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From Affiliate Marketing To Importing And Ecommerce

Marketing, social media, advertising

Evil_Jester

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Can someone give advice for some ignorant questions I have?

**where I'm at: I made a fb page, made an ad, got an ad account and placed an order for cpm bid which is under review(first time fb ad user)**

1) I'm looking to test 5-6 products this week and I want to spend. Should I get a business checking account now? I don't want to run up my personal credit and lower my score.
2) If I get a business checking account I need an llc. Should I just go ahead and spend ~300 bucks now? I haven't gotten an llc before.
3) When scoping for products, what alibaba payment options should I look for, so I can rule out vendors I don't want to work with?
 
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Evil_Jester

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Mac

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View attachment 13046

I realized how much the facebook ad platform is like walking on thin ice. I'm glad my account was flagged right away when I started rather than later.
For other new people, follow the fb terms of service. If you are dependent on facebook ads to start your funnel, your whole business can get screwed in an instant.
This thread helps. Read it before trying ads.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/facebook-ads-not-running-is-this-normal.57555/
Yeah, a year ago I got banned from making Facebook ads and it really stopped me from taking action. To get unbanned I was recently moving, got a new computer and new credit card and new Facebook account so it worked out perfectly.
 

Eos

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WOW! What a thread!
Massive thank you to you @hughjasle and everyone else who has contributed.
You don't need to be full time to dive into this do you?
I'm guessing you can manage your ads before and after work and such like and maybe handle customer service on the job or outsource?

REP+++
 

hughjasle

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You don't need to be full time to dive into this do you?
Correct. If you need the cashflow - best to keep your job and start small
I'm guessing you can manage your ads before and after work and such like and maybe handle customer service on the job or outsource?
best if you can watch it all the time, sneaking peaks all day long depending on your job. Start small and do as much yourself as possible if money is tight.
 

hughjasle

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From a private message (edited):
I have very low monthly costs and up to £6000 saved up to invest in getting products and marketing them.

In my situation would you:
1) Build a 'general store' and dropship hot products from Alibaba
Pro's: Can test and make sales fast to build capital
Cons: Generic products.
Seems like a strategy that is hot now but will burn down when the cost of FB ads rise.

2) Build a niche store and dropship products from Alibaba
Pros: Building a more valuable store but still very fast to testing and building capital (potentially)
Find the Facebook audiences that buy (kind of an asset.)
When I've made sales I could import more products for this niche and get custom ones created?
Cons: Generic products at first.

3) Your strategy.
Would you have done your strategy if you were at my 'level' and hadn't done FB ads before?
Testing and then importing somewhat customised.
Pros: More longevity, better margins.
Cons: Takes longer to make money.
Will I burn through 6k before I make any sales?

What would you say with someone at my level of experience and capital.

Well i've never done #1 or #2 so I can't really comment on what would be best.

BUT, it really just comes down to (on either of those methods) on what products you choose. Pick a good product, or set of products, and start with method #1 or #2 if you find that easier and feel more confident with that, until you feel confident that you can swallow the costs to move into doing #3.

BTW, what you do with your $$ and living situation is up to you and what you feel comfortable with. To me, if I $6k left in my bank, I'd be knocking down doors getting a job while I continue to push my business on the side looking for ecommerce products and setting up shops. I have a wife and two kids though so my living expenses are higher than you single guys.
 

Ryllban

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First off, love the thread @hughjasle. Thanks to this thread, I myself are in the process of importing and testing a new product very soon.

I have a question regarding writing the copy for the product/ads. Do you have any process for researching and finding pain problems your potential customers have when testing a new product with some good copy?

I myself just end up on amazon reading reviews and also searching on popular forums in the niche I'm entering for different threads that might be helping me uncovering the pain problems.

If you have a process but don't feel like revealing it, that's fine! Never hurts to ask though :).

Thanks!
 
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hughjasle

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Do you have any process for researching and finding pain problems your potential customers have when testing a new product with some good copy?
Are you saying you have products and don't know what the pain points are? Seems like you'd see a product and immediately know what pain points it would solve, or you would start with a pain point and find a product to fill it.

I'm going to assume you are doing the later and looking for a pain point to solve and find a product for it. If that's the case then no, I don't really have a process for finding pain problems. I just see them all around me. They are everywhere.

I think the first product is the hardest. After the first, the rest are easier as you already have a niche you know and products and ideas just start to flow.
 

hughjasle

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So had this thought the other day;

If you had 100k to start a new business in this space, I feel like there would be almost no chance for failure with this method of testing first. If you go and learn enough to know how to make proper funnels/shopify sites, and how to properly use Facebook that just leaves you with finding the right product. With $100k to blow to find one, there just seems no way you can honestly spend that amount and not find at least 1 product. I seriously would be surprised if you don't find at least 10, but lets just stick with 1.

All it takes is one good product that works. That 1 product can replace all losses and make a substantial profit quickly once you have the above in order. Build out a team to manage what you built and start on your next product, then the next, on and on till you have a brand with a huge line of products and before you know it, a full business built out that is the lively hood of a handful of awesome people that call you boss.
 

Ryllban

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Are you saying you have products and don't know what the pain points are? Seems like you'd see a product and immediately know what pain points it would solve, or you would start with a pain point and find a product to fill it.

I'm going to assume you are doing the later and looking for a pain point to solve and find a product for it. If that's the case then no, I don't really have a process for finding pain problems. I just see them all around me. They are everywhere.

I think the first product is the hardest. After the first, the rest are easier as you already have a niche you know and products and ideas just start to flow.

Ah ok, make sense. Thank you :)
 
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MakeItHappen

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@hughjasle how do you create videos for your products today vs. when you was starting out?

Do you use a video production company?
Great product videos seem to be so powerful but also potentially quite expensive/sophisticated, especially if you want to show your product in action.

Here is a great example of an video ad that's likely 100x more effective than any image ad: https://www.facebook.com/phonebibi/videos/318250315181700/
 

hughjasle

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Do you use a video production company?
Yes i use a production company now, but I also use youtubers who are self proclaimed influencers. HOWEVER, i don't really care for them as influencers - but I have found that getting the right personality and quality video is key and many of these youtube influencers know how to make high quality videos with great personalities for it. And usually if you can find the right people, it is cheaper to get one of them to do a video over doing a professional shoot. Sometimes all it takes is sending out product.

In the past I'd send out product to a bunch of people and ask for vids. While those works, they weren't nearly as good as the pro's or influencers.
 

MitchC

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Sorry to still be using your thread to dump my dumb questions in, I need to make my own. Anyway I'm going to do it anyway.

Is this an account manager that people seem to be talking about and asking for? Any advice on what to say to them and how to get the most from them? Or is this just some guy going to try make me spend more like the google emails that people get?

Thanks.
 
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hughjasle

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@BookwormMitch that looks to be like a FB rep to me. Probably one of the lowest level ones so be cautious of the insights he gives. Mostly they are only good for helping to get you in touch with people who really have power when things go wrong with your account. But try and create a relationship with him nonetheless.
 

Paul Thomas

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Hey! Working on getting this to work for me still...

Are you still seeing cold traffic from FB -> product page convert profitably? Is this only with videos or are you seeing it with image click to web and PPE as well?

Or are you driving people to a soft sell/selling blog post first?
 

hughjasle

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Hey! Working on getting this to work for me still...

Are you still seeing cold traffic from FB -> product page convert profitably? Is this only with videos or are you seeing it with image click to web and PPE as well?

Or are you driving people to a soft sell/selling blog post first?
Still working for me. I have a video on my landing page as well. Not all are videos, but the vast majority are.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
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MitchC

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Still working for me. I have a video on my landing page as well. Not all are videos, but the vast majority are.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
What are you using for a landing page and upsells? Thanks
 

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Denim Chicken

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Great thread! Appreciate the answers

1) What ever happened with that C&D letter you received?

2) Did you ever end up trying adwords and if so what was your conclusion on it?

3) Could you touch more on your employees and hiring process? I'm sure this is a natural evolution of growth but I'm curious how you manage your employees. are they all virtual or do they come to your house off of Craigslist? At some point you had to handle shipping right? Even if you have a fulfillment center wouldnt you have to have all the boxes come to your house first, do spot checks and then ship it out to the centers to make sure on QC? If so, there must be some moving of heavy boxes and things.

4) I know you said you wanted to bring fulfillment in house at some point but so far, how do you like fulfillment centers?
 

hughjasle

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1) What ever happened with that C&D letter you received?
man, I had to go back and search my own thread to see what you were talking about. I had completely forgotten about that. To answer your question, nothing ever happened there. I was in the clear and I guess they knew it just trying to scare me. Later on I decided I didn't like that product anyways and closed that entire shop down. Found out from customers that this product that doesn't deliver as promised. I don't want to sell crap. I want real, quality, value based products.
2) Did you ever end up trying adwords and if so what was your conclusion on it?
I've tried like $100. So no, I haven't really tried it much on this stuff. Adwords is great. I just don't do it. My area is FB. So I stick with that.
3) Could you touch more on your employees and hiring process?
are they all virtual or do they come to your house off of Craigslist?
a few are virtual but I'm looking to move into having people in the same city if possible. I like having contact. I'm also in the process of building a in house fulfillment center. That obviously requires physical location employees. More on that below.
At some point you had to handle shipping right? Even if you have a fulfillment center wouldn't you have to have all the boxes come to your house first, do spot checks and then ship it out to the centers to make sure on QC?
I only had product come to the house in the VERY beginning. It was a nightmare. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into by trying to do it all as a complete noob to ecom. I switched to 3rd party fulfillment centers as fast as I could. I have used various centers now for the past year and feel ready to bring it back in house. I have found there is just far more control bringing it in house. This helps the entire process. It saves money and gives a MUCH better QC and personal touch for customer service.
I know you said you wanted to bring fulfillment in house at some point but so far, how do you like fulfillment centers?
They serve their purpose, but I think having the control is better. I had multiple instances of the fulfillment centers ruining product (opening boxes with box cutters and slicing the product) and STILL shipping it out to customers. Others just don't care about your product or customers as much as you do.They are running a business too. That said, they were important to get me where I am now. Hard to hire a team to do your shipping in the beginning when sales are up and down and all over the place. It takes a team to fulfill 1000 orders a day. But when something hangs up in shipping or manufacturing and you are out of product unexpectedly for 4 weeks, that employee still needs paid. A 3rd party fulfillment center doesn't.


My vision is to build out a team. A team where most of them are based in a couple cities where myself and a partner could visit with them in person when needed if not daily at the office. Have warehouse/office space for everyone and build a family around this. I've seen that, like everything else, this is not difficult once you understand it. When you understand it and have a team and system in place to handle everything, it runs itself. Would be cool to be able to share that with others and make them a part of a team that cares about each other and sells products that provide value to other people. I can be done.
 

Paul Thomas

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Anyone that's new have issues creating more accounts within their manager?

I only had two ad accounts on my business manager account, but was no longer using them, tried to create a new one to test a new niche/products and FB said I have too many for my biz manager. I wrote support to tell them those two old ones are "dead", and that I'll need another and some more in the near future (in a nice professional) way.

Is this common, should there be issue adding more accounts to the biz manager if I was open in the inquiry to support?

Thanks!
 
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hughjasle

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Is this common, should there be issue adding more accounts to the biz manager if I was open in the inquiry to support?
This is common. Biz Manager accounts come with 2 ad accounts only. However, just as you did, you can message support and get that limit bumped by showing them that you are legitimate and need more accounts. I've never had any issues in getting more accounts myself, so you shouldn't run into any issues. They may want to see proof that your company is a company and not just some punk affiliate trying to game the system. Might need to a create a simple wordpress website with your 'business' name on it, contact info, etc.
 

Paul Thomas

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This is common. Biz Manager accounts come with 2 ad accounts only. However, just as you did, you can message support and get that limit bumped by showing them that you are legitimate and need more accounts. I've never had any issues in getting more accounts myself, so you shouldn't run into any issues. They may want to see proof that your company is a company and not just some punk affiliate trying to game the system. Might need to a create a simple wordpress website with your 'business' name on it, contact info, etc.
Have a full Shopify site set up with biz name, products, etc.... while I'll be running the "out of stock" email testing strategy to start, feel like it should be ok.

Thanks!
 

LPPC

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Anyone that's new have issues creating more accounts within their manager?

I only had two ad accounts on my business manager account, but was no longer using them, tried to create a new one to test a new niche/products and FB said I have too many for my biz manager. I wrote support to tell them those two old ones are "dead", and that I'll need another and some more in the near future (in a nice professional) way.

Is this common, should there be issue adding more accounts to the biz manager if I was open in the inquiry to support?

Thanks!
I had the same problem and I just created a new business account. This might be a bad long term solution though. Next time I'm going to do what Huhjasle suggested.

WARNING: I did get my FB account flagged and I had to show them my ID and bank details. Now my account is all set. So that may be the reason.
 
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Last edited:

hughjasle

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Yea you are allowed 2 business account for each Facebook Account. But good to mention that all your accounts must be in good standing to get more accounts.

NOTE: I'm not 100% sure if having flagged Ad Accounts on one Business Manager will affect the creation of new accounts on the second business manager accounts or not. Better to be safe and just get those cleaned up as @LPPC did.
 

Chazmania

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@hughjasle
Just finished going through this whole thread - awesome stuff man! You make it look so easy! Thanks for laying it all out like that, I think I learned quite a bit here. Time to start finding something(s) to test and get clear on FB TOS.
 

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