Ask me anything about eCommerce (2012)

[biophase]

Can you give some insight in how you managed stock when you were working with dropshippers.
For example, I have a supplier for 1 product category, but he actually has about 500 different products.
How did you make sure that you were not offering products that were actually out of stock?
Did you add all the products manually or use feed API?

I didn't have any feeds for my products. I assumed that they had everything in stock. I would only find out that it wasn't in stock after I got an order from a customer and sent that order to the dropshipper. If this happened on an item too many times then I would start to carry it myself.

 

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[MrPink]

Thanks for all the great advice!

Can you give a breakdown of your marketing spend as you progressed?

Example)
Monthly Revenue 500: adwords 50, seo 100
Monthly Revenue 1000: adwords 250, seo 100
Monthly Revenue 5000: adwords 500, seo 1000
Monthly Revenue 10000: adwords 500, seo 5000

I'm unsure if your marketing spend is mainly adwords and seo - thank again!

 

[biophase]

Thanks for all the great advice!

Can you give a breakdown of your marketing spend as you progressed?

Example)
Monthly Revenue 500: adwords 50, seo 100
Monthly Revenue 1000: adwords 250, seo 100
Monthly Revenue 5000: adwords 500, seo 1000
Monthly Revenue 10000: adwords 500, seo 5000

I'm unsure if your marketing spend is mainly adwords and seo - thank again!

I hate to admit this but I don't really even know. I have my adwords account set for $15/day and I don't look at it too often. I can remember that when I launched a new store back in 2008, I spent $50/day to kick start the store. In that month I spent around $700 in clicks and broke even with the store even though the store had alot of orders. To this day, I think that spending right off the bat has helped me with low click prices and high quality scores.

I don't spend nearly enough as I should on any marketing. This is a weak point in my process. In fact, I've instituted a thing called SEO Sundays where me and another member on here get on Skype for an hour every Sunday night and force ourselves to do SEO and marketing during that hour. This is because SEO and marketing need to be consistent and spread out. Doing SEO for 8 hours on one day per month is not as good as doing it 2 hours once a week.

With some stores I have done $0 in PPC and all SEO. I only did this because my adwords account in them got banned and I never resigned up for another one.

BTW, I have one account for each store. I don't have one big account with all the stores in them. I did this because I figured I could transfer my adwords account with each store as I sold which would make it more valuable.

 

[GamerGripz]

i am currently working on a company that sells a gaming accessory and we need our ecommerce website to be built. We want it to look similar to kontrolfreek.com with a very similar layout and features.

we have gotten quotes from many US companies and they have ranged from $4k-15K which is a bit expensive for us. We got a quote from an india company and it was $1300.

So where would be the best place to get our website done for a good low price but also keep quality and professionalism. The US companies are too expensive but the India company may be worse quality. If you have any advice or and companies we could get our website done by we would love the help. we are teenagers to let you know.

Thanks for the help

 

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[StudyRx]

Good relevant article on Wayfair: Wayfair's Road to $1 Billion - Yahoo! Small Business Advisor

 

[CPisHere]

i am currently working on a company that sells a gaming accessory and we need our ecommerce website to be built. We want it to look similar to kontrolfreek.com with a very similar layout and features.

we have gotten quotes from many US companies and they have ranged from $4k-15K which is a bit expensive for us. We got a quote from an india company and it was $1300.

So where would be the best place to get our website done for a good low price but also keep quality and professionalism. The US companies are too expensive but the India company may be worse quality. If you have any advice or and companies we could get our website done by we would love the help. we are teenagers to let you know.

Thanks for the help

I've used Elance to get websites built for a few hundred dollars.

 

[puckman]

BTW, I have one account for each store. I don't have one big account with all the stores in them. I did this because I figured I could transfer my adwords account with each store as I sold which would make it more valuable.

FYI, I would set up one AdWords account for all of your stores and create an "MCC" basically an umbrella account that will house all of your accounts. The upside is that you will get more support from Google, and get access to more products and features they offer agencies and businesses. The downside is if you are getting shut off for anything they deem spammy, it may effect your other campaigns. But.. another upside is that if you have several legit adwords accounts under one MCC, you might be less likely to be seen as spam, and could have more leverage to resolve any issues with Google. Re: Creating more value for the store to have an intact AdWords account.. I dont think it adds much if anything. Usually, an agency or larger company(the buyer) will have a large account already and will just copy your campaigns into their accounts. Anytime you would use an SEM/SEO agency they would just do this anyways. This might work for the small time buyer with nothing active, but the larger acquirer or investor will likely have something running much larger, my two cents..

 

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[Mexidan]

@GamerGripz.. Looks like opencart with a template to me.. doing the same right now and I´m expecting to be spending 200 dollars on custom design and some help with the implementation.

 

[imoutthere]

Legen Wait- for- it Dary !

I think people get stuck on these numbers and many don't realize that you can run huge businesses yourself, out of your bedroom with no employees. I'm talking about multi-million dollar businesses.

Wow, its like your talking directly to me. Its just hard for me to vision a multi-million dollar company from my home. That is definitely something i will have work on.

Ive been following your journey for awhile. Thanks for the great content and blog.

Im on my second store now. I plan on doing something very similar to you and source my products directly, while cutting out my supplier. Eventually one day being the supplier/manufacturer.

So far from your blog and post ive picked up:
- PPC or Adwords Early
- Buying, Storing, and Shipping products from home.
- Minimum atleast 6 months to break even
- SEO from the beginning
- Directing customers who call to your contact us or FAQ page
- Choose the right cart for growth and your overall goal
- Learn SEO and be proactive in SEO weekly (blog, strategic blockers, KW research, etc)
- Stock up on best sellers for holiday season
- Most of your revenue comes from the holiday months.
- USPS will come to your house/warehouse to pick up packages
- Amazon and ebay are great as a loss leader for customer acquisition (from the forum)

What are some shortcuts to breaking even earlier that you have learned over the years??

Thanks,
Rich

 

[lookingahead]

When it comes to drop shipping, is it better to have a drop shipper close to home or does it matter?

 

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[biophase]

i am currently working on a company that sells a gaming accessory and we need our ecommerce website to be built. We want it to look similar to kontrolfreek.com with a very similar layout and features.

we have gotten quotes from many US companies and they have ranged from $4k-15K which is a bit expensive for us. We got a quote from an india company and it was $1300.

So where would be the best place to get our website done for a good low price but also keep quality and professionalism. The US companies are too expensive but the India company may be worse quality. If you have any advice or and companies we could get our website done by we would love the help. we are teenagers to let you know.

Thanks for the help

You could do that site with standard ecommerce software and wordpress. It would probably cost you
about $2500. Buy software for $300-$500 and get a developer to do a template for $1000-$2000.

 

[biophase]

Usually, an agency or larger company(the buyer) will have a large account already and will just copy your campaigns into their accounts. Anytime you would use an SEM/SEO agency they would just do this anyways. This might work for the small time buyer with nothing active, but the larger acquirer or investor will likely have something running much larger, my two cents..

At this point a potential buyer could or could not use an agency. However, one thing overlooked is that with a single account, you can't have more than one ad show up for the same keyword. With multiple accounts, you can get around that.

 

[biophase]

So far from your blog and post ive picked up:
- PPC or Adwords Early
- Buying, Storing, and Shipping products from home.
- Minimum atleast 6 months to break even
- SEO from the beginning
- Directing customers who call to your contact us or FAQ page
- Choose the right cart for growth and your overall goal
- Learn SEO and be proactive in SEO weekly (blog, strategic blockers, KW research, etc)
- Stock up on best sellers for holiday season
- Most of your revenue comes from the holiday months.
- USPS will come to your house/warehouse to pick up packages
- Amazon and ebay are great as a loss leader for customer acquisition (from the forum)

What are some shortcuts to breaking even earlier that you have learned over the years??

Thanks,
Rich

You have covered it pretty much except the 6 month breakeven. I don't know exactly where you got that. But some stores made money within a month, some took longer. I think it depends on the market you enter.

You can breakeven earlier if you don't spend money on PPC or SEO, but that's because you spent less and you make less to breakeven. My first store made money with its first month. If you PPC is low, you can make money very fast. Choose the right keywords that cost a few cents.

 

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[biophase]

When it comes to drop shipping, is it better to have a drop shipper close to home or does it matter?

Where there are located usually doesn't matter. But if they are located on a coast, just remember that shipping to the other side of the country will cost you more than if they are located in Kansas.

 

[MNentre]

Hey Bio,

Great thread and great blog! Thanks for all the insight so far!

Where do you start when researching a new niche. There will most likely already be a store out there selling it, so do you just look for those stores and then contact the mnfg's that they are selling and then just outperform them on customer service and ease of use, and marketing?

Also, if you were to look into buying an existing ecommerce site off of Flippa, for example, what are you going to look for in your due dilligence?
Competition?
Site layout?
quality of backlinks?
Ways to improve SEO and increase sales?
Price that competitors are selling it for? this one is big for me, I have written off a lot of businesses bc i see it is avaialble for cheaper, yet the site is still doing decent sales.

I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions for you down the road

Thanks again!

 

[Runum]

Thanks for this thread Bio. Do you do any local advertising or promotions for sales? Do you sell retail straight out of your warehouse for the local public?

 

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[Jill]

...In fact, I've instituted a thing called SEO Sundays where me and another member on here get on Skype for an hour every Sunday night and force ourselves to do SEO and marketing during that hour....

So what does this look like? Do you just surf WF together until you find good deals for links? or do you share good sites on which to post your own content/comments/backlinks? or what?

 

[biophase]

Hey Bio,

Great thread and great blog! Thanks for all the insight so far!

Where do you start when researching a new niche. There will most likely already be a store out there selling it, so do you just look for those stores and then contact the mnfg's that they are selling and then just outperform them on customer service and ease of use, and marketing?

Pretty much. You can put them a better store with more choices or better choices. Don't make the exact same store as them.

Also, if you were to look into buying an existing ecommerce site off of Flippa, for example, what are you going to look for in your due dilligence?
Competition?
Site layout?
quality of backlinks?
Ways to improve SEO and increase sales?
Price that competitors are selling it for? this one is big for me, I have written off a lot of businesses bc i see it is avaialble for cheaper, yet the site is still doing decent sales.

On Flippa, It depends on the price range of the store. If it's a cheap store under $10k, I would just look at traffic and sales. I would most likely overhaul it as soon as I got it anyway so the software doesn't matter.

If the store is more expensive then I'd look at financials a little more.

I would buy knowing that I can improve its numbers by alot.

I never compete on price. I don't look at what competitors are selling for because you will never be the lowest price.

 

[biophase]

Thanks for this thread Bio. Do you do any local advertising or promotions for sales? Do you sell retail straight out of your warehouse for the local public?

No I don't do any local stuff. We get walk ins once in a while and we do sell to them, but we discourage it.

 

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[biophase]

So what does this look like? Do you just surf WF together until you find good deals for links? or do you share good sites on which to post your own content/comments/backlinks? or what?

Basically, during this time we make sure that we buy SEO packages. Else we would never ever get around to it. We should probably be doing this for everything else in business! It's more about both being in front of a computer and actually doing instead of chatting and surfing (which happens alot).

 

[Amail]

Biophase

What do you think of hosting an "Ecommerce Field Trip"? The idea is a group of us would hold each others' hands and follow you as you shepherd us thru the steps to open our own ecommerce store.

I imagine the steps would be:
1- Choose a niche
2- Select product you want to sell
3- Establish your domain
4- Build the website
5- Optimize your SEO

At the end of the process, you can look back marvel at the progress your students have made. Plus, it really helps get people off their duffs and do something

 

[MNentre]

What do you think of hosting an "Ecommerce Field Trip"?

My permission slip is singed and ready

 

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[Fisherman]

what software do you use to determine the viability of niches

 

[Whole Paradigm]

Bio,

Can you offer some advice to my struggle:

I research a source for drop-shippers (this is the only model I can utilize to start) Some say they do and some say they don't dropship. Fine... The ones that do give me the the contract to sign and say it's as simple as providing my reseller id and EIN. No problem... But then, once granted access to their list of products. It's not really dropshipping. They still require minimums on orders and offer bulk pricing. I want to receive an order from my customer (which is usually a quantity of one product) place the order with my dropshipper (one product), and thats it. However, I keep running into companies that say they dropship but I then discover they dont. Is this the case most everywhere or is it possible to find someone who will allow me to buy only one product at a time?

Cory

 

[biophase]

Biophase

What do you think of hosting an "Ecommerce Field Trip"? The idea is a group of us would hold each others' hands and follow you as you shepherd us thru the steps to open our own ecommerce store.

I imagine the steps would be:
1- Choose a niche
2- Select product you want to sell
3- Establish your domain
4- Build the website
5- Optimize your SEO

At the end of the process, you can look back marvel at the progress your students have made. Plus, it really helps get people off their duffs and do something

I have no interest in creating a course or anything like that. I already am helping a bunch of people.

Over the years, many on the forums and my blogs have asked for help. I don't mind answering questions at all, but I can quickly tell who will do stuff and who won't.

The people who need step by step guides usually don't do shit. I mean if I tell you step one is to find a niche and you'll get step two in two weeks. What do you do if you find a niche on day 1? Do you wait two weeks for step 2 or do you move forward. You can ask me what the next step is before two weeks. But most would probably wait.

I have a friend that wanted to start a store for over a year. We have a niche already so I give him one task. Find 5 domain names and call me with me. He calls me 5 days later with one domain. I tell him why it is not a good one and give him more guidelines to help him choose better ones. To this day he hasn't called me back with his next 5. He will never get a store up.

I think that if you need a course or a step by step guide to get off your duffs then you will have a tough time in business in general.

Look at the guy in this thread below. He says it took him 18 months to breakeven. It's not easy to do and you have to be persistent.

I make over $100k per month running Drop-Ship product websites (proof inside).. AMAA : IAmA

 

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[biophase]

what software do you use to determine the viability of niches

I don't use any software to do that. I use google keyword tool to find search volume and then I look and see what the websites selling the stuff look like.

 

[biophase]

Bio,

Can you offer some advice to my struggle:

I research a source for drop-shippers (this is the only model I can utilize to start) Some say they do and some say they don't dropship. Fine... The ones that do give me the the contract to sign and say it's as simple as providing my reseller id and EIN. No problem... But then, once granted access to their list of products. It's not really dropshipping. They still require minimums on orders and offer bulk pricing. I want to receive an order from my customer (which is usually a quantity of one product) place the order with my dropshipper (one product), and thats it. However, I keep running into companies that say they dropship but I then discover they dont. Is this the case most everywhere or is it possible to find someone who will allow me to buy only one product at a time?

Cory

You probably need to be more clear when you ask them about dropshipping. Clarify it with the company when you talk to them. Not all companies dropship so you will find alot that will only offer bulk pricing with minimum orders.

Personally, I would rather find companies that don't dropship and have high minimum orders right now.

 

[Whole Paradigm]

You probably need to be more clear when you ask them about dropshipping. Clarify it with the company when you talk to them. Not all companies dropship so you will find alot that will only offer bulk pricing with minimum orders.

Personally, I would rather find companies that don't dropship and have high minimum orders right now.

I will better clarify with the companies going forward, I also understand you stance on dropshipping. Unfortunately, it's not an option for me ATM. However, if I could bring in even 50k-60k(which may be peanuts to most here) a year using the dropship model; that's nearly triple what I currently make with my job. That would then allow me to quit my job, work for myself fulltime and therefore further maximize profits thus allowing me to move on to a more appropriate model.

Cory

 

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[mrbusines]

so when picking your store names does having a .com or .net make a difference if the good .coms are gone?

 

[andviv]

when picking your store names does having a .com or .net make a difference if the good .coms are gone?

MJ talked about it a couple of times here.

.com is the answer.

Do a search in the forum, you should be able to find more info about that here.