Ask me anything about eCommerce (2012)

[wilddog]

Hey Bio,

Are you using any of the BigCommerce apps on your sites? If so, which do you recommend?

 

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[Chazmania]

Bio,

I'm doing my legwork trying to find a good product to source from China. Well, I found something - and I see it being sold successfully on ebay and amazon, as well as ecommerce sites with addresses here in the States.

The problem is that it apparently doesn't meet EPA certifications and it seems I can't import it. So how are all these other people getting it? Just by looking at their price points I know they must be importing otherwise there would be no profit. Any ideas on something like that?

 

[Warrior]

Hey biophase!

My site is www.wallswithart.com I was driving traffic to this site using Google Shopping and Google adwords, there were 0 conversions.

Now I'm thinking of retargeting it from US traffic to SE Asia traffic and instead contact forums for banner ads instead. What do you think of this change in strategy?

 

[Y.B.]

I was hoping to avoid reading 30 pages of posts...but can someone help point out the sites that biophase runs if that's not confidential

 

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[Genester]

You want to avoid reading the 30 pages of valuable quality info in this thread? And just want to know what sites bio is currently running?

First off, why would he ever share his sites with anyone? He's worked his a$$ off to get them to where they are today.

Secondly, don't be lazy and actually read the stuff bio has posted. It's FREE!!

 

[Y.B.]

I didn't mean it to come off that way. I just wanted to know who I was taking advice from.

 

[Genester]

No worries, sorry for the confusion.

But seriously, I doubt he will share his sites on here.

 

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[Berserker]

Fantastic thread. Just read it through on the advice from another member - glad I did. Thanks to everyone who has posted questions and answers, and especially Bio for starting the thread, and for still responding a few years after it started!

 

[biophase]

Hey Bio,

Are you using any of the BigCommerce apps on your sites? If so, which do you recommend?

I'm using unlimited upsell and webgility (not really an app). I haven't really gone through them all.

 

[biophase]

Bio,

I'm doing my legwork trying to find a good product to source from China. Well, I found something - and I see it being sold successfully on ebay and amazon, as well as ecommerce sites with addresses here in the States.

The problem is that it apparently doesn't meet EPA certifications and it seems I can't import it. So how are all these other people getting it? Just by looking at their price points I know they must be importing otherwise there would be no profit. Any ideas on something like that?

You can't import it because customs will block it? What EPA certifications doesn't it meet? Does it pollute the air?

 

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[biophase]

Hey biophase!

My site is www.wallswithart.com I was driving traffic to this site using Google Shopping and Google adwords, there were 0 conversions.

Now I'm thinking of retargeting it from US traffic to SE Asia traffic and instead contact forums for banner ads instead. What do you think of this change in strategy?

I don't understand your new strategy. You want to target customers in SE Asia vs. the USA? If you get traffic and no sales, your site is not converting. Getting different traffic won't help any, assuming the traffic is all targeted the same.

I looked at your site and could not find an address. Where are you located? I'm sure potential customers would want to know that too. How do I know where to ship my art if I want to return it?

 

[Knowledge Kick]

Bio,

I'm wondering if you use Amazon Web Services at all.

If not, any particular reason? If so, do you have any favorite features to use?

I've been playing with it and it seems awesome, but there's A LOT to digest. This is probably a good thing (lots of features and tools) but it can seem overwhelming sometimes.

Any opinion?

 

[biophase]

Bio,

I'm wondering if you use Amazon Web Services at all.

If not, any particular reason? If so, do you have any favorite features to use?

I've been playing with it and it seems awesome, but there's A LOT to digest. This is probably a good thing (lots of features and tools) but it can seem overwhelming sometimes.

Any opinion?

I don't use them. AWS has so many services, what service do you think I'd need in particular?

 

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[Gale4rc]

Apart from our different views on my branding for the watch I am selling.

What do you think should be my #1 source of getting new customers, other then PPC ?

 

[biophase]

Apart from our different views on my branding for the watch I am selling.

What do you think should be my #1 source of getting new customers, other then PPC ?

This is hard to answer because it's different for each market. I don't know the watch market you are in, but I'd think that it's more of a visual purchase than a features purchase, so I'd say Pinterest, Facebook Ads, Instagram?

 

[Gale4rc]

This is hard to answer because it's different for each market. I don't know the watch market you are in, but I'd think that it's more of a visual purchase than a features purchase, so I'd say Pinterest, Facebook Ads, Instagram?

Thanks, that's exactly where my new focus has been. (Since yesterday! Lol) Going to keep at it though.

Also I was thinking for now just watches but, after I build a following and most customers - I basically see the following/customers as building a 'list' - and so I can add products to my line down the road and this list will be comfortable with buying from me since they already have and generate even more $ - Is this a correct line of thought?

 

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[ck4750]

Bio, thanks a ton for the knowledge bomb!

One quick question... Further back in the thread you said learning SEO is crucial in Ecommerce, and just recently you said you don't do it anymore.

For someone just starting in ecommerce would you still recommend they learn SEO or do you think PPC/FB Ads/brand building is a better way to go?

 

[DrkSide]

For someone just starting in ecommerce would you still recommend they learn SEO or do you think PPC/FB Ads/brand building is a better way to go?

If you are just starting out I would definitely go with advertising on google and facebook. Don't neglect SEO completely but you aren't going to drive 5k people to your website on the first day with SEO while you can do that with PPC.

I am doing the currently with my store and I have had good luck getting traffic (not so much on conversions). With SEO I would have had to build content and optimize it then sit back and wait while with PPC I can get in front of people by the thousands very quickly.

 

[Chazmania]

You can't import it because customs will block it? What EPA certifications doesn't it meet? Does it pollute the air?

It's a product with a gas powered engine - but I actually did find a supplier with EPA certs after much digging around. I invested in a small shipment which I recieved last week and threw the item up on Craigslist just to see if I'd get a response. Well, I'm getting a hell of a response and have already sold 25% of my stock in the first week.

I originally planned on Ebay as a test, but shipping quotes from UPS and FEDEX both were about double what I see another seller shipping them for (on Ebay and another is the #1 ranked google search result website).

I couldn't get a real answer from the girl at UPS as to how other sellers are shipping for half price, although I imagine it must be a volume discount. So, I decided to sell locally and although profitable already, I doubt I'll re-order this product unless I can figure out competitive shipping to make it a web based business.

Still feels good though to have picked a product that resonates with people and turn some profit. Definitely a learning experience as far as locating suppliers and choosing niche etc.

 

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[eqttrdr]

What would you use if you are sending traffic to a landing page/pre-sell page first then directing to your product cart page?

regular html, custom coded bigcommerce page, wordpress?

thanks

 

[biophase]

Bio, thanks a ton for the knowledge bomb!

One quick question... Further back in the thread you said learning SEO is crucial in Ecommerce, and just recently you said you don't do it anymore.

For someone just starting in ecommerce would you still recommend they learn SEO or do you think PPC/FB Ads/brand building is a better way to go?

Google is changing algorythms fairly regularly now that certain SEO techniques can get wiped out on a change, so I concentrate on PPC ads more now. I still do generate content, before it's more for content sake vs SEO. You should still understand SEO because the white hat SEO stuff is generally good for business. For example, keeping the site content fresh and writing good content is good for your site in general as it is for SEO.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Marked Gold.

 

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[biophase]

It's a product with a gas powered engine - but I actually did find a supplier with EPA certs after much digging around. I invested in a small shipment which I recieved last week and threw the item up on Craigslist just to see if I'd get a response. Well, I'm getting a hell of a response and have already sold 25% of my stock in the first week.

I originally planned on Ebay as a test, but shipping quotes from UPS and FEDEX both were about double what I see another seller shipping them for (on Ebay and another is the #1 ranked google search result website).

I couldn't get a real answer from the girl at UPS as to how other sellers are shipping for half price, although I imagine it must be a volume discount. So, I decided to sell locally and although profitable already, I doubt I'll re-order this product unless I can figure out competitive shipping to make it a web based business.

Still feels good though to have picked a product that resonates with people and turn some profit. Definitely a learning experience as far as locating suppliers and choosing niche etc.

When you get volume going, your UPS or Fedex rates will drop. Do you have an account with them setup?

 

[biophase]

What would you use if you are sending traffic to a landing page/pre-sell page first then directing to your product cart page?

regular html, custom coded bigcommerce page, wordpress?

thanks

Probably a regular html page. That would be the easiest. Don't see why you'd set up wordpress just to do a one page site unless you needed the plugins.

 

[Yul]

What would you use if you are sending traffic to a landing page/pre-sell page first then directing to your product cart page?

regular html, custom coded bigcommerce page, wordpress?

thanks

I am not the most experienced Ecommerce guy. but right now I am doing the same redirecting traffic to a landing page thing and I am currently using Weebly.

That could probably work for you, specially if you are like me and have 0 knowledge of coding/building websites.

Not sure if this is the best way to go, but it is what I am currently doing.

Hope it helps.

 

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[eqttrdr]

what about having a call center or an answering service for people who want to ask questions about your product and/or order them???

do you have any recommendations for a beginner set up with a live answering/ordering service/call center when its time to upgrade from just a simple 800# voicemail???

What do you feel is the next step up from just a voicemail 800#?

I need a call center to answer questions and take orders

REP++ for this awesome thread!!

 

[Chazmania]

When you get volume going, your UPS or Fedex rates will drop. Do you have an account with them setup?

Yes I did set them both up but haven't used yet. That's reassuring though because shipping costs seem to be the only thing stopping the idea of selling through my own store. I wonder what kind of volumer would start to lower costs....

I'll call them again and try to get someone higher up the totem pole, thanks for the input!

 

[chrisbiz4444]

I think you read my post wrong. What part are you disagreeing with?? I don't have anything against blackhat. In fact, I agree that all SEO is blackhat since Google doesn't like any SEO.

The blackhat stuff I'm talking about is nothing like you've mentioned. It's the kind of stuff where they say, ok cell phones off, no photos, videos or note taking for this part of the class. Unfortunately, I didn't retain hat was taught because I didn't have the resources to implement what they talked about in class. This wasn't manual stuff. It was super server intensive and they talked about generating 10,000 links a day and it wasn't the normal warrior/wicked fire stuff.

All I'm saying is that SEO companies that get paid the big bucks will do black hat to rank big companies for big keywords. They have massive server resources and huge private networks. Think about what a network must look like for an SEO company that has been in business for 5 years. What kind of domains have they gathered? How many servers do they have running all day? How many partnerships with other SEO companies do they have?

Is starting an SEO company fastlane?

 

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[biophase]

what about having a call center or an answering service for people who want to ask questions about your product and/or order them???

do you have any recommendations for a beginner set up with a live answering/ordering service/call center when its time to upgrade from just a simple 800# voicemail???

What do you feel is the next step up from just a voicemail 800#?

I need a call center to answer questions and take orders

REP++ for this awesome thread!!

Well my first question is, why can't you answer the calls? If you are too busy, why don't you hire someone to do so? How many calls do you get a day?

 

[biophase]

Yes I did set them both up but haven't used yet. That's reassuring though because shipping costs seem to be the only thing stopping the idea of selling through my own store. I wonder what kind of volumer would start to lower costs....

I'll call them again and try to get someone higher up the totem pole, thanks for the input!

I don't know what volume gets what discounts. I would think that asking them would work, or try to find out who your local rep is for each company, or call a shipping company that uses UPS or Fedex. We get reps coming into the office all the time trying to get us to switch from Fedex to UPS, and these reps are from shipping companies, not UPS.