheduled a follow up call with him tomorrow at 3:30. I'm going to use AlterJoule's script instead of my previous one.
So far I've been in contact with 9 manufactuers, and I've signed up for a dropshipping program with 3.

The reason I haven't been posting a lot is because I've been pretty busy, I've been reading a lot on copywriting lately. To try and figure out how to write some good descriptions for my products. I've also got a question : How would I write descriptions for various models of basically the same product? Do all my descriptions have to be different?
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I just got another reply back! This manufactuer doesn't dropship to Canada but they are offering to ship me samples. The samples are the same price as my dealer cost. I'll probably only order one. For those experienced : How many samples do you normally get from each manufactuer?
 
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D

Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updates, but i've been pretty busy lately. I'd say i'm finally starting to take REAL action. I'm currently writing my product descriptions, and am currently working with 4 manufacturers and 1 distributor. I have a lot of product descriptions to write...

I also made my first unscripted telephone call the other day. Looking back, I don't know why I was so scared of calling. There's really nothing to be afraid about, some of my conversations were even aukward but that didn't stop me from working with them! I also plan to call the manufacturers who didn't reply to my emails tomorrow.

For my descriptions : First I started with a brainstorm, writing down all the benefits of my product that I could think of. Then I wrote about 3 paragraphs explaining the product, what it does, who it's for, and some of my benefits. I also wrote down some of the key features and benefits in point form under my paragraphes. Followed by the specifications.

This will be the format I will be using to write my descriptions. My descriptions are about 150-200 words.

I also have received my first sample today, I am very pleased with the quality. Now I'm just going to play around with it and see if I can figure out any other uses or benefits that I haven't thought of.

P.S. No news from manufacturers in India yet...
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I've just learned an important lesson today. So I was just working hard my descriptions, thinking everything had to be perfect. Then I started to get tired, I thought "I should just outsource this". But then I thought why does it have to be perfect? It doesn't! Don't think everything has to be perfect to get your site launched. You can improve it later. Right now, my main priority is to get my site launched, so I can finally start doing some marketing. That's the most important part, not creating the perfect description.

So I just started typing away, writing whatever came to mind. It actually turned out pretty good, it's probably not the best copy but i'm sure it will work. Once I get more involved with my niche and get a better idea of my customers wants and desires, I'll go back and rework them. But for now it's enough to get me started, and that's what counts.

I also bought a better theme for my site today, the alaska theme by bigcommerce, I think it's a good fit. I'm also going to get my logo designed soon.
 

GravyBoat

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If I am dropshipping should I still get some inventory just to start off? I don't really have the capital to stock anything yet, the products are pretty expensive, it's about 100$ for the most basic model,

Be sure to take into account the fact that drop shipping from overseas can take up to 3 weeks (or longer) sadly.

Best of luck!

Gravy
 

dotyy

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Great thread. I love to see progress threads where people are actually taking the steps to do it. Now it's my turn to get my a$$ in gear and DO IT!
 
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D

Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Be sure to take into account the fact that drop shipping from overseas can take up to 3 weeks (or longer) sadly.

Best of luck!

Gravy
Well, I plan to service internationally but I'm going to be using dropshippers from the same countries I plan to ship to. So right now I'm working with dropshippers in the US and Canada, each will take care of their own country as importing is too expensive. I've contacted a dropshipper from India too but I plan for them to only service India. I haven't heard anything yet though.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Quick question guys, if anyone has any experience with this I'd appreciate the feedback.

So as you know, I'm currently writing my product descriptions but it's pretty hard, my products don't really have much of a difference between them.

So I started writing them but after having a few done, they all sound pretty much the same. The only difference between my different products are the brand, model and size. They all pretty much do the same thing, with only a few minor differences, think of it like a pool. There's many different sizes but they're all extremely similar. How would I write unique content for each individual product model?
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I just received an email from my distributor, he told me that he does not traditionally do business online so this would be a big shift for him. He wants me to go meet him in person, to discuss this thoroughly. He's currently away but wants me to meet him after october 1st. He doesn't know I'm 16 though, do you think it would matter? I've never done this before, can anyone give me any suggestions?
 
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D

Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Anyway, I just finished writing all my descriptions for one of my brands, I also set up a paypal business account so now i'm ready to start selling! I'm also going to go the bank on monday to register a merchant account.

I think I'm going to launch my store with this one brand then continue to add more products from other brands at the same time. I'm going to start by targeting the US with PPC, and I also have a couple of leads lined up too.

Wish me luck guys!!
 

eqttrdr

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take it from someone who researched and found a niche that had basically no competition -- I mean products did exist like mine so I made mine MUCH MUCH better...

problem with that theory is that nobody was buying the other ones that sucked in the first place. I figured that if I made a superior product then everyone would want it.... but nobody even wanted the couple that were already out there.

My market was way too small and also those same people NEVER spend a penny.

If I had it to do all over again I would find a product that I know about that sells well and just put my own spin on it.. I would NEVER tried to reinvent the wheel. Sure there are new products being created and new markets being created every day - I just personally liken the odds of me successfully doing that right away are 1 in 1,000,000.. I would rather make a consistent fastlane income copying something that already works and using that money to try random stuff hoping I can make a new market.

just my .02
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I think my situation is somewhat similar to yours, I'll just have to wait and see if anyone will buy. When I said no competition I met no niche sites designed specifically for this product, the only real competition is walmart, bestbuy, homedepot, etc. And I keep finding more sites that only sell this product but they suck, no rankings and terrible website.

I'm not trying to create a new market, there already is a market for this product, and it's pretty big (100,000+ searches a month), I just want to create a better website, but I think people are used to buying this product in person, I'm not sure if they're willing to buy it online.
 
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D

Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
Quick update : I haven't started ppc yet, I'm currently writing my about us, shipping and returns, and contact us pages.
 
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Deleted2BB3x9

Guest
I've started using ppc now. I just made 2 new campaigns targeting 2 keywords. I had no idea what I was doing before but after reading Andy Black's posts I figured out a lot of things that I could improve on. Although my first attempt wasn't completely wasted as I gathered a bunch of data.

At first I targeted like 30 keywords, very broad. It told me which keywords had the highest impressions and CTR however. So now I've targeted two keywords using exact match. They are buying search terms using "cheap" and "for sale". So far it's looking good, I have a 2.2% CTR on "for sale " and 50% on "cheap"! I don't expect it to stay at 50% but it seems to be my best keyword. My stats haven't updated yet so I'll update you guys tomorrow!
 

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