Ask me anything about eCommerce (2012)

[wade1mil]

What are you selling?

A couple niche products in the fashion industry and a couple in the game/hobby industry. I'm aware you know more about BigCommerce than I do and I'd like to have a full-blown customized website like what you're planning on doing as well, but I'd rather the costs be paid from the profit. This way I'm not out $1,500 for each product that doesn't pan out.

 

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[biophase]

I'm guessing. I don't want to use the default Big Commerce skins, and I can design the site myself. However, as I only know HTML/CSS, I can't integrate my design into Big Commerce. There a several companies that specialize in designing/coding Big Commerce projects. There are also some SEO tweaks that Big Commerce needs out of the box.

Unless I'm missing something. If I can integrate my own design into Big Commerce, I wouldn't need much money to start at all.

Biophase: I'd be happy to discuss the niche with you in private, if you'd like.

Edit: And the end goal is to use profits to develop a full blown Magento site at some point (probably a $10-20k project, but that's later on down the road).

See, now I think you are getting ahead of yourself. Just yesterday you were talking about jumping in or doing something else. Now you are talking about a store with a custom skin, seo tweaks and moving to Magento later.

You don't even know if your niche will work yet.

Why not, open up a BC store. Change the template, header and some colors, get the store up with some products and then try to sell them? You can blame the store colors and cart on why you don't get any sales, but I know that any of those standard BC templates will get sales.

 

[biophase]

I opened a BigCommerce account because Biophase recommended it. Started with the 15 day free trial and have never even seen BC and I has a custom store full of items in 4 hours. It cost me nothing.

This is the way to do it. Even if Wade's store gets no sales forever, he is well ahead of everyone else. I will bet that he knows way more now than he did a few weeks ago. I will bet that there is no fear in opening a store anymore. In fact, now comes the hardest part... getting traffic.

 

[JasonR]

This is the way to do it. Even if Wade's store gets no sales forever, he is well ahead of everyone else. I will bet that he knows way more now than he did a few weeks ago. I will bet that there is no fear in opening a store anymore. In fact, now comes the hardest part... getting traffic.

I guess that's my point. I know how hard it is to get traffic and sales, but I don't know if I can make it big in the niche. I'm trying to do my due diligence and be reasonably sure that I can make it. Maybe I'm making it more complicated than it seems, and I should just dive in.

Biophase, how did you find your niche? And when you did, did you just dive in or did you research the niche before starting to sell?

 

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[Vigilante]

My daughter built a BC site yesterday. Took her 4 hours and it is BEAUTIFUL. Unbelievable. Looks like she has been in the game for years. She's 20 and well on her way to beating the slow lane. She has it in her blood.

 

[biophase]

I don't know if I can make it big in the niche. I'm trying to do my due diligence and be reasonably sure that I can make it.

You can research this all you want but you won't know until you do it. What exactly are you researching??

What if you open your store and you find out...
Your dropshipper is unreliable and never has anything in stock or takes days to ship?
Your PPC costs are alot higher than you thought?
SEO is tougher than you thought.
or SEO is easier than you thought, then you get hit with a google update
shipping costs more than you thought?

It feels like you are afraid to take a risk or put in work. You are stuck in what the real estate people would call analysis paralysis. If you are wrong it will only cost you a few bucks and some time, but you will be much farther along than if you keep researching and waiting for that perfect niche.

I didn't even know what to research when I started my store. Heck I didn't even know SEO. I think I got 50,000 links to my site in the 1st month and it got kicked by google for 12 months.

 

[wade1mil]

Hey Bio some of the products I'd like to test are somewhat expensive even after getting the MOQ down to 100. Have you ever tried to do a preorder sale on eBay or your website? It'd be pretty nice to have half of your inventory sold before you pay for it.

 

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[JamesS88]

Hi biophase,

Thanks for putting all this info out there. I've been pouring over this thread on a daily basis. I'm starting from scratch, knowledge wise, but I've started taking steps based on the information in this thread and vigilante's and some from kwerner too. So far, Ive purchased 5 domains and signed up for a 2 year "baby" plan on host gator. I'll probably have to change from shared to private SSL but I didn't know what that meant when I was making the purchase. I was reluctant to ask you questions because its kinda impossible to without putting my niche out there but oh well. I'm realizing that the process is what's important, I can always pick a new niche.

I picked an adult niche because of what Vigilante said in his thread, (big margin and no brand dominance). At first, I ran into issues with most major web hosting services not allowing adult content. KWerner pointed me towards host gator who allows it, still haven't decided on a CMS though. I'm curious about what you said along the lines of, "It takes roughly $1000 to start your first site and $200 for each subsequent one. Could you shed some light on that? I've only spent about a quarter of that so far. Although, I still haven't set up a payment processor/purchased product/seo/adwords/ppc etc. Is that where the rest of that $1000 is going to go?

Also, which of these purchases are transferable between all my domains and which are isolated to one. For instance, after purchasing the web hosting, I learned that I could use it for all my domains. What about things like the payment processer or SSL or any of the other steps. I guess I'm just asking which purchases am I going to have to make for each domain, because if that's the case, I'll be a lot more selective with those items as far as which domains I build upon first.

I've been looking at products on alibaba. I'm a little confused because I keep hearing how manufacturers are reluctant to do small orders, yet in this niche, it seems like everyone has minimum order of maybe 20-100. Do you think its just the nature of the niche or are there a ton of scammers on there?

I'm really starting to wonder if I've gotten ahead of myself. After reading this thread, I thought the website was first and foremost after picking a niche. But then I read vigilante's thread and it makes me think I should order the products first and try them on eBay or Amazon to see if they even sell. I know I will have failures but I would hate to waste money if its avoidable. I'm not sure man I just know I'm hungry as hell and am taking action everyday.

Once I get the sites up and figured out, I'll post the domains for you to critique and for everyone else to check out. Thanks again for everything you've done thus far and continue to do.

 

[kwerner]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to biophase again.

I hate that damn message. Great thread Bio.

 

[biophase]

I picked an adult niche because of what Vigilante said in his thread, (big margin and no brand dominance). At first, I ran into issues with most major web hosting services not allowing adult content. KWerner pointed me towards host gator who allows it, still haven't decided on a CMS though. I'm curious about what you said along the lines of, "It takes roughly $1000 to start your first site and $200 for each subsequent one. Could you shed some light on that? I've only spent about a quarter of that so far. Although, I still haven't set up a payment processor/purchased product/seo/adwords/ppc etc. Is that where the rest of that $1000 is going to go?

Also, which of these purchases are transferable between all my domains and which are isolated to one. For instance, after purchasing the web hosting, I learned that I could use it for all my domains. What about things like the payment processer or SSL or any of the other steps. I guess I'm just asking which purchases am I going to have to make for each domain, because if that's the case, I'll be a lot more selective with those items as far as which domains I build upon first.

I've been looking at products on alibaba. I'm a little confused because I keep hearing how manufacturers are reluctant to do small orders, yet in this niche, it seems like everyone has minimum order of maybe 20-100. Do you think its just the nature of the niche or are there a ton of scammers on there?

I'm really starting to wonder if I've gotten ahead of myself. After reading this thread, I thought the website was first and foremost after picking a niche. But then I read vigilante's thread and it makes me think I should order the products first and try them on eBay or Amazon to see if they even sell. I know I will have failures but I would hate to waste money if its avoidable. I'm not sure man I just know I'm hungry as hell and am taking action everyday.

Once I get the sites up and figured out, I'll post the domains for you to critique and for everyone else to check out. Thanks again for everything you've done thus far and continue to do.

Hi James,

You will probably pay for your SSL, $50-$100. Your shopping cart will be about $300. And your payment processor will charge you about $100 to start (probably more since you are in the adult niche). The rest of the money can go to LLC creation, adwords, logos or whatever business expenses you have.

You can transfer over SSL's, cart licenses and your processor could be also depending on if you switch niches or not. Most of the things you buy can be transferred.

Not sure about the minimum orders. You will need to dig down to see who is legit.

I think you may have a tough time selling adult stuff on ebay and amazon. Adult stuff seems to play by a different set of rules.

 

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[Knowledge Kick]

If you had a $1,000/Month Internet Marketing Budget, what do you think the best/most sensible/easiest to execute/most profitable strategy would be?

This includes: buying new domains, all SEO, link-building, outsourcing, etc. EVERYTHING.

Assume that you are starting from Square 1 and have no software, existing sites, etc.

How would you go about building your business, expanding it and monetizing it? What kid of sites would you start? What software is essential? How would you begin earning money?

Please be as detailed as possible.

Thanks!!!

 

[Amail]

If you had a $1,000/Month Internet Marketing Budget, what do you think the best/most sensible/easiest to execute/most profitable strategy would be?

This includes: buying new domains, all SEO, link-building, outsourcing, etc. EVERYTHING.

Assume that you are starting from Square 1 and have no software, existing sites, etc.

How would you go about building your business, expanding it and monetizing it? What kid of sites would you start? What software is essential? How would you begin earning money?

Please be as detailed as possible.

Thanks!!!

I don't know if I've seen a more open-ended question on this board. How long is a piece of string?

You need to pare this question down to bite-size chunks. The answer to the questions as you've asked them would fill an entire library.

 

[Knowledge Kick]

I don't know if I've seen a more open-ended question on this board. How long is a piece of string?

You need to pare this question down to bite-size chunks. The answer to the questions as you've asked them would fill an entire library.

How do you figure? The question is directed specifically toward Biophase. It could be answered in 1 short paragraph. Maybe 2 if he got into a little bit more detail.

 

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[Amail]

How do you figure? The question is directed specifically toward Biophase. It could be answered in 1 short paragraph. Maybe 2 if he got into a little bit more detail.

Fair enough. Looked like a tall order to me, but maybe I'm reading more into it than there is.

Carry on!

 

[skumria]

Folks, here is a great blog on eCommerce called ecommercefuel.com. On this blog there is a great free eBook on building a successful online store. I enjoyed reading this ebook. Now its time to take some actions.

 

[andviv]

here is a great blog on eCommerce called ecommercefuel.com. On this blog there is a great free eBook on building a successful online store.

hmmm not sure if ban this one right away as a spammer.... jury still out.

 

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[JasonR]

He could very well be someone outsourced in India to build links. I downloaded the book he is referring too, and is actually very informative. But yes, very skeptical as his first post, and I doubt he is the author of that ebook.

 

[biophase]

If you had a $1,000/Month Internet Marketing Budget, what do you think the best/most sensible/easiest to execute/most profitable strategy would be?

This includes: buying new domains, all SEO, link-building, outsourcing, etc. EVERYTHING.

Assume that you are starting from Square 1 and have no software, existing sites, etc.

How would you go about building your business, expanding it and monetizing it? What kid of sites would you start? What software is essential? How would you begin earning money?

Please be as detailed as possible.

Thanks!!!

This is almost a how would you make money with $1000 question? Which in all honesty is the worse question that you could ask someone if you are looking for advice, because what I would do right now is very different than anything that I've posted in this thread. Basically I've been there and done that and it's time to expand further. My skill set and experience is very different than yours. If you ask MJ or Vigilante or anyone else this question their answers would be totally different. I don't mean to be harsh, but if you are reaching out to others for advice in the future, this type of question will mostly likely never get you a response. If I got an email like this I'd just hit delete, vs. specific questions.

So I'm assuming that you would ask about how I would spend $1000 in ecommerce and I have identified a niche to get into.

I would buy the domain, sign up for bigcommerce, buy their SSL cert, sign up with their credit card processor, get an LLC, open a business bank account and paypal. I would use a bigcommerce template and modify it a little. Then I would hire someone to do the SEO and maybe begin a small PPC campaign. I would set up accounts on youtube and twitter, facebook pages and add content to them. I would setup ebay accounts and amazon stores and begin selling on there.

I don't even think this would all cost more than $1000.

 

[MakeItHappen]

Lets say you are selling washing machines. So you bought x washing machines of product a which you store at your home and you start selling them.
What happens if a customer gets a damaged washing machine? You have to give him his money back but will you ask the customer to sent it back to you? What is the process like? Also will it be 100% your problem or will you get the money back of the manufactory because you can obv not test every washing machine yourself when you get them from the manufactory...

How do you handle this problem? Would love to get some advice!

 

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[biophase]

Lets say you are selling washing machines. So you bought x washing machines of product a which you store at your home and you start selling them.
What happens if a customer gets a damaged washing machine? You have to give him his money back but will you ask the customer to sent it back to you? What is the process like? Also will it be 100% your problem or will you get the money back of the manufactory because you can obv not test every washing machine yourself when you get them from the manufactory...

How do you handle this problem? Would love to get some advice!

First, was it damaged during shipping? or it just did not work?

If it was damaged during shipping, I would file a claim with the shipping company and ship the customer another one. I would send someone to take that washing machine back.

If it did not work, I'd ship him another one and then send the broken one back to the manufacturer and ask for a credit.

 

[MakeItHappen]

First, was it damaged during shipping? or it just did not work?

In the case i was asking for it just didn't work. Thanks for the answer and all the answers in this and many other threads! Speed +++ =)

 

[amgchristian]

I have an e-commerce question: Would it be better to have an e-commerce store built by a web developer and pay them....or buy a good looking theme that costs around $200 and go from there? I know for sure after buying a design that I will still need help editing the theme such as how I'd like to place certain things because I have no knowledge of html/css.

Thank you

 

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[Knowledge Kick]

This is almost a how would you make money with $1000 question? Which in all honesty is the worse question that you could ask someone if you are looking for advice, because what I would do right now is very different than anything that I've posted in this thread. Basically I've been there and done that and it's time to expand further. My skill set and experience is very different than yours. If you ask MJ or Vigilante or anyone else this question their answers would be totally different. I don't mean to be harsh, but if you are reaching out to others for advice in the future, this type of question will mostly likely never get you a response. If I got an email like this I'd just hit delete, vs. specific questions.

So I'm assuming that you would ask about how I would spend $1000 in ecommerce and I have identified a niche to get into.

I would buy the domain, sign up for bigcommerce, buy their SSL cert, sign up with their credit card processor, get an LLC, open a business bank account and paypal. I would use a bigcommerce template and modify it a little. Then I would hire someone to do the SEO and maybe begin a small PPC campaign. I would set up accounts on youtube and twitter, facebook pages and add content to them. I would setup ebay accounts and amazon stores and begin selling on there.

I don't even think this would all cost more than $1000.

Thanks Biophase! I actually did mean for the question to be specifically geared toward YOU personally. Like if you had to start all over right now sort of thing. The response helped a lot.

 

[biophase]

I have an e-commerce question: Would it be better to have an e-commerce store built by a web developer and pay them....or buy a good looking theme that costs around $200 and go from there? I know for sure after buying a design that I will still need help editing the theme such as how I'd like to place certain things because I have no knowledge of html/css.

Thank you

You can't just buy a theme without the backend shopping cart. I don't quite understand your question. I would get an off the shelf shopping cart and them pick a theme and modify it myself. You should learn a little html and css or you will be spending alot of money on tweaks.

 

[biophase]

Thanks Biophase! I actually did mean for the question to be specifically geared toward YOU personally. Like if you had to start all over right now sort of thing. The response helped a lot.

But that's just it. I know exactly what I'd do because I'm doing it. I am starting something new from scratch. If I outline it here, you wouldn't be able to follow it because it takes experience in this field. You have to find your own thing and from it you can take the steps and pieces from everyone else's plans and integrate them into yours.

I got my new domain last week
Installed wordpress, added a theme and am adding content to it right now
I'll get a new LLC
Get insurance
I've already got a handfull of providers to kick it off with offerings
Once the site is done, I'm going to start marketing it by facebook and blogs, no SEO or PPC for this one
See this is totally different, no cart, no SSL, no products to ship, not ecommerce

 

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[Amail]

But that's just it. I know exactly what I'd do because I'm doing it. I am starting something new from scratch. If I outline it here, you wouldn't be able to follow it because it takes experience in this field. You have to find your own thing and from it you can take the steps and pieces from everyone else's plans and integrate them into yours.

I got my new domain last week
Installed wordpress, added a theme and am adding content to it right now
I'll get a new LLC
Get insurance
I've already got a handfull of providers to kick it off with offerings
Once the site is done, I'm going to start marketing it by facebook and blogs, no SEO or PPC for this one
See this is totally different, no cart, no SSL, no products to ship, not ecommerce

You've piqued my interest!

 

[Talluer]

Do you guys have a process you use to nail down a viable product or niche to build a store around? I've got plenty of idea's but I want to be a little more confident I'm not investing loads of time and energy into a lackluster niche. I am fully confident I can handle just about everything else but the potential product ideas I have are keeping me awake at night. I don't trust them and would like to know how to dig deeper into a niche.

I've read through the entire thread, this is fantastic. I'd like to offer a big thank you for helping out all the little guys with questions.

 

[DollarArticles]

Id go hang out over on ebay pulse, or google products, trends, and buy Ultimate Niche Finder, you should find a niche in no time.

 

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[Vigilante]

biophase... any recommendations for an eCommerce platform for a single product web site? I am using BigCommerce for a larger store effort, but just wondering if you have any efficient recommendations to build a site that includes a single product. I am thinking about just putting up a couple of pages with a paypal BUYITNOW button. Might do the trick... but wanted to see if you had any best practices recommendations for a focused site with a single product.

 

[LightHouse]

Dave, I just built sites for single products last week. Shoot me an email and Ill show you an option of what you can do, that is fairly inexpensive to set up and launch for single to under 10 products. You can also build out the "framework" like i did to launch new single product sites quickly, like before the shipments come in.

Speed to market anyone?!